Nortel ceased to exist in 2009. If a Norstar, BCM, or Meridian still runs your phones, fvoip can move you to supported service without losing a number.
Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 and was liquidated, with its enterprise voice business sold off to Avaya. The company that built your Norstar, BCM, or Meridian has not existed for over fifteen years. There is no manufacturer support, no new parts production, and no software maintenance; everything keeping these systems alive comes from refurbished equipment resellers and a shrinking pool of technicians who learned the platform decades ago. Many still run, a genuine testament to the hardware, but every year the odds worsen and the cost of a fix rises.
The failure mode is what makes waiting dangerous. When a Norstar KSU power supply dies or a BCM drive fails, the business is not degraded, it is silent: no inbound calls, no outbound calls, while someone hunts eBay and refurb houses for a compatible part. Migrating to fvoip on your own schedule removes that cliff. We port every number for free, local in 3 to 10 business days and toll-free in 10 to 15, and we run fvoip in parallel with the Nortel system until the port completes, so the switch itself carries no downtime at all.
What you gain goes beyond safety. A Norstar cannot ring your cell when you are out, email you a voicemail transcript, or route callers by business hours across two locations. Every fvoip plan includes those, plus unlimited US and Canada calling, a multi-level auto-attendant, and apps for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, starting at $21 per user per month with no contract and no setup fees. New Yealink, Poly, or Grandstream desk phones arrive auto-provisioned, purchasable outright or rentable from $8.99 per month. From a 3-line Norstar in a shop to a Meridian in a multi-floor office, the path is the same and we handle it free.
| Nortel | fvoip | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor status | Bankrupt and liquidated in 2009; no manufacturer exists | US carrier actively serving small and mid-sized business |
| Parts | Refurbished-only, sourced from resellers and auctions | New Yealink, Poly, Grandstream hardware; rent from $8.99/mo |
| Technicians | A shrinking pool of retiring specialists | US-based 24/7 support included |
| Ongoing cost | Legacy trunk charges plus emergency repair exposure | From $21/user/mo, all-inclusive |
| Failure mode | Total silence until a used part is found | Cloud redundancy; calls reroute to apps |
| Remote work | None | Full mobile and desktop apps on all plans |
| Voicemail | On-box, tape-era design, no transcripts | Voicemail-to-email with AI transcripts |
| Moves, adds, changes | Technician visit with proprietary software | Self-serve or ask our team, included |
| Upfront cost to switch | n/a | No setup fees, free porting, free migration |
Competitor details reflect published information at the time of writing and may change — always confirm current terms with the vendor.
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