[Asterisk-Users] Qs about FXO/FXS cards

[Steven Critchfield]

On Mon, 2005-01-03 at 15:06 -0600, Michael Graves wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Jan 2005 15:25:29 -0500, Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:
> 
> >On January 3, 2005 03:07 pm, Steven Critchfield wrote:
> >> And we come full circle to a comment I made before that TDM cards are
> >> more for hobbyist than for real serious installs. A real install is
> >> probably going to use a T1/E1 interface and bypasses all the troubles
> >> listed in this thread.
> >
> >Unfortunately that makes Asterisk installs for small businesses more expensive 
> >than necessary.  At US$500 for a T100P and US$300ish for a channel bank (FXS 
> >only, FXO is significantly more expensive!) plus your time and system for an 
> >Asterisk install it raises the bar for the small business to adopt Asterisk.  
> >The TDM400P would fit a very nice little niche if it worked reliably.
> >
> >Let's face it -- most businesses are looking at VOIP to reduce their telephone 
> >bills and if the time it takes for the install to pay for itself is raised 
> >significantly (like an added $1000 price tag for reliable equipment)... 
> >well... the writing on the wall is pretty clear.
> 
> I too have struggled with getting reliability out of the common FXO
> options. However, we should also keep in mind that BRIs are available,
> although not as common as POTS lines in the US. A local CLEC pointed me
> to a web site run by the state of Texas that stipulates the tariffs
> allowed for PRI and BRI. BRI are actually very cost effective relative
> to POTS lines since many bundled options like CID are built in. a BRI
> pair is around $57/mo here.
> 
> If the TDM400p did not work out for me, which is has to this point,
> then switching to a BRI would be my next option. It seems that from
> casual monitoring of the list that BRI interfaces are mroe reliable
> than FXOs.

For business use, I would suggest you first find a BRI card you can use
here in the states. Hint, bug Kapejod into making that 4 port card US
ready. Then move any business user over to BRI if they want small
deployments. The 8 lines you can get by one 4 span board from Kapejod
would be wonderful for a small business and it gives you answer and
disconnect supervision. It will give you a lot of other benefits that
analog can't. 

That also would go a ways to making a more reliable from the wires
standpoint system as well. I doubt you will have as many unexplained
problems from a BRI circuit.
-- 
Steven Critchfield <critch at basesys.com>