IP phone installation and setup, help!

[Ultra_Extreme]

Hey guys, im an IT professional and work in local government (dont let that fool you, im actually pretty good ) but ive just been asked to install something ive never dabbled in before....IP phones!!!

Now i know the principles of these from maintaining networks, bunch of phones with RJ45's connect into your standard network switches and somewhere in the place they connect to a router or something that handles the phone system like an old school PABX

Could anyone take me through this from the ground up? what are the options, what are the connection methods, how can i best implement this in a location where there is already a network with network points in each room but where the router is a specialist cisco that cannot be replaced or altered.

 

[Jez]

Not being funny but this is ridiculously simple networking, what do you specialise in

The phones are just standard DHCP clients which will likely get a lease from the telephony gateway.

 

[Shelster]

Are the phones going to be connecting out to the big bad world and if so how? Are you going to be using an IP based voice provider or are you going to connect to PSTN lines?

only asking as I have been trying to set up a small solution in work over the last few months and it has proved very educational.

The actual internal PBX is fairly straight forward to get going. I started off using FreePBX (which is free) and managed to have internal calls working fine.

Had severe issues with connecting to our on site analogue excahnge to make calls to other offices in the place where we work. Had tried using Cisco rpouters with FXO cards installed but did not manage to make it work.

If you are workign in local government it may be beneficial for you to use Cisco Call Manager, which is supposed to be great for configuring, but as you can guess, as with all things Cisco it does not come cheap.

As mentioned, the networking side is fairly straight forward. Depending upon phone used, you connect that to the switch and then PC can hang off that (or remain on another port on the switch). You then attach the PBX to the switch and have the phones point there for their configuration and provisioning.

You will also need ot look at how the phones get their power. Many can be powered from a local adaptor, but the majority of Cisco phones can be used with PoE (Power Over Ethernet), which you will either need a PoE switch to connect the phones too or have PoE injectors mounted into the data cabinets to cover that function

You have two protocols to choose form really, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and SCCP (Skinny Call Control Protocol), the later being used on Cisco Call Manager.

Before you jump in feet and wallet first, think it will be beneficail to call a few meetings and work out exactly what you require from the system you are putting in and have it planned to the nth degree. This will inevitably save time and money and pay for itself in the longrun. You have to have a clear plan to work to really.

 

[Trifid]

You need to talk to suppliers and get a specialist in to install this. This isn't something you should blag your way through.

But you don't need to use the data router for processing calls (although traffic may flow through it but ensure you have QoS setup with DSCP46 EF for voice RTP traffic). You'll need a router or a gateway to terminate voice calls to an ISDN if you already have them installed, such as a Cisco 2900 series router with the appropriate VIC/VWIC cards, DSPs and software licence for voice. Alternatively you might want to look into SIP trunks if you have a decent internet connection.

You'll generally have a server to process the calls, such as Cisco Callmanager, although for small offices they do have an Express version but I think I'd be looking else where at this level.

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

@Jez erm i really think your jumping to some odd conclusion that knowing how to network hundreds of PC's across my entire county has anything at all to do with VOIP and since im all self taught i missed the side lectures on such protocols that graduates might have had.

@Shelster, thanks for that m8 looks like youve trodden the same path as myself. The setup and layout is all very easy as the phones will be mains powered with switching so the PC's can connect to the phones and both can go down 1 pipe. The switches in the premesis are big ass expensive HP PoE's by and large but not all of them so i dont want to rely on PoE as a solution. I guess my real question was to do with methods of getting the calls out into the wider world. ISDN would seem ideal though it feels a little old fashioned in this day and age. Internet pipe would be preferable however for that i may need a new line as the county manages the adsl on the main one and we have so many VPNs and other things going on that it would prove difficult to organise.

@Trifid - m8 the only difference between a professional and an amateur is knowledge. In my experience you're best off asking and learning and then doing rather than having some braindead muppet with a clipboard come along and do it for 10x the price. However i do appreciate the sentiment and in the long run it may be easier to subcontract, but ill be damned if im not going to learn something about it first.

Is there any kind of ip phone system in existance that operates over a normal telephone line? Like the way old PABX's used to? That is to say telephone exchange/box connected to standard phone line, many phones connected to exchange, exchange handles internal calls freely, someone wants an outside line the exchange routes the phone externally and call is made over normal phone line? Im sorry i dont have all the jargon for that description, but surely such a thing exists? My parents hotel has a London 32 exchange from the 80s that does exactly that only it wouldnt take IP phones! Or probably even touch tone ones lol!!

 

[Shelster]

You can buy COTS stuff that acts as a IP PBX and also PSTN gateway, but they aint cheap.

One quick example is here. Not looked fully at the manual / specs, but seems to to do what you need. They can be had here whci you may need to sit down (or move away) after looking at that link.

There are other solutions on that second link so may be worth looking at what you need and seeing if there is anyting that suits.

As I have said, have a very clear plan in mind and follow it. Whilst it may seem over kill, this should be run just like any other project or it has the chance to grow arms, legs and tentacles and be nothing like what you set out to achieve in the beginning

 

[Trifid]

@Trifid - m8 the only difference between a professional and an amateur is knowledge. In my experience you're best off asking and learning and then doing rather than having some braindead muppet with a clipboard come along and do it for 10x the price. However i do appreciate the sentiment and in the long run it may be easier to subcontract, but ill be damned if im not going to learn something about it first.

Please do learn about it, but be aware it is quite a large topic and you are starting from the beginning, and I assume no one else at work with any experience of deploying IPT. It isn't something that should be thrown together with no thought as people high up do notice **** ups very quickly.

Is there any kind of ip phone system in existance that operates over a normal telephone line? Like the way old PABX's used to? That is to say telephone exchange/box connected to standard phone line, many phones connected to exchange, exchange handles internal calls freely, someone wants an outside line the exchange routes the phone externally and call is made over normal phone line?

There are still normal PBX's that you can manage by IP if you mean that. We have a backup phone system that is a few VG224's thrown together and a ISDN30 line. Analogue phones can call each other and then they can make and receive outside calls.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Hey guys, im an IT professional and work in local government (dont let that fool you, im actually pretty good ) but ive just been asked to install something ive never dabbled in before....IP phones!!!

Now i know the principles of these from maintaining networks, bunch of phones with RJ45's connect into your standard network switches and somewhere in the place they connect to a router or something that handles the phone system like an old school PABX

Could anyone take me through this from the ground up? what are the options, what are the connection methods, how can i best implement this in a location where there is already a network with network points in each room but where the router is a specialist cisco that cannot be replaced or altered.

Are you really sure you are an IT professional? IP phones? .... There are literally millions of providers now that provide these services. Take a look at Microsoft Lync (Depends how many users you are talking about).

Go to some meetings with your team to discuss how to move it forward, don't shy away with saying you don't know but need the help of your team to get something running.