Thanks for all of the information, JD.
My apologies to der.hans for hijacking his thread.
On Wed, Sep 26, 2007 at 09:19:36AM -0700, JD Austin wrote:
> Yes, you can have Asterisk handle faxes/etc and even use that second line
> for outbound dialing when you don't have incoming faxes. Trixbox uses
> asterfax which captures faxes well and sends them to email.
>
> Adminsparadise uses hylafax and works both directions; pretty slick setup.
> It uses 'iaxmodem' to simulate a real modem and does a great job. You can
> use a real modem if you want to but since Asterisk is very touchy with
> IRQ's (don't share IRQ's with asterisk hardware!) I prefer the software
> modem to the hardware one just so I can turn off the serial and parallel
> ports in the bios. Fax over voip is iffy. I did it for awhile and it
> worked sometimes; lots of issues with smearing and dropped calls.
>
> As far as ip to pstn adaptors.. there are many to choose from for less that
> $100. Most are sip based and as long as you're inside of your network
> those work fine. Outside your local network natting can make getting it to
> work a challenge (one way audio, calls that dial and disconnect/etc). The
> Iax (asterisk's native protocol) based ones will work through firewalls/etc
> as long as it can talk to the UDP port 4569.
> If you go with a TDM400 card or the equivalent from Sangoma/Rhino then just
> get an FXS module (gives dialtone) and 2 FXO modules (receives dialtone)
> for your inbound lines. Also you could buy a few voip phones and plug them
> in wherever you need a phone. If you set up your port forwarding right you
> can even plug them in anywhere with a good internet connection and use your
> PBX as if you're in your home office.
>
> VOIP.. keep in mind that it is only as good as your bandwidth. ISP's love
> to do things to cram more users into the same bandwidth.... traffic
> shaping, compression, lopsided bandwidth (heavy download, light upload),
> etc that can affect your ability to make calls. Unfortunately speed alone
> isn't good enough; latency can really wreak havok on voip calls. I can
> sneakernet 10G an hour to the other side of the valley; it wouldn't be a
> good conversation though (grin).
> There are tools online to get an idea of how good your connection is:
> http://www.dslreports.com/tools
> Run the speed tests from several servers, the line quality test, and the
> voip bandwidth tester.
> Keep in mind that if you're on a connection that varies such as cable that
> your results may vary.
> If you get rid of your second line then you'll need a good voip provider to
> make more than one call at a time (inbound/outbound).
> These are the ones I recommend currently: voipstreet.com, les.net,
> vitelity.net, junction networks (junctionnetworks.com), and teliax. I've
> heard nothing but good things about voicepulse but haven't used them.
> Junction networks and teliax are a bit pricey but they're reliable. I
> recommend signing up with more than one for those occasions where they
> flake out or temporarily outgrow their hardware/bandwidth. Stay away from
> Broadvoice and nufone.
>
> Asterisk has a bit of a learning curve.. if you don't mind it you'll love
> Asterisk. If you're already adept with Linux (especially Centos) then
> you're 1/2 way there. In many ways Asterisk is like Linux was in the
> mid-90's. It is accelerating quickly and becoming more robust every day.
> Project such as FreePBX make it MUCH easier to manage.
> JD
>
> Jon M. Hanson wrote:
>> I, too, would like to eventually get Asterisk set up at hy mouse if for
>> no other reason to say I have my own PBX (not to mention the extensive
>> features that Asterisk has). I'm thinking of installing Asterisk@Home
>> (now TrixBox).
>>
>> Fortunately my entire house (phone jacks and network jacks) are all CAT
>> 5e so it should be really simple to set up IP phones throughout the
>> house.
>>
>> I am going to need the analog adaptor for my cordless phone and the
>> add-in card to interface with the PSTN (I'm not going pure
>> voice-over-IP). Can someone make some recomendations for the analog
>> phone adaptors? Also, I'd like some links on where to find the PSTN
>> interface cards below if possible.
>>
>> I actually have two incoming lines (one goes to a fax machine). Is there
>> a way for Asterisk to detect an incoming fax and then store it for
>> e-mailing or display later? If so then I wouldn't need the separate line
>> and I could just let Asterisk automatically detect an incoming fax call.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 26, 2007 at 08:09:38AM -0700, JD wrote:
>>
>>> Asterisk is cool!
>>> If you're going all voip you don't need pstn hardware.
>>>
>>> Sangoma and rhino cards are usually less expensive and have built in
>>> echo cancellation.
>>> The x100p cards aren't very good; get tdm400 card if you go digium.
>>>
>>> As far as ip phones...polycom, aastra, snom are good; grandstream 2000 is
>>> ok; stay away from grandstream budget phones.
>>> JD
>>>
>>> --
>>> sent from phone
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: chip33az@netscape.net
>>> To: "Main PLUG discussion list" <plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
>>> Sent: 9/26/07 7:51 AM
>>> Subject: Re: asterisk: forward disconnect and Cox
>>>
>>> I will be looking into Asterisk very shortly as my company will no longer
>>> pay for my home office phone line. I have Vonage now and like it, but it
>>> costs more than I use. I'm thinking of going with VoicePulse for the
>>> long distance/phone service.
>>>
>>> Have you looked at the actual digium cards? They sell for about $140,
>>> but are supposed to be the best out there.
>>>
>>> PLUGd@LuftHans.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> moin moin,
>>>>
>>>> still trying to get Asterisk working in my spare nanoseconds.
>>>>
>>>> I found documentation suggestion I verify that "disconnect supervision"
>>>> aka "forward disconnect" is enabled.
>>>>
>>>> I hadn't realized we have Cox phone service rather than Qwest. Sorry for
>>>> not having that info on previous emails.
>>>>
>>>> Just talked to phone tech support at Cox ( after getting Internet tech
>>>> support twice and being disconnected ). The person was nice, patient and
>>>> appeared to be willing to help out. She didn't know what "disconnect
>>>> supervision" or "forward disconnect" were, so put me on hold to talk to
>>>> internal tech support.
>>>>
>>>> The response she got was that my answering device isn't compatable with
>>>> Cox phone service :(.
>>>>
>>>> Does having service via Cox rather than Qwest change what I need to do
>>>> to
>>>> get Asterisk to recognize call initiation and termination? Asterisk
>>>> doesn't recognize hangups and ties up the line for long periods of time.
>>>> Some might see this as a bonus :).
>>>>
>>>> Do I need to call it something else when asking for support from Cox?
>>>>
>>>> Any recommendations for a card that actually works? I want to connect to
>>>> a
>>>> POTS line for receiving and initiating phone calls. I want the
>>>> possibility
>>>> of that POTS line to be whatever source of POTS lines we get in the
>>>> Phoenix area.
>>>>
>>>> I also want to ring through the phone card to a phone.
>>>>
>>>> I also want to use a small Sipura SIP box that has 2 RJ11 connectors and
>>>> can handle two phones.
>>>>
>>>> There are many other things I want to do, but that's the initial setup.
>>>> If
>>>> I can get that working such that I don't break it with further
>>>> experimentation I can play with Asterisk.
>>>>
>>>> ciao,
>>>>
>>>> der.hans
>>>>
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>
>
> --
> JD Austin
> Twin Geckos Technology Services LLC
> email: jd@twingeckos.com
> http://www.twingeckos.com
> phone/fax: 480.288.8195
>
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