> -----Original Message----- > From: John Lange [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: July 27, 2006 12:18 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [on-asterisk] PoE > > On Thu, 2006-07-27 at 11:51 -0400, Michael Richardson wrote: > > John> One of the major selling features of VoIP is > convergence. If > > John> you are running parallel networks you are giving > up one of the > > John> major selling points. > > > > I agree. That's why I would hesistate to install a new > network, when > > at a similar price, you can fix the existing network. > > > > The catch is that you need phones that can do VLANs: to avoid as > > many cable runs as possible, you need to plug the desktop > PCs into the > > phones. Oops, back to needing the really expensive phones. > > What phones are you using? Granstream, Linksys, Polycom all > support both VLAN (802.1Q) and Layer 3 QOS. > > The point I'm driving at here is reusing the CAT3 network is > not only more problematic but its also not any less expensive > than fixing the > CAT5 LAN. As a bonus the customer also benefits from having > their LAN fixed which is something they probably need done anyhow. > > Why spend more money retrofitting the CAT3 (which will still have > issues) when you could spend less upgrading the CAT5 and > solve not only the VoIP issues but their general LAN issues as well? > > What am I missing here?
Probably nothing. It is generally going to come down to what can be sold to the customer. I find that re-using the cat3 is not expensive at all, however I could see a day in the not-too-distant future where the cost of a managed network would not be excessive. I certainly am not of the mind that one way is better than the other; each environment has to be evaluated on its own. In some cases re-using the voice wiring makes sense, in others it will not. In many SMEs there is an office and a plant area, and if you have ten phones in the plant that do not have an ethernet drop, you are going to have to think carefully about the cost of cabling. Running cables in plants is not cheap. Jim -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.4/401 - Release Date: 26/07/2006
