Hi, I was wondering if anyone has used asterisk in a real estate development project. I know someone that is developing a ~400 home project and thought asterisk might be a possible alternative to the phone company and a way to offer more service to buyers. I am new to the asterisk world. I'm working my way through the O'Reilly book and have been playing around with a test machine at my office. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated. Cheers, Brad
Colin Anderson
2005-Dec-12 14:25 UTC
[Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments
We considered it for our multifamily and high rise projects as an additional profit center but decided against implementation because there isn't enough money on the table per-subscriber to make it financially worthwhile; it's hard to make a case to be a "baby telco" when Vonage can lowball you without even sweating. We concluded you would need at least a thousand subscribers concentrated in a particular area before you started making any kind of decent money, and even then it would be risky because what would happen if you went down? You would have 1000 of your customers pissed at you and would never buy another one of your housing products ever again. In the end it was easier for us to concentrate on our core product and let the ILEC take the blame for crappy phone service. ymmv -----Original Message----- From: Brad Pauly [mailto:bpauly@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 2:18 PM To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Subject: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments Hi, I was wondering if anyone has used asterisk in a real estate development project. I know someone that is developing a ~400 home project and thought asterisk might be a possible alternative to the phone company and a way to offer more service to buyers. I am new to the asterisk world. I'm working my way through the O'Reilly book and have been playing around with a test machine at my office. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated. Cheers, Brad _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> > Hi, > > I was wondering if anyone has used asterisk in a real estate > development project. I know someone that is developing a ~400 home > project and thought asterisk might be a possible alternative to the > phone company and a way to offer more service to buyers. I am new to > the asterisk world. I'm working my way through the O'Reilly book and > have been playing around with a test machine at my office. Any > thoughts or comments are appreciated. > > Cheers, > BradIt could be done is not a bad idea at all. Were you thinking of running cat5 to all the houses and offering data as well as phone?
> I was wondering if anyone has used asterisk in a real estate > development project. I know someone that is developing a ~400 > home project and thought asterisk might be a possible > alternative to the phone company and a way to offer more > service to buyers.How about deploying asterisk to support the contractor responsible for the construction of these sites? Instead of developers (who are often on-site for 6 months plus) relying purely on cellphones or asking the ILEC to install a load of phone lines for them, stick an asterisk server in their site office linked to a net connection, shove a load of cordless phones on a channel bank at convenient points around the site and contractors are never far from a phone. This is something we're hopefully doing for a property developer in the new year. It'll be interesting to see how well it all works out. Regards, Chris -- C.M. Bagnall, Director, Minotaur I.T. Limited This email is made from 100% recycled electrons
Very true. How about using WiFi and DEC phones? Thanks, Steve> > hey chris, > > The only issue you'll run into is that with all temp stuff like > construction > trailers ect they like to cut there lines A LOT with all there nice > machines. > > Carlos Alcantar > Race Technologies, Inc. > 101 Haskins Way > South San Francisco, CA 94080 > P: 650.246.8900 > F: 650.246.8901 > E: carlos@race.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com > [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Chris > Bagnall > Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 5:08 PM > To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' > Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments > > > I was wondering if anyone has used asterisk in a real estate > > development project. I know someone that is developing a ~400 home > > project and thought asterisk might be a possible alternative to the > > phone company and a way to offer more service to buyers. > > How about deploying asterisk to support the contractor responsible forthe> construction of these sites? Instead of developers (who are oftenon-site> for 6 months plus) relying purely on cellphones or asking the ILEC to > install a load of phone lines for them, stick an asterisk server intheir> site office linked to a net connection, shove a load of cordlessphones on> a > channel bank at convenient points around the site and contractors are > never > far from a phone. > > This is something we're hopefully doing for a property developer inthe> new > year. It'll be interesting to see how well it all works out. > > Regards, > > Chris > -- > C.M. Bagnall, Director, Minotaur I.T. Limited This email is made from100%> recycled electrons > > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Colin Anderson
2005-Dec-13 20:53 UTC
[Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments
