Home VOIP setup

sirusarai

sirusarai

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Hello all!

So i am looking to setup a VOIP system in my house, and i've been looking for some recommendations on what kind of setup to run. Basically i want about 6 phones, that can all call at the same time with seperate extensions and such.

What kind of service do i get to have a phone number and what does the hardware/software setup kind of look like? im not too worried about specifics, i can do the research there, just more curious about general setup as in what kind of equipement and servers are required?

:confused::confused::confused:
 
I was wanting to use the AVAYA 9620C if that makes too much of a difference on the setup.
 
Are you wanting to be able to make 6 outgoing calls all at the same time?

How much are you willing to pay per month?

The cheapest way would be to use regular phones and 6 magic jacks, but that would kill the whole extensions thing.

If you are picking a specific IP phone, then you will have to use a controller that supports that phone.
 
yeah, since my GF and I work from home a lot, i dont want us to have to rely on our cellphones. I want us to both be able to make and receive calls without interrupting the other. and also me able to do things like call each other in other room via extensions and stuff.

i'm not too worried about cost, I'd say $100 a month, but not knowing what type of phone service i would need makes it tough to figure out what id want to spend. im pretty flexible on cost.

as far as the IP phone goes, it's the controller vendor specific? or can i find other controllers that support multiple brands of IP phone.

thanks for your input!
 
you could just get an account with voip.ms.... make yourself 6 sub accounts for 6 IP phones and go from there...

get a DID and you would have a LOT cheaper than $100/mo that's for sure.... not even close... depending on how many minutes you stay on the phone of course...

either that or make yourself a simple PBX out of an atom box (or virtualize if you've got a hypervisor)... and the freepbx distro...
 
I second voip.ms

I was running an PBX In a Flash server with Google Voice, but had some reliability issues. I moved over to voip.ms and everything has been painless.

*edit
I run the following IP phones: Cisco 7940, 7940G and a 7960.
 
I setup a VM on my home server to run FreePBX, then I use Axvoice as my SIP provider. I'm using Polycom 650's I got from network overhauls, but just about any VoIP phone should work (I love our YeaLink phones at work, Grandstream seems to also be quite popular). Costs me $9/mo for the barebones Axvoice account.

I just looked over voip.ms, that would be easier than setting up FreePBX and messing with dialing rules. You can configure your phones to connect directly to voip.ms, so no server needed in-home. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I've never used them myself.
 
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So essentially what i would need is some sort of PBX system, and a SIP provider? Is that where i get the phone number from?

I checked out voip.ms and it seems like a pretty simple solution, other than i dont get to manage much about it.

another kind of part of this is just for the project itself :) the system i have in mind is likely overkill, but it's kind of an educational project i guess.
 
sirusarai said:
So essentially what i would need is some sort of PBX system, and a SIP provider? Is that where i get the phone number from?

I checked out voip.ms and it seems like a pretty simple solution, other than i dont get to manage much about it.

another kind of part of this is just for the project itself :) the system i have in mind is likely overkill, but it's kind of an educational project i guess.
Click to expand...

You don't necessarily need a PBX with voip.ms. I connect my phones direct to them.

You can manage a significant portion on the voip.ms site. Extensions, outbound dialing, etc. its all there.
 
I use an Elastix PBX running as a VM, and some Yealink T-22P IP Phones, and FlowRoute.
 
sirusarai said:
So essentially what i would need is some sort of PBX system, and a SIP provider? Is that where i get the phone number from?

I checked out voip.ms and it seems like a pretty simple solution, other than i dont get to manage much about it.

another kind of part of this is just for the project itself :) the system i have in mind is likely overkill, but it's kind of an educational project i guess.
Click to expand...

If you want to learn to manage a PBX and call routing, etc, then setup FreePBX as a VM. Choose whatever SIP Provider you like such as voip.ms or Axvoice (and yes, you will get your phone number from the SIP Provider).

If it's just to have phones so you're not reliant on cell phones, then let voip.ms manage the entire setup. Just configure your phones as direct connect clients and know you're online.
 
I use FreePBX with Callcentric (similar to voip.ms, etc.).

Right now callcentric is giving away a free NY phone number and no fee incoming calls. Even if that isn't your ideal setup you could sign up and set it up to see how it works for you.
 
I've done the same. I had a sip based IVR project I was working on at one time for work and setup a callcentric NY number with freepbx and then had a softphone, the IVR software, and a cisco 7960 all hooked up.

