[asterisk-users] Hardware suggestions for 8-10 lines in the UK

[Ed W]

> Best bet would be to talk to <insert telco of preference> and ask them what they recommend. For anything more than about 8 channels a PRI is likely to be the most cost-effective route if you need physical lines on-site, especially if that's likely to grow beyond 8 lines in the future.
>   

Just for reference:

- Called BT and their prices are basically the same for PRI as they are 
for analogue (~£10/month), but you need to buy a minimum of 8 lines for 
a PRI.  You can then increase decrease in single lines.  DIDs are quite 
cheap also (practically free)

- Installation cost is cheaper on PRI than analogue, but they will waive 
the installation cost if you buy something else from them such as 
broadband or a mobile phone

Sounds like PRI is the way we will go therefore as long as the equipment 
is reliable.  Can anyone recommend PRI cards which are known to work 
flawlessly with Euro ISDN 30?  (FWIW, BT tell me they now supply all new 
lines as Euro standard instead of the v85 that it claims on the voip wiki)

> You've obviously had better success with the TDM400Ps than I have in the UK. Certainly the call quality on asterisk installs we've done around Northampton/Milton Keynes has improved markedly since we switched to delivering calls via SIP or IAX rather than using physical lines on-site. The clients are also happy - each less line they have on-site is a saving of at least £10/month.
>   

Agreed.  My experience is that quality is higher on Voip than it is via 
a TDM400p.  However, my experience hasn't been that VoiP is as reliable 
as copper lines and so unless you can tolerate the odd outage once per 
month or two then you might want to stick to copper for the main 
carrier?  Does this match with the experience from others?


Still after recommendations on a server box (2U with space for a couple 
of PCI cards would be sensible), the PRI card and also any ATA adaptors 
which are known to work well with fax units

Cheers

Ed W