asterisk users - Oct 2004 - Beginers Help - Hardware selection

I am new to Asterisk.
 
I am trying to ascertain the hardware setup (and associated cost) I would need.
The documentation in the wiki (and elsewhere) is extensive but I am somewhat
lost in product model numbers. Hence I need an initial recommandation to work
on.
 
15 incoming lines, 25 employees).
Initial scenario is to use * as a plain old PBX.
I need voicemail, ability to transfer calls, ...
 
I figure I would need a channel bank right? 
With some extension cards? 
A pc card with a t1 line running between channel bank and pc?
If so what maker/model. Looking for ease of setup. Approximate price?
 
Can I reuse my old Northern Telecom phones?
 
Thx for the help...
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This doesnt help me. I am asking what kind of equipement I would need. 
 
arma : If you want I can also point you to other companies selling
equipement. I still dont know what I need.
-----Original Message-----
From: arma [mailto:peter@malibutech.com]
Sent: October 7, 2004 3:33 PM
To: Sylvain Hamel
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Beginers Help - Hardware selection


www.govarion.com <http://www.govarion.com/>  has some very nice servers
that would fit your bill just about perfect.
 

  _____  

From: Sylvain Hamel [mailto:sylvain@webnet.qc.ca] 
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 3:14 PM
To: Benjamin J. Bawkon
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Beginers Help - Hardware selection
 
I am new to Asterisk.
 
I am trying to ascertain the hardware setup (and associated cost) I
would need. The documentation in the wiki (and elsewhere) is extensive
but I am somewhat lost in product model numbers. Hence I need an initial
recommandation to work on.
 
15 incoming lines, 25 employees).
Initial scenario is to use * as a plain old PBX.
I need voicemail, ability to transfer calls, ...
 
I figure I would need a channel bank right? 
With some extension cards? 
A pc card with a t1 line running between channel bank and pc?
If so what maker/model. Looking for ease of setup. Approximate price?
 
Can I reuse my old Northern Telecom phones?
 
Thx for the help...


This message was checked by MailScan for WorkgroupMail.
www.govarion.com 
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----- Original Message ----- 
> I am new to Asterisk.
welcome!
>
> I am trying to ascertain the hardware setup (and associated cost) I would
need. The documentation in the wiki (and elsewhere) is extensive but I am
somewhat lost in product model numbers. Hence I need an initial
recommandation to work on.

you know how to build a linux box?  associated p/n's aren't really
relevant
to that portion.  start there.  if you can't do that, then look for a
consultant on the wiki (http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+consultants)
if you have 15 analog lines ask your provider to quote you a fractional t-1
(or PRI), it will make your life much easier you will be able to forget
about the channel bank.  if that makes economic sense then you need a t100
from digium (http://www.digium.com/index.php?menu=wildcard_t100p)
>
> 15 incoming lines, 25 employees).
> Initial scenario is to use * as a plain old PBX.
> I need voicemail, ability to transfer calls, ...
good start, Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)  it will accomplish this easily.
>
> I figure I would need a channel bank right?
> With some extension cards?
> A pc card with a t1 line running between channel bank and pc?
> If so what maker/model. Looking for ease of setup. Approximate price?
>
> Can I reuse my old Northern Telecom phones?
Sorry, unless these are analog sets, you will not be able to use them.  If
you are willing to spend a couple of dollars on telephones, look on ebay for
Cisco 79xx phones.  The 7960 is a 6 line set with speaker phone, the 7940 is
a 4 line set.  If you are trying to replace a simple Key system with * then
I strongly suggest you invest in a higher end phone like a Cisco as to
soften the blow of moving to a system like *.

Good luck

Jason Kawakami
www.optellabs.com
Salt Lake City, UT

Thx for the reply.

Not to delves in the details but I got the linux angle coverred nicely.

We have currently 15 separate analog lines. A PRI represents a small economy for
us but so far we liked the flexibility of beeing able to play with analog lines
(i.e. Testing DSL and dialup connections). The way I understand it though there
is with asterisk and some hardware the way to hook up a standard analog
phone/fax/modem?

