[Asterisk-Users] Digium G729 licensing - is it worth the trouble?

[Chris Mason (Lists)]

I have been impressed with the quality and meagre bandwidth of the G729
codec from Digium. I am in a testing phase of our roll out, we are using 5
Asterisk PBXs in various countries to provide connectivity for our
employees, owners and family. As we are testing, and our setup is somewhat
complex due to the peculiarities of our connectivity, there has had to be a
lot of changes to servers, cards to swap, problems with channel banks, the
usual annoying setup issues. I've also made a few mistakes, believe it or
now...

I have purchased 50 licenses at $10 each from Digium, putting ten on each
server. On the server I do the most testing, the one in my office, I have
moved cards around, resulting in having to re-register the codec. I realized
the cards had been assigned backwards and repaired, and had to call Digium
to inform them I needed to re-register. To my surpise, they would not accept
this. They required I sent them a letter explaining why I had to do this.
Even after I sent it, they would not allow me to register the codecs.
Finally they agreed, but the re-register did not work. After more calls, it
still has not been resolved.

I realize they have piracy problems, but that's their problem. I paid for
the codecs, and I think I should be able to use them. People who are
avoiding the licenses don't call you up to tell you. I don't mind having to
call and let them know why I need to re-register, but I did not expect to be
refused.

So now I am moving my trunking to gsm, and keeping the office phones uLaw,
allowing Asterisk to transcode. I don't notice a lot of difference in
quality and I have the flexibility of changing network cards anytime I want.
Is there any real reason to put up with the licensing issues for G729?



Chris Mason
NetConcepts
Int:  (305) 704-7249 Fax: (815)301-9759