asterisk users - Nov 2003 - VOIP phonesets vs. cheap Analog touch-tone sets with Asterisk

Hello--

I've been asked an interesting question, and I'm too ignorant to answer
it authoritatively (yet). Can anyone help me?

Question: If I'm going to implement a somewhat small (10-80) phone
system, and I have a choice of using VOIP phoneset (like SNOM or
Grandstream or Cisco, etc), vs. cheap analog touch-tone phones, exactly
what features will I kiss goodbye if I use the cheap analogs?

In other words, what features will a (more expensive) VOIP phoneset
provide, that the analog won't?

I know already that asterisk will give me these features with just plain
analog phones (&zaptel cards, of course): Voice mail, park & retrieve
&
MOH, transfer, agents, and a few others. And, if you get an analog with
a CID built in, you could have that, too? (Haven't tried that yet).

What is the justification for VOIP? just total cost reductions (if the
phone is cheap enough?)? Or are there some nicenesses that only VOIPs
can supply?

murf

Steve Murphy wrote:
> Hello--
> 
> I've been asked an interesting question, and I'm too ignorant to
answer
> it authoritatively (yet). Can anyone help me?
> 
> Question: If I'm going to implement a somewhat small (10-80) phone
> system, and I have a choice of using VOIP phoneset (like SNOM or
> Grandstream or Cisco, etc), vs. cheap analog touch-tone phones, exactly
> what features will I kiss goodbye if I use the cheap analogs?
Some people swear by their SIP phones.  I however do not have the luxury 
of being able to purchase any right now, but I do have a TDM400P with a 
fairly nice NT Vista 150 telephone plugged into it, and I have had 
complements on the quality of the sound.

I can't directly answer your question about which features the SIP 
phones will give you, but that should all be easily found with a little 
googling about the various phones.

Honestly, I haven't missed using an analog handset at all, but then 
again, I'm a single entity in a home/test environment, and not one of 50 
people in a work environment, so YMMV.  I'd suggest getting a list of 
features you NEED to have, and then see if you can get away with the 
cheap phones.  The other thing you are going to have to consider is 
using a couple of channel banks and a TE410 since you are using perhaps 
upwards of 80 phones, which you will never get with the digium FXS cards 
[you'd be looking closer to around 8-16, depending on MB, free IRQ's, 
BIOS, etc.. etc.. (from what I have read on the mailing lists anyways)]

Just my .02 CDN.

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<bottom response = on>

On Mon, 2003-11-17 at 08:34, Steve Murphy wrote:
> Hello--
> 
> I've been asked an interesting question, and I'm too ignorant to
answer
> it authoritatively (yet). Can anyone help me?
> 
> Question: If I'm going to implement a somewhat small (10-80) phone
> system, and I have a choice of using VOIP phoneset (like SNOM or
> Grandstream or Cisco, etc), vs. cheap analog touch-tone phones, exactly
> what features will I kiss goodbye if I use the cheap analogs?
> 
> In other words, what features will a (more expensive) VOIP phoneset
> provide, that the analog won't?
> 
> I know already that asterisk will give me these features with just plain
> analog phones (&zaptel cards, of course): Voice mail, park &
retrieve &
> MOH, transfer, agents, and a few others. And, if you get an analog with
> a CID built in, you could have that, too? (Haven't tried that yet).
> 
> What is the justification for VOIP? just total cost reductions (if the
> phone is cheap enough?)? Or are there some nicenesses that only VOIPs
> can supply?
> 
> murf
Let's approach this question from economics first (tacitly assuming that
the technical issues wash).  This "debate" is central to what most of
us
(consultants) are facing just now.  The short answer is that the mission
may be accomplished either way.

Start out by lining up the quantities, types and costs of the equipment
required.  

With an analog phone deployment, anything beyond four desksets is best
accomplished with T1 card(s) in the Asterisk PC and channel banks to
connect the phones (and probably the PSTN).  Whereas the phones could be
as little as $10 each, you have to budget the price of the channel
bank(s).  If the customer is uncomfortable with eBay, used hardware,
channel banks could be north of $3000 each.

With a net-phone deployment, channel banks are out but more and better
ethernet switches _may_ be chosen (specifically taking advantage of
QoS/ToS) or separate voice-IP networks installed alongside data-IP
networks.  For ten desksets, probably not but for eighty???

I have to admit to being quite agnostic to leaning toward analog,
myself.  If Jeff Pulver's demand (at VON this September) that SIP phone
costs be brought down to the $20 per deskset level is met, the economics
change quickly.

Howard White
president - VCCH, Inc.