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FreePBX vs. Grandstream UCM series IP PBXs

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    FreePBX

    Score7.9 out of 10
    N/AThe FreePBX EcoSystem has developed over the past decade to become a widely deployed Open Source PBX platform in use across the world today. Sangoma now offers and supports the FreePBX appliance, a purpose-built, performant PBX solution designed and tested for optimal performance, and the only officially supported hardware solution for FreePBX. The appliance comes preloaded with the FreePBX Distro and includes a one-year warranty.N/A

    Grandstream UCM series IP PBXs

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AGrandstream presents the UCM series of IP PBX appliances as powerful yet easy to manage voice, video, data, and mobility communications platform, whichoffer an extensive set of unified communication features in an easy to manage on premise solution with no licensing fees, upgrade fees or costs per features. The Grandstream UCMs range from small and medium business deployments to small and medium enterprise solutions.N/A
    Pricing
    FreePBXGrandstream UCM series IP PBXs
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    FreePBXGrandstream UCM series IP PBXs
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    FreePBXGrandstream UCM series IP PBXs
    Small Businesses
    Sangoma Asterisk
    Score8 out of 10
    Sangoma Asterisk
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    3CX
    Score8.6 out of 10
    3CX
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sangoma Asterisk
    Score8 out of 10
    Sangoma Asterisk
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    FreePBXGrandstream UCM series IP PBXs
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    FreePBXGrandstream UCM series IP PBXs
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Sangoma
    FreepBX is a great product if you are able and willing to manage your own PBX system. It requires some know-how to set up but once running, it works very well. There is a large community that helps answer questions, but it isn't "plug and play" so you will need to be able to research and troubleshoot your own issues (or pay for support).
    Incentivized
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    Grandstream Networks
    As a PBX the UCM PBX can be cover the needs of all companies without exception. We think it is really a great and flexible solution that covers all the IP telephone needs a company may have. When we were researching the market to buy our pair of UCM 6308, we had also hoped to use it as a replacement for our Skype for Business installation, so to say to use it as our main solution for video conferencing. After trying to do this for a couple of years we would say that you can use Wave for video conferencing and I personally like it, but it is not well suited for bigger companies for using it as the main video conferencing solution. On the other hand, there are very few PBXs even offering a video conferencing solution and their solutions are not better that the UCM's solution!
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Sangoma
    • Standard telephony.
    • VM to email.
    • Firewall
    • Expandable extensions.
    Incentivized
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    Grandstream Networks
    • Solid, reliable products
    • Simple to configure and manage
    • Compatible with ONVIF for use with 3rd party systems
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Sangoma
    • Phone integration/firmware can be clunky and has a learning curve.
    • Relies on crowd sourcing information as expected for open-source.
    • Requires some moderate expertise for setup.
    Incentivized
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    Grandstream Networks
    • The cluster implementation does not work on all network modes. Would be great if this was improved.
    • Wave on mobile phones works in a different way than on desktops and this makes it hard to set it up for use on the firewalls, as it requires different and more permissions than the desktop app. For example is one receives an invitation per email on the mobile phone and wants to participate in a Wave meeting as a guest, the still need access to the network ports needed to login the extension (while they only need / want to join the meeting as anonymous users). On the desktop app this is not needed.
    • There is a limit on the number of 1 device per connection type. We have an extension used in the maintenance department and is shared by 6 users. We were able to install it on 1 PC, 1 Wi-Fi phone and 1 Android shared mobile phone. We would like to install it on a second shared mobile phone, but this is not allowed by the UCM policy. We could use anther extension to do this, but the maintenance department does not want this. They want to accept calls with problem reports only on one extension. Would be great to be able to install the same extension on more than 1 Android devices.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Sangoma
    No answers on this topic
    Grandstream Networks
    We are very happy with our UCB 6308 pair. We have some issues that we would like to see improved, but the UCM 6308 does more than cover the main functionality it is intended for and has given us the needed solution for our remote workers.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Sangoma
    No answers on this topic
    Grandstream Networks
    Although we are very happy with our pair of UCM 6308, we still think there are some things that can be improved to make this a prefect product! Have mentioned the main points we think that should be improved on other parts of the review.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Sangoma
    No answers on this topic
    Grandstream Networks
    Grandstream almost always have a first response on any ticket within 24 hours, which is impressive. They do care to listen about customer problems and needs and are open suggestions / feature reuests, as long as there is a potential for the suggested change to benefit a big enough number of customers.
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    Implementation Rating
    Sangoma
    No answers on this topic
    Grandstream Networks
    The implementation was concluded very fast, with minimal downtime.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Sangoma
    FreePBX is as functional and easier to set up and manage, at least compared to the version of UCM we were on. The menus are more intuitive and you do not need to have Cisco command-line memorized to make things work. Plus, there is no cost overhead with an open-source software.
    Incentivized
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    Grandstream Networks
    We were considering a solution from Alcatel at first. Very stable implementation for sure, as there are no frequent updates and no new features. Also no conferencing solution was included. A separate solution was offered for extra cost. So the choice was between a very stable PBX which would be pretty much unchanged for ever and a dynamic solution that would constantly grow. Without any doubt we opted for the ever growing / changing solution, knowing this would cost us in minor problems / instabilities. We did NOT regret this decision. So having opted for a growing and constantly developed solution we also look into the solution provided by Yeastar. By comparing the 2 solutions it was obvious that the Grandstream UCM 6308 was the best solution for us.
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    Return on Investment
    Sangoma
    • Drastically reduced our direct telephony cost as we don't need to have the hardware and support.
    • Very functional and added new functionality that we did not have previously.
    Incentivized
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    Grandstream Networks
    • Low-cost initial investment, minimal recurring costs
    • Used by everyone in our company and easy to adopt
    • Runs 24/7 and is reliable
    • Allows our school to manage access control easily and efficiently
    Incentivized
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