Gary G. Hendershot
2004-Aug-25 20:13 UTC
[Asterisk-Users] Could use some advice/reality check from someone knowledgeable
Have been experimenting with Asterisk for about 2 months now. Have developed a configuration that I feel is ready to deploy for our own in house use. Our primary motivation for considering an IP based phone solution is to provide connectivity to remote tele-workers that for all practical purposes emulates an office extension. As deployed, we will have an Asterisk server at our main office with 4 IP and 11 legacy analog extensions on an ancient Panasonic KX-T61610 KSU. The main office has a T1 line to the Internet. It is a business class setup with multiple IP addresses. Suspect will put Asterisk in the DMZ and have it fairly exposed to the outside world. We will also need to deploy 8 additional units at remote locations that are on consumer type internet connections. Mostly cable and DSL but one is on a satellite ISP (guy lives in the woods but writes beautiful code. These remotes will need to traverse consumer grade NAT firewalls to reach the Asterisk server at the main office. My lab setup has been configured using a few cheap Grandstream phones. The things work well but really look and feel cheap. When we do our roll out, I want to deploy something that is going to look decent, feel like an office phone, sound good, but is not unusually difficult to configure and deploy (if the one out in the woods stops working, I am the one who will have to drive 100 miles to fix it). But of course I don't want to spend a dime more than I have to. I have admired the Cisco 7960, the Polycom 600 and the Snom 200 more or less in that order of appeal. All seem to be available in about the same general price range of $275-$350 street price (used ones for less on eBay). I am new enough to IP telephony gear that I have missed some other players that I should consider. Last time I took a hard look at VoIP was about 5 years ago before it was ready for prime time. Things have changed a lot since then. What I hope to get from the group is a little guidance from folks out there who may have already made a mistake that I should avoid. Info on any gotcha's that I should be aware of would be appreciated. Thanks Gary G. Hendershot Chief Technical Officer Advanced Digital Technologies