[Asterisk-Users] FXOs

[Rich Adamson]

> I'd really like to see a show of hands with regard to people's
> experience with FXO interfaces. I own a few X100p cards and have had
> nothing but problems with them. 
> 
> I also took part in Sipura's beta program, for the SPA-3000. While it
> can be an improvement over the X100p, it presently has echo problems
> that make it unusable. Sipura has not acknowledged the problem ( at
> least to me) although several in the user community make refernce to
> new firmware that might address the issue, real soon now.
> 
> I see a lot of activity recently on-list about the TDM-400. Of course,
> mentions on-list are more than likely the result of people having
> problems. We don't hear about people who have no issues with a product.
> 
> So, the nature of my inquiry is to explore how many people out here have
> good/great experiences with the various small FXO adapters? While the
> TDM-400 is my next possible purchase I'd also like to hear about
> devices from Welltech, Clipcomm, Micronet, Multitech, Immixtel, etc.
> With so many products being offered I would hope that we have some
> collective experience with each one.

Have ran both the x100p's and tdm04b (4-port fxo) for several months.
In the US, both are usable however the software drivers still are in
need of some serious help. Most of the issues revolve around:
 - interrupts, pci bus or something like that resulting in echo
   (which appears to be system/motherboard dependent), and echo
   cancellation functions that have only a limited range,
 - transmission levels (rxgain/txgain) are not anywhere near useful
   outside a rather limited range (without causing other problems)
 - less then stable causing failures that result in having to reboot
   the entire system (stopping and restarting * and the drivers do
   not always work).
 - callerid reliability runs about 80% of what a cheap analog phone
   bridged onto the pstn line displays.

I don't know of anyone that is actually working on correcting the
issues, and part of that is likely the result of most users inability
to document the problems (since its oftentimes necessary to get the
interfaces back up as soon as possible).

I've tried the Mediatrix 1204 gateway, and although it works, support
is less then acceptable for any serious production use. Echo was non-
existant, but lots of other issues when attempting to use it with
anything other then four exactly-equal pots lines. The company appeared
to be near bankrupcy, therefore any/all software upgrades are chargable.
Support is limited to their resellers only and a large percentage of
those are not familiar with any voip systems other then whatever
commercial products they happen to sell. The company's focus is still
in the toll bypass arena using the 1104 and 1204 together.

I've not tried most of the other 4-port (or so) boxes as they seem to
be very over-priced.

I've got a spa3000, but have not had enough time to mess with it in
any serious manner. The small amount of testing that I've done make
it appear to be a nice box. Hope to learn more about it in the next
few weeks.

The market seems to be lacking a reasonable/reliable product in the
two-to-six fxo port range. Above six ports, seems the channel bank
approach becomes more economical, reliable, and easier to support.

Rich