I've been doing a lot of reading over the last few weeks on Asterisk, and will be implementing a test system this week to play with. I've got two questions in regards to the ideal implementation for our company. First, has anyone written any drivers to interface with proprietary phones? Specifically we have a comdial system and if we could use our existing 35 phones instead of having to buy all new there'd be huge savings there. I can't find anywhere that anyone has written any type of interface for proprietary (no reverse hacks or anything anywhere from what I can find), so I figure this is a no. Now for the more complicated question, that I have my doubts on the ability to perform. Would it be possible to throw an Asterisk PBX system between our Comdial system & the Internet, and then throw another Asterisk PBX system at a remote location with Comdial phones to tie in to our system that way? I'm imagining using a TDM400 or the likes, connecting to the Comdial via FXO and connecting the to Asterisk PBX's via FXS. Rereading on the FXO & FXS I think I'm misunderstanding how FXS works and this won't work at all. Any suggestions for what I'd like to do aside from scrap everything and start over with IP phones?
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Williams" <ken@intermountainelectronics.com> To: "Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion" <asterisk-users@lists.digium.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 2:10 AM Subject: [asterisk-users] Newbie Questions I've been doing a lot of reading over the last few weeks on Asterisk, and will be implementing a test system this week to play with. I've got two questions in regards to the ideal implementation for our company. First, has anyone written any drivers to interface with proprietary phones? Specifically we have a comdial system and if we could use our existing 35 phones instead of having to buy all new there'd be huge savings there. I can't find anywhere that anyone has written any type of interface for proprietary (no reverse hacks or anything anywhere from what I can find), so I figure this is a no. If they are SIP phones and they support SIP then most likely yes. If they are POTS phones then you can use them with a voice card or a channel bank. If they are proprietary phones from a different PBX then most likely not. To cut down costs you may want to look at selling your current systems and your phones on eBay. Now for the more complicated question, that I have my doubts on the ability to perform. Would it be possible to throw an Asterisk PBX system between our Comdial system & the Internet, and then throw another Asterisk PBX system at a remote location with Comdial phones to tie in to our system that way? I'm imagining using a TDM400 or the likes, connecting to the Comdial via FXO and connecting the to Asterisk PBX's via FXS. I have never used this system so I cant comment on it. However if you can connect to it with POTS lines it shouldnt be too hard. Also if the system can handle a T1 card you may want to connect it to Asterisk that way. Rereading on the FXO & FXS I think I'm misunderstanding how FXS works and this won't work at all. Basicluy an FXO port connects to a phone line (i.e. the line coming in from the telco) and the FXS connects to a device (such as a POTS phone or fax machine). Any suggestions for what I'd like to do aside from scrap everything and start over with IP phones? _______________________________________________ --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
You can put the Asterisk system in front (i.e., between the PSTN and your Comdial system). This will let Asterisk choose whether the call should go out over the PSTN or the Internet using VoIP. You would use the same for the second location, provided that is a complete Comdial system. You could not, however, just put Comdial phones over there and expect it to work. You also would not be "on the same phone system." But, if you are looking at tying two offices together using VoIP (and not paying long distance), then yes, this would work. With the right dial plan, you could possibly dial direct if the Comdial has an autoattendant. In this case, Asterisk would dial into the remote Comdial, wait, then dial the extension number and complete the call. On the local COmdial, you would most problably have to dial a 9 to get to the Asterisk system. I imagine, you may be able to use speeddials for the remote extensions which would automatically dial the 9. The possibilities are endless. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20061031/321e5987/attachment.htm