[asterisk-users] Options for moving to * friendly Business VSP

[Gleim, Jason]

Al,

If you want the most flexibility you can get and you want to (or can)
use a purely IP solution, then I would recommend looking at the
pay-as-you-go plans a lot of VoIP service providers offers. (Lots of
recommendations on this list) Most of them will allow you to pay a small
monthly fee (~ $5) for a public number and then $0.02/min for usage. The
nice thing is that there is no limit to the number of channels. So, if
you have a single 'public' number and someone calls it, the service
provider sends it to your box. While that call is in progress, if
someone else calls, the service provider just opens another channel to
your box and it rings. You don't have to maintain a block of numbers and
a hunt group which costs money and limits your max simultaneous calls.
Same thing with the other company that is merging... just port their
main number(s) over and go. You can have several numbers (including 800
TF) which all run over the same connection. The service provider will
set the call information during the call setup period. Asterisk can read
this and determine which 'line' has been called so you can route
appropriately. (Basically DID)

To smooth the transition, you would get a temp number from your VoIP
service provider and do all the testing. (Since you already have
Asterisk setup, this would be as easy as adding a new SIP or IAX trunk.)
Then, when you are ready, set your current lines to forward to that temp
number and order the number ports. When the ports go through, the
numbers will move which will drop the forwards and you should be left
with uninterrupted service.

You might also find that doing it this way saves you money. A pure IP
solution doesn't make you pay for hard-lines that are there strictly for
capacity purposes. How often do those last few lines get used in that
hunt group versus how much they cost? The real cost per call is much
higher on those lines but businesses keep them anyway because they have
to be ready for that one time a month when all the lines are busy. I
think you'll find with this solution that it scales automatically and as
long as you keep the account refilled, you can make and take as many
calls as you want. (I believe a number of providers support an account
threshold below which they will automatically refill your account with a
specific amount.)

In regards to your number portability problem... I would make your first
call to the public utility commission to find out if CableVision is even
allowed to hold that number. I believe a lot of the rules that opened
the markets to the CLECs required that a number be portable from the
ILEC to any CLEC and vice-versa. Your area may have regulations that
require your CLEC to make the number portable between service providers
and the person at CableVision you spoke with may either be unaware of it
or deliberately misleading you. In general, I find the phone companies
suddenly become very cooperative when you call them back with someone
from the PUC backing you up.

HTH!
Jason



-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Al Stery
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 12:51 AM
To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
Subject: [asterisk-users] Options for moving to * friendly Business VSP

previuos post mangled.

Hi all, 

I have a client whose business is currently running on
*@home 2.6 with Cablevision' s (CV) Optimum Voice (OV)
and 3 lines. There are going to be 4 additional trunks
needed and I'd like to move/migrate them off of OV, to
a better more flexible/open/supportive VSP. OV does
not share SIP credentials and operates a closed system
which required the use of digium tdm-400b card in
order to get the trunks into * and limits what we can
achieve. There are two parts to this plan. Here are
some of the requirements for the first part.

The current 3 lines are setup as a hunt group so
there's only one published number. My client needs to
(at least for the time being) retain that phone number
(business continuity) and CV does NOT allow number's
in exchange blocks they "own" to be ported out. Due to
this fact, I was pondering keeping one of the OV
trunks open (the main number from the hunt group), and
set it to forward all calls to the new hunt group
number on the new VSP. This would be done until such
time as the majority of customers are updated with the
new phone number.

I'm not sure how something like this would function
but my concern would be how the "hand-off" on the
forward would behave. For example, can this scenario
handle multiple incoming calls simultaneously or would
one call be dumped off into OV's voicemail system?
Also, once a call is forwarded to the new number, is
the original OV trunk freed up to accept/forward more
incoming calls? or is it tied to that call?

Part two.

Another business is merging in, bringing with it 4
lines of their own, one of which is an 800 TF number,
all currently configured via Verizon POTS serivce.
Ideally, I'd like to get those 4 trunks ported to the
same VSP also, keeping the TF 800 number and perhaps
one of the "normal" phone numbers. The requirement
here is that the LNP be done atomically, without
downtime (over a weekend for example). I don't know
whether or not this is possible.

So overall, I'm trying to figure out what some of my
options in achieving my goals here may be. I need to
know which reliable, quality Business class VSP's can
"fit the bill". Preferably one that can handle hunt
groups, or multiple channels so that more trunks can
be simply added as the business grows.

Thanks in advance for any ideas, suggestions and
advice you all can provide.

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