been there done that The biggest problems that we have had to deal with is stability. Stability with respect to system stability and also stability of the user. System stability is extremely difficult to deal with when you have poor power, power outages, guys pressing the buttons next to the blinkenlights because they are curious (very difficult to control access to gear in a construction trailer when everything is set up ad-hoc) and users doing stupid things like moving their phone from their desk to another guys desk for god-knows-why reason then not plugging into the cat5 cable. Then the users tend to say that your phone system is shit, when these types of problems are largely beyond your control. As to user stability, I don't refer to mental stability, I refer to churn. Staff churn in the construction industry is brutal and combined with the relative unsophistication of people in the construction industry, it's the Training Session That Will Never End. My evolution of how to deal with this problem has gone from broadband to a construction trailer, wifi and wired sip phones, to masking a user's cell number behind a DID and cutting airtime with a GSM gateway. Really, it's the best way, treating cell phones as "extensions". Masking the cell number behind a DID allows me to get the audio inside of Asterisk so I can do VoIP-y things with it, the GSM gateway adds very little incremental cost (a 4 port GSM gateway adds only, for us, $100 Cdn a month to our cell costs and saves us $2-3k a month at 25c / min) and there's not too much of a training issue, since these blockheads grock their cell phones already. We even have 4 digit extension dialling from office staff to cells, and call transfer from the cell. MWI and inbound fax reception notification is done via SMS (each DID can recieve faxes, and the fax goes to the user's email, thanks SpanDSP!). Overflow when the gateway is full goes out our PRI, and we eat the airtime, but that's a good thing because if the GSM gateway is full, we are saving money. -----Original Message----- From: Steve Totaro [mailto:stotaro@totarotechnologies.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 8:12 PM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments Very true. How about using WiFi and DEC phones? Thanks, Steve> > hey chris, > > The only issue you'll run into is that with all temp stuff like > construction > trailers ect they like to cut there lines A LOT with all there nice > machines. > > Carlos Alcantar > Race Technologies, Inc. > 101 Haskins Way > South San Francisco, CA 94080 > P: 650.246.8900 > F: 650.246.8901 > E: carlos@race.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com > [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Chris > Bagnall > Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 5:08 PM > To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' > Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments > > > I was wondering if anyone has used asterisk in a real estate > > development project. I know someone that is developing a ~400 home > > project and thought asterisk might be a possible alternative to the > > phone company and a way to offer more service to buyers. > > How about deploying asterisk to support the contractor responsible forthe> construction of these sites? Instead of developers (who are oftenon-site> for 6 months plus) relying purely on cellphones or asking the ILEC to > install a load of phone lines for them, stick an asterisk server intheir> site office linked to a net connection, shove a load of cordlessphones on> a > channel bank at convenient points around the site and contractors are > never > far from a phone. > > This is something we're hopefully doing for a property developer inthe> new > year. It'll be interesting to see how well it all works out. > > Regards, > > Chris > -- > C.M. Bagnall, Director, Minotaur I.T. Limited This email is made from100%> recycled electrons > > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users_______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Colin Anderson
2005-Dec-13 23:26 UTC
[Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments
Rogers (Canada) + Ateus VoiceBlue 4 port - total bitch to set up but works. Don't know if I'd recommend it though. I'm sure there's something else better out there. Rogers is also difficult to deal with but then what carrier isn't. But in the end everything works. There's other tricks you have to do, too, like essentially lying to the enduser and telling them that the DID is their cell number, and making sure you block the outbound caller ID so the callee doesn't get confused by the actual phone number of the cell. I have a DISA line set up so they can call in to Asterisk and "unblock" their caller ID for paranoid callees that won't pick up unless there's a number(actually I am just using SetCallerID() after they authenticate) fortunately the procedure that Rogers uses to REALLY unblock Caller ID is almost exactly the same procedure that I set up with my DISA line so it doesn't smell funny to them. There's some other cool benefits a rig like this brings to the table: -For users that work in the office and the field, a SIP phone at their desk, a V510 on their belt and one number will follow them, great for business continuity -Single voicemail box, and we push out 500mw WiFi at the construction sites, they walk around with laptops and can listen to their voicemails right from Outlook; the WAPs are VPN'd back to head office and Outlook runs direct off of our Exchange server no goofy "synchronizing". -The aforementioned fax to the DID. This they totally love. One of our subcontractors makes a design change and