asterisk users - Jan 2004 - Billing system experiences with Advanced Communications?

I ran across this URL the other day:

  http://www.advancedvoip.com/

It seems that they have a low-priced solution for billing, which 
seems to have some interesting features (at least, via the canned 
demo they provide.)  It handles CDRs and also (sorry, Jeremy) Radius, 
and seems to have a lot of features.  I'll be calling them later 
today to discuss their product, if only out of curiosity at their low 
prices and reasonably full-featured demo.  The system seems very much 
geared to H.323, and it is not obvious what the back end is, so I am 
somewhat suspicious of functionality.

Pricing seems reasonable - they charge by the port.  For an 8 port 
system, it would be $960 (!!!) which probably translates into $1720 
for a single 4-port PRI card.  No recurring charges.  It sounds 
almost too good to be true.

I have had enough experience with billing systems to know at least 
that nothing ever is as it seems in the demo.  Has anyone who is a 
commercial service provider on the list implemented this software? 
If so, what have your experiences been?

JT

Message: 2
John,

I am also considering this system. One of my friend has been evaluating this
for couple of months now. He is still not confident though. However he said
the features are promising. I will ask for more information.

This is a company in Pakistan. You call their number in LA, the guy's will
still answer from Pakistan.  That may be why it is not so expensive.

Hope to hear from your experience too.

Cheers

SW


Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 10:21:06 -0500
To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
From: John Todd <jtodd@loligo.com>
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Billing system experiences with Advanced
Communications?
Reply-To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com


I ran across this URL the other day:

  http://www.advancedvoip.com/

It seems that they have a low-priced solution for billing, which
seems to have some interesting features (at least, via the canned
demo they provide.)  It handles CDRs and also (sorry, Jeremy) Radius,
and seems to have a lot of features.  I'll be calling them later
today to discuss their product, if only out of curiosity at their low
prices and reasonably full-featured demo.  The system seems very much
geared to H.323, and it is not obvious what the back end is, so I am
somewhat suspicious of functionality.

Pricing seems reasonable - they charge by the port.  For an 8 port
system, it would be $960 (!!!) which probably translates into $1720
for a single 4-port PRI card.  No recurring charges.  It sounds
almost too good to be true.

I have had enough experience with billing systems to know at least
that nothing ever is as it seems in the demo.  Has anyone who is a
commercial service provider on the list implemented this software?
If so, what have your experiences been?

JT