Callcentric quality seemed pretty decent and they have pretty good documentation as well to get your pbx connected up.

Are you sure you need all 6 to be able to make outgoing calls at once? 6 outgoing seems like a lot if it's only you and your girlfriend.
 
Another vote for Voip.ms. I've had a trunk from them at home into a PBX-in-a-Flash VM for years serving a variety of SIP phones and ATAs. Voip.ms works great with 3CX also.
 
Ill throw in a vote for FlowRoute... I've been with them for almost 5 years with a ported landline number even and the quality has been excellent and price is cheap.

I'm using the FreePBX distro in a VM and have a Polycom 670, 650, and a handful of ATA's to connect standard phones to.
 
digilink said:
Ill throw in a vote for FlowRoute... I've been with them for almost 5 years with a ported landline number even and the quality has been excellent and price is cheap.

I'm using the FreePBX distro in a VM and have a Polycom 670, 650, and a handful of ATA's to connect standard phones to.
Click to expand...

Yep. Pretty much the first words I hear when I set up a demo handset for a company using FlowRoute is: "wow, the sound is a lot clearer than usual" from whoever they decide to call. The lack of "unlimited" minutes is a hard sell for a lot of people though.
 
About a year ago I decided to do something similar to get away from paying Comcast for phone service + modem fees. Ended up going with a SIP trunk from voip.ms, a Cisco 2821 with CCME/Unity and some various Cisco (wired/wireless) and analog cordless phones.

Service has been excellent from voip.ms and the whole setup has been a good learning project. They have plans for virtually any type of call load (tho check the restrictions on the residential unlimited minutes ones, I know they limit calls per line, etc. on those.)
 
Sub'd! I'm very interested in this as well. What about fax machines?
 
Crax said:
I've done the same. I had a sip based IVR project I was working on at one time for work and setup a callcentric NY number with freepbx and then had a softphone, the IVR software, and a cisco 7960 all hooked up.

Callcentric quality seemed pretty decent and they have pretty good documentation as well to get your pbx connected up.

Are you sure you need all 6 to be able to make outgoing calls at once? 6 outgoing seems like a lot if it's only you and your girlfriend.
Click to expand...

nah it really only needs to make 2 outgoing calls at the same time, i just wasn't sure if it was a lot more work/cost to just have them all be able to be used at once or just any combination of two.
 
FlowRoute is looking like a pretty decent deal. So if i am to sign up for flowroute, do it/can i still use my own PBX? does that allow me to get one phone number and just setup extension myself. or do i setup 6 different phone numbers and just let the PBX handle where they ring to?
 
I'm pretty sure those Avaya phones will only work with an Avaya system, but I could be wrong.
 
Can someone explain the benefit to either option here? Looks like both are $1.25/month

sXlEiwv.png
 
Corporal79 said:
Can someone explain the benefit to either option here? Looks like both are $1.25/month

sXlEiwv.png
Click to expand...

need more context, a link to the page?

the per minute one, looks like it allows you to have any number of connections you want.... so for example, you can have 6 calls going simultaneously in or out, you just pay minutely...

the 2nd option, unlimited minutes, but you pay a flat rate for a single connection...

very typical in ITSP land
 
goodcooper said:
need more context, a link to the page?

the per minute one, looks like it allows you to have any number of connections you want.... so for example, you can have 6 calls going simultaneously in or out, you just pay minutely...

the 2nd option, unlimited minutes, but you pay a flat rate for a single connection...

very typical in ITSP land
Click to expand...

https://www.flowroute.com/accounts/dids/purchase/

not sure if you can see the DID order page without creating a login or not.

Single connection = single call? Any idea what happens if you receive another incoming call?

After purchasing a DID from either Flowroute or voip,ms do I still need to setup/configure and manage a PBX on my end?
 
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Corporal79 said:
https://www.flowroute.com/accounts/dids/purchase/

not sure if you can see the DID order page without creating a login or not.

Single connection = single call? Any idea what happens if you receive another incoming call?

