Cisco VOIP - pro/cons?

We are looking for implementation of Cisco IP solution. We have 3
locations to connect through it.
Each location would have gateway to PSTN (60 lines) and about 250
telephones.

We got a tender for Cisco voip solution, the one with central 4050
switch and second with using our 3640 router.

Can somebody tell me for pro/cons of using one way?
How it is with voip in general, does it really work so good, what are
the main problems?
What should we be aware of and of what should we specially take care?

Thx . . . .

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 07:27:55 +0200, "RM"
<bezaveza_MRZIM_SAMP_@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> We are looking for implementation of Cisco IP solution. We have 3
>locations to connect through it.
> Each location would have gateway to PSTN (60 lines) and about 250
>telephones.
>
> We got a tender for Cisco voip solution, the one with central 4050
>switch and second with using our 3640 router.
>
> Can somebody tell me for pro/cons of using one way?
> How it is with voip in general, does it really work so good, what are
>the main problems?
> What should we be aware of and of what should we specially take care?
>
> Thx . . . .
>

We went with the Cisco VOIP about a year ago when we built our new
main building. The decision was based primarily on the fact that we
were installing all new network equipment and wiring.

Its very flexible with a lot of features. People really like the
phones and the speed-dials and other custom services I've written.

Unfortunately it's higher maintenance than a tradiational PBX. We
have to reboot the Call Managers once a month or calls start dropping
due to a memory leak in the Cisco software. The software is also
based on a Windows 2000 platform and you inherit all of the MS
stability and security issues.

As a side note the Blaster worm, despite the MS patch being installed,
crashed the RPC service on the call manager which kill our phones
until I rebooted and setup some router ACLs to protect it from the
attack (from inside our firewall).

The other main drawback is poor support for modems and fax machines.
It took a lot of router firmware updates and software updates to get
faxes reliable. The recent 12.3 IOS update for the router seems to
have made modems work over 26k.

In hindsight, I wonder if VOIP is still not mature enough.

We have the Call Manager installed. We have about 1300 devices registered on
it. I'm a data guy, so I can't really compare it with a PBX.
We have run into a few issues, but that is mainly with other devices
connected to the Call Manager. Since upgrading to 3.2, a good number of
those issues have went away.
All of our VOIP is accross the LAN. We do not have anything across any WAN
link yet.
Other than the SQL bug, I haven't had a major issue in the past few months.
Upgrades can be a bitch.
Modems do cause issues. New models seem to work alot better than anything a
few years old. Fax has really turned around since upgrading the code on the
gateways.
They work really well now.
All of our PRI's come into 6608's. We hve looked in to putting VOIP at the
remote sites and using the 3700 series.
Most of the issues and down time has come from patching the system
(Windows..) You're going to have that problem with anything IP based though.
Just some more than others.



"RM" <bezaveza_MRZIM_SAMP_@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bhf6jd$2f4$...
>
> We are looking for implementation of Cisco IP solution. We have 3
> locations to connect through it.
> Each location would have gateway to PSTN (60 lines) and about 250
> telephones.
>
> We got a tender for Cisco voip solution, the one with central 4050
> switch and second with using our 3640 router.
>
> Can somebody tell me for pro/cons of using one way?
> How it is with voip in general, does it really work so good, what are
> the main problems?
> What should we be aware of and of what should we specially take care?
>
> Thx . . . .
>
>

Our fax issues have went away.
Using the 6624 modules, and the some of the latest code we are working well.
I am looking into seeing how the ATA's work with fax machines now.


"RM" <bezaveza_MRZIM_SAMP_@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bhi6b1$6nf$...
> We will probably go with CallManager 3.3. Can you please desribe a fax
> problem in more details.
> We are waging now if VoIP will be good to invest in, or should we go
> with checked Ericsson or Siemens technology.
> Fax devices are of great importance for our business, and it would be
a
> big foult if they would not work properly.
>
> Thx
>
> <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 07:27:55 +0200, "RM"
> > <bezaveza_MRZIM_SAMP_@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > We are looking for implementation of Cisco IP solution. We have 3
> > >locations to connect through it.
> > > Each location would have gateway to PSTN (60 lines) and about 250
> > >telephones.
> > >
> > > We got a tender for Cisco voip solution, the one with central 4050
> > >switch and second with using our 3640 router.
> > >
> > > Can somebody tell me for pro/cons of using one way?
> > > How it is with voip in general, does it really work so good, what
are
> > >the main problems?
> > > What should we be aware of and of what should we specially take
care?
> > >
> > > Thx . . . .
> > >
> >
> > We went with the Cisco VOIP about a year ago when we built our new
> > main building. The decision was based primarily on the fact that we
> > were installing all new network equipment and wiring.
> >
> > Its very flexible with a lot of features. People really like the
> > phones and the speed-dials and other custom services I've written.
> >
> > Unfortunately it's higher maintenance than a tradiational PBX. We
> > have to reboot the Call Managers once a month or calls start dropping
> > due to a memory leak in the Cisco software. The software is also
> > based on a Windows 2000 platform and you inherit all of the MS
> > stability and security issues.
> >
> > As a side note the Blaster worm, despite the MS patch being installed,
> > crashed the RPC service on the call manager which kill our phones
> > until I rebooted and setup some router ACLs to protect it from the
> > attack (from inside our firewall).
> >
> > The other main drawback is poor support for modems and fax machines.
> > It took a lot of router firmware updates and software updates to get
> > faxes reliable. The recent 12.3 IOS update for the router seems to
> > have made modems work over 26k.
> >
> > In hindsight, I wonder if VOIP is still not mature enough.
>
>

