Phone system
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Nothing wrong with RC, and nothing wrong with high margins, it's just that you can't use a service like that as some kind of basis for "how will they make money." It's like looking at a Bentley and wondering, based on how expensive it is, how Toyota makes money. Totally different business models, but both sell cars.
RC is a good product, but one that requires you to spend a fortune and do quite a bit of work yourself.
As an example, we sold a PBX literally yesterday - it was cheaper for the customer to get a hosted PBX from NTG with more features and flexibility that to pay someone to manage their RingCentral system. That's not that the RC system costs more than the NTG system, it's the part of NTG's system that RC doesn't include was alone more expensive to supply on their own.
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@dashrender said in Phone system:
I didn't know RC required you, the buyer, to do all the setup. So yeah, You, NTG basically do everything. I think RC will send pre-configured phones, but I'm not positive.
I believe that they do, but you pay for that. NTG will do that too, if you want to ship phones to and from us, no big deal.
But even with that, RC doesn't configure your IVRs, ring groups, hunt groups, recordings, night/day, holiday hours, make changes, park calls, etc.
But I know that the customer in question yesterday, needed phones configured because RC didn't do it.
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The interactions, I think, explain the difference...
RC Interaction: "I'd like X changes made to my system!" "RC: Wonderful, here is your log in and an administration document, go learn the system and have fun managing it!"
NTG PBX Interaction: "I'd like X changes made to my system!" "NTG: Wonderful, let me just do that for you..."
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RC is a GREAT product, and I recommend it often for small customers. When you are below a certain size, it's hard to beat. But once you have about ~12 users, it's too expensive to consider.
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@jmoore said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller Just to be clear she is looking for the whole package. Including some sort of hosting, phones, call manager, various other features, and a mobile app for byod. That is what we are looking at.
Would like to setup a demo for you, ironically this is what are product does. I will post some screenshots. Provisioning, billing, logs, all in one portal.
Another thing that I can’t understand is why Freepbx hasn’t addressed its issues with roaming mobile app access.
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@bigbear said in Phone system:
Another thing that I can’t understand is why Freepbx hasn’t addressed its issues with roaming mobile app access.
Other than Zulu, you mean? Or does Zulu not do what you want? It's not free, so it's lacking something that I want.
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I’m having a good experience with 3CX. Very easy to config and, in cause of a disaster, you can just recover from the single file of backup that it creates with your scheduling.
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@scottalanmiller said in Phone system:
@bigbear said in Phone system:
Another thing that I can’t understand is why Freepbx hasn’t addressed its issues with roaming mobile app access.
Other than Zulu, you mean? Or does Zulu not do what you want? It's not free, so it's lacking something that I want.
Configuring a soft phone like Bria from your mobile device results in the responsive firewall banning your connections as you traserve cellular/WiFi networks.
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@bigbear said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone system:
@bigbear said in Phone system:
Another thing that I can’t understand is why Freepbx hasn’t addressed its issues with roaming mobile app access.
Other than Zulu, you mean? Or does Zulu not do what you want? It's not free, so it's lacking something that I want.
Configuring a soft phone like Bria from your mobile device results in the responsive firewall banning your connections as you traserve cellular/WiFi networks.
I have less problems with the Firewall and more with the Intrusion Detection module.
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@scottalanmiller Well we really do not need to manage it ourselves. This is just what the phone lady was looking at. She will be in charge of it and knows what she wants out of it.
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@dashrender Yeah thats what it is like for me too. I am a big fan of Yeahlink phones so I mentioned it one day when they were asking me what I would do. Neither persons had ever heard of Yeahlink phones. So its hard getting people to understand why something is a good choice when they have not heard of it before
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@scottalanmiller said in Phone system:
@dashrender said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone system:
@jmoore said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller Well we are getting demos of phone .... mobile apps.
You only need demos of those things for systems that are proprietary and don't let you choose what you want. Nothing wrong with a demo or features, but "use anything you want" is the best demo. Basically, the demos you are seeing are demonstrations of limitations, not of features. For open systems, there isn't really anything like that to demo in the first place.
99% of SMB don't want this. They want a solution. great it's open - now - what should I use to get mobile access? They expect an answer - not, anything you want.
