[*] Feedback on transition from MTS to VOIP

[CF]

I am looking for feedback and information on migrating from traditional
phone services to VOIP.  If my questions are not appropriate for this group,
I apologize and please ignore this.

We are exploring migrating from using MTS Centrix service to an inhouse PBX
with VOIP.  We are a small business in Steinbach using MTS for all our phone
and internet services.  We have 5 phone lines and business grade DSL.  We
also have 2 toll free numbers, 1 for product support and 1 for sales.  Of
our 5 phone lines, 1 line is dedicated for fax, 1 line is dedicated to sales
and the other 3 lines are used for inbound support calls and general calls.
At any one time, it is rare for us to be using any 3 lines at the same
time.  Our phone calls are mostly long distance calls within Canada and a
small number of minutes each month to the US.

Questions

1. With an Asterik pbx, could we possibly make better use of our phone lines
and possible drop 1 or 2 lines from MTS?  Particularily fax, we need it, but
we only send/receive ~20 faxes a month.

2. In our area (Steinbach, MB, Canada), would you consider the internet
services adequate and reliable enough to move all/some phone lines to VOIP?

3. What kind of startup costs should we expect? Keep in mind we do not have
the inhouse talent to do this ourselves and would need to bring in outside
help to make the migration and ongoing support.

4. What are some good resources for a technical person (8 years Microsoft IT
and programming experience) with no experience with VOIP and IP phones
quickly learn enough to make a proper purchasing decision.


Clayton
korazy at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.muug.mb.ca/pipermail/asterisk/attachments/20081218/5925826c/attachment.html