[Asterisk-Users] Overhead Paging

[Rich Adamson]

> I am currently implementing a VoIP PBX, and need to deal with the paging 
> situation.  I would prefer to do paging via overhead speakers.
> 
> My plan is to connect a "Paging Unit" to an FXS port of an IAD, and assign an 
> extension to that port.  I would then simply be able to call that extension, and 
> have my call patched through to the overhead speakers.
> 
> Has anyone implemented this type of setup, if so, what type of paging unit did 
> you deploy, did you require an external amplifier or power supply, and how many 
> speakers were you able to connect to the unit?  As it stands, I will need 
> between 4 and 8 speakers, and some of the speakers will be 400 feet from the 
> main telco closet.
> 
> Any thoughts, comments, and suggestions that you can shed on this topic would be 
> much appreciated.  If you have other methods of implementing overhead paging, I 
> would also be interested.

If you search the archives I think you'll find this discussed several
times.

One (of many) ways to accomplish it is simply based on using a Cisco
7940/7960 phone configured with paging, and pipe the audio to an
amplifier input. If you're planning on deploying the Cisco phones
already, then using that approach basically has built-in sparing
covered.