[Asterisk-Users] Re: T1 questions follow-up

[Michaël Gaudette]

Tom, Thank you!  This was all hypothetical, because I'm trying to wrap my 
mind around the concept.  But you've made it much clearer for me.  I still 
have a few follow-up questions...

1a) Forget the hypothetical company now.  Let's say 6 outside lines were 
deemed sufficient, and there were 12 employee (i.e. inside lines).  Could I 
have the same Digium T1 card to service out and inside the company?

1b) I'm fairly certain of this, but anything going outside, I could use the 
same T1 for receiving calls as for sending them, right? (not with the same 
channel at the same time, obviously, but I could use 2 lines incoming and 4 
outgoing, or 3 incoming and 3 outgoing, depending on the current situation, 
without reconfigurin the PBX?)

2) When you say a PRI is necessary for a Caller-ID name (as opposed to just 
number), I've looked around and I understand a PRI uses a T1 tunnel (24 
channels) but a bit more expensive.  Is this a fact, or is it something 
completely separate that I couldn't use with Asterisk? Or am I completely 
out in left field?

> Yes, this will easily work via the T1. Your Provider will send the
> DNIS information when the call comes in. Normally they provide the
> last 4 or last 7 digits of the dialed number (Choose seven. We used

Exactly what I wanted to know, thank you.

> Yes, but you could use a Sangoma card, too.

Will definitely take a look and compare.  Any pros and cons I should know 
that isn't obvious from their documentation?


>> - Something (not sure what) on the outside to connect to those 72
>> phones (3 T1 cards internally connecting to a wire panel, in turn
>> connected to 60 phones?
> 3.) Analog phones connected to a Channel bank, connected to a T1 card.

Thanks.  I already knew about SIP and IAX, since I'm more of a computer geek 
than a telecom one that part means more to me :-) Channel bank is what I 
meant.


> Well, experience, patience, and a working dialplan will all be
> important! I would personally recommend a GUI configuration tool,
> such as AMP, IPManager, or something of the like. This, of course,
> depends on your preferences, though, so feel free to hand-code if you
> so desire.

I'm handcoding right now (I like learning the hard way so I can appreciate 
the GUIs after) but I'll definitely look into those.

> For something like this as your first serious production install, you
> might want to consider hiring a consultant.

I'll certainly consider that when (I should say if) a real project does 
require me to do so.

> No, but again, you might want to consider hiring a consultant before
> you tackle something like this. At the very least, take it slowly as
> I suggested above.
>
> Tom
>
> ------------------------------------
> Tom Rymes
> Cascade Link Systems
> www.cascadelinksystems.com
> (603) 375-1414

Thanks alot Tom, it makes me feel more secure in considering Asterisk for 
jobs like this when there are helpful people like you around.

Mike