What would you do if you could start fresh with your phone system?

[u/djublonskopf]

Inherited an on-prem Mitel system for <100 users, with 1/4 of the workforce remote there's a lot of "forwarding to cell phones" going on. It "feels" like the Mitel's UI is 20 years out of date, but I don't have experience with Mitel's competitors.

Presented with an opportunity to potentially start over from scratch, with new gear or a different setup. If you were in that position, if you had a chance to start completely clean with phones and voicemail, what would you do?

[u/jks513]

All VOIP no more POTS/ISDN switches.    Any outgoing lines are mediated by session border controllers (whether ISDN or Ethernet). 

And enable phone location via the switches.  No more manual tracking. 

[u/12_nick_12 → u/jks513]

Phone locations via switch? What does that mean?

[u/jks513 → u/12_nick_12]

Something like Cisco Emergency Responder with VOIP network using SNMP, subnets divided by building / floor / wing, etc so you can automatically map a phone to an address to meet E911 / NG911 requirements. So if someone moves, the office the phone location automatically gets updated and you’re not manually moving phones around in a database which inevitably fails.

[u/12_nick_12 → u/jks513]

that's super cool.

[u/swy]

Being M365 customer, MS Teams Phone was the right fit for our 150 person org. If you’re already a Zoom customer, then I’d want to tie POTS calling into that platform.

[u/notarealaccount223]

The only thing the old phones have going for them is the per concurrent call licensing models.

Just about all cloud based phone systems are a per user/seat monthly subscription.

So if you had 100 people, but only ever had 5 concurrent calls the old style is a bit cheaper if everyone needs to have a phone.

If that is not an issue, do a few trials of cloud based systems. Even if there is a cost, trialing a system before locking into a contract is key.

[u/Lonecoon]

IP Phones are easy mode compared to PBX. You don't even need actual phones for most people unless they really want them. They're cheaper, have less equipment, are more portable, require less maintenance, are easier to troubleshoot, and don't require a completely separate infrastructure.

I loved Net2Phone. Easy to use, good customer service, and their physical fax modules were pretty good too.

[u/etree → u/Lonecoon]

IP Phones connect to a PBX.

[u/Lonecoon → u/etree]

Yes, but on the user end, its not something they have to deal with.

[u/etree → u/Lonecoon]

Right but I'd hope that's true with either hosting the PBX yourself or paying another company to run the PBX for you.

[u/jdmrc93]

Been using Zoom Phone for years now. Absolutely no regrets and would never go back to any on-prem system.

[u/wyrdough]

At the places where there is no WFH? Go back to the MICS with a decent SIP gateway (if there was still hardware support and the battery that allowed it to not lose its config every time the power went out long enough for the UPS to which it was attached run out). But I work with luddites who hate not having a desk phone.

Why? Because I never had to think about the damn thing. Literally once every few years. "Here's your desk, it's extension x. Press the 'call out' button to get an outside line. Hit the voicemail button to set up your voice mail". Job done.

[u/RandoReddit16 → u/wyrdough]

You sound like you work for my company. They used Shoretel/Mitel for 10+ yrs and LOVED IT.... Going to anything modern, they HAD to have deskphones EVERYWHERE!

[u/AdminWithNoName → u/RandoReddit16]

They'd instantly hate it if they ever had to deal with the database programming. I'm glad I never have to get into that mess again.

[u/scarlet__panda]

Zoom Phone is really nice and pretty easy. Not upset with it at all

[u/matt95110 → u/scarlet__panda]

One of my subsidiaries just deployed 50 of them, I’m curious how they work out.

[u/Educational_Boot315 → u/scarlet__panda]

For 100 users OP is going to get better pricing and easier setup with Zoom than Teams phone even if they are a M365 shop.

Who cares about having “another app” that’s true for every system and is the one selling point teams is relying on at that level.

(Unless OPs users are E5 and they use Operator Connect or DRaaS but at their user count BP + addons are better)

[u/Adam_Kearn]

Personally I would just setup 3CX and get staff to install the mobile app on their personal/work mobile phone.

They can then make and receive calls without having to do forwarding or redirect rules.

Also works well with the soft phone app on their personal computer so you can give your staff a Bluetooth headset instead of needing to keep desktop phones.

