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<TITLE>Very decent book - "VoIP Telephony with Asterisk"</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Just received my copy of this book today. Based on a cursory examination, "VoIP Telephony with Asterisk" (VTwA) by Paul Mahler looks like a very decent book for anyone starting out with Asterisk. More knowledgeable readers may also benefit from perusing its 290 pages as well.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Unlike "Asterisk for Small Office Setup" (which I slammed in a review a couple of weeks ago) VTwA has a useable table of contents and index. In addition, fonts and white space are used in a reasonable way and the book appears to have been copy edited. (If you're wondering why I find it necessary to even mention these aspects, which normally we take for granted, see my "Small Office" comments.) There's also some helpful checklists in the back and a glossary.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The book covers all the basics of installing and configuring Asterisk and goes beyond that in several places. Here are some parts of the book I found especially helpful:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">1. The book passed one of my personal tests in that it has a couple of pages on faxing.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">2. The 22 page chapter on the Cisco 7960 was very helpful. The only other phone covered in depth is the Snom. Hopefully, future editions will cover more phones such as the Grandstream, SwissVoice, Polycom, Uniden and devices such as the Sipura 2000.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">3. The chapter covering T-carrier and SONET (think T1)</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">4. The sections on SIP</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Admittedly, books such as this will become obsolete quickly until Asterisk slows its rate of change. However, if you're a book person, as I am, I think it'll be worth the price. I'm planning to buy a copy for each of my customers.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">[Note: I have no affiliation whatsoever with the author or anyone mentioned in the acknowledgements.]</FONT>
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