faxes it to the enduser while they are talking on the phone and it comes up in their Outlook in near real time. (See, this is how construction guys are dumb: Why not email a PDF? But no, in construction, everything is fax,fax,fax. Oh well.) -And for me, call recording of cellular calls (inbound only) which is extremely useful on 10 million dollar projects when it's a he-said / she-said situation. We've never had to use it yet but boy it's going to save us a lot of money when we do. -----Original Message----- From: Robert Augustyn [mailto:augustynr@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:13 PM To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments Colin, Nice summary, what gateway are you using and with what carrier. Thanks, robert> -----Original Message----- > From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com > [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of > Colin Anderson > Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:53 PM > To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' > Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments > > been there done that > > The biggest problems that we have had to deal with is > stability. Stability with respect to system stability and > also stability of the user. System stability is extremely > difficult to deal with when you have poor power, power > outages, guys pressing the buttons next to the blinkenlights > because they are curious (very difficult to control access to > gear in a construction trailer when everything is set up > ad-hoc) and users doing stupid things like moving their phone > from their desk to another guys desk for god-knows-why reason > then not plugging into the cat5 cable. Then the users tend to > say that your phone system is shit, when these types of > problems are largely beyond your control. > > As to user stability, I don't refer to mental stability, I > refer to churn. > Staff churn in the construction industry is brutal and > combined with the relative unsophistication of people in the > construction industry, it's the Training Session That Will Never End. > > My evolution of how to deal with this problem has gone from > broadband to a construction trailer, wifi and wired sip > phones, to masking a user's cell number behind a DID and > cutting airtime with a GSM gateway. Really, it's the best > way, treating cell phones as "extensions". Masking the cell > number behind a DID allows me to get the audio inside of > Asterisk so I can do VoIP-y things with it, the GSM gateway > adds very little incremental cost (a > 4 port GSM gateway adds only, for us, $100 Cdn a month to our > cell costs and saves us $2-3k a month at 25c / min) and > there's not too much of a training issue, since these > blockheads grock their cell phones already. We even have > 4 digit extension dialling from office staff to cells, and > call transfer from the cell. MWI and inbound fax reception > notification is done via SMS (each DID can recieve faxes, and > the fax goes to the user's email, thanks SpanDSP!). Overflow > when the gateway is full goes out our PRI, and we eat the > airtime, but that's a good thing because if the GSM gateway > is full, we are saving money. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Steve Totaro [mailto:stotaro@totarotechnologies.com] > Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 8:12 PM > To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion > Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments > > > Very true. How about using WiFi and DEC phones? > > Thanks, > Steve > > > > > hey chris, > > > > The only issue you'll run into is that with all temp stuff like > > construction trailers ect they like to cut there lines A > LOT with all > > there nice machines. > > > > Carlos Alcantar > > Race Technologies, Inc. > > 101 Haskins Way > > South San Francisco, CA 94080 > > P: 650.246.8900 > > F: 650.246.8901 > > E: carlos@race.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com > > [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Chris > > Bagnall > > Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 5:08 PM > > To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' > > Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] asterisk in real estate developments > > > > > I was wondering if anyone has used asterisk in a real estate > > > development project. I know someone that is developing a > ~400 home > > > project and thought asterisk might be a possible > alternative to the > > > phone company and a way to offer more service to buyers. > > > > How about deploying asterisk to support the contractor > responsible for > the > > construction of these sites? Instead of developers (who are often > on-site > > for 6 months plus) relying purely on cellphones or asking > the ILEC to > > install a load of phone lines for them, stick an asterisk server in > their > > site office linked to a net connection, shove a load of cordless > phones on > > a > > channel bank at convenient points around the site and > contractors are > > never far from a phone. > > > > This is something we're hopefully doing for a property developer in > the > > new > > year. It'll be interesting to see how well it all works out. > > > > Regards, > > > > Chris > > -- > > C.M. Bagnall, Director, Minotaur I.T. Limited This email is > made from > 100% > > recycled electrons > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > > > > _______________________________________________ > > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users >_______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users