[Asterisk-Users] Basic telephony hardware questions

[Min Hwan Chang]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here...

The cheapest way would be to buy four X100P cards. These are single
line FXO PCI cards.  But that leaves the question of your FXS...

So yes, a TDM04B  would take care of your outside POTS lines coming
into the Asterisk Box.  The RJ11s plug directly into the card.   (This
is the solution our office currently uses)

Now for the analog phones: If you want all the phones to have a
separate extension, you need something like a Digium IAXy or Sipura
SPA2000 for each line.  (I'm not sure if you can connect more than one
analog phone to these?)  THe other solution is to get 3 TDM40Bs, which
would take care of 9 lines. The RJ11 plug directly into this also.
Just make sure that eachTDM40B card has its own IRQ.


The IP phones are simple, I would recommend something like a Polycom
IP300, Grandstream, or Snom.

For connecting Asterisk and IP phones to the network, all you need is
extra ethernet ports on your switch and lots of ethernet cable :). 
Then you are pretty much set to go.

As long as the computers using softPhones are on the same network, you
should have no problem.  All you do is configure the Asterisk to
acknowledge the softphone and configure the softphone to acknowledge
Asterisk.  Besides a little configuring of the menus, phones and dial
plans, you'll be all set.

The TE410/415 cards are I believe T1 cards that connect via a T1
connection directly to the phone company.  So basically the digital
signal is sent directly to the phone ocmpany instead of being switched
to analog then back to digital. better voice quality yadda yadda.

Again, if any of the information above is incorrect, someone please
correct. Thank you.

Regards,
Min .





On 4/25/05, Sudhakar Chandra <thaths at aunet.org> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am in the process of setting up an Asterisk-based PBX at work. I get
> the concept of how Asterisk works pretty decently. I am more confused
> about the proliferation of TLAs like FXO, FXS, TDP, SIP, ....
> 
> After some intense reading I have come to some understanding of the
> hardware I need to set things up. I am doing this in India and am
> getting a friend of mine bring the cards with him when he comes here in
> a couple of weeks. I don't know when my next trip to a place of abundant
> Asterisk-capable hardware will be. So I cannot afford making the wrong
> decisions. I need to live with my choice for atleast the next 4-6 months.
> 
> My Setup
> --------
> Our office currently has 3 (to expand into 4 in the next few months)
> incoming PSTN lines. All these lines have RJ11 terminations. There are a
> couple of hundred employees working in the office. But not all of them
> need or have a phone on their desktops.
> 
> My Requirements
> ---------------
> I need about 10-12 POTS phones to be connected to the PBX. When their
> extension is dialled, they need to ring. I need about 3 IP-phones to
> connect to the PBX over Ethernet. There will be some 50 users who will
> use soft phones on their desktops to connect to the PBX to make and
> receive calls. I also need IVRS for incoming calls and voicemail for all
> the extensions.
> 
> Based on all of the above:
> 
> * The cheapest option for me to get started seems to be 4 Digium PCI
> cards on a box running Asterisk. Will a setup with an Asterisk box with
> 4 Digium cards work?
> 
> * I have identified 'TDM04B - 4-port FXO bundle' as the card I need to
> connect to the incoming PSTN lines. Is this identification correct?
> Also, will the incoming RJ11 terminations connect to this card? Or do I
> need something else?
> 
> * I have identified 'TDM40B - 4-port FXS bundle' as the card I need to
> connect my in-office POTS phones. Is this identification correct? Also,
> will these cards enable the connection of RJ11 cables connecting to the
> POTS phones?
> 
> * What do I need to connect to my local 100-base-T LAN to the PBX? I
> want desktops on the LAN to be be able to run soft phones and connect to
> the PBX. Do I need any other card?
> 
> * Similarly, do I need anything extra on the Asterisk box to connect the
> IP phones?
> 
> * What are TE410 and TE405 cards used for?
> 
> Any help will be appreciated.
> 
> Thaths
> --
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