[Asterisk-Users] What is IAX Trunking?

[Deon Rodden]

Sorry, I've been on voip-info.org but I still can't get a clear definition
of what IAX trunking is. It says you need the timing from a zaptel device
(or ztdummy or zaprtc) to make it work, but nothing specific about what it
is or what it does. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.

Right now, I have 4 PRI's plugged into a Cisco Router, which then sends the
calls via SIP to Asterisk. Asterisk pushes outbound calls through the Cisco
as well. From that main asterisk server, I have it pushing a few calls to
another Asterisk server used for the internal office. The main asterisk
server connects via IAX(2) to this other Asterisk server and vice versa. Up
until a few CVS revisions ago, I had severe remote-caller (incoming) quality
issues, but they've since gone away with the latest CVS and Cisco 7960
Firmware 3-7-1.

My IAX setup is quite simple, was easy to figure out and implement, to make
the two talk to each other. But I keep seeing references to trunking.  As we
get more offices, I was going to put a Asterisk server in each, and just
have them connect via IAX to my main asterisk server. And for my next trick,
I was going to eliminate the Cisco by putting a 4 port T1 card in the Main
Asterisk server and letting it control everything, instead of going through
the Cisco router.