Cisco VOIP solution for second office we are opening in another location
At my main office I have a single CUCM 7.1.5 server and Unity Connection 9.1.2 server. My H.323 Voice gateway router is a Cisco 2821 Router, with all phone lines coming in on a T1 (PRI).
Here's my scenario. We are going to open a second office in another state, employees here will basically be our 2nd shift, but I'm not sure how to go about routing calls to them. For example if someone calls our main office at night, I want the call to be answered by the second shift employees who are staffed in another office in another state.
I thought about just registering some IP phone over a VPN connection back to our main office, but the are only going to have one internet circuit to start, so I don't want IP Phones to go down if one of the offices lose internet. So i don't think that is a solution.
So i'm thinking about dropping a CME router out there, but I'm unsure how I would route calls from my main office to the second office. See all our customers call 555-555-5555 at our main office, and our auto attendant (unity Connection) picks up, and customers go through the options to talk to who they need to, so during 2nd shift how would I route the calls to be answered at the second office?
Any Advice or thoughts?
Here's my scenario. We are going to open a second office in another state, employees here will basically be our 2nd shift, but I'm not sure how to go about routing calls to them. For example if someone calls our main office at night, I want the call to be answered by the second shift employees who are staffed in another office in another state.
I thought about just registering some IP phone over a VPN connection back to our main office, but the are only going to have one internet circuit to start, so I don't want IP Phones to go down if one of the offices lose internet. So i don't think that is a solution.
So i'm thinking about dropping a CME router out there, but I'm unsure how I would route calls from my main office to the second office. See all our customers call 555-555-5555 at our main office, and our auto attendant (unity Connection) picks up, and customers go through the options to talk to who they need to, so during 2nd shift how would I route the calls to be answered at the second office?
Any Advice or thoughts?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
So I could just get a 2900 series router with an SRST license right? I would probably just put a VIC2-4FXO card in it with a few analog phone lines. I've never used SRST. So if I understand correctly if my VPN link to the main office goes down, the phones will register on the 2900 series router i have onsite with the SRST license and they will be able to make local calls right? If this is the case, this could be a lot simpler than I anticipated. Thanks for helping!
Yes that is correct
ASKER
Now can I do least cost routing voip between site A that has call manager and site b that has SRST?
Site A (Call Manager)- Pennsylvania
Site B (SRST) - California
If I'm in PA and want to make a call to California, can the call go through Site B router that has the local lines in CA. This would save money on long distance.
Site A (Call Manager)- Pennsylvania
Site B (SRST) - California
If I'm in PA and want to make a call to California, can the call go through Site B router that has the local lines in CA. This would save money on long distance.
Yes you can configure toll bypass for that. If you do that keep that in mind when you size how many FXO ports you need.
ASKER
Thanks
- CME router in remote location with its own PRI or FXO port
- Phones register to the CUCM 7 back at your main office (so far the CME feature is not used, the gateway acts as data link between the 2 sites)
- Callers calling 555 555 5555 hit Unity, where they hear a call handler with some options, they select 1 option and are router back into CUCM to the first shift employees.
- You can program the call handler in Unity to play the Standard greeting or another greeting based on time of the day, so depending on that, your users will hear one greeting and be routed to the first shift, or get an afterhours greeting and be routed to the second shift employees.
Now, the question is, when your callers call that particular 555 number, is your current config connecting them to Unity? Or do they go straight to the employees?