I don't believe that. I think they just buy that because they turn to sales people willing to gouge them and they don't bother actually doing some basic research to see how phones work. I think 99% of SMBs would avoid this if they understood what they were buying.
They don't ACTUALLY want to get ripped off, they just don't want to "think about it" and get ripped off as a byproduct. There is a difference between wanting to be lazy and hoping that you can be lazy AND get a good deal. It's not realistic, but desiring to be lazy doesn't actually mean that they want a bad deal.
AGREE!
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@jaredbusch said in Phone system:
@bigbear said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone system:
@bigbear said in Phone system:
Another thing that I can’t understand is why Freepbx hasn’t addressed its issues with roaming mobile app access.
Other than Zulu, you mean? Or does Zulu not do what you want? It's not free, so it's lacking something that I want.
Configuring a soft phone like Bria from your mobile device results in the responsive firewall banning your connections as you traserve cellular/WiFi networks.
I have less problems with the Firewall and more with the Intrusion Detection module.
This is still an issue for me as well. Do we have any good solutions for mobile users who want softphone access?
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@jmoore said in Phone system:
@dashrender Yeah thats what it is like for me too. I am a big fan of Yeahlink phones so I mentioned it one day when they were asking me what I would do. Neither persons had ever heard of Yeahlink phones. So its hard getting people to understand why something is a good choice when they have not heard of it before
Why does the brand of the phone on their desk matter? The only thing that should matter is the features they want, with an easy to use interface on the display when physical buttons aren't available.
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@dashrender To some degree it does not but if we are going to make an investment for 300-400 phones then my opinion is to get something that has few issues. Our current phones are constantly having issues and are outdated. Something mainstream like that would have the few features we need and more most likely. To me, it does matter a little bit.
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I'm guessing almost any VOIP/SIP phone you buy today will have few issues, at least for several years.
To me it boils down to required features at the lowest price (while not getting a POS that dies every 10 mins, lol).
It's like buying Ubiquiti ER-L vs SonicWall. The boss has heard of SonicWall, they see it plastered all over the airport - so they assume it must be good, they've never heard of Ubiquiti though, so it must be bad..
/sigh.
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@bigbear said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone system:
@bigbear said in Phone system:
Another thing that I can’t understand is why Freepbx hasn’t addressed its issues with roaming mobile app access.
Other than Zulu, you mean? Or does Zulu not do what you want? It's not free, so it's lacking something that I want.
Configuring a soft phone like Bria from your mobile device results in the responsive firewall banning your connections as you traserve cellular/WiFi networks.
We almost never see that.
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@jaredbusch said in Phone system:
@bigbear said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone system:
@bigbear said in Phone system:
Another thing that I can’t understand is why Freepbx hasn’t addressed its issues with roaming mobile app access.
Other than Zulu, you mean? Or does Zulu not do what you want? It's not free, so it's lacking something that I want.
Configuring a soft phone like Bria from your mobile device results in the responsive firewall banning your connections as you traserve cellular/WiFi networks.
I have less problems with the Firewall and more with the Intrusion Detection module.
Same here, IDS/F2B is where the bigger problems seem to be.
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@jmoore said in Phone system:
@scottalanmiller Well we really do not need to manage it ourselves. This is just what the phone lady was looking at. She will be in charge of it and knows what she wants out of it.
Right, that's, I think, the big selling point. Why buy a system that you have to learn and be an expert on vs. when you can buy something and have it all handled for you... unless of course the earlier one is cheaper. But if the latter is cheaper, in theory it should be a pretty strong slam dunk.
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@jmoore said in Phone system:
@dashrender Yeah thats what it is like for me too. I am a big fan of Yeahlink phones so I mentioned it one day when they were asking me what I would do. Neither persons had ever heard of Yeahlink phones. So its hard getting people to understand why something is a good choice when they have not heard of it before
Or... ask HOW they could possibly not have heard of one of the key vendors. That's right up there with not knowing Dell or Cisco. Yealink is in the "day one vendors you learn in the field" range. I'd respond with shock that they've not learned the key vendors yet at this point.
It's amazing how far legitimate incredulity can get you
If you look at SIP phones, they are just everywhere.
