asterisk users - Jun 2004 - Asterisk as Media Gateway (was: ATT CallVantage & Asterisk)

Hi Philip,

Unfortunately, * speaks MGCP only as the Call Agent, rather
than as the Media Gateway.  MGCP is a master/slave protocol,
and it would take some effort to make * work as the slave.

I have the same problem: Free Telecom here in Paris includes
MGCP service with their DSL.  You can call any fixed phone in
France at no charge!  Rates to mobiles and international are
quite aggressive, too.  Various ISPs around the world have
similar offers, so I'm surprised that nobody has yet implemented
a solution for *.

In the short term, you could connect the FXS ports on the D-Link
to some FXO interfaces (PCI, TDM, SIP, H.323, or even MGCP).
Of course, this impairs voice quality, increases delay, may
disrupt some functions, is a hassle to administer, etc.
But it's better than nothing.

I am considering adding MG capability to the * MGCP stack.
Do you or does anyone have an interest in helping with this?

--Stewart
> Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:30:15 -0400
> From: "Kubat, Philip" <pkubat@kubat.com>
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] ATT CallVantage & Asterisk
> I am trying to connect directly to AT&T VoIP service CallVanage.  I
have
> ATT's ATA (D-Link DVG-1120M).  They use mgcp.  I have traces of the
connects
> from the Dlink and hoping to setup Asterisk the same.  It looks like I need
> to have Asterisk be a MGCP endpoint (gateway).   How do I configure this?
> Does the mgcp.conf support "register" like sip etc?  What is the
syntax?
>

I noticed that there is some interest in MGCP slave operation for Asterisk
to enable it to work with the AT&T Callvantage offering.  I have tried the
FXS/FXO connection to Asterisk and the Linksys TA with little success.
Dropped calls are the biggest problem, which does not occur when the phone
is directly connected to the TA.  Anyway, I am very interested in working on
this project if others are still interested.

Ed Horton