>The customer is a future government agency. That means they're used to spending large amounts of money on implementations right?
>We decided that it would be easier to use VOIP then regular land lines, however I need to assure best quality of service. >1. I do not plan to install an asterisk server locally beacuse of some logistics, but to buy an asterisk or similar solution from one of the VOIP providers on the market. IMHO, this is a plan destined to fail... >2. Since there are less then 50 employees, I will need only 1 network switch and I would like to hear your opinion on which make and model are you suggesting - to support and possibly enhanve VOIP (48 Port switch) - I would stay away from Cisco if possible. SMC has some nice POE 24 port switches, with 2x 1GB uplinks RJ45 and SFP adapters, it's also a managed switch, and about $1000 each. >3. They will be connecting to the internet (at the beginning) with 2-4 ADSL/SDSL lines. I plan to set up a firewall with 2-4 WAN ports with Load balancing and QOS such that one of the ADSL/SDSL's bandwidth is reserved for VOIP packets. When not in use, other services can request that bandwidth. What make and type of firewall appliance should I use - which would meet the above requirements? ADSL/SDSL is, and will probably based on a 24-48 hour SLA... Every company I know and have worked with, has at one point in time had at least a few hours of outages. I would be weary to recommend this on a (data) T1 line on the same network as the provider. (T1's are a 4 hour SLA..) >4. Bandwidth. There will be 24 users - possibly each of these with their own DID. Beside this I may want to set up each of this users with a virtual (local) number, so they have their own fax lines. There will be a need for a digital receiptionist, VM, VM to E-mail, Fax to E-mail, Conferencing, CF, CW, and CT, Possiblility of Call Center, 1-800 numbers, etc. How much bandwitch do I have to calculate for 24 users, each let's say with 2 lines? 24 regular usage business users will require a maximum of (in VOIP, without 729 codec) about 12 active lines at a time.. 12 lines will be about 1000kb/s (with overhead, and room for error) >5. Any other requirements you can think of and are not listed here? A Sangoma A102, and a 12 Channel PRI (Megalink) from Bell / Rogers if you want happy, satisfied clients, with cool features. Sangoma FXO w/ Echo card amd 12 channels if you want a less expensive solution, 2 incoming rings, and less cool features. Seriously though... For a company of that size, having a DSL link to their phone system is going to be a recipe for disaster. It will work, it will be cheap, and it will at some point face a internet outage, which means a phone outage... These are just my thoughts and options, and unless this agency is very finance-poor (and there are some in the Government agencies) I would look at a hard line to the PSTN instead of chancing it across DSL... A T1, depending on where you are will be about $100 per line, analog will be about $50 per line, but Long Distance, incoming DID, the ability to set outgoing caller ID, and lack of incoming rings should offset this for most businesses. Chad