So... if I summarize, all I would need (given that I replace my 15 incoming
lines with a PRI) is a T100P card (500$US) and replace my existing phones for IP
phones? This excludes of course the PC and cabling part.

This would be sufficient for running a small company of about 15 employees?

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com]On Behalf Of Jason
Kawakami
Sent: October 7, 2004 8:46 PM
To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Re: Beginers Help - Hardware selection



----- Original Message ----- 
> I am new to Asterisk.
welcome!
>
> I am trying to ascertain the hardware setup (and associated cost) I would
need. The documentation in the wiki (and elsewhere) is extensive but I am
somewhat lost in product model numbers. Hence I need an initial
recommandation to work on.

you know how to build a linux box?  associated p/n's aren't really
relevant
to that portion.  start there.  if you can't do that, then look for a
consultant on the wiki (http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+consultants)
if you have 15 analog lines ask your provider to quote you a fractional t-1
(or PRI), it will make your life much easier you will be able to forget
about the channel bank.  if that makes economic sense then you need a t100
from digium (http://www.digium.com/index.php?menu=wildcard_t100p)
>
> 15 incoming lines, 25 employees).
> Initial scenario is to use * as a plain old PBX.
> I need voicemail, ability to transfer calls, ...
good start, Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)  it will accomplish this easily.
>
> I figure I would need a channel bank right?
> With some extension cards?
> A pc card with a t1 line running between channel bank and pc?
> If so what maker/model. Looking for ease of setup. Approximate price?
>
> Can I reuse my old Northern Telecom phones?
Sorry, unless these are analog sets, you will not be able to use them.  If
you are willing to spend a couple of dollars on telephones, look on ebay for
Cisco 79xx phones.  The 7960 is a 6 line set with speaker phone, the 7940 is
a 4 line set.  If you are trying to replace a simple Key system with * then
I strongly suggest you invest in a higher end phone like a Cisco as to
soften the blow of moving to a system like *.

Good luck

Jason Kawakami
www.optellabs.com
Salt Lake City, UT

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----- Original Message ----- )

<snip>
> So... if I summarize, all I would need (given that I replace my 15
incoming lines with a PRI) is a T100P card (500$US) and replace my existing
phones for IP phones? This excludes of course the PC and cabling
part.
>
> This would be sufficient for running a small company of about 15
employees?
yes.  I run about 50 users on a ~1 gig pIII with a gig of ram and a PRI.  I
have played with channel banks and stuff and the savings in the phones is
really outweighed by the cost of the channel banks.
> -----Original Message-----
<snip>

I am curious about the QoS aspect. Do you have separate cabling or does it use
the same ethernet cabling as your computers? Whats the load on the network?

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com]On Behalf Of Jason
Kawakami
Sent: October 8, 2004 11:19 AM
To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Re: RE: Re: Beginers Help - Hardware selection



----- Original Message ----- )

<snip>
> So... if I summarize, all I would need (given that I replace my 15
incoming lines with a PRI) is a T100P card (500$US) and replace my existing
phones for IP phones? This excludes of course the PC and cabling
part.
>
> This would be sufficient for running a small company of about 15
employees?
yes.  I run about 50 users on a ~1 gig pIII with a gig of ram and a PRI.  I
have played with channel banks and stuff and the savings in the phones is
really outweighed by the cost of the channel banks.
> -----Original Message-----
<snip>

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http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
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----- Original Message ----- 
<snip>
>curious about the QoS aspect. Do you have separate cabling or does it use
the same ethernet cabling as your computers? Whats the load on the >network?

it is all running on the same ethernet segment.  There is enough bandwidth
on our LAN that we are still only doing L2 switching so we dont do any QoS.
I have a phone that travels with me and occasionally it 'burps' and I
get a
little garbled conversation but no worse than my cell phone.

We use g711 internally, since our LAN isn't saturated it works fine.  I
really like GSM so for any traffic via the internet I try to force GSM.

check out
http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Bandwidth%20consumption for
info on all of the different codecs.


Jason Kawakami
www.optellabs.com
Salt Lake City. UT