Hello I just read this article and would like some feedback from experienced Asterisk users: =============="Failed open source VoIP deployment leads to hosted VoIP strategy" By Jessica Scarpati "When budgets are crimped, open source voice over IP (VoIP) solutions look attractive -- a little extra work for a lower cap-ex. But those savings came at a high price for one Texas company, which -- after years of struggling and failing to tame open source VoIP -- opted for a hosted VoIP service from a local service provider. [...] To harness the power of Asterisk and exploit the platform's near boundless capabilities, you must have the in-house expertise to do so, or at least bring in a well-vetted Asterisk consultant. [...] CuDerm employees frequently collaborate with colleagues at two partner companies while developing marketing campaigns for cosmetic products. Three years ago, the company recognized that this frequent collaboration would be more productive with direct inward dialing (DID), DeRudder said, because users were spending too much time retrieving and relaying individual phone numbers for incoming and outgoing calls. [...] It wasn't until CuDerm adopted a hosted VoIP service from Cypress Communications, an Atlanta-based service provider specializing in hosted VoIP for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), that simple conveniences such as call transfers became a reality. [...] Looking to reap the cost benefits of VoIP but avoid the expense of buying and maintaining an IP-based private branch exchange (IP PBX), DeRudder chose the open source VoIP project Asterisk. He chose Asterisk because it required a custom-built server but no other dedicated hardware for the phone system. The system was a perpetual headache, DeRudder said. Bandwidth maxed out, users complained of dropped calls and the main driver for the system, DID, never worked. [...] Enterprises and SMBs sometimes overlook bandwidth needs and let them take a backseat to cost savings in a hosted VoIP service, causing call quality to suffer, Whelan said. Service providers may also offer compression to squeeze more simultaneous calls in the pipe, but that too can damage call quality, she added." http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid186_gci1508323_mem1,00.html (free registration required) ============== So it looks like this company had the following issues: * No in-house technical expertise to set up and maintain Asterisk * Not enough bandwidth * DID module apparently not reliable Based on your experience, are those problems typical? Thank you.
Gareth Blades
2010-Jun-03 13:28 UTC
[asterisk-users] Is this failed Asterisk setup typical?
Gilles wrote:> Hello > > I just read this article and would like some feedback from > experienced Asterisk users: > > ==============> "Failed open source VoIP deployment leads to hosted VoIP strategy" By > Jessica Scarpati > > "When budgets are crimped, open source voice over IP (VoIP) solutions > look attractive -- a little extra work for a lower cap-ex. But those > savings came at a high price for one Texas company, which -- after > years of struggling and failing to tame open source VoIP -- opted for > a hosted VoIP service from a local service provider. > > [...] To harness the power of Asterisk and exploit the platform's near > boundless capabilities, you must have the in-house expertise to do so, > or at least bring in a well-vetted Asterisk consultant. > > [...] CuDerm employees frequently collaborate with colleagues at two > partner companies while developing marketing campaigns for cosmetic > products. Three years ago, the company recognized that this frequent > collaboration would be more productive with direct inward dialing > (DID), DeRudder said, because users were spending too much time > retrieving and relaying individual phone numbers for incoming and > outgoing calls. [...] It wasn't until CuDerm adopted a hosted VoIP > service from Cypress Communications, an Atlanta-based service provider > specializing in hosted VoIP for small to medium-sized businesses > (SMBs), that simple conveniences such as call transfers became a > reality. > > [...] Looking to reap the cost benefits of VoIP but avoid the expense > of buying and maintaining an IP-based private branch exchange (IP > PBX), DeRudder chose the open source VoIP project Asterisk. He chose > Asterisk because it required a custom-built server but no other > dedicated hardware for the phone system. The system was a perpetual > headache, DeRudder said. Bandwidth maxed out, users complained of > dropped calls and the main driver for the system, DID, never worked. > > [...] Enterprises and SMBs sometimes overlook bandwidth needs and let > them take a backseat to cost savings in a hosted VoIP service, causing > call quality to suffer, Whelan said. Service providers may also offer > compression to squeeze more simultaneous calls in the pipe, but that > too can damage call quality, she added." > > http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid186_gci1508323_mem1,00.html > (free registration required) > ==============> > So it looks like this company had the following issues: > * No in-house technical expertise to set up and maintain Asterisk > * Not enough bandwidth > * DID module apparently not reliable > > Based on your experience, are those problems typical? > > Thank you. > >In house technical expertise can be an issue but there are always alternatives such as trixbox which give you a nice friendly configuration issue. Bandwidth is even more of an issue with a hosted system because some functions use up a lot more bandwidth (conference calls for example). NAT and one way audio is also much more of a problem. DID practically just works. Maybe their programming as to what to do for each number was wrong but DID itself is straight forward. Looks like a company sponsored article to me which just points out the problems with an inhouse system and fails to mention the alternative problems with a hosted system.
