Hi all, I've been playing about with Asterisk for years now on and off, just SIP to SIP calls, using FWD and suchlike. I'm moving house at the beginning of September and have decided to build an Asterisk based system for my home office. I'm in the UK and wonder if anyone can give me advice on lines and hardware to use. Had planned to go with an ISDN2e line coupled with a BT Speedway ISDN card [1] from eBay for the PSTN side and Cisco 2940 and 2960G devices talking SIP for the internal phones. In addition to this I want to have extra numbers provided to me (MSN??) by BT and then set up Asterisk to handle calls differently depending on what number is called (i.e. work, home, fax). I don't have a problem setting this up under Asterisk (that's the fun part) but what I need is advice on what to ask for from BT so I don't get the wrong lines / services and so that it all works smoothly! Thanks in advance and feel free to take off list. Benjamin Johnson [1] http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6702818488 ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
On 25 Aug 2004, at 12:23, Benjamin Johnson wrote:> Hi all, > I've been playing about with Asterisk for years now on and off, just > SIP to SIP calls, using FWD and suchlike. I'm moving house at the > beginning of September and have decided to build an Asterisk based > system for my home office. > I'm in the UK and wonder if anyone can give me advice on lines and > hardware to use. Had planned to go with an ISDN2e line coupled with a > BT Speedway ISDN card [1] from eBay for the PSTN side and Cisco 2940 > and 2960G devices talking SIP for the internal phones. > In addition to this I want to have extra numbers provided to me > (MSN??) by BT and then set up Asterisk to handle calls differently > depending on what number is called (i.e. work, home, fax). > > I don't have a problem setting this up under Asterisk (that's the fun > part) but what I need is advice on what to ask for from BT so I don't > get the wrong lines / services and so that it all works smoothly!You NEED a BT ISDN2e connection - the Highway stuff is a waste of space, and prolly won't work with voice. Call them up (You'll need to be a business, they don't seem to sell anything other than Highway to home users) and ask for an ISDN2e circuit, and tell them you want a bunch of MSN's (Multiple Subscriber Numbers, I think) and they should be able to sort it out. MAKE SURE you deal with Business sales, not Residential Sales. Other than that, it should be fairly painless. I've not used * with MSN's, only DDI's, but for DDI's you need a) lots of money and b) a p2p mode ISDN line, which I believe requires an active (rather than passive, as the speedways are) ISDN card. We tend to use active cards here at work, but I've used chan_capi with a BT speedway before, and it works just fine. I'm not sure that I have the configs laying about, but if you have any specific questions, feel free to fire them at me :) Jon
Benjamin asked:> I don't have a problem setting this up under Asterisk (that's > the fun part) but what I need is advice on what to ask for > from BT so I don't get the wrong lines / services and so that > it all works smoothly!OK. You need one of the following: Home Highway Business Highway ISDN2e I can confirm that * works happily with all three - my office lines are (for various reasons, none of which apply any more!) on Business Highway. If you want to use a Fritz! card, then you MUST have the line set up in PTMP (point to multi-point) mode. Home/Business Highway only work this way, so that's not a problem, but ISDN2e can be either PTP (point to point) or PTMP. BT PTMP only supports MSNs (which you can have a maximum of 8). PTP only supports DDIs (which you can have as many as you can afford). Essentially, if you order ISDN2e with MSNs you'll get PTMP and PTP if you order it with DDIs. I gather (although I have no experience) that if you order it without MSNs or DDIs, you'll get it in PTP mode, so make sure you specify that that's not what you want. If you want sequential numbers, then you'll have to argue like mad to get them as MSNs (I managed to get a block of 5 sequential MSNs, but it was hard work!). DDIs are issued in blocks of 10 and are usually sequential. My first * box was built with a Fritz! card from eBay and configured with chan_capi, but I have now moved over to the HFC cards and use zaphfc which works like a charm. HFC cards are available from Komplett (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=119006&cks=SER) for ?13. The HFC cards support both PTP and PTMP modes. The other thing to watch out for when you order the lines is which rental option you take out. BT offer three different options ('start up', 'call plan' and 'low start') each with different installation costs, rental charges and call allowances - if you don't specify which one you want, they'll pick one for you (and probably at random). Have fun, and if you want to talk off-list, please feel free. Cheers, Nick Barnes Senior IT Consultant.