[asterisk-users] Digium stopped TDM400P production: alternatives??

[Darrick Hartman (lists)]

I told myself that I was going to stay out of this one, but since you
find this important enough to reply twice to the mailing list with the
same content, it must be worth my time to reply.

If you carefully read the thread, the person who replied from Rhino went
out of his way to NOT try to sell his hardware, until someone claimed 
that Sangoma is the best.

I do not have first hand experience with Sangoma hardware.  I am however
one of the Astlinux developers.  In that capacity, I can easily say that
compiling the necessary modules for the Rhino cards is much easier than
what is required to get the Sangoma stuff working.  I have no doubt that
in both cases the hardware is good.  (I personally have not experienced
significant trouble with Digium analog cards either, but they do take
more time to adjust properly).  Both hardware companies did work with us
to ensure their cards will work properly with Astlinux.

With the Rhino hardware, there is no need to compile extra utilities,
only a zaptel module.  The Sangoma setup is more complex.

One plus in my mind is the Rhino card is made in the USA.

I've also found the Rhino tech support to be excellent.

Bottom line, use what works for you.  I've used several Digium TDM400P
cards and several Rhino analog cards.  Both work well, but like I said
earlier, the Rhino cards (with built in echo cancellation) were much
easier to configure and get working out of the box.

Darrick

shadowym wrote:
> How about a technical comparision.  What makes the Rhino better than
> the Sangoma?
> 
> On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give Sangoma a 9 for support based on
> personal experience so I strongly disagree with that part of your
> argument.
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: James Finstrom
> [mailto:jfinstrom at rhinoequipment.com] Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008
> 6:37 AM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion 
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] Digium stopped TDM400P production:
> alternatives??
> 
> Steve, Yes I work for Rhino that is no Secret. If you read the post I
> was responding to the thread not pimping my own products. I am not
> sure if your a Sangoma fanboy or employee since you are apparently
> offended by my response, however he wasn't asking to be sold to he
> was asking about specific products. So there it is yes I work for
> Rhino and I could have easily given one of our italian distributors
> but he didn't ask for that. It is not appropriate to troll the list
> and push your products unsolicited. If someone is looking for a
> recommendation for a card brand fine. If they need a solution like
> ADID or they need to accommodate funky CPC signals from their telco
> which Rhino does fine it is on subject. If someone asks should I use
> openvox to replace my digium you don't pimp your product because it
> wasn't asked for. If you want my honest opinion. I prefer people use
> Rhino products. I believe our products and support are superior but
> if you don't use our cards use Digium. If your reply is any
> indication on how Sando ma works I can honestly say go use a cheap
> clone before sangomaN they may not support you but at least they are
> open about being here just for the money. James Finstrom Rhino
> Equipment Corp. http://www.rhinoequipment.com
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Steve Totaro
> <stotaro at mail.schoffstall.com>
> 
> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:45:50 To:Asterisk Users Mailing List -
> Non-Commercial Discussion<asterisk-users at lists.digium.com> Subject:
> Re: [asterisk-users] Digium stopped TDM400P  production:
> alternatives??
> 
> 
> James,
> 
> If you were replying to the original post about Openvox or specified
>  that is what you were referring to, maybe I would not take issue but
> to reply to a suggesting to use Sangoma with what you did is
> absolutely misleading.  There is nothing "cheap" or "clone" about
> Sangoma's cards.
> 
> "asterisk.rhinoequipment.com" hmmmmm.
> 
> Thanks, Steve Totaro
> 
> James Finstrom wrote:
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
>> 
>> I would say email Kevin what he asked. The problem with switching
>> to a clone company is you get what you pay for. Sticking with
>> Digium you at least have support. and 3 clone cards and hours of
>> troubleshooting later you will wish you hadn't been all cheap.
>> 
>> Rob Hillis wrote:
>> 
>>> The cards themselves are okay, but the extra level of
>>> configuration is a pain in the proverbial.  Zaptel is already
>>> double-configured in both zaptel.conf and zapata.conf (that's not
>>> a complaint - I understand the reason for the separation) but the
>>> Sangoma cards require a /third/ level of configuration in
>>> Wanpipe.

-- 
Darrick Hartman
DJH Solutions, LLC
http://www.djhsolutions.com