I am looking for a solution that fits my needs. I am the most technical person at the company where I am employed, so I have self-assigned my position to the problem I have voluntarily created, for the convenience of others.
I work at an auto repair facility and our building is a bit over 6K sq/ft. I would like to install VOIP phones at every lift bay (+six VOIP phones), additionally, our two parts department workers each need a phone, (+two), and the front desk office lady needs a phone. Totaling nine (Possibly ten) VOIP phones.
I would like all the VOIP phones to communicate with my other co-workers VOIP phones due to space constraints, physical barriers (BRICK WALLS), sound barriers (LOUD VEHICLES), and other giant obstacles that prevent human interaction over 100 or so feet. We need to communicate with each other to check local parts exhaustion, Work status, immediate high priority in person consultanting/help with a task (CHECK OIL/REPLACE LIGHT), etc.
Shouting over 100 feet for a simple request and searching for one singular person like a hound is getting old.
Walkie-talkies don't work too well in our area. Too much metal, and local traffic.
Facetime audio calls work great most of the time, except not every employee has an iPhone.
The local internet is terrible and unreliable. But the telephone is very reliable.
We have two POTs lines incoming from the modem. Same number, just two different answering machines.
Ethernet is already routed around the building.
I would like every VOIP phone to connect to the POTs, somehow, while using our existing telephone number. But I want every incoming call to be directed to the front desk lady.
I would want some sort of intercom system, voicemail system, and stuff like that.
I would like all of the advertised features of the Cisco CP-7961G phone, with all of the other mentioned features.
How do I go about this..?
FreePBX and similar systems don't seem to fit my needs. The internet is too unreliable to have internal calls be routed (over the internet) to a third system.
Please keep in mind this is a small business with five employees. I am not looking for a $5000 Virtual/Physical PBX with numerous license keys and an additional person to maintain/install the system. Funds are tight at the moment.
I constantly see Cisco CP-7961G phones on eBay for dirt cheap, very affordable prices. How do I get these nine phones to communicate to the POTs? It seems like a Cisco UC540 would work GREAT if everything advertising actually works. All these old enterprise gear items are dirt cheap. Could I just buy nine of the CP-7961G phones and one UC540, and everything would work?
What else would a setup like this require? Do the phones themselves need license keys that are hundreds to maintain? Does the Cisco UC540 system need license keys that are thousands to maintain? Do they expire? Should I just use a string and cup phone system/tin can telephone? As I said, we're a small business with a budget we need to meet.
Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
