[Asterisk-Users] Mediatrix APA III-4FXO (or 1204) help. Anyone with user manual?

[Rich Adamson]

> I just picked myself up a Mediatrix FXO SIP gateway to play around with 
> and hook into Asterisk but have no documentation.

I spent a substantial amount of time evaluating the 1204 box back in
the January timeframe, and then returned it to the reseller. I can 
answer some of your questions but not all.

The Mediatrix products are not bad at all, but they can only be configured
via a Windows SNMP application that comes with "each" firmware version
on the 1204. There is no telnet or web interface. Without that app,
getting the box to work with asterisk will not be possible.

Mediatrix does not have any direct support; they expect their resellers
to support the user, and they expect the reseller to invoice you
for each software upgrade, etc.

The box is shipped from Mediatrix with both H.323 and SIP software,
however the reseller is suppose to only give you one or the other.
(There are different model numbers for those two, but its the same
box, just a different software load.)

The software required to configure the box _must_ match the firware
running in the box. When I was testing, they were at v1.4.6.20, and
each firmware release required a deinstall and reinstall of the 
configuration software. I tried two or three different SIP firmware
versions to address different problems, and had to go through the
process multiple times.

The firmware upgrade process actually forces you to start the process
with the old configuration software (on Windows), initiate the
upgrade, and sometime prior to rebooting the 1204, deinstall and
reinstall the new configuration software so you can interact with
the new firmware. Its a real pain.

Given where you're at with the box, you'll probably need to get the
latest sip firmware, the manual that goes with that version, and the
configuration software that matches that firmware.

Since they rely on the use of SNMP to configure the box, you'll spend
a fair amount of time working with the MIBs within the configuration
software trying to find the parameters necessary to accomplish some
task. The admin manual is pretty good, but finding the words (and
appropriate MIB variable) to match an asterisk function is far less 
then ideal. (The more you know about SNMP, the easier it is.)

> Are there default passwords or IP's that I need to know if I do a 
> factory reset? 

A factory reset will but the box into dhcp mode, and will obtain an
IP address on subsequent reboots. The SNMP community string (password)
defaults to "public", and in January 2004, could not be changed to
anything else period. Again, without their SNMP configuration software
you'll not be able to get the box configured properly.
 
> Or better still, would anyone have a User Manual they could send my 
> way?  Any help would be appreciated.

Mediatrix still seems to be focused on the toll bypass business, and
intended the 1204 (fxo) to be used in conjunction with the 1104 (fxs)
box. As a result, there are a fair number of non-sip-compliant
protocol 'enhancements' in their firmware, however the box can be 
made to work with *. There are a few users on this list that are
using the 1204 successfully.

The box does some strange things that made it unusable for me. Like
it detects ring cadance on the first incoming call following a reboot
and applies that same cadance to all four lines. In my case, I had
one pstn line (of four) with a different cadance which caused the box 
to never answer incoming calls on that port. :(

There's also no nice way to pick a specific pstn port number when
making outgoing calls via the box. You'll need to muck around with
setting a 'callerid' in *, and then set a matching parameter within
the 1204 to recognize that callerid on a per-port basis. The box 
will then use that port for the call. It's default config is to use 
'silence suppression' which will cause very choppy sound with asterisk, 
so that config parameter will need to change as well.

To get the box to work (and be legal), you'll need to contact a reseller
and order the current software from them. That cdrom will include the
user manual (*.pdf), the configuration software (for Windows only),
and the binary image needed to upgrade it. (Be sure to specify either
H.323 or SIP as they won't ship both.) You'll also need a tftp server
to complete the process. And, be constantly aware that if you discover
what you believe to be a firmware problem, they will want to charge
you again for the next version.

There are lots of different reasons for not using that box in a 
production business environment (mostly revolving around support,
enhancements, bug fixes, cost of ownership, potential bankrupcy again)
but for the home or small office it functions rather well.

Good luck...

Rich