VoIP PBX Support

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 12, 2006 Posts: 2

Hello,

When does Vonage have plans to support multiple concurrent inbound and outbound calls - for VOIP PBX applications?

thanks

CT

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:24 am Post subject:

Most likely never. Vonage's current business model is focused on the residential market using locked SIP devices.

Posts: 87 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Oct 26, 2006 Posts: 87

also from a support standpoint it would be as huge undertaking to provide support for that and the main reason why is that Vonage is not large enough to have field techs. Supporting PBX with someone over the phone that has no idea what they are talking about is impossible. Then there are several Vonage customers that use their service with a callworx or other pbx system you just need an onsite PBX tech, Vonage will get you a dialtone, but it is up to your PBX guy to distribute it

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 12, 2006 Posts: 2

There is good revenue in providing a high quality VOIP service to business customers. They are looking for something that's reliable as a BT line and at the same time going somewhere towards the lower cost of VOIP.

Vonage has a good service, but needs to go towards business customers. it's a huge market currently with little competition in the UK i believe.

It is easy to connect a Business VOIP PBX into Vonage, but it's not great not being able to hold multiple phone calls inbound and outbound.

Support is not a problem, there are plenty of small business like myself who can provide the IT and setup know how. All we need is someone to tell us the SIP domain, username and password, and provide a SIP service that works and is reliable.

Cheers

CT

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:46 am Post subject:

I don't know about the UK, but there are plenty of business-grade VoIP providers in the US. I pay ~$30USD/mo per business-grade VoIP trunk line through another provider ($9USD/mo per residential line). That said, the business-grade VoIP provider isn't going to hold your hand over QoS, routing, wiring, and configuration issues like Vonage does.

The problem with supporting these features really isn't supporting those who have IT staff with proper knowledge of VoIP protocols and conventions -- it's in supporting those who THINK they know what they're doing. My other provider could go on for days talking about all of the tech support calls they've had where the problem is on the user's end (~95% of the time). Yet, these same users expect the VoIP provider to provide tech support and service on their own equipment.

I think Vonage has it right -- stick to what they've been doing. They have a mid-priced product with a mid-level feature set and high name recognition. Literally, it's AOL all over again. If they improve customer service, they stand a good chance at building a rather nice empire for themselves.

Posts: 92 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Aug 01, 2006 Posts: 92

Vonage already offers Business Plus Plans which are somewhat hidden but can be found with a google search.

These allow you to configure an IP PBX with a SIP trunk to connect direct to Vonage. You can also do this with a softphone account and either will support multiple simultaneous calls per line.

I configured a home based Asterisk server with a Vonage SIP trunk (on a softphone account) that worked great as a conference bridge and had all the features of an enterprise PBX. The only problem is that I went through my minutes pretty fast.

That's where the Business Plus Plans come in.

- Kukk

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:38 pm Post subject:

dbarkeep wrote:

Vonage already offers Business Plus Plans which are somewhat hidden but can be found with a google search.

I was under the impression that they stopped doing this about a year ago and decided to focus on their residential/small business services.

Posts: 79 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Dec 28, 2004 Posts: 79

Yeah, I was under the assumption that Vonage didn't market their "Business Plus" plans anymore as well. I worked with them from the beginning on this product, and most of the contacts that I know that were at Vonage heading this up have moved on...

I am pretty sure it all came back to the support issue as stated by one of the other posts. But I agree, that the business market is pretty untapped.... It might seem a little bit tricky at first, but hooking up an IPBX to a virtual trunking VoIP service is not difficult at all!!!

The days of having cumbersome PBX's which are expensive and require the need for techs to come out and charge more for MAC's is coming to an end...

With the internet, you can put an IPBX on line for a fraction of the cost of a regular PBX and still have all of the same features... Hence, you don't have to be a fortune 500 company to be able to afford a good phone system with all of the goodies... The internet is sweet because as a tech or support person, you can web into the device via an IP address and do troubleshooting... and its just as easy for the end user...

i equate it too video games.... in the 1980's there were the big PAC Man games that only people could play in the arcades. If you wanted want for you home back then you had to pay big bucks!!! But now you can go out and buy a Sony Playstation appliance for 140 bucks and it allows you to play games never thought imaginable 20 years ago...

Technology has advanced (and is advancing) at such a rate that a PBX is nothing more than a little appliance that can sit on your desk top next to your PC and plugged into high speed internet.

The key is in the phone service. Virtual phone service like Vonage for you home, and others for business have SIP proxy lines of info that are loaded into the IPBX. This IPBX is then registered via SIP proxy to a centrally located softswitch of that provider and ingress and egress call flow via IP... private or public....

its quite neat, and is the way things will be done in the future.... best of all... costs to the end users keep going down!!!

No more 50 cents a minute long distance calls again!! We all laugh, but thats what a lot of people were paying in the not so distant past PHone companies like At&t were making a killing off of the consumer.. and look at them now!! Its all because VoIP has drastically cut into their margins!

Don-

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject:

Believe it or not, I actually keep a portable PBX in my toolkit. I have an older Shuttle PC configured with Asterisk and a pile of IP phones and ATAs. I always keep an IP phone in the trunk of my car (and softphone on the laptop), configured to connect to my home & office PBXs.

At this point, I can't justify a non-IP PBX anymore. I'm not sure what you mean by "IPBX", assuming you're just meaning IP PBX. Trixbox is a rather nice & almost plug-and-play setup. You certainly can't beat the cost of a Trixbox/Asterisk setup (free software + an older computer) and the IP phones currently out. No more paying $500 per station for system phones. Personally, I think Wifi VoIP phones will be the hottest item. I'm still waiting for a near-perfect one to come out. The current generation isn't quite up to snuff yet, but it's getting there.

I'm still wondering how much longer the party will last. VoIP providers are starting to get harassed by the telcos and regulators and I see the fees and taxes slowly creeping into my bills.

Posts: 153 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 11, 2007 Posts: 153

veep, you seem to have experience with Vonage Business Plus. "No longer market" or "no longer offer"? Can it actually no longer be ordered?

Yes, there are other VoIP providers that you can set up in a VoIP PBX, but I've found that Vonage has the best reliability and best voice quality of any carrier out there. I'd like to be able to recommend a company for IP PBX clients -- sort of like, "No one ever lost their job for recommending IBM."

/john