[Asterisk-Dev] G.729 Licenses for Asterisk

[Rich Adamson]

> We are preparing an Asterisk PBX for a client who is going to use this
> with Grandstream phones. All his external calls are routed through
> another provider's Cisco AS5300 box. 
> 
> Now my question is how many G.729 license's does he need to purchase?
> Both Grandstream phones and AS5300 do G.729, hence all the calls are in
> pass through mode as far as G.729 is concerned. It is unlikely that more
> than 5 people will be checking their voice mails. Should 5 G.729
> licenses be sufficient, or need more?
> 
> Although it does not matter much in this case as extra $100 for 10 more
> licenses is not a big money for this client yet I thought I will seek
> clarification as this issue will come up again and again.

I can't answer your question directly (and yes I'm running a limited
number of licenses as well), however it seems previous posters have not
taken into consideration some of the incidental license needs. Not sure
it any of these fit, however think about:
 - voicemail (gsm or whatever to 729)
 - access to pstn facilities that do not support 729
 - other * services that you might have in your dialplan, etc, whose sounds
   are derived from non-729 sources
 - consultive transfers, meetme, and other such services

Better to error on the too many side.