[asterisk-users] Newbie alert: VoIP hardware

[Steve Totaro]

On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 8:17 AM, Michael Graves <mgraves at mstvp.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 07 May 2008 09:58:04 +0100, Alan Lord wrote:
>
>  >Marco wrote:
>  >>
>  >> Respectfully, I don't agree. I've purchased an "original clone" :-P of
>  >> the X100P card, on the long period they almost always have some
>  >> drawbacks... Faxing have been troubling for me. Don't know if it was for
>  >> the line or else, but with a Digium card I had no problem at all.
>  >> No sponsoring in here, ok, but certified hardware works better,
>  >> therefore it's a better investment, I think.
>  >>
>  >
>  >I'm just offering my experiences. I have had no problems with my x100p
>  >card since using the oslec canceller.
>  >
>  >There's a big difference between $300 and $34 for one analogue line on a
>  >home phone.
>  >
>  >Of course YMMV ;-)
>
>  If you use traditional PC hardware (ie with an available PCI slot) then
>  you can use the TDM 4xx card from Digium. I had a TDM400p and it worked
>  well enough, much better than the X101p.
>
>  If you choose embedded hardware (Soekris, Alix, WRAP, etc) then you may
>  not be able to add a PCI card. The external interffaces are necessary,
>  like the Linksys SPA-2000/3000 series. These also work fairly well.
>  They have the advantage of not requiring Zaptel.
>
>  Nothing about your installation suggests that a traditional PC would be
>  beneficial. In fact, "Beefy" would just me more power, heat & noise.
>  Someone recently told me that the Alix 3C systems are $150 complete
>  from www.mini-box.com. That would seem like a bargain, and ideal for
>  your circumstance.
>
>  Michael
>  --
>  Michael Graves
>  mgraves<at>mstvp.com
>  http://blog.mgraves.org
>  o713-861-4005
>  c713-201-1262
>  sip:mjgraves at pixelpower.onsip.com
>  skype mjgraves
>  54245 at fwd.pulver.com
>

If your budget is tight and you want a decent card (not an X100P) with
room to upgrade, then check out
http://www.openvox.com.cn/products.php?genre_id=25 or
http://store.getvoicecards.com/index.php?cPath=66 they are the
reference design that Digium used on previous cards and are very well
made.  You can even use their FXO/FXS modules in a real Digium card
and visa versa.

The page I linked to includes the Octasic SoftEcho software.

Word has it that the guy responsible for these cards was a former
Digium employee back when Digium was only a few people (Mark Spencer's
right hand man) and he also developed the Tormenta III card for
Govarion.  I have seen documents and some other things that back up
this information......

Thanks,
Steve Totaro