[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk, Voicetronix, and Australia

[Kavit Munshi]

intent wrote:

>I'm looking to use Asterisk to replace my current PBX system. I'm in
>Australia so I need to use Austel approved equipment. My plan is roughly
>as follows:
>
>- Get a box with a suitable card and install Asterisk
>- Connect our existing PSTN lines to the Asterisk box
>- Get suitable softphones/ip phones to connect to the Asterisk system
>- Route all intra-office calls over our VPN
>- Route all other calls out to the PSTN
>- Route all incoming calls from PSTN as required
>
>I have four lines and it seems like the Voicetronix OpenLine4 card
>(http://www.voicetronix.com.au) is suitable for a setup like this. I'm
>after war stories and any hints and tips from anyone who's setup a similar
>system in Australia. What hardware do you use and/or recommend? What are
>the pitfalls and gotchas that you've come across implementing an Asterisk
>system? Are there any Australian case studies you can link me to?
>
>Thanks in advance!
>
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Any hardware that is connected to the Australian telephone network has 
to be A-Tick certified. We do asterisk installations professionally in 
Australia and my best advice would be

a) before rolling anything out test it on a small scale, rest is just 
scaling.

b) If you are planning to use SIP make sure you configure it properly to 
work with NAT. SIP has a lot of issues with NAT. The alternative is 
using IAX but the IAX deskphones arent as feature rich as the SIP 
phones. Also take into account the cost of deploying IP phones.

c) Last time I checked TDM400P wasnt A-Tick certified but things may 
have changed. you can check with the australian suppliers 
http://www.austechpartnerships.com. If you have 4 lines this card 
(TDM400P) will be ideal for you.

d) Make sure your asterisk server has a decent UPS attached to it. ;)

e) Make sure any SIP hard phones you use have power over ethernet or if 
they dont you have proper outlets to plug in the phones at each desk.

f) look into agents and queues for incoming calls.

regards

Kavit