Mike Morris
2006-Oct-05 19:22 UTC
[asterisk-users] Newbie h/w Q, and confirming basic concepts
I'm preparing for my first asterisk install, and would like to ask a
hardware question & confirm my understanding of some basics:
- The Q: I'm looking for 2 FXO ports to have asterisk answer 2
incoming lines. There are single FXO port cards for about $30... but dual
cards, or the Digium "400" cards, are all several hundred dollars.
Why is
this? Are the chipsets so different, or am I missing something?
And here's my plan to teach myself using increasing complexity:
- Starting point is standard PC, standard phone line
- do trixbox install on PC & connect to LAN (no special hardware yet)
- then I should be able to setup IVR and voice mail boxes, and access
them using a "soft phone" from any PC on the network, but
only"locally",
using extension numbers, right?
- I could also plug IP phones directly into the network and access the
asterisk box "locally", using extension numbers, right?
- add FXO card(s), and connect incoming lines. Now I can also:
- dialup the voice mailboxes from any standard phone worldwide
- Use any of the IP and/or softphones to send and receive calls
via PSTN, right?
- add FXS card(s) and I can plug standard phones into the asterisk box
and I can use them as extensions, to either access voicemail locally, or
send/receive calls via PSTN ... right ???
- Now for VoIP I just have to order the service from a vendor like
vonage, and I can use any of the soft phones, IP phones or standard handsets
for VoIP... right ??
Do I have any major misconceptions about the above?
Thanks a lot for your patience !!!
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Dovid B
2006-Oct-05 19:55 UTC
[asterisk-users] Newbie h/w Q, and confirming basic concepts
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Morris
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 4:22 AM
Subject: [asterisk-users] Newbie h/w Q, and confirming basic concepts
I'm preparing for my first asterisk install, and would like to ask a
hardware question & confirm my understanding of some basics:
a.. The Q: I'm looking for 2 FXO ports to have asterisk answer 2
incoming lines. There are single FXO port cards for about $30... but dual
cards, or the Digium "400" cards, are all several hundred dollars. Why
is this? Are the chipsets so different, or am I missing something?
The singles ones out there today are mostly clones. Never used one but
people seem to have problems with them and there is limited support. If you get
one from Digium or Sangoma you have support.
And here's my plan to teach myself using increasing complexity:
a.. Starting point is standard PC, standard phone line
b.. do trixbox install on PC & connect to LAN (no special hardware yet)
Trixbox will work however I would not recomend it. You are limited by what
they put in the GUI as well as if there is problem it can take for ever to
trouble shoot it. It pays to learn asterisk the "right way".
a.. then I should be able to setup IVR and voice mail boxes, and access them
using a "soft phone" from any PC on the network, but
only"locally", using extension numbers, right?
You can localy or remote. Just make sure to set up NAT if you are remote and
using NAT.
a.. I could also plug IP phones directly into the network and access the
asterisk box "locally", using extension numbers, right?
Correct !
a.. add FXO card(s), and connect incoming lines. Now I can also:
I would recomend inserting the card in the begining. For if you dont you will
need to use Ztdummy for testing and then recompile once the card is there.
dialup the voice mailboxes from any standard phone worldwide
Use any of the IP and/or softphones to send and receive calls via
PSTN, right?
Yes
a.. add FXS card(s) and I can plug standard phones into the asterisk box and
I can use them as extensions, to either access voicemail locally, or
send/receive calls via PSTN ... right ???
b.. Now for VoIP I just have to order the service from a vendor like vonage,
and I can use any of the soft phones, IP phones or standard handsets for VoIP...
right ??
Some VOIP providers (like vonage for a basic line) only let you use thier
ATA's. You would need a provider to allow you to connect your asterisk box
directly to them.
Do I have any major misconceptions about the above?
Pretty much. You have a little playing around to do. And remember practice
makes perfect.
Thanks a lot for your patience !!!
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Brian Candler
2006-Oct-06 03:37 UTC
[asterisk-users] Newbie h/w Q, and confirming basic concepts
On Thu, Oct 05, 2006 at 07:22:16PM -0700, Mike Morris wrote:> I'm preparing for my first asterisk install, and would like to ask a > hardware question & confirm my understanding of some basics: > * The Q: I'm looking for 2 FXO ports to have asterisk answer 2 > incoming lines. There are single FXO port cards for about $30... > but dual cards, or the Digium "400" cards, are all several hundred > dollars. Why is this? Are the chipsets so different, or am I > missing something?FXS ports are a little bit more sophisticated - they have to provide voltage to ring the phone for example. However, the reason the FXO cards are so cheap is that they are basically WinModems (and hence obsolete consumer-grade gear being shifted out) You do have another alternative: buy an ATA (analogue telephone adaptor) which has, say, one FXO and two FXS ports, and connects to your LAN using ethernet. It talks to your Asterisk server using SIP. This probably works out cheaper than a TDM400P. You also get the advantage that it may reduce the CPU load on your box, since you can arrange for the media streams to run directly between the ATA and your local softphones (i.e. the Asterisk box handles signalling but not audio). This needs the ATA and your softphones to support "reinvite", so that Asterisk can switch itself back into the audio stream when necessary (e.g. for conferencing, voicemail etc) The other advantage of ATAs is that they let you build simpler networks. If you don't want the features and complexity of a local Asterisk server, you can point your ATAs and VoIP phones all at an upstream SIP provider like sipgate. You can either give your phones separate accounts, or register them all with the same account (sipgate handles multiple registrations and forking, so that a call to your number will ring all the phones) If you're running behind NAT then you probably need to add a simple SIP proxy like siproxd, but that's something very simple and tiny compared to Asterisk. OTOH, if you do it that way, you deprive yourself of the experience of building and running your own softswitch :-) HTH, Brian.
John Novack
2006-Oct-06 04:57 UTC
[asterisk-users] Newbie h/w Q, and confirming basic concepts
Look long and hard before purchase of a TDM400 It doesn't work with many motherboards, and Digium's anser is "try another Motherboard" Seriously consider the Sangoma A200 5 year Warranty and works with all motherboards. John Npvack Mike Morris wrote:> I'm preparing for my first asterisk install, and would like to ask a > hardware question & confirm my understanding of some basics: > > * The Q: I'm looking for 2 FXO ports to have asterisk answer 2 > incoming lines. There are single FXO port cards for about > $30... but dual cards, or the Digium "400" cards, are all > several hundred dollars. Why is this? Are the chipsets so > different, or am I missing something? > > And here's my plan to teach myself using increasing complexity: > > * Starting point is standard PC, standard phone line > * do trixbox install on PC & connect to LAN (no special hardware yet) > * then I should be able to setup IVR and voice mail boxes, and > access them using a "soft phone" from any PC on the network, but > only"locally", using extension numbers, right? > * I could also plug IP phones directly into the network and access > the asterisk box "locally", using extension numbers, right? > * add FXO card(s), and connect incoming lines. Now I can also: > o dialup the voice mailboxes from any standard phone worldwide > o Use any of the IP and/or softphones to send and receive > calls via PSTN, right? > * add FXS card(s) and I can plug standard phones into the asterisk > box and I can use them as extensions, to either access voicemail > locally, or send/receive calls via PSTN ... right ??? > * Now for VoIP I just have to order the service from a vendor like > vonage, and I can use any of the soft phones, IP phones or > standard handsets for VoIP... right ?? > > Do I have any major misconceptions about the above? > > Thanks a lot for your patience !!! > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > asterisk-users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users >