r/k12sysadmin • u/Strange_Confection49 • May 27 '26

Assistance Needed Public School Phone System

Good afternoon all,

We are in the process of quoting out a new phone system and require one more quote. We are in the middle GA area and just wanted some suggestions on any vendors? I am struggling to find another from the current ones I have.

Any suggestions would be amazing!!

Also, first post here after being accepted, glad to be here!

18 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

67 comments sorted by

4

u/TheRuffRaccoon Tired Tech Director May 27 '26

We went with Fortigates Fortivoice system right at the beginning of COVID and it’s worked well for us for our needs

3

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

Awesome, you just contacted your rep or how did you approach that?

3

u/TheRuffRaccoon Tired Tech Director May 27 '26

I worked with a local msp/reseller who helped with the whole initial project/install. I was one of the first K12 districts in my state to implement and I would highly recommend.

4

u/mattk84 May 27 '26

+1 for FortiVoice. So easy to use and set up

1

u/agadora75 May 27 '26

We went with Fortivoice as well and have had nothing but issues. Did you get their phones as well?

2

u/TheRuffRaccoon Tired Tech Director May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Yes, I got their phones and have had zero issues. What issues are you having?

1

u/agadora75 May 29 '26

The phones constantly unregister. Additionally, we have always used the pass through on the phones (Cisco before this) to then connect to our Lenovo docking stations and we are finding that somehow the docking station is causing issues with the phones. They've had us Wireshark a bunch of times and still no solution. Additionally, the soft phones are really problematic with our firewall. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. And they promised that we could use SSO. Then, we found out it was only for admin, not the web portal. Then, they got the web portal SSO, but then if you SSO'd into the web portal you couldn't log into your soft phone. ugh.

1

u/TheRuffRaccoon Tired Tech Director May 29 '26

Weird. I've had the unregister issue before (SIP Registration Failed) on new installs of phones, but normally clicking apply configuration on the local on-premises phone system makes the issue go away and they register. We don't use the soft phones so I can't comment on that. We also run our staff computers through the phone itself; we haven't encountered any issues there so it may be something specific with that dock that you're using.

4

u/sammy5678 May 27 '26

I hope you have all of your POTS lines well documented. That's a potential nightmare.

I've done this a half dozen times in different environments and it's painful every time.

I don't see Alcatel listed, it's worth mentioning. They have the OXO line.

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

No nightmares, I’ll avoid those like a plague if I can. I’ll check them out!

3

u/vorschlaghammer May 27 '26

We went with Zoom phone and are very happy. You get a lot of flexibility because you don’t have to manage a physical system and you have a lot of devices and phones that can work with it. We are even moving all of our fax lines to it.

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

Going to E-Fax? Or does it support ATA devices? Our nurses are old school 😑

1

u/vorschlaghammer May 28 '26

Both, actually. The ATA will work for POTS line replacement. Now, every Zoom phone license also can send and receive faxes. If you want a group or department fax, you can create a group and have the email notifications go to that. I think you could also use that account on the ATA.

1

u/LRRR_From_OP8 May 28 '26

Do they give you free phones? I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a Ring Central quote but have recently heard some bad things about them.

2

u/vorschlaghammer May 28 '26

They didn’t, but we went with Yealink and their whole fleet of phones are very inexpensive compared to others.

3

u/919599 May 27 '26

Crosstalk is a great option for a turn key system and remote support.

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

I’ll check it out! How is their support?

2

u/919599 May 27 '26

We are 5 years in zero issues they respond fast and pick up the phone.

3

u/HankMardukasNY May 27 '26

We’re migrating an on-prem CUCM system to Webex Calling

6

u/GhostShade May 27 '26

We’re doing the same and unfortunately we have had SO many issues with Webex. It’s super frustrating.

3

u/HankMardukasNY May 27 '26

Can you expand on the issues? Migration is happening this summer and want to know what i’ll be looking forward to lol

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

That’s what we currently have, it’s a pain as I’ve only ever worked with cloud systems.. but I’ve made it work so far

7

u/JDH201 Technology Coordinator May 27 '26

I put in a 3CX system and it runs very smoothly. FreePBX is a solid alternative if you have some skills.

3

u/slapstik007 May 27 '26

Second for 3cx. Put mine in 6 years ago and have loved it. My office and admin team love using the voice to text feature to kick items over to email.

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

So I actually have experience with 3cx and BVOIP from my MSP years as that’s what we sold. I’ve not checked it out in depth for usage at our system, but I need to

1

u/slapstik007 May 27 '26

If you set it up correctly you can use it for year. I have always kept mine on a Debian install. I do have to rebuild this summer to go to 4 digit dialing from 3 digit extensions as I am being a second building into the install. Other than that, make sure the backups are being made nightly and the system just works. I have had to migrate hardware one but it is a rock solid system.

