[Asterisk-Users] Newbie Questions

[Mark Woods]

> 
> From: Matt G <gibson at experthost.com>
> Date: 2004/07/28 Wed PM 08:50:03 GMT
> To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Newbie Questions
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm going to be helping to set * up for the company I work for, and in 
> doing all my research about it, have found it to be a very viable 
> solution for my SOHO side business at home. I do however have a few 
> questions, forgive me if they're stupid but I'm new to all of this.
> 
> 1. I want to be able to handle 3 analogue phone lines, with a regular 
> bell telephone line coming into the house. So am I to assume that I want 
> one PCI card for a P300mhz or above with three FXS ports and one FXO 
> port? (the TDM31B). Am I correct in the card that I want?

I believe so.  You will need one FXO and three FXS ports, and you should be able to get them all on one card.

> 
> 2. Relating to my first question, say I instead get a card with only one 
> FXS port and one FXO port, can I 'chain' my phones together from the one 
> FXS port and still get the same functionality? (what i mean is one phone 
> line coming out, with a splitter going to my three telephones)?

Yes, that should work, but there's a limit on how many telephones one can drive.

> 
> 3. In the future I will be wanting to upgrade to VOIP capabilities for 
> my SOHO Long Distance, is this as simple as getting another card with a 
> T1 interface and an interface port for the phone, then plug it into my 
> existing LAN to get internet connectivity, and still use the TDM31B for 
> regular analogue conversations?

No.  A T1 card does not plug into a LAN.  You will need to use the ethernet port on your server, or add a NIC.  Once you do so, and get all of that configured, you can bridge calls between your analog ports and SIP/IAX/other VoIP phones.

> 4. Does * support 'ring tone identification' ? Currently I have the 
> outside line coming into the house, then it's split to go off to two 
> phones, then from one of the phones the 'second extension jack' is going 
> to my fax machine, which recognizes the distinctive ring the phone 
> company gave me for the fax #. Will this still work with asterix, or 
> would the fax machine have to be coming directly off the port on the PCI 
> card?

Asterisk has distinctive ring support, but I have not worked with it yet.


> 5. Relating back to the splitting of the phone lines, if I have a card 
> with two FXS jacks, and one FXO, and I only wanted two extensions on the 
> line (upstairs, downstairs), could I chain the upstairs lines on one 
> analogue line, and then if i transfer a caller to that extension it will 
> ring on both phones upstairs?
> 

Yes, it should.  No different than a normal analog line that you get from a telco.  Again, there's a limit on how many phones one line can drive.


> Thanks a lot in advance.

You're welcome...