[Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite

[Jason Marshall]

> We'll let it go just this once... ;-)

Thanks *8-)

>> I want all calls to come into the Asterisk box in the main office.
>
> This is relatively easy, but how you do it depends on where the analog POTS 
> lines are terminated. At the central office or at the employees' remote 
> location? (I assume that they terminate at the remote locations)

You're right, I should have been clearer.  The way things are now is 
probably suboptimal, but here it is anyway.

We have one phone number, the line for which is terminated in the main 
office, which is where I'd like the server to be.

The two employees, offsite, have seperate lines which terminate in either 
location.

What we do, depending on who is "on" at that time, is forward the main 
number (which is hooked up to an old portmaster 2 via a modem, so 
reachable remotely) to whoever should be getting the calls.  This is 
suboptimal for at least two reasons that I can see:  1) We're paying for a 
phone line which is basically never used -- the call forwarding happens at 
the telco's switch in the CO, so nothing ever comes in over that line; 2) 
There's no way to record the calls, or to have a consistent voicemail 
prompt, nor is there any way to present the caller with any options if, 
for instance, the person who has the phone forwarded to him is busy, or 
has gone missing for whatever reason...

>> Both employees have regular POTS telephone lines (one fellow has a land 
>> line and a cell, the other has just a land-line).
>
> Again, it will be important to know where these lines terminate.
>
>> I guess that's about it.  I looked at the Digium TDMxx cards, but don't 
>> really know what I need in the way of FXO's and FXS's to pull off what I 
>> want to do.
>
> This is why it's important to know where the phone lines terminate. If they 
> are in the office you can use a TDM400P with two FXO ports. You can also use 
> an ATA such as the Sipura SPA-3000 that has an FXO port built-in. If the 
> lines terminate at the remote locations, then the second option is your only 
> one, unless you put a server in both locations. (which is a bit overkill...)

So the SPA-3000 is used to take an incoming call, and send it to the 
server over IP.  Considering the price of the SPA-3000, it makes more 
sense than the TDMxx cards, if I wanted to go with an all-VOIP setup. 
Which I might want to do.

If I put one of these at each of the two remote sites, could I set them up 
so that the employees' phones would ring whether the call was routed to 
them via VOIP, OR if I call their current phone number?  So if the server 
dies, or the DSL to the employees' locations dies, we could revert back to 
the lame way we're handling call "routing" now -- by just forwarding the 
main incoming line to one employee's number?

> The downside of using a SPA-3000 at the remote location to answer the phone, 
> send the incoming call to the asterisk server, and then send it back to the 
> extension at the remote site is that you will use double the bandwidth. using 
> SIP reinvites might help with that, though.

If I understand you, this scenario would be to intercept calls to each 
employee's current telephone number, redirect the call via VOIP into the 
Asterisk server, and then direct another VOIP call back to the employee's 
handset.  If that's what you mean, that's not what I hope to accomplish. 
No one knows each employee's actual telephone number.  It's all hidden 
with the call-forwarding of the main number to each employee's number.

> The SPA-3000 is capable of doing this. configuring one the first time can be 
> a bit of a bear, but Google is your friend...

I'm up for a bit of a challenge!

> Come to think of it, I have an extra O'Reilly official version of the book 
> that I will sell for $30 shipped. (Never used, I already have another 
> copy...)

I should see if my local bookstore has a copy, to save on shipping (and 
delays at the border).  If no one has it, I may very well take you up on 
your offer.  Do you have a paypal seller's account?

Thanks very much for your help!

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| Jason Marshall, marshalj at spots.ab.ca. Spots InterConnect, Inc. Calgary, AB |
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