Shoretel PABX - any experience?

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Anyone here have any experience with VOIP business phone service and pabx systems?

I am looking at Shoretel pabx system that uses VOIP line from say comcast/verizon etc.

How sophisticated are these VOIP systems? Can it keep track of individual calls, track which number called and number for outgoing calls?
 
The VoIP systems are like a PBX but better - you have a call log like a cell phone, they can integrate into Microsoft Office 365/GSuite for Business and you have the option of getting IP phones(Polycom seems to be a popular choice besides Yealink and AudioCodes for SMBs - Cisco rules in the enterprise/retail world) or installing a softphone.

Shoretel was bought out by Mitel - they are the most turn-key VoIP system besides RingCentral and 8x8(Packet8). You don't need to purchase anything else besides phones and a service plan. Just plug them into network and power(not needed if your Ethernet network switch provides PoE) and you should be good to go unless you need to configure your router to handle VoIP traffic.

You don't need to do anything extra on the Comcast/Verizon side. In the old days, if you wanted a PBX you would have to order a T1 or "business lines" to your phone plan and pay dearly for that(alongside the phone system's licensing and maintenance fees). You would then have someone patch down the T1's PRI or all your individual lines to the PBX's interface cards.
 
Would just say if it is a phone that integrates with Windows 10, avoid it.

Previous work has VOIP, but not integrated (used Cisco equipment) and was fine.
Current work phone integrates with Windows 10, and everything having to do with a phone is horrible.
 
We used R-C at a previous place I worked at and from the user side of things it worked fine. Call quality was pretty good and it had a lot of features. They had an app for your mobile phone so your business line rang to your mobile, if you wanted it to. Working both inside and outside sales, that was a nice feature. Both the desktop web and app portals did what you are asking about..call logs, VM, call id, forwarding, blocking etc..it was pretty feature rich.
 
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As a Managed Services Provider in IT, I run many 3CX phone systems.

For me, those are among the best balanced systems, concerning ease of use and manage, intuitivity in the UX, compatibility with phones, licensing cost, functionalities.

Give a look and try yourself a cloud or on-premise install for free. Feel free to PM me if you need any specific about it.
 
Reporting -
How are the reporting features? can I report incoming and outgoing calls for each extension? How about transfers and hold times?
Are transfers tracked? meaning, call came to main #1, transferred to extension x1, then to extension x2?

I can't believe how far the technology for these system have advanced.
 
Originally Posted by spackard

Current work phone integrates with Windows 10, and everything having to do with a phone is horrible.

I actually like the calling within Skype for Business/Teams, Microsoft did put some polish into them - it's not as janky as an Avaya One-X client I used years ago.

I knew someone at a startup - they used RingCentral that tied into Salesforce for the sales team.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by spackard

Current work phone integrates with Windows 10, and everything having to do with a phone is horrible.

I actually like the calling within Skype for Business/Teams, Microsoft did put some polish into them - it's not as janky as an Avaya One-X client I used years ago.

I knew someone at a startup - they used RingCentral that tied into Salesforce for the sales team.

That's the CRM we used and it integrated very well.
 
Originally Posted by stockrex
Reporting -
How are the reporting features? can I report incoming and outgoing calls for each extension? How about transfers and hold times?
Are transfers tracked? meaning, call came to main #1, transferred to extension x1, then to extension x2?

I can't believe how far the technology for these system have advanced.


Have you considered calling the company and asking for a live demo? I had to do research on ~6 VoIP companies a couple years ago when my company thought about going from a PBX system to VoIP and all of the companies except 8x8 provided me with live demos of their products. Ring Central was on the top of my list, then Dial Pad, and then Fluent Stream. They all had web interfaces where the administrator can go in and see every call in/out.

Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by spackard

Current work phone integrates with Windows 10, and everything having to do with a phone is horrible.

I actually like the calling within Skype for Business/Teams, Microsoft did put some polish into them - it's not as janky as an Avaya One-X client I used years ago.

I knew someone at a startup - they used RingCentral that tied into Salesforce for the sales team.


Same, we used (at the time) Lync at the VA when I was there to remote into PCs and it worked great. I wish the company I'm at now would use SFB/Teams more.
 
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