asterisk users - Nov 2004 - [Fwd: Re: Adit 600 channel bank in UK setting]

Jon,

I actually had some more discussions with Tim on this issue, and it seems that
the channel bank
would still be a good option to choose for internal purposes. I would not see
any other solution
than a channel bank to connect many 2wire phones into one asterisk box. I had a
talk today with
Carrier Access, and it seems that the adit would do us fine. The fxs cards of
the adit 600 are
actually reprogrammable for uk phones (dip switches). We have requested a test
platform from CAC
which I hope would arrive here shortly, and we would test how the fxs ports work
with different uk
phones.

I would really be unhappy to scratch our existing phone cable network and to lay
an entire new LAN
and to buy many IP phones. First of all - new installations always have teething
problems. Then the
admin headache with the many IP phones. Also - the solution doesn't scale
very easily. For each new
phones we need a new network socket... or a hub. Then one mains connection per
phone (with power
supply - more fire risk). And on and on... Using 2wire phones eliminates all
that - cables are there
already, users can buy any phone they like, we can put in additional sockets
without admin effort
and so on. Really - 2wire rocks!

The pstn connectivity is an entirely different matter. The fxo cards of the
adit600 seem not to be
EU approved for public ( = pstn) connection (mainly) because of emission
regulations. Also, I would
not be sure how well the impedances of the fxo ports and the BT lines match
(Echo problem, noise
etc.). I am looking into using a voip gateway with fxo ports for our BT line
connectivity. I found
one on sale on a UK website, see

http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/2004-November/075118.html

However, it looks to me more and more that for our internal phones we use the
adit 600. Lets see
what the testing will show...

Peter

> On Thursday 18 November 2004 22:16, Tim Robinson wrote:
>>
>> Channel banks are a peculiar US thing. Be careful!  You will almost
>> certainly be better off using voip handsets (SNOMs are cool, avoid
>> Grandstream for anything other than domestic environment) and a few
>> Sipura-type ATA's for the analogue fax machines etc. or some Digium
>> analogue cards.
> 
> So what would you advise using in the UK to interface with standard 2 wire 
> phones - I'm trying to avoid having to use ata type adapters.
> 
> Jon

-- 
There are 10 kinds of people in the world,
those who understand binary, and those who don't.

On Monday 29 November 2004 19:12, Peter Hoppe wrote:
> Jon,
>
> I actually had some more discussions with Tim on this issue, and it seems
> that the channel bank would still be a good option to choose for internal
> purposes. I would not see any other solution than a channel bank to connect
> many 2wire phones into one asterisk box. I had a talk today with Carrier
> Access, and it seems that the adit would do us fine. The fxs cards of the
> adit 600 are actually reprogrammable for uk phones (dip switches). We have
> requested a test platform from CAC which I hope would arrive here shortly,
> and we would test how the fxs ports work with different uk phones.
I'd be interested if you could report back to the list with your findings.
>
> I would really be unhappy to scratch our existing phone cable network and
> to lay an entire new LAN and to buy many IP phones. First of all - new
> installations always have teething problems. Then the admin headache with
> the many IP phones. Also - the solution doesn't scale very easily. For
each
> new phones we need a new network socket... or a hub. Then one mains
> connection per phone (with power supply - more fire risk). And on and on...
> Using 2wire phones eliminates all that - cables are there already, users
> can buy any phone they like, we can put in additional sockets without admin
> effort and so on. Really - 2wire rocks!
Wiring isn't my problem - all our connections are over cat5e. In our
building
we rent out most of the offices, the clients provide their own phones and we 
simply provide the lines. Some of their phones look pretty expensive, so I'd
rather not tell them that they can't use them anymore.
As with any office scenario power sockets are an issue - people never put 
enough in when they design the rooms.
> The pstn connectivity is an entirely different matter. 
Our connection is via pri so this isn't  a great issue.

Jon