[Asterisk-Users] Planning Asterisk

[Jay Milk]

Hello,

I'm planning to convert my phone system to Asterisk, as I've outgrown my
TalkSwitch system.  I have a few questions for experienced * users, most
of which can be answered yes/no.

Current Setup:
- Talkswitch 48NLS (4CO/8Ext) phone system.
- One CO line, two Vonage lines, one Voicepulse line connected to phone
system
- A third Vonage line directly connected to a fax machine
- A sipgate.de line connected through Port#2 of VoicePulse's Sipura to a
stand-alone phone.

Getting VoicePulse (recently) and finding sipgate.de pushed me over the
4-line limit of the Talkswitch PBX, plus there are some shortcomings to
Talkswitch which I could, but don't want to live with.

To get my CO and SIP lines connected I can:
1. Use a voice-modem as FXO?
2. Use a Digium X100P?  What's the advantage over using a voice-modem?
3. Set up * as a SIP client for VoicePulse and sipgate.de.  I could add
lines via broadvoice.com and FWD?  And if I'm REALLY lucky, I could even
convince Vonage to allow open access and connect directly?
4. Is anyone running an ATA186 into an FXO device?  Sound-quality?

Are there multi-FXO cards, because I'm afraid I'll be running out of PCI
slots.


To get my extensions connected, I can:
1. Use a Digium TDM400P?
2. Use one ore more Sipuras?
3. Use any Software IP Phone?
4. Use any Hardware IP Phone?

TDM400P cost $75/port, while the Sipuras are only $50/port.  Is there an
advantage to using the Digium?


Now once everything connected, it'll probably take me a while to get
things configured.  I assume that I can do pretty much anything I want,
just as long as I have access to the sources.  Can I:

1. Set up auto-attendants based on the incoming phone line?  Based on id
of the caller?
2. Set up least-cost call routing?
3. Have integrated dialing plans, such as --
     1 xxx yyy nnnn = call outside line
     011 .... = call internationally
     * xxx = call extension xxx
     # 4 xxx yyy nnnn = call using outside line #4
     911 = call 911 using actual landline
   (My wife needs to be able to use this too)