[Asterisk-Users] FXO ATA?

[Walt Reed]

On Fri, May 06, 2005 at 04:24:32AM -0500, Eric Wieling aka ManxPower said:
> Jon Gabrielson wrote:
> >On Thursday 05 May 2005 05:28 pm, Joseph wrote:
> >
> >>It has 1-FXS and one 1-Life Line (it is pass through type)
> >
> >I've seen the pass-through term used alot and
> >I'm not quite for sure what that means.  What is the 
> 
> I just checked my dictionary and it defines "pass-thru" as meaning 
> "totally useless for most people".  Pass-thru and lifeline seem to be 
> different terms for the same thing.  i.e. The FXO port is connected to 
> the FXS port in the event of a power outage, but other than that it is 
> not useful.

Not quite. 

A pure "life-line" FXO that is not voip accessable is useless to *.
Usually this means that an extension on the FXS port uses the PSTN on
the FXO during powerfailure / 911 calls. Some ATA's have this kind of
port.

The SPA-3000's FXO CAN pass through in "life-line" mode automatically
for power faliures and if it is configured to do so via the dial-plan.
The dial plan on the 3000 allows lots of flexibility here. From a VoIP
standpoint, the FXS and FXO ports can be configured to be totally
separate devices, where if you want to make a call via the PSTN, the
call is looped through *.

"Pass through" can also be used in terms of how the FXO interfaces with
*. The standard config of the SPA-3000 for example answers the call and
THEN forwards to * - acting more like a full gateway than a dumb FXO. It
can also be configured (kludged) to "pass through" call info to * BEFORE
the call is answered (which is frequently more desirable in many
situations.)

Hope this helps.