[Mac-telephony-list] Apple USB modem dongle

[Martin Joseph via List]

On Dec 20, 2006, at 10:48 AM, Colin Anderson via List wrote:

>> 1) It's not easy to setup and or run/change.
>
> AMP makes it cake for non-tech users. Way easier than a Meridian  
> for example
>
>> 2) Is it as reliable as a dedicated PBX? Doubtful, with the crappy
>> Dell or whitebox systems many people use, or even with Apple hardware
>> for that matter.
>
> No, not 5 nines. But 4, easily. Is 4 nines good enough for your  
> org? Might
> not be. In that case you need a Panasonic or Meridian or a Mitel.
>
>> 3) Is it cheaper?  By the time you make it redundant enough to make
>> it workable, and hire enough geek talent to make it work and keep
>> working, this is questionable.
>
> Depends. In my org, we replaced 200 Mitels with Asterisk & Snom  
> 360's. The
> Mitel cost a quarter million. Asterisk cost $50k. (yes, with  
> redundancy,
> failover, and the handsets) As far as administration, in my  
> experience you
> either hire your interconnect to administrate the proprietary PBX,  
> you pay a
> Linux geek to admin your Asterisk box, or you suffer through it  
> yourself. At
> the end of the day, it usually turns out to be a wash.
>
>> The real cost savings is for organizations that spend a lot on calls
>> between different campuses and already have high quality broadband in
>> place.  Suddenly all toll charges disappear for calls within the
>> organization.
>
> 100% agree but for us it's the flexibility and instant  
> gratification of
> being able to provision a user with a DID, fax, desk set, and cell  
> in under
> an hour, and in any location that has broadband. This for us is the  
> killer
> app.

Fax huh?  I am impressed. Thanks for your  info, it obviously is  
quite better informed them mine with regards to large organization  
setups...

Marty

PS I don't care for AMP.