Virtual PBX Systems
From SeattleTechWiki
Virtual PBX Systems are computer systems which provide the functions of a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) via hosted or installed software. Common features include multiple phone numbers, call routing, fax handling, and voice mail.
Contents |
PBX Features and Advantages
- Voice phone services
- Address Book
- Call Blocking
- Call Forwarding
- Call Return
- Call Routing
- Call Waiting
- Caller ID
- Conference Calls
- Fax Handling
- Ring Identification
- Speed Dialing
- Three-Way Calling
- Voice mail
Virtual PBX vs. Conventional PBX
Supplier Notes and Reviews
Aretta
Broadvoice (VOIP provider)
http://www.google.com/search?q=broadvoice+sucks
Broadview
http://www.broadviewnet.com/Products_Solutions/ProductSolutions_home.asp
Grasshopper
M5
Joel Stimson:
- We have been using them for a few months and feel pretty good about it so far. They are a little expensive, but the quality is comparable to a landline, and adding users is easy. They integrate with Salesforce and Outlook, and use Cisco hardware.
MASTAR
OnSIP
Logan Bowers:
- We just using onsip.com for VoIP telephony. They have no per-extension fees, everything is available a la carte, and they're feature rich. Haven't used them long enough to speak to their reliability. There are no up-front costs to get running, there aren't any charges until you add the first feature that costs money. This makes it super easy to test it w/your VoIP phones/softphones.
Packet8 (8x8)
PBX+
http://www.pbxplus.com/pbx-features.php (also known as 800pbx.com?) Matt Steckler:
- I've played with 800pbx.com and its very very cool. It has a great UI for setting up workflow with conditions.
PhoneBooth
http://www.phonebooth.com/ has a free service that provides an auto-attendant, in-bound call routing to any phone, voice mail with transcription, and hunt groups. They also have a pay service that supports a rather limited set of VOIP devices.
RingCentral
Galen Ward:
- If you are dependent on your phones ringing every day, RingCentral won't cut it. I gave them chance after chance, but after the fourth time our phones just stopped ringing, we gave up. ... I loved the powerful-if-confusing web interface.
- They also have nasty latency problems where you spend a lot of time saying "what?"
- We now use RingCentral for fax and Speakeasy for voice. Speakeasy voice has been great in terms of quality, although the web UI is not as good. They do conference calls. I believe you can route extensions to phone numbers. We use Speakeasy to route phone numbers to other phone numbers (like cell phones).
- Transferring an 800 number can take weeks and local numbers can take days, so start with someone decent.
Chris Rodde:
- We've used Ringcentral for over a year now and have been very satisfied. We have about 6 total phone numbers both toll free and local. While the user experience is complicated and often non-intuitive, you get enterprise class features at startup friendly prices. The routing, fax and voicemail features jave tons of options. We've really had no problem with call quality.
Kristoph Cichocki-Romanov:
- I've also used RingCentral for some years and have had a positive experience. I've never had any problems with call quality or call drops.
Massimiliano Ciccotosto:
- We use RingCentral for 5 difference companies. The Digital line service was not that great when we tried using our own IP phones. Lately we got phones from them for all our lines and it's been working very well.
Speakeasy
David Laub:
- We currently use Speakeasy and have a lot “jitters” during our phone calls. They have tried and tried to fix this, but it is still an issue. We even separated Speakeasy onto a separate dedicated T-1 and still have quality issues.
Trixbox
http://www.trixbox.org/trixbox-line-asterisk-based-ip-pbx-products
Vonage
Frank Paterra:
- We use Vonage and currently have 5 lines + a fax line over a standard comcast business connection.