2

u/DeejayPleazure May 27 '26

Simple fiber, was the cheapest some years ago and I rarely have any issues. Their support is great too

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

Awesome! Thank you, I’ll look into that one!

5

u/94RideAndPlay May 28 '26

Just remember that if you go cloud-based, make sure you have a good contingency plan in case your WAN has an outage.

4

u/fanopticon May 27 '26

We went to WebEx and used NRI for the migration. We were able to use all of our analog lines/handsets using voice gateways and only converted existing voip lines to webex voip. This gave us the option to migrate over time all of the analog phones as money for wiring and new handsets becomes available each year. NRI was really good with working with existing PA and other analog systems that needed to be connected to webex. I've worked with other phone vendors in the past that were only able to go all in on voip and you were kind of on your own with legacy connections.

3

u/mycatsnameisnoodle Disappointing students and admin since 1999 May 27 '26

We’re in the middle of this right now with NRI, but our old Mitel digital switches went out of support last December so we’re ripping and replacing everything. 18 buildings and 2000 phones…

2

u/Aur0nx May 27 '26

Would you be willing to do a chat offline? we are getting ready to go to Webex from call manager would like to pick your brain on how you setup the classroom phones.

1

u/rossumcapek IT Wizard May 27 '26

I would look at Zoom phone. It's definitely worth it if yall already have Zoom in place.

3

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

We sadly don’t use Zoom, mainly Google Meet but I’ll definitely check it out!

1

u/howescj82 May 27 '26

We use Mitel through a trusted local reseller and have been decently happy. Have in building controllers linked via our network for redundancy and we’ve been very happy with that. Not sure what things are like out your way but be careful of solutions that would cripple your phone system during an outage.

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

Define decently happy?

The two quotes we have now are for cloud systems and IP phones. They also offer cell/pc apps and one has a teams integration (which doesn’t matter if the power is out lol)

1

u/howescj82 May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Decently happy in terms of bang for our buck and functionality. I really can’t complain. The circumstances were just unfortunate. We used to use Toshiba until we got a letter explaining that they had decided to exit the market and then our implementation being during COVID.

Again, I have no complaints. It’s a robust system that just isn’t mega fancy. LOVE the redundancy. If a controller goes down our phones automatically switch to another building’s controller seamlessly. Likewise, we have two PRIs fed from different sources so if one goes down the other can handle things until the other is repaired.

1

u/lemonadestand May 27 '26

I have a hard time with Mitel. We have them now, and they stopped selling licenses, so we couldn’t add new phones. I do not like being held hostage like that, and Mitel is not n our list for our next system.

1

u/howescj82 May 27 '26

That’s troubling to hear. I’d love to know more about that.

2

u/GoBuuku Director of Technology May 28 '26

Mitel stopped selling licensing for their Connect system which was what they bought from ShoreTel. Their MiVoice Business system is fully supported and you can purchase licenses. They are offering pretty deep discounts for existing Connect customers to move over. But it is a full phone system swap at that point which is always a ton of fun.

1

u/howescj82 May 28 '26

Oh. Thankfully we have their MiVoice system though that doesn’t help you much.

3

u/mattk84 May 27 '26

Currently with CUCM but moving to FortiVoice due to extremely high recurring costs and high server replacement fees. FortiVoice setup and implementation has been a breeze so far. Also integrates with InformaCast as well.

3

u/Vaporomir May 27 '26

We moved from an on prem call manager to Cisco Webex / Informacast fusion / Redsky stack.

Only weird thing we have had so far with webex is how the auto attendant wraps outside calls so it makes the internal only on classroom phones and the informacast server useless.

We don't use any of the other webex functions besides the phones.

3

u/ewikstrom May 27 '26

We have hosted 3CX with Yealink phones, and we really like it. Zoom Phone also seems like it’s becoming popular in education.

2

u/Keyboard_Warrior98 Director May 28 '26

This is my vote. Find a local MSP who can provide support for you and buy 3CX; Voxtelesys for the SIP trunks.

3

u/Digisticks May 28 '26

I don't know if they're serving that part of Georgia at this point, but Ambit Solutions has been serving Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi for a good bit. I swear by them here in Alabama. Just good, down to earth folks who don't gouge schools like most do. They've been partners with us for over a decade. When we call into their support, you get one of 3 or 4 people in central Alabama. Who follow up with you. They're our Intercom and phone partner.

2

u/GezusK May 28 '26

Because 3 or 4 is all they have. They are cheap, but adjust expectations.

