[Asterisk-Users] ACT Gateways

[Benjamin on Asterisk Mailing Lists]

On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:37:33 +0200, Miroslav Nachev <miro at space-comm.com> wrote:
>    Unfortunately the Mediatrix products are very expensive.

just one example. my point was that as of this moment, ACT are more
focussed on their phones and it may well be wise to look for gateways
elsewhere for the time being, whereever that elsewhere may be.

> example the price for Two-port access device with SIP protocol is
> $275.

I don't really understand the obsession with FXS devices.

The only uses I see for FXS are

- connect a FAX machine, where FAX may not be the best application for
VoIP anyway,
- connect an existing cordless phone, where you probably have only one
such device and a Grandstream HT286 will just do fine,
- connect the analog phone in a hotel to a travel adapter, IAXy would
seem to be the best choice here because you are so much more likely to
encounter NAT traversal problems and other obstacles that you may not
be able to resolve with a SIP device,
- feed some Internet based phone services into a legacy PBX that wants
to see them as CO lines, here again, depending on the number of feeds,
HT286 may be cheap and cheerful enough.

For anything else IP phones should be the default with no buts and no
ifs. I am always puzzled by how people desperately hang on to legacy
stuff they don't really need and in the process create a beast of a
kludge technology. The x86 architecture (or lack thereof) should be an
example that serves to show how not to design your stuff with legacy
support as your all-overriding number one priority. So, let's not make
the same mistake with VoIP. Let's get rid of analog phones as fast and
forcefully as we possibly can.

In other words, FXS should be the very very last resort when there is
really no other way.

Having said that, I notice that Yoda have a 4 port FXO gateway
(VG400), or at least it can be configured to be a 4 port FXO gateway.
Now, that is rather interesting. Do you have any idea how much this
device costs (ballpark figure wise) and how well it can adapt to PSTNs
in other countries?

rgds
benjk

-- 
Sunrise Telephone Systems, 9F Shibuya Daikyo Bldg., 1-13-5 Shibuya,
Tokyo, Japan.

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