I have just started laying out the plans for my first project using Asterisk. I am very interested at this stage in getting much needed feedback, critiquing my approach. What are the ups and downs going to be if I develop this project as follows: -The client wants to connect some phone reps in India through a VoIP to their clients. -There will be 3 phone lines, and 1 broadband internet connection. -Since there will be very little bandwidth requirements (unless they scale), I figure just let the workers in India make and receive calls using NetMeeting, or GnomeMeeting, or some other H323, or SIP compatible client, directly connecting to the Asterisk box in the U.S. -These clients will connect, via the internet, to an Asterisk box in their office in the U.S. That box (regardless if it uses Digium or Quicknet) will negotiate all 3 phone connections with their respective H323 or SIP connections. Another question is: If the workers are in an office-space, and in order to prevent the need for an additional asterisk PBX in India, is it easy to run each of the workers' connections on separate ports? (ie. port 5060 for phone # 555-1212, port 5061 for 555-1213, and port 5062 for 555-1214 ? This way each NetMeeting, or GnomeMeeting connection coming from India can simply run behind a NAT router, instead of setting up a separate Asterisk PBX. Thank you for your help. Cameron Jacobson
Hi!> using NetMeeting, or GnomeMeeting, or some other H323, or SIP > compatible clientFor H323 you'll need to install a gatekeeper next to Asterisk and fiddle with h323 or oh323 (I love to live dangerously, hit me Jeremy). :-> Moreover NetMeeting doesn't work through NAT. SIP is easier to set up, no extra gatekeeper required. For permanent use you better get hardware IP phones that can ring, have better audio quality, and work while the computer is switched off. However, consider if either GSM (software & SNOM hardware phone) or g729 / g723.1 codecs (found in most hardware phones, need to buy Digium license for g729) are the path for you to go, or if you can live with the bandwidth monster g711.> Another question is: If the workers are in an office-space, and in > order to prevent the need for an additional asterisk PBX in India, is > it easy to run each of the workers' connections on separate ports? > (ie. port 5060 for phone # 555-1212, port 5061 for 555-1213, and port > 5062 for 555-1214 ? This way each NetMeeting, or GnomeMeeting > connection coming from India can simply run behind a NAT router, > instead of setting up a separate Asterisk PBX.Yes, but you'll also need to take care of the RTP (upd) traffic forwarding, not just the negotiation protocol. So go for SIP, or consider using IAX (only if you want to stick to software clients, though) unless you require video support for your clients. Cheers, Philipp
On Sat, 2003-12-06 at 17:55, Cameron Jacobson wrote:> I have just started laying out the plans for my first project using > Asterisk. I am very interested at this stage in getting much needed > feedback, critiquing my approach. What are the ups and downs going to > be if I develop this project as follows: > > -The client wants to connect some phone reps in India through a VoIP > to their clients. > -There will be 3 phone lines, and 1 broadband internet connection. > -Since there will be very little bandwidth requirements (unless they > scale), I figure just let the workers in India make and receive calls > using NetMeeting, or GnomeMeeting, or some other H323, or SIP > compatible client, directly connecting to the Asterisk box in the U.S. > -These clients will connect, via the internet, to an Asterisk box in > their office in the U.S. That box (regardless if it uses Digium or > Quicknet) will negotiate all 3 phone connections with their respective > H323 or SIP connections. > > Another question is: If the workers are in an office-space, and in > order to prevent the need for an additional asterisk PBX in India, is > it easy to run each of the workers' connections on separate ports? > (ie. port 5060 for phone # 555-1212, port 5061 for 555-1213, and port > 5062 for 555-1214 ? This way each NetMeeting, or GnomeMeeting > connection coming from India can simply run behind a NAT router, > instead of setting up a separate Asterisk PBX.What kind of connection is you client in India getting? What is the sustained bandwidth you can achieve to the US(or wherever you are originating the calls)? How reliable is the connection, and have you made fail over plans? While GSM won't provide the number of connections that G729 will on a given network connection, you can expand at anytime without fear of loosing your investment. To get GSM to India and keep quality up, you will want to deploy a asterisk machine behind the NAT in India. Then if you wanted to use SIP or H323, it will be much less of a problem as it would be on the same side of the NAT. It would also be possible to use a TDM400 card and use real telephones so as not to loose your phone connections when the windows based computers fail. -- Steven Critchfield <critch@basesys.com>