[Asterisk-Users] Re: Large Scale Asterisk Migration

[Stephen R. Besch]

Stan Brinkerhoff wrote:

> Just as a what if...
> 
> Lets say I have a 250 phone rollout.  I have three incoming T1 lines 
> (however thoes are usually setup) with say 1000 phone numbers available 
> to me.  Every phone is currently analog, but I would like to move to a 
> VOIP based setup when the prices become comperable.
> What am I looking at for equipment here?  How do I possibly provide 250 
> phone ports with the Digium 4 port pci cards?  Wouldn't I need a ton of 
> them?
> 
> Thanks,
> Stan

Unless I read your question wrong, you want to ditch the analog phones 
and replace them with VoIP phones. Once you get the T1 Lines into the * 
server(s) with standard Digium hardware (TE410's), you needn't concern 
yourself with analog (FXS/FXO) any more. What you need is an Ethernet 
tree to distribute the voice packets from the * server(s) to the phones. 
There's lots of recommendations in the WIKI about ethernet switches 
(don't use hubs) and VoIP phone hardware.  I also think there are 
several examples of people who have built * systems with that many 
phones and more. If you need a channel bank to hook up some analog 
phones, use one of the banks you probably already have for the existing 
T1 lines. Just run a T1 crossover cable from the bank to a spare port in 
one of the Digium cards.

Stephen R. Besch