Fonality Training. Should I go? Is it worth it?
Submitted by johnjces on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 5:57pm.
I hope I don't start a long drawn out thread similar to "The Beginning of the End for CE" (Fonality), but due to that post and other recent posts about the hard time people have been having in obtaining paid support and with some of the competition in the OpenSource Asterisk distros and apparently some of the valuable programmers that seem to have left Fonality, I am concerned about the future and benefit about taking the FtOCC class. There are enough negative and neutral postings to make one pause and consider how well one would be supported after attending and successfully completing the class. I do realize that those that are unhappy usually voice their concerns more often than those with "attaboys", so some I did take with a grain of salt.
I have done quite a bit of research and viewed the videos and sales videos that I could find, and read a few other older Q's regarding training so some current views are needed.
Anyway...
I am still about a click away from registering for the FtOCC training in LA. I have until the 15th of this month and already have a room reserved, but I just have not "pulled the trigger" yet. It seems that the class' main focus may be TrixBox Pro, which doesn't excite me all that much. I really want to dive into Atserisk and TB CE, but I know that Pro is a product that helps keep Fonality in business. (Does everyone who sells a TB CE system donate a hundred dollars or more to Fonality)?
I have done nothing in business with TB/Elastix/FreePBX, but do use it in my home and my business, but intend to do more in concert with another communications company in my area.
Simply, would you go?
To those who have attended, was it worth it? Did it help you with other distros? Does Fonality support you well?
Any thoughts would be appreciated and thanks for your current views.
Thanks
John
 
John, FtOCC turned out to be
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 7:41pm
John, FtOCC turned out to be pretty good to me. Just not how you might think.
See: http://www.trixbox.org/forums/trixbox-forums/open-discussion/1st-...
 
Very interetsing
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 7:56pm
Robert,
I did see that after I posted... should have refreshed before I posted. I did find it very interesting! and what a course of events.
I am amazed at how some small things can turn out to have some great and unexpected results!
Thanks!
John
 
trixbox CE does not have any
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 10:01pm
trixbox CE does not have any dealer channel per se. Since having an FtOCC certified tech is a requirement for certain levels of Pro channel relationship the course leans toward Pro and the dealer channel.
I have not attended however I have spoken with several people who have. They certainly cover CE and Linux issues.
You say you have not used FreePBX however if you use CE you are using FreePBX and Asterisk.
To that end FreePBX training and Digium boot camp would cover the issues you suggested.
You did not state where your Linux level is. I would certainly go into any training with a strong Linux sysadmin skill set.
With regard to the $100, I think you need to set as a business value that a certain amount of per sale net profit goes back to the community. Don't forget the many projects that make CE possible.
I have always been an advocate of discrete training for CE and Pro maybe 'open FtOCC' ???? Many see CE as a stepping stone to Pro I see them as completely different business strategies. A CE integrator would generally not be a Pro reseller.
Just my 2 cents.
--
Scott
aka "Skyking"
 
FtOCC
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 3:27am
Good evening johnjces,
I'm the guy who started the "beginning of the end" posting. Regarding the training it would depend entirely what you want to achieve and what product you are interested in.
TB Pro has LESS functionality and is LES flexible than TB CE. CE requires more knowledge and the heart of CE is actually FreePBX - which is not a Fonality product.
I'm in the same boat as you and have decided against the Fonailty training and have decided to go with generic FreePBX training due to the nervousness we are all experiencing with Fonality. Put it this way, if you go for the Generic training then you are not tied to Fonality, but the information / knowledge is still applicable to the CE product. If not then there are a number or other distro's that use FreePBX and the core code.
We decided that TB PRO wasn't for us due to the pricing model not being a "good fit" in New Zealand, but you need to make your own mind up about this. The other problem I have is very few customers will allow me to install a Linux server on their network and give a "unknown" organization "root" access to that box! - That is what happens with Pro!!!
I see that TB have now pulled the ANNUAL support option for TB CE and you can only purchase it on a hourly basis. I sent an email the other day to the support team asking about the "file count" issue in the recording interface. They responded and answered the question but told me that in future this type of question was "out of scope" of the support agreement! It seems that they have also changed what they actually now choose to support as well...
Hope this helps
 
While I can't talk about
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 7:26am
While I can't talk about FtOCC, I can talk about OTTS as I'm currently attending it's training at Digium in Huntsville, Alabama. First and for most, this training is 4 days and after the first day alone I've learned a ridiculous amount of knowledge about FreePBX. Keep in mind that's all in one day, and we have 3 more to go. I'm mean it may not be much coming from me at this moment, but I'd highly recommend you check out OTTS if your considering any type of training. In fact why not learn about the things that make your systems tick from the lead FreePBX developer, especially when almost every distribution uses it? I'll post more once at the end of this training but I can say with confidence that this course has already blown me away with knowledge in one day.
 
