[Asterisk-biz] Installation for a small office, looking for advice

[Tom Hayden]

Brian,

I've heard really good things about Asterlink (www.asterlink.com) for
business quality service.  They seem to be a very reliable company,
but there are many others out there. I suggest you look around. If
you're looking for just two lines, why not just get a couple of POTS
lines and an card for your * server? You have lots of options.

I highly recommend using a POTS line (not voip) for your fax needs.
Fax over IP, just isn't to the point where, as a business, I'd rely on
it. I can't stress this enough.  Faxing will eventuly get there,
however.

If you have ethernet in each office, you could purchase SIP phones
with pass-thru such as the Polycoms or Ciscos, you could then plug
your PCs directly into the phones.  If you already have phones, then
you could purchase SIP Adaptors.  If you want to use the TDM lines
already in place, you could purchase a callbank, but that might be a
little too pricey for a two-phone office. :)

There are lots of people doing very similar setups. This is what
Asterisk is great at.

--
Tom Hayden
Astoria Telecom, LLC
www.astoriatelecom.net

On 8/12/05, Brian Mathis <bmathis-asterisk at directedge.com> wrote:
> I have been doing some research on Asterisk and I'm excited about what I
> see, and would love to use it.  However, I'm a Linux guy of 10 years and
> not a phone guy.  I've been trying to wade through all the phone lingo
> and acronyms, but frankly they make my head spin :).  Hopefully someone
> here can give me some direction in what I'd like to accomplish.
> 
> We'd like to go with a business class VOIP provider that can provide us
> with at least 2 phone numbers, 1 for a main line and the other for a
> fax.  Any recommendations on companies that work well with Asterisk?
> 
> Where I'm really stuck is what I need to connect the office phones to
> the system.  We will have regular phone lines, as well as ethernet in
> each office.  I will need to use at least 1 regular phone line for the
> fax machine.  What hardware do you recommend for this?  We are open to
> buying new phones if need be.
> 
> Is anyone else using this type of setup?  I want to make sure that we
> can also do things like call on hold, call transfer, conference, etc...
> 
> Thanks for any direction you can give me.
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-- 
Tom