[Asterisk-Users] Semi-OT: porting numbers away

[Kerry Garrison]

This boils down pretty easily, how important is your phone service and how
reliable is your internet access? If you internet access is not 100% stable
and reliable then you will have problems using ITSP's. If your phone service
is critical to the operation of your business then you need to think through
the design very carefully.

Many of our clients have redundant internet connections just to keep email
running smooth, this is not the type of client I would put on an
internet-only phone system. You are only asking for trouble.

A good example is a large online retailer we just did, if they are not
getting calls, they are not getting orders, simple math there. However, 90%
of the time, they only had 3-4 lines going at the same time but during
seasonal or sale spikes this would overwhelm the 7 lines that they had. The
solution here was to use 4 analog lines and the 4th line did a call forward
on busy to Teliax pay-as-you-go which gives them 10 additional channels.
This allowed them to cut 3 phone lines off their monthly bill and double
their line capacity. Outbound calls originate on the Teliax line and fall
back to the analog lines as a backup. In the first month, they figured that
they will be saving about $600 a month in fees and long distance charges. So
their goal was accomplished, they reduced costs and increased capacity, and
they have extensions at their homes now. Sure, it's a hybrid system but this
is the beauty of Asterisk, you can choose to design a system that best fits
the needs of each individual client.

Kerry Garrison
Director of Technical Services
Tech Data Pros - Orange County's Mobile IT Service Provider
(949) 502-7819 x200 - kerryg at techdatapros.com
http://www.techdatapros.com


 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com 
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of 
> Rich Adamson
> Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 7:34 AM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Semi-OT: porting numbers away
> 
> 
> > Since the last hurricane (that left me without phone for around 3 
> > weeks or so), I did the call forwarding (remote call 
> forwarding in fact).
> > Lucky I was running in the cable modem in a couple of days 
> (power restored).
> > I was planning in having two DIDs in distinct providers (I've been 
> > using them for outbound in BYOD contracts), and keep the 
> "POTS number" 
> > in the more stable one.
> > But I'm still concerned with the 911 issue.
> > Is the POTS telco (Bellsouth in South Florida in my case) 
> mandated to 
> > provide 911 in a "ported line" ? I'm not that confident in 
> using 911 
> > via the ITSP.
> 
> When you port a number to an itsp, all calls (including 911 
> calls) are handled by that itsp. There are not that many 
> itsp's that actually handle
> 911 calls today, but you can certainly ask your providers (or 
> just route a test 911 call to them to see what happens).
> 
> Absolutely none of the itsp's offer the same service levels 
> via the Interent that one gets from a local telco with 
> dedicated copper/fiber last-mile facilities. So, expect call 
> failures and if that's not acceptable, keep a local pstn line 
> or cell phone handy. For today, there are no other reasonable choices.
> 
> 
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