Digium Training (or OTTS at least)
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 7:52am
Hi from N3GLV,
I just noticed the above post and happened to be sitting at a centos workstation/pbx in the Digium
training room. Listening to Phillippe Lindheimer second day lecture at the Open Telephony Training
Seminar. The training seems to be fairly comprehensive so far and as would be expected it's been
related to the freepbx system, looking forward into the lesson plan in the book the other lecture people
will be covering many more in-depth things, like security etc.
Aside from the tech info the human networking / new friends and fellow geeks from around the world
has been wonderful. So, I guess in short, hell yeah I'm having a good time and even though I have been
doing pbx setups since asterisk @ home and xorcom rapid and the very first version of TB, it's not a waste
of my time by any means. In fact, I would love to be able to attend another one in a year or so.
Best wishes and see you around IRC
de N3GLV
www.voipcoop.org
www.pbxtechs.com
 
n3glv, your with GameGamer43?
Fri, 03/06/2009 - 7:35am
n3glv, (Jeff ?? I hope)
SO both you and gamegamer43 are at the same OTT training?
Would one of you guys ask this simple question for me of the Digium guys?
Is the OTT training ONLY at their headquarters, or do they travel and if so any planned, but not published, in the S/W?
John (N7MJJ)
PS. Fonality (Andrew)... I am sorry to be using your boards for this... but I 'gotta' know!
 
OTTS has been held at
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 8:43am
OTTS has been held at Charleston, SC, Las Vegas, and Digium HQ in Huntsville, AL. We have gravitated towards doing most of our events at Digium HQ because of their really nice training room setup and friendly Digium people, but that's not to say we won't hold future events at other locations. In addition, we are finalizing licensing the training for European venues and other domestic venues.
 
Cosmicwombats 1st post leads
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 9:03am
Cosmicwombats 1st post leads to another deal which discusses an OTTS in Washington(state)
--
 
James.. Thanks
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 9:14am
Saw that and checked it out again.
The class at Digium is 4 days the one in WA is 3 days... just trying now to find out the differences. Good timing!
Thanks!
John
 
The difference is that we
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 11:27am
The difference is that we adjusted the course to fit the venue. Some of the marketing material on the last day is omitted and there won't be any vendors speaking.
 
Training
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 1:22pm
trixbox PRO is a great product used by thousands of customers world wide. We find the typical PRO reseller just wants a system that works for his customers and is easy to manage. Usually he customers like it because of features like HUD with it's ability to control communications from one place. Out typical CE reseller wants to tweak the systems a little more and doesn't mind going onsite for support. They also like the ability to sell a product that costs them nothing even if it's less functional and harder to support.
The trixbox training is good because it covers both products. Much of the time is spent learning how to setup and troubleshoot a SIP phone system. We do spend some time going through all the features and how to set them up. But the setup and troubleshooting part of the class is the real value. Anybody can walk you through the features of a system but our class is taught be people from our support department with front line knowledge of what works and what doesn't in the IP telephony world. Anybody in this industry can use that. I even learned a few things we I took the class and I invented trixbox :)
 
Andrew pretty much hit the
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 2:24pm
Andrew pretty much hit the nail on the head.
Quote:
Out typical CE reseller wants to tweak the systems a little more and doesn't mind going onsite for support.
Certainly that describes me though I rarely go onsite for support. I like the extensibility.
I also came to trixbox CE with 10+ years of SIP experience so I clearly did not need an overview of SIP.
For me none of the training has been 'blood and guts' enough. The access to Philippe (the creator of FreePBX) was worth it to me.
trixbox CE integrators should be Linux savy.
--
Scott
aka "Skyking"
 
Andrew, You are absolute right!
Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:33pm
Andrew, if you are going to get training, you need to get it from people who are on the street right now. Every OTTS trainer is a member of the official FreePBX support department. Our combined IT expertise is something over 50 years in this space.
 
Thank-you all!
Fri, 03/06/2009 - 7:42am
I knew the direction I wanted to go but I just wasn't quite certain of the path.
If anyone is curious, I opted for the OTTS in Bellingham. I hope northern Washington at the end of April is bright and sunny.
Thank you all very much!
John
 
The weather should be very
Fri, 03/06/2009 - 9:38am
The weather should be very nice. Should be Shrimp season too. Yummm.
 
April is nice in Los Angeles
Fri, 03/06/2009 - 9:44am
April is nice in Los Angeles too! It's really sunny, but not too hot! We should have a get-together for the people that come, and all go get dinner together or something ^^
 
Hmm ... Sunshine or Shrimp
Fri, 03/06/2009 - 11:58am
both sound good, Sunshine or Shrimp. But ... I'm going to opt for the fresh shrimp so I look forward to seeing any of you who choose to come up to Lummi Island. I've stayed there and had the food, so no convincing needed on my part!
btw - if you like digging more into Linux, stick around after the class for the LinuxFest Northwest 2009 10th Anniversary that weekend, it's free and has had a lot of very interesting and valuable talks in the past!
I'll see you on Lummi Island!
 
John. you made a great
Sun, 03/08/2009 - 9:26am
John. you made a great choice. The other nice thing is that the Inn owns a nearby farm and a lot of the produce we are going to consume is picked fresh that day. Of' course they have an Asterisk based phone system... And while I can work on it remotely, I usually try to time my work when they are serving :)
 
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2007-10-13