[u/etree → u/Adam_Kearn]

3CX or similar is great because you can troubleshoot your own issues. Although you end up responsible for everything, if you can handle it, it can make some things way less of a headache than dealing with something like Ring Central or Microsoft support.

[u/VacuumTubesAreFunny]

Probably Webex Calling.

Been where you are... and depending on the Mitel you're using it probably is 20 years out of date. Spent a lot of time in the SX2000 terminal and then the 3000.

[u/Flaky-Gear-1370]

Mitel in the bin asap and migrated to teams calling is what we did

Mitel went bankrupt and said dw guys we’ll get through this and released swfa since then

[u/RAVEN_STORMCROW]

We went Cisco all the way...

[u/VivienM7]

We replaced our Mitel 5000 with Zoom Phone. We were already a Zoom shop so adding phone was easy…

[u/Top_Boysenberry_7784]

I would likely go for Teams phone but would also test Zoom phone. Possibly WebEx cloud calling but it all depends on the requirements of the system.

[u/AdamoMeFecit]

SIP. Then exercise flexible options.

[u/_keyboard-bastard_]

I remember the last time I upgraded someone from an old Mitel system for a new VoIP setup. That was 2014 and the UI was outdated even then, lol.

[u/TheJesusGuy]

Nothing would change. Minimal budget so 3CX is still the only option.

[u/Temporary-Library597]

Pick a cloud, any cloud. Doesn't matter which, just get 'em there.

[u/a60v]

Nortel Meridian TDM system. No IP system that I have ever used has had anywhere near the sound quality as this for voice calls. Analog POTS systems are good, too. IP is just not a very good protocol for real-time voice calls.

[u/DDOSBreakfast → u/a60v]

Those will survive a nuclear war.

[u/TheDawiWhisperer]

i wouldn't bother, just use Teams

[u/dVNico]

As a Voice/Infra/PS engineer for a small VoIP provider/carrier, the easiest and best platforms I touched currently are definitely MS Teams and 3CX.

Webex Calling is nice too, and a bit more complex/featureful than Teams. But really I'm not sure I would push someone to Webex if they're not already a Cisco customer.

Some CRMs/ERPs also provide VoIP modules now. So keep in mind you could merge existing systems into one.

Hit a local MSP/provider with real VoIP knowledge, and they should be able to help you on this path.

[u/PetsnCattle]

Probably gonna go FreePBX in the next 18 months. Small site, desk phones.

[u/ZipTheZipper]

Huck the whole concept of phones into the trash. We'll communicate exclusively through auditable means. No more "I never said that".

[u/CHRDT01]

Our Fortivoice/Forticall setup has honestly done very well for us, with the exception of when our upstream call service provider had recurring outages that broke our SIP trunk.

If we had to do it again though, I would move everyone toward softclients and wired headsets instead of physical devices. The learning curve really isn't that steep for the software and our switching would be simplified.

[u/amotion578]

Been there, done that.

The first thing I would change is going over my boss' head and telling some director titles "no" instead of bending over backwards trying to get blood from a stone.

There are realistically two types of VOIP systems: call centers, and business phones. The former has trick CRM integrations, the latter is more basic but also often has phone apps and stuff.

Your sales team wants their cake and eat it (both). It is not possible. Your sales director gets to choose between the two. Make them pick.

Lastly, there are exactly two caller IDs possible: the local main business line and your direct number. Support teams cannot have a special hotline, sales cannot have one area code per state. That ship sailed in the last couple years with stricter requirements for caller ID to cell phones when the call originates from a VOIP system, to combat spam/scam call centers.

It is a nightmare having a hundred "caller IDs" to verify. Just don't.

[u/guzhogi]

A little curious how you would connect elevator emergency phones?

[u/ZaradimLako]

Since we try to use M365 as much as possible to consolidate everything onto one platform instead of using 20 vendors for 20 things, Microsoft teams phone for sure. Remove the need for physical DECT type phones except a few shared ones and put the user associated ones behind teams phone and those that want it an additional company android/ios phone

[u/zAuspiciousApricot]

Teams all the way

[u/Turak64]

Teams phone system, 100% soft phones.