Robust, cost effect phone solution for small business, perhaps as a virtual appliance, or appliance?

FreePBX is a good and stable product if you have analog phones or POTS you need a gateway device

Hey David

I hope you are well. Thanks for the response.  I am pretty sure they are digital phones, and they want to replace them all anyway.  Have you heard of Ooma?  I would be interested in something we can install/support if need be, with support behind it.

Thanks!!

Asterisk was the most popular open source software PBX when I last looked, you can use their forum or pay for support.

Hey Andy, FreePBX is built on top of asterisk the last time I looked under the hood

I had never heard of OOMA until you mentioned it. Looks like any other voip provider from a cursory glance.

Nor have I until they were brought up to me.  Thanks!!!!

FYI sagoma sells free pbx appliances

David you have experience with them?  I had called and ironically the call quality was so bad, I couldn't hear the person, (She said she was working from home).  
I will reach out to them again tomorrow to find out more!

Thanks

Hey Andy

Thanks!  Do you know of anyone actually using it anywhere?  Do you have any experience with it and if so, how has it been?

Thanks

Freepbx is used by thousands of businesses.
Some videos Crosstalk Solutions
Lawrence Systems
Rossman Repair Group

We used to use a self hosted system and then moved to a cloud managed system.  It is a lot easier to manage and then when something like COVID hits and working remote becomes important, that is already built in and feature you didn't think you would ever use become paramount.   Self hosted is not easy to maintain. Cloud based can be maintained by anybody via an easy admin portal and free support.

Currently using Nextiva.

Hey Scott

I hope everyone is well.  I will look into that.  How do you like Ooma?

Thanks again!

I don't have experience with Ooma.

When I start my research for a company I am about to use, one of the places I look is Glassdoor. Employee sentiment says a lot about the company.
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/ooma-Reviews-E273768.htm 
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Nextiva-Reviews-E483424.htm 

From what I saw on the ooma site it is a cloud service. Buying their equipment or base station/router is still using their cloud service.

The next place I look is Amazon reviews. The concerning thing is many of the reviews are from 2015 to 2019. Nothing new.  Comments like "Can't cancel" remind me of the old AOL from the 90's and poor support. Since those reviews are old, it is hard to know what it is like currently.

Most of these cloud services use the same equipment and software. Cisco, Polycom or Yealink I believe are the main. Then their back ends are the same too. You have already heard about https://www.asterisk.org/  and many systems are build on top of that. I said I use Nextiva  and their 'old' admin system is broadsoft which is Cisco and I believe their 'new' admin system is just a pretty face using broadsoft api's.

For me, any tech company that is service based like this comes down to support. Unfortunately, you can't experience support until you need it and by then it is too late.  As far as price, once you start comparing apples to apples with features, I know you will find the pricing to be very similar. So support to me is the number one thing to look at.

Hey Scott

Super helpful - thank you!  Nothing current on Ooma - PC World (really geared more towards consumers rated them really high.  So you are happy with Nextiva  - how long have you been using them?

Thanks again!