First - you are indeed a Maestro of Telecom. It looks like you'll be getting the 500 points, and not only because no one else answered. I'm new and don't know what those points actually mean, but hopefully it's not the foolish motivational tool it sounds like. I'll give it a few more days and then close this question down.
So, I was definitely considering an Asterisk system, as I like the open-source/DIY possibility, range of features, and the possibility I can remotely manage it since I spend a lot of time in another part of the country (am I right about the remote management capability?). But, are you sure the older-style phones (b/c non-IP phones) and pbx's aren't going for super-low prices because everyone's moving to VoIP?
COMMERCIAL v DIY ASTERISK:
You've suggested commercial Asterisk systems - but would me setting it up on my own be out of the question? (Using FreePBX I think?). I need a pretty simple system: voicemail and conference calling, and that's it.
BRIDGING TO ANOTHER PBX:
You also mentioned that I could bridge my system to the system of the business that a big chunk of calls will be going to, and that it would then be essentially free b/c it's all over the data network, not voice. But what about security concerns? That other business is a branch office of a large Utility company - I'm wary that their IT guys would allow that connection. Or is something like that not a big deal?
HOSTED SERVICE:
For hosted service - you gave an estimate of $50/user. We have 40 users, so $2000. This phone system has a set 2-year lifespan (at most 3-year). I was thinking that having an on-premise system would be cheaper in the long rung - do you agree?
CHEERS!
Seriously, thanks for the help. And I wouldn't say that your answer was equivalent to a plug/promotion. As long as the opinions on cost you gave are true, you've presented a clear, unbiased picture of the situation.
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by: LexmarPosted on 2009-11-04 at 08:11:57ID: 25740786
A VOIP solution based on open source asterisk systems will run about half the cost of a traditonal key system. Essentially for the cost of a 4 year old used system you can have a new VOIP/SIP based commercial version of asterisk with support and all the bells and whistles. Pretty much everyone's stuff today is web administrated even the current key systems. When properly setup they can be easiliy managed locally for extensions and autoattendant and remotely for more complicated stuff.
VOIP costs are also cheaper than traditional phone service and will allow you scale up or down as your size dictates. You can get plans that run based on minutes or flat rate. Figure 10 lines of flat rate have a national average around $350/mo for a quality carrier. The nice thing about VOIP is you can go to the provider's website and add capacity to your account up or down as you please. VOIP is getting better with FAX but still has some issues with older FAX equipment so you will need a POTS line or two for FAX or use a service like eFAX.
BTW - about >8-10 lines is just about the point where it starts to make economic sense to move away from a flat rate plan and go to a minute based plan (also called bucket plans). Remember that on anyone's system intercom is not telephone and has no associated line /usage costs. If the majority of calls are going to one place and they have have sufficient bandwidth there you can bridge your system to theirs over VOIP and give yourself say 4/8/12... extensions straight in and that 60% call load becomes zero cost intercom calls - it does not matter what they have; there are ways to hook the systems no matter what they are.
Alternatively you can also just go with a hosted PBX service and just put in IP phones and not even have an internal phone system, you still get intercom and can do all the same stuff. National average is roughly $50/mo per extension - this is usually more cost effective for a smaller office but there are some big organizations doing it when they have people scattered all over the map. Rule of thumb is that if telco calls are >60% of the total phone system then take a close look at hosted.
Commercial asterisk systems: IVT Evolution (I am a dealer), Fonality (direct or thru Dell), Asterisk Now Business (Digium - sponsor of asterisk), all told there are a dozen or more good commerical adaptations of asterisk you can Google. There is also SIPXecs and 3CX (WIndows based) as well as Windows Communication Server as alternatives. All of these systems come in various levels of features and you can go with the high end versions that offer Unified Messaging that can take incoming FAX and voicemail and shoot it straight to your email and still be way less than the cost of a used Avaya/Nortel/Comdial etc.
Hope this gets you a start, I am pushing the rules for the forum by possibly getting too close to a commercial plug or self promotion here.