[asterisk-users] Is Asterisk ready for Prime-Time?

[Paul Hales]

Our office PABX is a via low heat pc, with an ISDN10 and 15 IP handsets.

It gets regularly used and abused by us linux idiots in the office, and
runs like a charm. We test software on it, write silly dialplans and
generally treat it badly.

It could not be described as 'server grade' by any reasonable person.

PaulH


On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 11:43 -0500, Bill Andersen wrote:
> This is not a troll.  I've used my real email because I want this
> taken seriously.  I'm not trying to make anyone mad, I just want
> some real discussion on this issue.  Please bare with me...
> 
> I'm a USER of Asterisk.  We purchased 3 commercially available
> "Asterisk Based" PBXs a little over a year ago. (I won't mention
> which one at this point - I don't want to bad mouth them - yet!)
> Two of the systems are very small (5 SIP lines/6 Polycom phones).
> The third is on a PRI with 30 Polycom phones.
> 
> My smaller sites work pretty good.  I've only had to restart
> Asterisk every month or so.  However, my 30 station system
> is a continuous headache.  I average a restart at least once a
> week.  Sometimes a couple of times in the week.  I'm always being
> called to "fix" something that just stopped working.
> 
> I DON'T WANT TO GET INTO A "Well, don't just complain, tell us
> your setup and we can help you get it working".  This list HAS
> helped me figure out some of the issues.  THANK YOU!  But the
> purpose of this post is more of a fact finding mission.
> 
> 1) Was choosing Asterisk for our company the wrong decision...
> 
>    a) IF... I expect a phone system to just work.  Once it is
>       configured, a phone system should just work with
>       very little attention.  My previous system was a
>       Comdial with external voice mail on a DOS based PC.
>       I LITERALLY WENT OVER 4 YEARS WITHOUT HAVING TO REMOVE
>       POWER TO THE COMDIAL CONTROL OR RE-BOOT THE VOICE MAIL PC.
>  
>    b) IF... I really only need a phone system that allows an operator
>       to answer each call and transfer them to the appropriate
>       person.  I need voice mail, but very little auto attendant
>       features (mostly after hours).  All the bells and whistles
>       that Asterisk offers are cool, but don't bring that much to
>       the table for our purpose.
> 
>    c) IF... Stability is more of an issue than high end features?
> 
> 2) Are there any users out there that really DO have an Asterisk
>    system that just works like clockwork?  I'm saying, once setup,
>    run for a year (or more) without any issues?
> 
> 3) If SO, Should I simply consider a different vendor?
> 
> 4) If NOT, and if my expectations are that a system SHOULD just
>    run and run without any problems.  Is Asterisk simply not my
>    solution.  Is Asterisk not REALLY ready for production.  Because
>    in my mind (as a user of phone services), "dealing" with the
>    phone system, even on a MONTHLY basis, means that the system
>    is NOT really production ready...  Before we installed an
>    Asterisk based PBX, I spent maybe 4 hours per YEAR with phone
>    issues (setting up a new station?).  Since we moved to an
>    Asterisk based PBX, I spend 4 hours (or more) every WEEK!
> 
>    Am I expecting too much?
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
> 
> asterisk-users mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users