BT Pathway replacement
Discussion
My wife works in a school whose phone system has just failed. Seems that they were running an old BT Pathway PABX(?) between four separate area of the school.
Anyway, BT have come along and quoted a fairly massive number at them to replace it with a VOIP system, and I’m just not sure it’s warranted.
The phone line itself is working (there is a power fail socket that obviously was for when the Pathway box wasn’t working) and the internet is working fine (nearly 40mb/s).
Am I wrong in thinking that they could just switch to a third party VOIP provider? BT want to sell them IPO 1403/1408 handsets and extension cards and ipo r11’s to the tune of £2300.
Do IP handsets just plug into available network sockets? They already have a Siemens DX800A as the main phone, which supposedly works with voip, what’s the best way to make this work in a new system?
Please enlighten me, as I don’t want to see public money being chucked away for no reason. They’re only a tiny school, so it’s a fairly significant outlay.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Anyway, BT have come along and quoted a fairly massive number at them to replace it with a VOIP system, and I’m just not sure it’s warranted.
The phone line itself is working (there is a power fail socket that obviously was for when the Pathway box wasn’t working) and the internet is working fine (nearly 40mb/s).
Am I wrong in thinking that they could just switch to a third party VOIP provider? BT want to sell them IPO 1403/1408 handsets and extension cards and ipo r11’s to the tune of £2300.
Do IP handsets just plug into available network sockets? They already have a Siemens DX800A as the main phone, which supposedly works with voip, what’s the best way to make this work in a new system?
Please enlighten me, as I don’t want to see public money being chucked away for no reason. They’re only a tiny school, so it’s a fairly significant outlay.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
vladcjelli said:
My wife works in a school whose phone system has just failed. Seems that they were running an old BT Pathway PABX(?) between four separate area of the school.
Anyway, BT have come along and quoted a fairly massive number at them to replace it with a VOIP system, and I’m just not sure it’s warranted.
The phone line itself is working (there is a power fail socket that obviously was for when the Pathway box wasn’t working) and the internet is working fine (nearly 40mb/s).
Am I wrong in thinking that they could just switch to a third party VOIP provider? BT want to sell them IPO 1403/1408 handsets and extension cards and ipo r11’s to the tune of £2300.
Do IP handsets just plug into available network sockets? They already have a Siemens DX800A as the main phone, which supposedly works with voip, what’s the best way to make this work in a new system?
Please enlighten me, as I don’t want to see public money being chucked away for no reason. They’re only a tiny school, so it’s a fairly significant outlay.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
yes switch to a third party voip supplier. There are loads, we use www.evad.co.uk who have been really good.Anyway, BT have come along and quoted a fairly massive number at them to replace it with a VOIP system, and I’m just not sure it’s warranted.
The phone line itself is working (there is a power fail socket that obviously was for when the Pathway box wasn’t working) and the internet is working fine (nearly 40mb/s).
Am I wrong in thinking that they could just switch to a third party VOIP provider? BT want to sell them IPO 1403/1408 handsets and extension cards and ipo r11’s to the tune of £2300.
Do IP handsets just plug into available network sockets? They already have a Siemens DX800A as the main phone, which supposedly works with voip, what’s the best way to make this work in a new system?
Please enlighten me, as I don’t want to see public money being chucked away for no reason. They’re only a tiny school, so it’s a fairly significant outlay.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
How many phones/extensions do they need? Most VoIP providers charge per user/phone, a monthly rate, say £10-£15 depending on bundled calls etc.
Some include phones or you can buy them.
Yes you need a network port for each phone going back to a switch. Some VoIP phones have a network in and out so you can use the same port as a PC. Phones are powered by a local plug in PSU or they can be PoE however this is an issue if you share a port with a PC.
Some include phones or you can buy them.
Yes you need a network port for each phone going back to a switch. Some VoIP phones have a network in and out so you can use the same port as a PC. Phones are powered by a local plug in PSU or they can be PoE however this is an issue if you share a port with a PC.
Edited by megaphone on Thursday 6th February 18:26
Got one quote from a voip co. and it’s not as cheap as I thought it was going to be £85pm for 5 phones.
Now technically, we want 5 phones, but they don’t have to be independent lines in/out, they just need to be reachable via the equivalent of the internal switchboard.
Am I asking the wrong questions?
Now technically, we want 5 phones, but they don’t have to be independent lines in/out, they just need to be reachable via the equivalent of the internal switchboard.
Am I asking the wrong questions?
vladcjelli said:
Got one quote from a voip co. and it’s not as cheap as I thought it was going to be £85pm for 5 phones.
Now technically, we want 5 phones, but they don’t have to be independent lines in/out, they just need to be reachable via the equivalent of the internal switchboard.
Am I asking the wrong questions?
Unfortunately this is how it works, you pay per month per phone/user. I was in a similar situation in a small office, old BT PBX died, we had two lines and about 5 extensions, all good. Went over to VoIP and we're paying around £12/m per phone, this does include all calls. It actually worked out about the same money by the time we factored in line rental and calls etc. Now technically, we want 5 phones, but they don’t have to be independent lines in/out, they just need to be reachable via the equivalent of the internal switchboard.
Am I asking the wrong questions?
You can get a VoIP PBX server that sits in the premises, but it still worked out the same money.
Have a look at https://www.vonage.co.uk/business/ which has lots of info. I'm sure some co's must do educational discounts, might be worth checking.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff