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Switch to Zoom Phone

  • 1.  Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-22-2022 08:02 AM
    We are going to pilot Zoom Phone for our school and wanted to see if anyone else has moved to Zoom Phone?  We currenlty are on Cisco Unified CM.  We were looking for a cloud based system and one that has more mobile features and easier to maintain.  We also use Zoom for meetings so our employees are familiar with it.

    Any thoughts about this would be helpful.  Thanks
    #ITSystemsandSupport

    ------------------------------
    Keith Bolstein
    Lake Highland Preparatory School
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-23-2022 01:48 AM
    Hi Keith,

    We have recently completed the switch from Zoom Phone from an on-premise Shoretel/Mitel system. We looked at a number of cloud based systems and some of the familiarity our employees had with Zoom definitely helped in our decision, but also pricing was better than 8x8 or RingCentral. Would be happy to chat further if you have specific questions.

    Thanks!

    ------------------------------
    Anthony Trumbo
    The Bishop's School
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-23-2022 09:22 AM
    Anthony, it is nice to hear from someone who has done this move and it was successful.  I may take you up on the offer to talk more about your move once we get into our trial which we will start next month.

    Thanks so much!

    ------------------------------
    Keith Bolstein
    Lake Highland Preparatory School
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-23-2022 08:32 AM
    We moved to Zoom Phone from on-prem MS Skype for Business in 2021.  No one is happier about it than I am.  Familiarity was part of the decision, though I will say that people had a little bit of a hard time seeing Zoom as something more than just video conferencing.  Zoom gave us better pricing than any other big cloud UCaaS by far (with the exception of 3CX, which I have tested extensively and can definitely recommend to the right potential customer). Adding Phone to Microsoft 365/Teams would have been about the same, but wouldn't have been anywhere near as easy to roll out (or manage) as Zoom was.

    ------------------------------
    Ben Schworm
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-23-2022 09:26 AM
    Ben, so glad to hear of another school who made this move.  I really liked the manage features of Zoom phone when we had the demo.  Our current system is so complicated, only I have a decent handle on it and as I get new team members it takes a long time for them to learn it.

    The comments about others that have made the move to Zoom phone gives me more confidence this could work for us.  Thanks

    ------------------------------
    Keith Bolstein
    Lake Highland Preparatory School
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-27-2022 11:51 AM
    Hi Keith,

    We moved from Cisco Unified CM to Zoom Phone about 15 months ago.  It's been such a relief being on Zoom Phone and I would highly recommend the move.

    We used Zoom Phone project management for the entire project, to ensure all configurations, porting, etc., were done properly.  They were fantastic.

    One of their references was Quinnipiac University, here in Connecticut.  Quinnipiac runs a national poll that makes about 50,000 calls each weekend.  These calls were being handled by volunteers, from home, and they reported smooth service from Zoom Phone.  That one reference pretty much sealed the deal for me.

    Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

    Thanks,
    D. J

    ------------------------------
    D.J. Plante
    Hopkins School
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-04-2022 08:56 AM
    D.J. sounds like you did the same move we are looking to do.  Glad to hear it went well for you.  Quinnipiac University has a high call volume and its great Zoom can handle that.  Our volume is much lower.

    ------------------------------
    Keith Bolstein
    Lake Highland Preparatory School
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-27-2022 12:27 PM
    How are any of you handling the paging/PA system on campus if applicable? We have an on-prem Mitel PBX that ties into our analog paging system. Is there a reliable way to integrate or trigger the paging from the cloud system?

    ------------------------------
    Nick Thompson
    IT Director
    Brentwood School
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-27-2022 12:39 PM
    Hi Nick,

    We had the same setup. We installed an Algo paging adapter (https://www.algosolutions.com/product/8301-ip-paging-adapter-scheduler/) as a SIP endpoint in Zoom phone. It sends the paging audio to the paging system as well as sending a multicast page to our Polycom phones. It is much more reliable than the paging over phones from Mitel/Shoretel. There are a few things we learned with multicast to phones that I'm happy to share if you go that route.

    Thanks!

    --
    Anthony Trumbo
    Sr. Director of Educational Technology and Information Systems

    (858) 875-0835
    7607 La Jolla Blvd.
    La Jolla, CA 92037





  • 10.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-27-2022 01:33 PM
    I'm looking into this implementation as well.  @ Keith > Is the pilot a reduced cost/free trial for a set amount of time? or are you just starting small and scaling up? ​

    ------------------------------
    Francisco Felix
    Echo Horizon School
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 09-27-2022 01:49 PM
    Hi Francisco,

    Unless they have changed things they gave me 10 licenses and a Poly phone to run tests on. Because of COVID and other delays it took us over a year to finalize our agreement to move forward. They let us keep the trial going that entire time and even worked with us on the configuration of the Algo paging adapter, etc. Very, very helpful.

    --
    Anthony Trumbo
    Sr. Director of Educational Technology and Information Systems

    (858) 875-0835
    7607 La Jolla Blvd.
    La Jolla, CA 92037





  • 12.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-04-2022 08:53 AM
    Edited by Keith Bolstein 10-04-2022 08:54 AM
    We are getting a 30 days free trial and Poly is sending a couple models of phones.  We are going to start the trial this week.  I'll post how it goes.  I have a call with Zoom tomorrow to start it.

    ------------------------------
    Keith Bolstein
    Lake Highland Preparatory School
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-07-2022 06:16 PM
    We're going to get started on this shortly as well, so perhaps those of us in the trial and early implementation phases can share notes? I'm happy to arrange meetings.

    ------------------------------
    Tye Campbell
    Director of Strategic Information and Innovation @ Gilman School
    ATLIS Board Member
    tcampbell@gilman.edu
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-10-2022 09:55 AM
    Thank you so much for starting this conversation- we are actually meeting with Zoom today to start talking about this. 

    Anyone currently using analog lines still for elevators? how did you handle that when transitioning to zoom phones ? 
    Any hiccups while transitioning you can share that we can take in to account if we decide to move forward? 

    thanks everyone!

    ------------------------------
    Larisa Luca
    Manager of Technology Support Services
    The Lawrenceville School
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-10-2022 10:14 AM
    Larissa,

    You need to keep analog lines for your elevator and Alarm systems. Everything else you can migrate to VoIP 

    --
    Francisco Felix
    Director of Technology

    Echo Horizon School 
    3430 McManus Avenue
    Culver City, CA 90232  
    T: 310-838-2442  |  F: 310-838-0479
    Joyful Engaged Learning





  • 16.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-10-2022 11:26 AM
    Hi Larisa,
    We brought in our elevator company to take a look at the elevators and determine if we can either move them to VOIP or to cellular connections so that we can get rid of the analog lines. I'd prefer to move them to cellular, so we'll see...


    Best,

    Tye


    Tye J. Campbell
    Director of Strategic Information and Innovation

    Gilman School
    5407 Roland Avenue
    Baltimore, MD 21210
    | p: 410-323-3800 x339 
    | m: 908-552-5416 
    | e: tcampbell@gilman.edu 
    www.gilman.edu

    Schedule a meeting with me


    Pursuing Excellence with Honor, Integrity, Respect, and Humility
    Challenging boys of promise to be their best, fullest selves and to grow into men of purpose.


    This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the original. Any other use of this email is prohibited.





  • 17.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-11-2022 04:37 PM
    Just an update: finally heard back from our elevator company today about switching the elevators to cellular connections. I'm just not getting up off the floor after receiving a quote for (drum roll, please) $40k!!! I am still in disbelief, and this is for six elevators. Most of that is labor costs, but even still, that's a heck of a lot of money just to eliminate some POTS lines. Sounds to me like the elevator company is trying to make this cost-prohibitive, but maybe I'm just being super-cynical at 4:30pm after a long day. Anyhow, I'm going to continue exploring options to move away from the POTS lines for these elevators, because as we all know, they won't be around and/or cheap for much longer.

    ------------------------------
    Tye Campbell
    Director of Strategic Information and Innovation @ Gilman School
    ATLIS Board Member
    tcampbell@gilman.edu
    ------------------------------



  • 18.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-13-2022 03:17 PM
    For moving the POTS lines on elevators I wonder if they are all on the same POTS line that home runs to one location? If so then just change to a VOIP or cell device that they all tie into and don't make any changes in the actually elevators. The elevator still thinks it is a POTS line but it just gets converted to a different service. Don't even need the elevator people to do anything. Maybe I am being to simplistic?

    ------------------------------
    Brian Hoyt
    French American School of Puget Sound
    ------------------------------



  • 19.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-13-2022 05:15 PM
    No, you're not being too simplistic.  This will also work if there are separate POTS lines going to multiple elevators, as in our case.  They have to go somewhere...

    Some of our analog lines are on a multiport ATA that was installed at the original PBX location when we switched to VoIP and connected using terminal blocks; we still have one elevator on this setup. In some cases, when the copper between buildings died, we reterminated lines from the elevator or other POTS device (often in the drop ceiling), ran it back to a patch panel, and put the ATA there.

    ------------------------------
    David Fulton-Howard
    Technical Support Manager
    McDonogh School
    ------------------------------



  • 20.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-13-2022 05:57 PM
    That's my thinking as well. There's simply got to be a simpler and cheaper way to accomplish this.--


    Best,

    Tye


    Tye J. Campbell
    Director of Strategic Information and Innovation

    Gilman School
    5407 Roland Avenue
    Baltimore, MD 21210
    | p: 410-323-3800 x339 
    | m: 908-552-5416 
    | e: tcampbell@gilman.edu 
    www.gilman.edu

    Schedule a meeting with me


    Pursuing Excellence with Honor, Integrity, Respect, and Humility
    Challenging boys of promise to be their best, fullest selves and to grow into men of purpose.


    This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the original. Any other use of this email is prohibited.





  • 21.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-11-2022 12:35 PM
    We are not using Zoom Phone, but we are using on-prem VoIP (Shoretel/Mitel).  I don't know whether Zoom Phone supports SIP devices (although I'm not sure why they wouldn't), but we are using SIP ATAs (Mediatrix 4102) for multiple elevator phones.  This setup has passed the occupancy-permit inspection for three new-construction buildings so far (the latest was in April 2021), and is installed in one other elevator in a building where it was previously on a POTS line prior to our switch to VoIP.  We also use the same setup for a variety of fax machines, gate intercoms, and utility meters, and even an overhead ringer in our bus shop.

    Our fire alarm panels all connect via ethernet to our network and communicate that way, which is another option if you don't want to use an ATA or go with cellular for those.

    So, YMMV (check with your local municipality's safety agencies), but you do not necessarily need to keep analog lines for your elevators and alarm systems.  Which is good, because eventually, telcos are going to stop selling POTS service.

    ------------------------------
    David Fulton-Howard
    Technical Support Manager
    McDonogh School
    ------------------------------



  • 22.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-11-2022 12:40 PM
    Hi Larisa,

    Like Tye said, you will want to check with the elevator or alarm company for options and local requirements. We keep analog lines for alarms, elevators and faxes. I think you need an analog for a backup line and can use cellular as primary which is the way to go. You may be able to get away with fewer analog lines if you can use one line for multiple alarms/elevators. We are trying to move to efax and go cellular radio as much as we can since analog service is so pricey and old copper is getting to be a drag - we are still waiting on a replacement 25 pair spool from the carrier to replace the street feed due to water damage. For fire/life/safety applications, cellular and POTS are the still the way to go IMO.

    ------------------------------
    Nick Thompson
    IT Director
    Brentwood School
    ------------------------------



  • 23.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 10-11-2022 12:58 PM
    Thanks everyone ! Appreciate all your insight and suggestions. 

    Is anyone else moving to this solution but not using zoom ? If so- what are you using and what is your opinion? 

    Thanks !

    ------------------------------
    Larisa Luca
    Manager of Technology Support Services
    The Lawrenceville School
    ------------------------------



  • 24.  RE: Switch to Zoom Phone

    Posted 11-22-2022 09:17 AM
    I've been following this discussion and it seems like a lot of schools have gone to Zoom phone.  We had a demo last week and it does look good.  We're also reviewing the Avaya Cloud Office solution.  We're currently an on-prem Avaya VOIP - installed in 2012.  Did anyone use any formal requirements documents to define what you were looking for in your phone system?  If so, are you willing to share? I have a list of things that I'm trying to define from our current system, but it was installed prior to me being here and no formal requirements process was completed last time around.

    Also curious about your data lines and how Zoom phone affected/didn't affect your bandwidth.  Did anyone get a redundant line?  Do you have a separate phone line?  In my research for this, I found a bill being paid by the school to cover just our phones.  It's as expensive as our 1G line for data!  I'm trying to figure out what that pays for and whether it would actually qualify as a redundant line or could be configured that way.

    We're aware of the need to prioritize the voice over data on our line if we transition to Zoom phone.  How have you all accomplished that? 

    Thanks in advance for sharing your experience! 



    ------------------------------
    Susan Fuhs
    Norfolk Academy
    Norfolk VA
    swfuhs@norfolkacademy.org
    ------------------------------