Silly. My guess is that someone that doesn't know anything about phones
decided to install it and failed. Lots of erroneous statements:
" Asterisk because it required a custom-built server" - Nope. You can
pretty much use any old server or really even a desktop machine for an
install this small.
" Bandwidth maxed out" - Nope. Hosted would use way more bandwidth
than a
local * box. Hosted requires all calls, internal, voicemail, local, LD, etc
to all traverse the Internet connection. A local * box would mean only
local or LD would go out that way, so internal, voicemail would never hit
the Internet.
" DID, never worked" - Not sure what their issue is, but this is the
first
thing I setup when I started with * in the pre 1.0 days and it just worked
and that was the first IP telephony experience I ever had.
They probably thought they were going to save lots of money by going the
cheap route and not getting any external help and it didn't work that way.
$500-$1000 of outside consulting from someone that knows * probably would
have fixed all of their issues.
-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Gilles
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 8:17 AM
To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
Subject: [asterisk-users] Is this failed Asterisk setup typical?
Hello
I just read this article and would like some feedback from
experienced Asterisk users:
=============="Failed open source VoIP deployment leads to hosted VoIP
strategy" By
Jessica Scarpati
"When budgets are crimped, open source voice over IP (VoIP) solutions
look attractive -- a little extra work for a lower cap-ex. But those
savings came at a high price for one Texas company, which -- after
years of struggling and failing to tame open source VoIP -- opted for
a hosted VoIP service from a local service provider.
[...] To harness the power of Asterisk and exploit the platform's near
boundless capabilities, you must have the in-house expertise to do so,
or at least bring in a well-vetted Asterisk consultant.
[...] CuDerm employees frequently collaborate with colleagues at two
partner companies while developing marketing campaigns for cosmetic
products. Three years ago, the company recognized that this frequent
collaboration would be more productive with direct inward dialing
(DID), DeRudder said, because users were spending too much time
retrieving and relaying individual phone numbers for incoming and
outgoing calls. [...] It wasn't until CuDerm adopted a hosted VoIP
service from Cypress Communications, an Atlanta-based service provider
specializing in hosted VoIP for small to medium-sized businesses
(SMBs), that simple conveniences such as call transfers became a
reality.
[...] Looking to reap the cost benefits of VoIP but avoid the expense
of buying and maintaining an IP-based private branch exchange (IP
PBX), DeRudder chose the open source VoIP project Asterisk. He chose
Asterisk because it required a custom-built server but no other
dedicated hardware for the phone system. The system was a perpetual
headache, DeRudder said. Bandwidth maxed out, users complained of
dropped calls and the main driver for the system, DID, never worked.
[...] Enterprises and SMBs sometimes overlook bandwidth needs and let
them take a backseat to cost savings in a hosted VoIP service, causing
call quality to suffer, Whelan said. Service providers may also offer
compression to squeeze more simultaneous calls in the pipe, but that
too can damage call quality, she added."
http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid1
86_gci1508323_mem1,00.html
(free registration required)
==============
So it looks like this company had the following issues:
* No in-house technical expertise to set up and maintain Asterisk
* Not enough bandwidth
* DID module apparently not reliable
Based on your experience, are those problems typical?
