asterisk users - May 2003 - G.729: Typical usage scenarios

Clicking on the "For more information, click here" link on the Digium 
site nice brings back up the same page I was looking at before, without 
any additional G.729 information that I can see.

I'm wondering if some kind asterisker out there could provide us 
neophytes with some "typical scenarios" where that codec would be
useful
to us.

For instance, I assume that it doesn't gain anything on calls passed out 
to the PSTN?

Do the Cisco ATA186s have any ability to handle this codec?

Perhaps it would be useful if I'm trunking from a FXS port here locally 
to an FXO port that is connected to a remote asterisk server?

Also, is the license "once in a lifetime" for a given channel?

Thanks.

B.

>Clicking on the "For more information, click here" link on the 
>Digium site nice brings back up the same page I was looking at 
>before, without any additional G.729 information that I can see.
>
>I'm wondering if some kind asterisker out there could provide us 
>neophytes with some "typical scenarios" where that codec would be 
>useful to us.
>
>For instance, I assume that it doesn't gain anything on calls passed 
>out to the PSTN?
Well, if your Asterisk server is right next to your UA (ATA-186) on 
the same ethernet, you don't gain anything - you should stick with 
the ~80kbps G711 codecs which sound better.  If your Asterisk server 
is on a different continent across a 56kbps satellite link, then I 
would suggest that you look into the G729 codec.  People who are 
bandwidth constrained and have multiple UA's connecting from distant 
locations are most likely to benefit from G729.
>Do the Cisco ATA186s have any ability to handle this codec?
Yes.  Set LBRCodec to "3" and then set TXCodec to "3" and
RXCodec to
"3" to set G729
>Perhaps it would be useful if I'm trunking from a FXS port here 
>locally to an FXO port that is connected to a remote asterisk server?
Only if you have critical bandwidth shortages.
>Also, is the license "once in a lifetime" for a given channel?
One-time payment per channel.  No recurring fees.

JT

I was just kicking around the site and found this:

http://store.yahoo.com/asteriskpbx/asteriskg729.html


Jeff