FreePBX vs PBXact

Commercial Products and Partners
1

Hello

I’d like to buy a FreePBX 60 appliance for home (I know its over kill but I want to be able to rack mount the unit). I’d also like to get it with as much applications as I can afford. It seems to me that I have two choices: the FreePBX 60 ($695) + the FreePBX System Builder ($525) for a total of $1220 OR the PBXact UC 60 for $895. I believe the PBXact comes with a couple more applications than the FreePBX 60 / System Builder. For the price ($895) the PBXact 60 UC appears to be the better deal.

So my questions are:
1.) What is the difference (if any) between the two scenarios?
2.) Is the GUI the same?
3.) Obvious the PBXact UC is a bundled option, but apart from that what are the differences? I saw a slide recently and it depicts the PBXact as have more applications than the FreePBX 60 + System Builder. However if you read the brochures it appears it doesn’t. Perhaps PBXact is really designed to work with Sangoma phones and if I need End Point Manager I’d have to buy it separately. If there’s more than one application (that I’d need to buy) then is PBXact more cost efficient in the long run than FreePBX + System Builder?

Thanks in advance for any feed back.
Michael

2

Here is a wiki that shows whats included in PBXact as compared to FreePBX with commercial modules.

http://wiki.freepbx.org/display/PPS/PBXact+Features

3

If all you want is a rack mountable system, I recommend the cases that bestlink Netware sells. I get the 2U rack mount cases since they will accept a “standard” power supply. Bring your own hardware and PSU, through on the FreePBX distro and away you go.

4

Thanks Dave.
Do you know if I can find a list of parts that I need to buy in order to build a system?

Michael

5

Thanks Tony.
I will look into this and decide. I understand that I can take present activation license and port it over to the new system.

Michael

6

As long as you aren’t doming anything spooky (E1, PRI, POTS, etc.) you need:

  • Any reasonable motherboard with builtin video and network.
  • At least 4G of RAM
  • A CPU
  • Keyboard/Video/Mouse (although they’re only useful for the first few minutes).
  • Power Supply
  • Case
  • Rack screws.

Pretty much anything that hasn’t been run over by a truck should be ok to use for a home system. If you spend more than a couple hundred for the system, you’re probably over-planning.

7

So I’ve been buying stuff from BLN for years and I’d like to know where the 2U rack mount cases are? sorry for being off topic.

8

Look for SKU 102537. They’re under a wholesale section called “Norco Tech” under “Networking”