[Asterisk-Users] Re: Benjk's Question "Why FXS"

[Reid A. Forrest]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com 
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of 
> Wolf Paul
> Sent: Monday, October 25, 2004 6:34 PM
> To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Re: Benjk's Question "Why FXS"
> 
> How about a school strapped for cash, with around 60 POTS phones on
> hand and an almost free source of another 60? Versus a cost (here in
> Austria) of $99 for the cheapest VoIP phone (the cheapest Grandstream
> model). Of course that also means that FXS is only of interest if
> I can get it for under around $50-60/port -- if things cost more it
> becomes easier to argue early replacement of these POTS 
> phones by IP phones.
> 
> 

I may be wrong, but from what I've seen so far, an FXS port will run you
about $100/port anyway, plus the cost of the analog device. At this price, I
can't see any reason not to dump the analog and go with a cheap VOIP device.
Even the lowest end (i.e. Grandstream) will give you more functionality than
most analog phones at the same price. Now if you have a source for cheap or
free channel banks, that's another story.