Switching from ATT to Comcast VoIP Phoneline

For users or potential users.
Post Reply
User avatar
savvy
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:25 pm
Location: Berkeley, California

Switching from ATT to Comcast VoIP Phoneline

Post by savvy » Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:54 pm

Now what?
Is there anything I should be doing to add bling to my phone system.

I currently have an Avaya Partner Phone system with 4 lines and 16 phones.
The system allows for in house voice mail,and a boat load of other features that can be programmed in.
I have roll over.
My phone is transferred and answered by human answering service if not answered in office after 4 rings.
Answering service faxes messages to office......capable of texting and email.

In other words, can having VoIP do anything more with OD that I couldn't do before?

Anything I should be doing differently?

Cheers!!
Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth.

Cheers!!!
Go Bears!!!!!
Savvy

User avatar
Manny Ramirez
Posts: 129
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:07 pm
Location: Miami/Puerto Rico
Contact:

Re: Switching from ATT to Comcast VoIP Phoneline

Post by Manny Ramirez » Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:01 pm

Although this is not a VOIP Forum I am going to shed some light on the subject. Comcast VOIP is not a full VOIP implementation sort of speak. They will bring a router; called a VOIP Gateway; (similar to your Internet router) that will covert VOIP signal back to analogue lines so you can hook it up to your existing punch block and/or directly to your PBX system. You will have to do some rewiring. So make sure you bring your telephone guy to do the cross punching. I believe they have a four port and eight port VOIP Gateway. I've seen it working in some office and it looks pretty steady. Comcast tends to be very flaky in some areas though. This can be an issue, because that I know of, Comcast does not provide automatic fail over for calls just in case you loose service. Basically, you are replacing the Bell with Cable company. The rest will remain the same. You can continue to handle calls with your PBX as usual.
If are looking for a real VOIP solution. Check out 3CX Phone System. This is a Windows based solution. There are many Linux flavors VOIP Server as well. You can use Broadvox as your VOIP provider, use Comcast to route calls in and out of the office and regular Internet use. Comcast customer service is very poor in some areas as well. I recently relocated my office to a building that didn't have the facilities available. They send someone to survey the building and told us that it could take up to 90 days to get the proper wires in place. In the meantime I have to continue paying for the services even though I am not using the service. It is a good thing I got ATT as backup service just in case :)
Manny Ramirez
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC

teethdood
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:39 am
Location: Visalia, CA
Contact:

Re: Switching from ATT to Comcast VoIP Phoneline

Post by teethdood » Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:15 pm

Yeah Comcast isn't true VoIP. It just piggybacks off their cable network to voice lines but does not go through the Internet. So even if your internet service goes down for whatever reason, comcast voice will stay up.
I use ringcentral VoIP, 2 business lines with e-fax. I also have another Ooma line with Google Voice. They all point to one another so they all ring. The ooma is linked to a 4-phone cordless system so each of my RDA gets one. I train them all to do dual frontdesk/back assistant. Google Voice is for SMS texting and voicemail-as-text. Not the most elegant but it works for us.
Philip H. Doan, DDS
http://www.kaweahdental.com/

Post Reply