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 10:41:50 +0200, "RM"
<bezaveza_MRZIM_SAMP_@hotmail.com> wrote:

> We will probably go with CallManager 3.3. Can you please desribe a fax
>problem in more details.

Unreliable connections with intermittent call drops, faxes only able
to negotiate at 2400.

Have a look at Mitel MN3300 its the most feature rich PBX on the market.
Probably a lot cheaper compared to cisco as well.

www.mitel.com

"RM" <bezaveza_MRZIM_SAMP_@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bhi6b1$6nf$...
> We will probably go with CallManager 3.3. Can you please desribe a fax
> problem in more details.
> We are waging now if VoIP will be good to invest in, or should we go
> with checked Ericsson or Siemens technology.
> Fax devices are of great importance for our business, and it would be
a
> big foult if they would not work properly.
>
> Thx
>
> <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 07:27:55 +0200, "RM"
> > <bezaveza_MRZIM_SAMP_@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > We are looking for implementation of Cisco IP solution. We have 3
> > >locations to connect through it.
> > > Each location would have gateway to PSTN (60 lines) and about 250
> > >telephones.
> > >
> > > We got a tender for Cisco voip solution, the one with central 4050
> > >switch and second with using our 3640 router.
> > >
> > > Can somebody tell me for pro/cons of using one way?
> > > How it is with voip in general, does it really work so good, what
are
> > >the main problems?
> > > What should we be aware of and of what should we specially take
care?
> > >
> > > Thx . . . .
> > >
> >
> > We went with the Cisco VOIP about a year ago when we built our new
> > main building. The decision was based primarily on the fact that we
> > were installing all new network equipment and wiring.
> >
> > Its very flexible with a lot of features. People really like the
> > phones and the speed-dials and other custom services I've written.
> >
> > Unfortunately it's higher maintenance than a tradiational PBX. We
> > have to reboot the Call Managers once a month or calls start dropping
> > due to a memory leak in the Cisco software. The software is also
> > based on a Windows 2000 platform and you inherit all of the MS
> > stability and security issues.
> >
> > As a side note the Blaster worm, despite the MS patch being installed,
> > crashed the RPC service on the call manager which kill our phones
> > until I rebooted and setup some router ACLs to protect it from the
> > attack (from inside our firewall).
> >
> > The other main drawback is poor support for modems and fax machines.
> > It took a lot of router firmware updates and software updates to get
> > faxes reliable. The recent 12.3 IOS update for the router seems to
> > have made modems work over 26k.
> >
> > In hindsight, I wonder if VOIP is still not mature enough.
>
>

This is an interesting original post, in that its kind of a common question,
but why would anyone assume or ask if VoIP is ready for prime time based
only on the fact that they had problems with their Cisco. Thats like buying
a 2004 car getting a lemon and then saying all 2004 cars must be bad. Cisco
ain't the only choice out there. Throw off those shackles of the IT
mentality that Cisco is some kind of god, embrace the telecom side and
expand your horizons.

I will probably go with Cisco, anyhow
Majority of my net equipment is Cisco, people have Cisco certificates, are
used to Cisco and his good or bad sides . . . . . If we move to another
supplyer of IPtel it will defiatelly be a problem and generate more problems
in the future use.

So I will probably go with Cisco, but I would just like to know what could
be the problems in the future and how to approach them . . . .




"DPGumby" <> wrote in message
news:ByV2b.8644$.. .
> This is an interesting original post, in that its kind of a common
question,
> but why would anyone assume or ask if VoIP is ready for prime time based
> only on the fact that they had problems with their Cisco. Thats like
buying
> a 2004 car getting a lemon and then saying all 2004 cars must be bad.
Cisco
> ain't the only choice out there. Throw off those shackles of the IT
> mentality that Cisco is some kind of god, embrace the telecom side and
> expand your horizons.
>
>

Whatever you want its your network, but I think it short sighted to just
assume "gee we got Cisco stuff so things will just go better if we stay all
Cisco".

"DPGumby" <> wrote in message
news:Qtc3b.8920$.. .
> Whatever you want its your network, but I think it short sighted to just
> assume "gee we got Cisco stuff so things will just go better if we stay
all
> Cisco".
>
>

I definatelly think that way . . . . maybe with that "gee" word also