Best Small Asterisk Business VoIP Phone System Appliances
There are many reasons why an in-house phone system can be the right choice over a hosted VoIP solution. Each definitely has their advantages, but depending on individual situations one might be preferable to the other. For instance, you have existing phone service that you want to keep, but need a new PBX system and want the features that later technology has now made very affordable. In fact, Asterisk, an open source PBX software along with FreePbx, the front end that runs Asterisk and also open source, has allowed manufacturers to build business phone systems for a fraction of the cost using and developing proprietary software. And these IP PBXs are affordable and have no license fees, saving thousands initially and for years after. Here are our top picks for excellent affordable small business Asterisk based phone systems, all without licensing fees.
Top 2 Affordable Asterisk based IP-PBX Business Phone Systems
Grandstream UCM 6102 & 6104 IP-PBX Asterisk Appliance*
The Grandstream UCM 61xx series IP PBX appliances have been well received by the telecom and network
community. After a few upgrades to the appliance's firmware that addressed some early issues, this
product is becoming a go-to choice for small businesses that already connect to traditional phone lines
and may want to add VoIP. The
different UCM models primarily differ in the overall capacity and the number of FXO ports that can accept incoming CO
telephone lines, otherwise they are all similar and all outstanding. The smaller models, the UCM 6102 and UCM 6104
have accordingly 2 and 4 FXO ports. In our view, four FXO ports would suffice for a majority of small offices,
who have 3 or 4 lines plus a fax line which goes directly to their fax machine and therefore
would not even have to connect
through the appliance. The expansion in more phone lines would come from adding SIP trunks, connecting to a
VoIP provider which will offer savings in overall telephone costs. For most companies the UCM appliances will
handle the features they want, plus allow for substantial growth, all without license fees. The
front-end GUI (Graphical User Interface) is easy to navigate and installation with Grandstream's GXP phones goes quite smoothly. This works
well for the "computer or network guy" to take the phone system under his umbrella. Paired together phones and
appliance, Grandstream has designed an IP-PBX that comes in at prices once thought of as impossible.
NOTE: *Grandstream has discontinued the UCM6100 series IP-PBX. Its replacements are the new UCM6200 series; the UCM6202 & UCM6204, etc.
Grandstream UCX, 2 PortM6202 IP-PBX
Yeastar MyPBX SOHO
Robust
and feature packed is how we describe the Yeastar MyPBX SOHO appliance.
Now expanding in North America, Yeastar has been a world presence with
their IP PBX systems. With multiple language support on any of
their appliances they are stretching their reach around the globe. With an
affordable and dependable line of IP phone systems (think Yealink), the small MyPBX SOHO
is a great choice for the small office or business with up to around
fifteen phones. For those that need connections to traditional
telephone lines an added card will allow for a start of two FXO lines
with capabilities for more. We've added the MyPBX SOHO as a second
affordable small Asterisk appliance now that Yeastar has updated their
manuals and also placed easy to access video tutorials that take a user
through installation, setup and how to make the system handle calls the
way they need. It doesn't get any more affordable or easy then what
this global company has done and that's why you'll be hearing a lot about
this neat small exceptional IP-PBX. Paired with Yealink SIP phones,
that are already in large use with Asterisk installations around the USA,
a complete phone system will be extremely affordable and have just about
every feature most companies would ever want.
NOTE: *Yeastar now offers the upgraded S-Series line of IP-PBX appliances.
The new Yeastar S-Series is designed for small and medium sized enterprises supporting up to 500 users. With auto-provisioning, an intuitive well designed management built on Metro UI for point and click configuration and excellent add-on apps that are tailored for specific business needs, the S-Series can be used for anything from hotel management to a call center. Yeastar offers free lifetime software/firmware upgrades and no hidden charges and or extra licensing fees. Yeastar S-Series datasheet
Yeastar S20 - PBX Business Phone System (Barebones) (No modules)
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