AYAYA IP Office Vs. FreePBX

We are looking to replace our current office phone system and were looking for suggestions. We are considering Avaya ip office 500 v2 or FreePBX system. Would love to hear from people who have installed both systems and their experience with them both. Maybe its not an apples to apples comparison. But i would love to read some pros and cons.

Some information about our setup.

using regular POT lines from telco. Eventually moving to SIP
about 10 extensions. will probably grow.
The normal Features,
VM - Email Forward
Auto Att
Interoffice Paging
Follow Me

Thanks in Advanced

That would depend on your sensitivity to price, the Avaya system is definitely an “OUCH!!”, the open-source FreePBX solution is essentially free apart for your time.

Both have similar feature sets, they are after all both PBX’s, and without doubt FreePBX can do all you need and more.

Avaya is big into licensing ($$$) and the embedded IPO voicemail is a less feature rich version of the FreePBX voicemail although IPO voicemail pro (again $$$) has about the same feature set as FreePBX. IPO uses digital sets or H.323 IP sets but it’s SIP station support leaves much to be desired (it does support SIP trunks for more $$$). IPO administration is done through Avaya software as opposed to a web browser/cli, the voicemail pro option either requires a PC or a UC110 module housed in the 500 v2 chassis.

The IPO has a couple of nag features which are annoying but not critical like its music on hold restrictions and the need to reboot after certain system changes.

As @dicko said it comes down to how you want to invest. FreePBX is going to ultimately be more flexible. Avaya won’t let you (or someone you pay) crack open the code and and make it do _____.

Avaya will likely offer a local technician to come out and do everything for you including maintenance. That said you can hire a consultant to do the same thing for FreePBX.

Both will have commercial support available.

The base cost of FreePBX will be exponentially cheaper but time is money. You will have to invest some time to learn the system (or hire someone who has made the investment) I think ultimately even if you pay for training and support you still end up ahead in the cost boat with FreePBX.

@reconwireless may be a good person for this. He may have the math stashed somewhere.

Our next training is in Milwaukee in 4 days:

That is likely too soon unless you live in the area but that page will have the next training session(s) posted in the near future.