After purchasing a DID from either Flowroute or voip,ms do I still need to setup/configure and manage a PBX on my end?
Click to expand...

yes, single connection = single call.... what happens when you receive another incoming call?

congestion..... aka... busy signal... depending on the carrier and setup they may let you have them go to voicemail

i don't know about flowroute, but voip.ms has a lot of PBX functionality built in that you can configure.... so for instance, you can set up "sub accounts" for any number of different types of devices.... like phones.... that way you don't need an on-site PBX, you're basically using a simplified PBX in the cloud with voip.ms....
 
goodcooper said:
yes, single connection = single call.... what happens when you receive another incoming call?

congestion..... aka... busy signal... depending on the carrier and setup they may let you have them go to voicemail

i don't know about flowroute, but voip.ms has a lot of PBX functionality built in that you can configure.... so for instance, you can set up "sub accounts" for any number of different types of devices.... like phones.... that way you don't need an on-site PBX, you're basically using a simplified PBX in the cloud with voip.ms....
Click to expand...

jackpot. Thank you!
 
sirusarai - hope I didn't hijack your thread too bad :cool:

I've been looking at phones and a Polycom 331 or 335 can be had for a decent price. Is there any reason not to go with that? is there a better alternative under a hundy?
 
Corporal79 said:
sirusarai - hope I didn't hijack your thread too bad :cool:

I've been looking at phones and a Polycom 331 or 335 can be had for a decent price. Is there any reason not to go with that? is there a better alternative under a hundy?
Click to expand...

the polycoms are awesome phones, but light on features...

a favorite around here (and myself) is the yealinks... T26s definitely under a hundred, and has a bunch more buttons...
 
goodcooper said:
the polycoms are awesome phones, but light on features...

a favorite around here (and myself) is the yealinks... T26s definitely under a hundred, and has a bunch more buttons...
Click to expand...

We're also liking the Yealinks. I am looking into Grandstream handsets now that they have partnered with Elastix though.
 
I have some Cisco 7945's and 7961's at home connected via SIP to a raspberry pi, works awesome, have an IAX trunk going to my asterisk vm at the datacenter and use voip.ms trunks there

someone calls my office number and it rings my cell, my desk phone, phone in the datacenter rack, and my home ip phones
 
goodcooper said:
the polycoms are awesome phones, but light on features...

a favorite around here (and myself) is the yealinks... T26s definitely under a hundred, and has a bunch more buttons...
Click to expand...

Should that be T26p? I'm not finding anything for the s model.
 
Corporal79 said:
Should that be T26p? I'm not finding anything for the s model.
Click to expand...

I think that was supposed to be a contraction (The T26 is definitely under a hundred...). The T26P is the Yealink that we use, and they sell for about $80 IIRC.
 
FLECOM said:
I have some Cisco 7945's and 7961's at home connected via SIP to a raspberry pi, works awesome, have an IAX trunk going to my asterisk vm at the datacenter and use voip.ms trunks there

someone calls my office number and it rings my cell, my desk phone, phone in the datacenter rack, and my home ip phones
Click to expand...
What does the rasberry pi do?
 
wizdum said:
We're also liking the Yealinks. I am looking into Grandstream handsets now that they have partnered with Elastix though.
Click to expand...

i went through several grandstreams in my testing phase and they were very cheaply put together, all around seemed buggy and chintsy...

just couldn't bring myself to run them... maybe things have changed

my list of acceptable handsets: cisco, aastra, polycom, yealink.... and i guess the digium handsets are pretty nice now too, but i've not personally used one... i run a couple DECT panasonics and siemens gigaset, but ever since yealink has come out with their DECT i've been buying those...

Corporal79 said:
Should that be T26p? I'm not finding anything for the s model.
Click to expand...

yes, the model is just T26 the P on the end, i believe is just to denote it comes with a power adapter iirc... not needed if you have PoE switch

i had the s on the end to show plurality, sorry
 
Corporal79 said:
sirusarai - hope I didn't hijack your thread too bad :cool:

I've been looking at phones and a Polycom 331 or 335 can be had for a decent price. Is there any reason not to go with that? is there a better alternative under a hundy?
Click to expand...

LOL it's all good, i think we are both getting some good info out of all this. I'm kind of a VOIP super n00b....
 
Nate7311 said:
It probably runs a lightweight install of asterisk and functions as a local registration point to minimize the traffic to his main Asterisk VM in his DC.
Click to expand...

yep, it's actually very capable, can handle about 10 concurrent calls, handles TFTP serving for the cisco XML config files... all with no moving parts or fans, small, low power, low cost, makes an awesome small office PBX and stupid simple to setup

also I have it not so much for traffic reduction as much as the cisco's don't work through nat properly
 
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