[kwlug-disc] OT: Roger's phone services

[Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account)]

On Monday, July 19, 2010 10:23:25 am Paul Nijjar wrote:
> If I remember correctly Teksavvy would not give us a business Internet
> package. Maybe I am wrong about this?

Don't know, I've never used their service, nor am I aware of anyone who is.

> > Why would you pay Bell/Telus rates? The level of service is no
> > better (and in terms of being able to get a hold of someone,
> > sometimes much worse) and they cap their transfers on top of that.
> 
> Because you don't have to deal with two sets of technicians?

I find that that doesn't change a thing; the DSL reseller just files a ticket in 
Bell/Telus/whomever's ticketing system.  It's their last mile anyway.

> > > Now calculate the payback on replacing the perfectly good old PBX.
> > > They can only really justify it for the new features, or if their
> > > old PBX needed replacing anyway.
> > 
> > Agreed; if you're not going to replace the PBX you're just asking for
> > pain.
> 
> Uh oh.
> 
> This is exactly what we are trying (Yak DSL + Unlimitel VoIP + Linksys
> ATA + old Nortel system). What kind of pain am I asking for?

Let's see...
- delays before the Nortel system rings (because the ATA is waiting for the 
2nd ring for CallerID), then the Nortel waits for 2 for the same reason
- "disconnect" between SIP extensions (which appear as external calls to the 
Nortel system) and Nortel extensions
- inability to transfer calls from SIP to nortel or vice-versa
- callerID for SIP extensions not showing up as extensions ot Nortel

That's a partial list, but you get the idea.  The SIP phones are second-class 
citizens of the Nortel, and all the Nortel extensions are second-class 
citizens of the Asterisk system. It was just never designed to handle 
"external" extensions, and even when I was playing with the bigger Meridian 
systems with MCDN links and tie trunks it worked only so-so.

If all you're going to do is use the VOIP to save on LD and you're NOT 
planning on adding SIP extensions, it's not too bad. You can configure the ATA 
not to wait for CID and ring straight through and minimize the delays.  
Essentially the ATA becomes the Nortel's "phone company".

Now I've "wrapped" a Nortel system with SIP ATAs on the trunk end and Nortel 
ATAs going to SIP ATAs on the extension end... it sort of worked but there 
were still issues with the SIP phones being seen as Nortel extensions, and I 
also had to hack up the Zaptel channel driver in Asterisk to optionally ignore 
dialtone so that I could pass through Nortel ATA control sequences. As I said, 
the system sort of worked, but I'd definitely NOT recommend it.

-A.