[Asterisk-Users] fxo connection in the UK

[Peter Hoppe]

I located in the UK and am looking into connecting three analog BT lines to an astersik system which 
is replacing our current pbx. I could use three Digium wildcard x100p cards for that but I rather 
use a unit which is external to the computer to have a better separation of analogue/digital side. I 
would not like to go ISDN because the analog lines have so far sufficed in every repect and I tend 
not to fix what isn't broken.

Today I found a unit on a supplier's website

http://www.peripheralcorner.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/113/products_id/544

which is  a

Micronet SP5054 VoIP Gateway 4 FXO Ports

The website for this product is

http://www.micronet.info/Products/voip/SP5054.asp


and it appears to me that this unit would (similar to a channel bank) multiplex our three BT lines 
into one LAN port. If so, I could simply connect such a box to a LAN port in my asterisk server. I 
suspect the unit would appear to the asterisk box like three SIP-to-fxo converters (sorry for the 
horrible beginner-jargon). I basically would like to know whether I could use this unit instead of 
three x100P cards and it would functionally replace them.

Questions


* Would it be legal in the UK to connect such a unit to the PSTN ?
   In the specifications

     http://www.micronet.info/Products/voip/SP5054.asp#Specif

   there seems to be CE regulatory approval (see bottom row of table, Emission),
   but I don't know whether that is sufficient for use with a PSTN in the UK.


* Could I operate the unit in a transparent fashion, i.e. it would look to the asterisk
   machine as if I had connected three SIP-to-fxo converters which I can control
   independently of each other from the asterisk machine?
   For example, could I initiate / receive a phone call while another phone conversation
   is running? For outgoing calls, could I specify which fxo port to use / for incoming
   calls, could I find out which port answered it?


* Would the fxo ports match the UK PSTN specifications (impedance)?

I am asking in this list just in case that someone has used / is using such voip gateways. I am 
still very much in the enquiry phase. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Peter