asterisk users - Nov 2004 - After setting up my FXO card, what should I now order from my telco?

Ok, so I'm setting up my small office. 

I have my asterisk machine setup and I have 3 sip phones connected as my
stations and a 4 port FXO card ready to go(planning on only using 2 lines
currently).

What should I now order from my telco(sbc in this case)

Everytime I call, they want to sell me this expensive $50 package that bundles
everything and that's for a single line.

Is there a specific type of line I should request? What is everyone else doing?
How much is everyone else paying for single line PSTN access for their
small/medium setup's?



Thanks,
Brent
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Get a vonage line unlimited for $24.99 per month and get a softline and
have vonage set it up as a rollover line. 
 
Grand total $34.98 per month.
Route outbound to the ZAP/VONAGE first, then to the SIP/VONAGE NEXT, if
need be setup an IAX termination account with voicepulse or iax.cc 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Brent
Clements
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 1:00 AM
To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] After setting up my FXO card,what should I now
order from my telco?
 
Ok, so I'm setting up my small office. 
 
I have my asterisk machine setup and I have 3 sip phones connected as my
stations and a 4 port FXO card ready to go(planning on only using 2
lines currently).
 
What should I now order from my telco(sbc in this case)
 
Everytime I call, they want to sell me this expensive $50 package that
bundles everything and that's for a single line.
 
Is there a specific type of line I should request? What is everyone else
doing? How much is everyone else paying for single line PSTN access for
their small/medium setup's?
 
 
 
Thanks,
Brent
-------------- next part --------------
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> Is there a specific type of line I should request? What is everyone else
> doing? How much is everyone else paying for single line PSTN access for
> their small/medium setup's? 
We have two regular phone lines at our office. They both have DSL
connections and the FXO are connected to filters on each line. Most of
the services offered by our telco are not of use, since notification
is usually a special dialtone you won't hear with asterisk. We use
asterisk to group the lines abd we chose to use one line as "listed"
and one as techservice for customers. We dialout on a group which
tries the tech service unpublished line first allowing regular callers
to ring the other number. Unfortunately, only the telco can give you
true rotation, where if one line is busy, the other will ring.

--On Wednesday, December 01, 2004 12:00 AM -0600 Brent Clements 
<bclem@im-online.net> wrote:
>
> Ok, so I'm setting up my small office.
>
> I have my asterisk machine setup and I have 3 sip phones connected as my
> stations and a 4 port FXO card ready to go(planning on only using 2 lines
> currently).
>
> What should I now order from my telco(sbc in this case)
>
You want a telephone line with very few features:

No call waiting.
No call forwarding.
No 3 way calling.
No voicemail.

You may want to pay for caller ID or not as you choose.
If you are going to call outbound on it, you want whatever local, local 
toll and long distance services will be most economical.

You probably want rollover: Calls to one line will ring on the other if the 
first one is busy. This is sometimes called a "Hunt Group."

You said "office" so I am assuming you are going to order business
service,
not residential service.
>From the SBC web site:
> Which phone services are right for me?
> Did you know that SBC has more than 50 different phone services to choose
> from? See which ones might be right for you.
Did you tell the representative that you are hooking your two lines up to a 
small PBX and can't use features? Ask what they recommend for that case. My 
experience with the SBC reps is that they've gotten better at listening and 
if you get the right one, they really do understand what you are trying to 
accomplish.

Best,
</edg>

I have SBC in Illinois, and dialtone service is only $5-ish.  Add
another $6 or so for caller-id delivery.  Do you need it for outgoing
calls?  If yes, getting DSL on top of one of the lines and then using
VOIP termination is likely cheaper than getting their bundles.  Avoid
call-waiting and three-way calling, as those services are fairly useless
with *.  If you need line-hunt, get call-forwarding on one line.  Or
better yet, get DSL and VOIP for incoming lines as well :)

-----Original Message-----
From: Brent Clements [mailto:bclem@im-online.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 12:00 AM
To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] After setting up my FXO card,what should I now
order from my telco?


Ok, so I'm setting up my small office. 

I have my asterisk machine setup and I have 3 sip phones connected as my
stations and a 4 port FXO card ready to go(planning on only using 2
lines currently).

What should I now order from my telco(sbc in this case)

Everytime I call, they want to sell me this expensive $50 package that
bundles everything and that's for a single line.

Is there a specific type of line I should request? What is everyone else
doing? How much is everyone else paying for single line PSTN access for
their small/medium setup's?



Thanks,
Brent