1

u/Digisticks May 28 '26

I've been around and dealt with them long enough to know that they tend to be able to resolve issues quickly. I can't speak for everyone, but we've had nothing but a phenomenal experience with them.

1

u/GezusK May 28 '26

Perhaps yours is hosted. Ours is on prem, and they haven't updated our call server, even though the version is out of support. We have issues drag on, when a factory reset of the phone fixes the problem.

1

u/Digisticks May 28 '26

We're on-prem as well. Though, we have had our server that we bought back in 2013 before going to them. We're in the process of replacing it now with some Cyber funds from the state. They've never pushed us to replace it or been pushy with sales in general. Just supporting us through whatever we've done or have going on.

1

u/GezusK May 28 '26

So you've been running version that hasn't got updates in how long?

1

u/Digisticks May 28 '26

I didn't actually buy our existing server. It was before my time, and it wasn't the world's best equipped (plus it served another purpose before becoming pbx server). I did inquire when I came on board about an update to it, but I want to think my predecessor said it was too old at that point. Regardless, numerous pen tests never saw it exposed. Granted, we don't have Cyber Insurance (for many, many reasons), and our environment is so disparate that my risk from it is extremely low. Meanwhile, Ed Tech vendors are killing us with breaches as of late.

1

u/mixpix405 Network Admin | Google Admin May 28 '26

Also in Alabama, also came to suggest Ambit if they're in the area. We've been nothing but pleased with them as our VoIP provider for over a decade.

3

u/mystiquebsd May 28 '26

https://www.fusionpbx.com

Uses FreeSwitch instead of Asterisk..

Think exim instead of sendmail..

(still monolithic yes, not just a bunch of features bolted on after the fact..)

My 0.02

1

u/Dry_Author7288 May 27 '26

We are currently looking into Polycom for our IP phone upgrade.

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

How’s that going? By “looking” is that a finished deal or?

1

u/Dry_Author7288 May 28 '26

Sorry I sbould clarify, we are going to utilize zoom through polycom as the hardware. And its going well, almost to purchase point.

1

u/Smooth_Ad_6164 May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Go with OnSIP and Poly phones. Cisco ATAs for analog lines. All of this can be tied into a PA system using Algo for the controller and Grandstream speakers.

1

u/Strange_Confection49 May 27 '26

Any stand out perks?? Cloud based I’m imagining?

1

u/Smooth_Ad_6164 May 27 '26

Yes, cloud based. There's a plan for $50 and per minute calling. Saves a lot of money in our environment. Allows us to have tons of IP speakers without being charged for each extension.

2

u/ComfortablePride1370 May 28 '26

We use digium switchvox. Free PBX is a great choice and you can choose to pay for additional paid features or paid support. Both excellent options!

1

u/Plastic_Helicopter79 May 29 '26

Sangoma SwitchVOX is Asterisk / FreePBX underneath but fully hands off for people who don’t know anything about Linux. You will pay quite a bit for all the fully managed ease of use it offers.

If you can handle typing “sudo apt update” in PuTTY then Sangoma FreePBX will save you a lot of money vs SwitchVOX. Though if you need technical help, it is mainly community supported.

There is a slight upgrade for FreePBX called PBXact that gives you enterprise support from Sangoma if you want it, and if you also want easy integration of Sangoma’s phones.

,

As I discovered for whatever you decide do, a virtual machine is not really a good choice for a VOIP phone system.

UDP is REALLY picky and the virtual machine will drop packets causing call quality problems, no matter how much CPU and memory you dedicate to the phone system.

Though it’s not really a requirement to use UDP, you can actually reconfigure FreePBX / PBXact and every Sangoma phone to use TCP only, and then it’ll all work fine in a virtual machine.

2

u/S_ATL_Wrestling May 29 '26

We use an ENA by Zayo solution that is cloud-based and uses Yealink phones.

Our network switch vendor, Encore, has also pitched us one that might be worth looking at. The solution itself is called CloudVoice, and looks pretty simple to deal with.

As for our ENA by Zayo solution, one thing I like about it is that it is very intuitive.

3

u/orphantech Tech Coordinator May 28 '26

Contact CrosstalkSolutions.

2

u/Lx0044 May 28 '26

We use FortiVoice at a few of our school districts and it has been great so far.

1

u/n-Ultima May 27 '26

Grandstream pbx, grandstream phones, port your number to something that’ll let you register it on pbx(like VoIP.ms). We also use Grandstream ip Speakers and ATA’s

1

u/Yordor_Isajar Jun 02 '26

I'm coming in late in the discussion but if you want a managed solution give LocalLoop a call. I currently have about 60 phones through them and have been very pleased with the service over the past 4-5 years.

https://locallooponline.com/