[asterisk-users] USA BRI -- any hope at all?

[Michael Higgins]

On Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:44:12 -0700
"Wilton Helm" <whelm at compuserve.com> wrote:

> I'm in the same boat and have been looking at this for several
> months, but haven't actually jumped in, hands-on, yet.  No, I don't
> think the situation is as dismal as you paint it, although the lack
> of appropriate marketing for BRI in the US has all but killed it
> here, making it relatively unattractive to vendors. 

Right. This is what I've come to understand from the archives.

> I have been
> advised of several cards that support it, but they were two or four
> port cards that were serious overkill for my application, and

I haven't found ONE card that supports it, so maybe we could compare notes?

Rather, can you tell me who claims to support what hardware, so I can confirm? '-)

> expectedly pricy as a result.

This isn't my $$ so I don't care about initial cost. I do care that it is proven, though.

> I am trying to use an HFC card, and
> have been advised that it is possible, but will take some digging and
> experimenting.

I have no time for digging and experimenting, unfortunately. I expect that time will be taken up entirely trying to install and configure asterisk.

> 
> As near as I have been able to figure out, mISDN is the appropriate
> place to begin, but I haven't tried to sort it out, yet.  There are a
> couple of other paths that might lead to a solution, but they seem to
> be less supported than mISDN at present (if that is even possible).
> It sounds like Dahdi is moving towards that, but I don't think its
> quite there, yet.

Okay, these are various driver protocols in the kernel/user space, right?

Since I haven't purchased anything, should I be analysing the rate and support for development of these different protocols and informing my decision that way?

> 
> Qwest is one of the few providers I know of that prices BRI
> reasonably.  I have one up and running on a TA and use it for my
> voice service.  As soon as I can figure out mISDN, I plan to move it
> to Asterisk.  (I'll keep a TA around for backup).
> 

Hmm. Yes, Qwest 'BRI' was the intent... the problem is, any solution that doesn't lease equipment from the provider conflicts to their bottom-line interest, so I don't expect any help from them. Am I wrong in that?

At any rate, if you could send along some info about cards that are purported to work here, I'd *really* appreciate it. '-)

Thanks,

-- 
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 michael.higgins[at]evolone[dot]org