[Asterisk-Users] Deploying multiple Sipura 3000s with Asterisk

[Rich Adamson]

> I was thinking about using a couple of spa3k's for deployment in a small
> office.  At 100 $US per unit it is very economical for three or four inbound
> lines plus a few analog phones.
> 
> Can the FXO and FXS ports on a single spa3k be used at the same time through
> Asterisk?  For example if I had an inbound call on the first Sipura FXO port
> and routed to the FXS port on the second device both devices would be in
> use.  If another call came in on the FXO port on the second device would it
> be able to route it to Asterisk and to the first Sipura's FXS port.

Yes it can. It can be set up with a fxs->* channel and fxo->* channel, and
*'s dialplan used to accomidate those needs. Just be sure to turn off the
option to pass incoming fxo calls to the fxs port (forgot what the option
is called).

> I am located in Canada.  Can I pick up the Caller ID information coming in
> from the PSTN and pass it along to the destination device?

Yes, callerid will be passed to *, and * can pass that along to the fxs port.
 
> I like the idea that the Sipura will fail over to the attached FXS port in
> the event that there is a failure.

In addition, if the ethernet cable is disconnected or the hub/switch looses
power, it will fail over as well.
 
> I am hoping this will minimize echo problems related TDM devices and
> motherboard timing.

I'd be careful with echo assumptions. The spa-3k is known to have echo
issues as well, and can be seen in various postings on the voxilla site.
They don't seem to be as unpredictable as the digium cards are though.

> Is there any reason why this isn't an effective solution for really small
> businesses?
> 
> Is there anyone doing this right now?

Others are. I'm using it slightly different for a home system. Inbound
fxo calls ring through to the fxs port, and the fxs port is registering
with *. That way, home user dials 911 it is not dependent on * (or anything
else); no user (spouse) training. But, I have a dialplan set up that says
any fxs-originated calls that start with an "8" goes to *.

So home-user dial 8-3000 it rings * extension 3000. Dials 8-1-555-1212
and the call is routed via * to Internet provider. Since the fxs port
is registered with *, sip phone x3000 can dial x3020 and all home-user
phones ring simulanously.