Friday, February 19, 2016

IP PBX System: Thinking Of Switching To VoIP?

I Installed an IP PBX system from my whole home a month ago but i just want some more advanced phones since two phone lines at home provide unlimited global calling for about USD35/mo plus DSL. Each.

I didn't need SIP trunking, it is actually more expensive from dozens of services I found. I bought a kit consisting on an IP PBX servers and six advanced-ish IP phones and one tablet-like touchscreen Android-based IP phone for less than a grand. Spend a few hours setting it up (my home was already ethernet-wired) and a few days fine-tweaking it to my liking.

READ; BEST IPHONE AND SAMSUNG VOIP ACCESSORIES TREND IN AMAZON 2016

I knew nothing about this so I learned it in the process. The system is amazing, all the phones and the server are Grandstream branded, the server already includes two FXO ports so you don't need to purchase an additional Gateway. As I mention earlier, if you don't have the pricing they on landlines like Mexico has, it still has SIP trunking.

I checked on Amazon and the server is less than $400 USD and phones are as cheap as $40, less if you want to use another brand. I successfully connected the system to softphones on my smartphones an iPads and even later on I went to purchase an additional couple of phones to install on a couple of businesses I own. Commercial lines have no unlimited calling and overall have less benefits than residential ones so I just route them over the internet to my home where basically nobody uses landlines and both lines are always available and talk for free—worldwide.

Also read; Best VoIP Service Providers to grow your Business in 2016

Power outages, if any, can be worked around by using a UPS or some other battery bank and even if there isn't any, the system has FXS port on which you can connect analog phones to and they become passthrough from the FXO ports.

It isn't big too, it's about the size and looks just like a router. The version with just two FXO ports (the PSTN gateway ones) can actually act like a router.

My next project is linking them with the Ubiquiti UniFi VoIP phones, they are gorgeous but I read hard to link to the PSTN, an they require their self-branded router and a spare computer to be set up and work. I'll see as soon as I get my hands on some of these.

Recommended;

I hope this information is useful to anyone who is thinking of switching to VoIP.