Hey, FYI, our company (www.eguest.ca) is a local supplier of Sangoma and Digium cards and Aastra, Snom and Linksys phones. We can also get the Polycom range as well.
I don't have any used IP phones currently, but may be picking up some used Mitel IP phones soon from a client - We replaced their current system with an Asterisk server. Here are some of my experiences installing Asterisk at a number of client sites in Calgary... Not sure if you are aware, but the number of "lines" on a phone is not related to the number of incoming analog telephone lines to your Asterisk server. "Lines" actually refers to SIP accounts, so you could have a single "line" phone receiving calls from either incoming analog line. Having more "lines" on the phone typically means that you can have more than one incoming/outgoing call at a time at that particular phone or have multiple people using that phone each with a different SIP account. Assuming this is for a work environment, I would stay away from Grandstreams - one of our clients opted to go the cheap route and use them (against our advice) and have regretted it since. The call quality of these phones is just not there and you can hear it. We've had good reports from clients using the Snom360's, although these phones have more of a "European" flavour and some people didn't like the ring tones and feel of the handset. I personally use a Snom360 and like it. We now usually just supply Aastra phones (9133i being the most common) and have had absolutely no complaints about call quality or phone look and feel. I believe Aastra took over Nortel's phone production. The 9133's are a bit more than $130 though. If you like, we can try and meet or I can try and make it to the next meeting and bring out some phones for you to look at - I have the Snom360, Grandstream GXP2000 and various Aastra's (9133i, 53i, 57i). I would stay away from one of the generic X100P FXO cards - once again, call quality is not good. I haven't had much luck with Digium cards either and so now recommend using a Sangoma card with FXO/FXS modules. They come either with or without hardware echo cancellation - hardware e/c adds about $350 to the price, however, the A200 now comes with a third party (Octastic) software e/c that is much better than the one that comes with Asterisk. You're limited to using 6 ports for the software e/c though, which shouldn't be an issue in your application. Hope this helps Martin Hendrik Schaink wrote: > Hi Dana, > > Thank you for your information and references, particularly Vancouver > based http://www.netvoice.ca/ . > > I have been reading a great deal at http://www.voip-info.org/ and their > Canadian VoIP info page > http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+Canadian+Users . > > In addition to the voip stores you mention, I also found and looked at > Montreal based http://www.voipgizmos.com/ and > Mississauga based http://www.voippabx.com/ > > After plenty of researching on Asterisk and Digium, I came across one > real gotcha with Digium hardware: the Digium TDM400 requires a well > cooled case since this card "hates heat" according to the poster. > > So in order to set up our pilot Asterisk pbx with (2) 2-line IP phones > and 1 analog phone for 2 incoming lines, I have "narrowed" the specs > down to this: > = 2 IP phones with good sound quality in the $130 range. I'm considering > the Snom 300 (4-line), the Grandstream GXP-2000 (4-lines), and > possibly the Linksys SPA941 (2/4-line); > = 1 reasonably priced FXO /FXS combination card of good sound quality. > (This item appears to be _the_ major VoIP expense item for a small pbx.) > Under consideration are Digium TDM800, Sangoma A200, Rhino R8FXX. > = Option: the really inexpensive (experimental/cheap?) X100P FXO cards > from http://www.x100p.com/products/FXO.php but then no analog phones > could be connected without ATA. > = How important is h/w echo cancellation at the fxo entry point? > > If anybody knows where to get hold of used IP phones then I'd love to > hear about it. > > Thank you all for letting me "pick your brains." > > Hendrik Schaink > > > Dana Harding wrote: >> I put together an asterisk pbx last year. >> I wasn't able to find any suppliers locally for what I wanted, and >> ended up ordering most of my equipment from http://www.voipdepot.ca/. >> He shipped very quickly. I haven't had any issues with anything from >> there yet (so I can't answer on how RMAs are handled) >> >> Let me know if you are able to find a local supplier. >> >> I also looked at equipment at: >> http://www.canadianvoipstore.com/index.php?cPath=99_103 >> >> It might be different now but at the time, despite the name >> "canadianvoipstore" - they actually didn't have any infrastructure in >> Canada. Any items from them had to cross the border - introducing >> either excessive delays (shipping via USPS - and getting held up by >> Canada Customs), or excessive cost (ship FedEx or UPS - and pay >> through the nose for their border services). >> >> Other places I came across, but didn't order from: >> http://www.voipware.ca/en-ca/ >> http://www.netvoice.ca/products/ >> >> For what it's worth: I suggest going with one of the internal solutions >> (sangoma or digium card) instead of the ATAs. I was having echo and >> quality issues (and the occasional lockup) with some Sipura SPA-3k's. >> The quality was tolerable most of the time - but would have eventually >> ended up in the users revolting out of frustration. >> >> A Sangoma A200 with the hardware echo canceller made a world of >> difference once it was running. I would use an ATA for home (I don't >> use the phone much), but for business there was no contest for the >> extra cost. >> >> Which IP phones have you tried out / are looking at? > > > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
