On Sat, 30 Jun 2007, Dan Smith wrote:
> I was given a "project" by my boss to look into a IP based system for 
> our Small office in St.Paul.  Our office currently has 4 people with 
> Phone Extentions, but Can support up to 6 actual stations.
>
> Does anyone have ideas about this?  Vonage?

You're going to need a few pieces:

1) PSTN connection. This can be VoIP or a physical line.
2) PBX solution. This could be a softswitch you install on a chunk of
    hardware, or a fully supported piece of hardware.
3) Phones. Lots of options here.  :)

There are companies that combine it all - a good example would be junction 
networks. You pay them a fixed monthly fee, and they do everything for 
you - you just need to plug the phones into an internet connection.

As far as the PBX solution, if you really want to roll it yourself, I 
highly recommend Asterisk. There are also other solutions, such as 
Fonality and iSoftSwitch, which are supported software. On the other end 
of the spectrum, there are units like the Linksys IP9000 or Mediatrix 
gateways that are a chunk of hardware delivered by the vendor with 
software preloaded.

As far as phones, I highly recommend the Polycom phones, but there are 
lots of good options.  ;)

You may want to chat with the guys at ATAComm - they are up in Maple 
Grove, and are one of the larger VoIP resellers. Check out 
www.atacomm.com.

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| nate carlson | natecars at natecarlson.com | http://www.natecarlson.com |
|       depriving some poor village of its idiot since 1981            |
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