Thank you.
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Do you really expect an unbiased response from this community? Seems to me a similar argument for and against hosting ones own web presence in house with mixed results . Others choose to use a datacenter service, seldom but sometimes with poor results. Placing ones business lifeline in the hands of a telephony amateur, one has to question management decisions. Placing ones telephony onto "any old server" certainly isn't wise either. Certainly these days many have come to expect less than 99.999% from their telephones, even with providers that have been around more than 100 years. A sad situation indeed. John Novack Gilles wrote:> Hello > > I just read this article and would like some feedback from > experienced Asterisk users: > > ==============> "Failed open source VoIP deployment leads to hosted VoIP strategy" By > Jessica Scarpati > > "When budgets are crimped, open source voice over IP (VoIP) solutions > look attractive -- a little extra work for a lower cap-ex. But those > savings came at a high price for one Texas company, which -- after > years of struggling and failing to tame open source VoIP -- opted for > a hosted VoIP service from a local service provider. > > [...] To harness the power of Asterisk and exploit the platform's near > boundless capabilities, you must have the in-house expertise to do so, > or at least bring in a well-vetted Asterisk consultant. > > [...] CuDerm employees frequently collaborate with colleagues at two > partner companies while developing marketing campaigns for cosmetic > products. Three years ago, the company recognized that this frequent > collaboration would be more productive with direct inward dialing > (DID), DeRudder said, because users were spending too much time > retrieving and relaying individual phone numbers for incoming and > outgoing calls. [...] It wasn't until CuDerm adopted a hosted VoIP > service from Cypress Communications, an Atlanta-based service provider > specializing in hosted VoIP for small to medium-sized businesses > (SMBs), that simple conveniences such as call transfers became a > reality. > > [...] Looking to reap the cost benefits of VoIP but avoid the expense > of buying and maintaining an IP-based private branch exchange (IP > PBX), DeRudder chose the open source VoIP project Asterisk. He chose > Asterisk because it required a custom-built server but no other > dedicated hardware for the phone system. The system was a perpetual > headache, DeRudder said. Bandwidth maxed out, users complained of > dropped calls and the main driver for the system, DID, never worked. > > [...] Enterprises and SMBs sometimes overlook bandwidth needs and let > them take a backseat to cost savings in a hosted VoIP service, causing > call quality to suffer, Whelan said. Service providers may also offer > compression to squeeze more simultaneous calls in the pipe, but that > too can damage call quality, she added." > > http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid186_gci1508323_mem1,00.html > (free registration required) > ==============> > So it looks like this company had the following issues: > * No in-house technical expertise to set up and maintain Asterisk > * Not enough bandwidth > * DID module apparently not reliable > > Based on your experience, are those problems typical? > > Thank you. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.829 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2914 - Release Date: 06/02/10 14:25:00 > >-- Dog is my co-pilot
On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 6:16 AM, Gilles <codecomplete at free.fr> wrote:> Hello > > ? ? ? ?I just read this article and would like some feedback from > experienced Asterisk users: > > ==============> "Failed open source VoIP deployment leads to hosted VoIP strategy" By > Jessica Scarpati ><snip>> http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid186_gci1508323_mem1,00.html > (free registration required) > ==============> > So it looks like this company had the following issues: > * No in-house technical expertise to set up and maintain Asterisk > * Not enough bandwidth > * DID module apparently not reliable > > Based on your experience, are those problems typical? > > Thank you. >Not in our experience as a 500-phone, 20-site install for a municipal government. We are just migrating from our first generation install to replacement hardware (to new blades from servers that are now 5 years old) and are still committed to Asterisk for it. Done right, Asterisk saved us over three quarters of a million dollars over a big-C install. CP
On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:47:08 -0700, CunningPike <cunningpike at gmail.com> wrote:>Not in our experience as a 500-phone, 20-site install for a municipal >government. We are just migrating from our first generation install to >replacement hardware (to new blades from servers that are now 5 years >old) and are still committed to Asterisk for it.Thanks for the feedback.
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