[asterisk-users] Detecting voicemail from CO on FXO port

[Bob Bosiljevac]

>> >  Basically, I want to be able to detect that there is voicemail waiting
>>  at the CO on an FXO port and somehow flash the message waiting light 
>>  on an H.323 phone (or any other type of phone)

>  Interesting concept- but outside the present design principles of
> Asterisk.  What that would imply is that Asterisk could be bridged (with
> configuration, not code) to an external voice mail system- most of the focus
> here is using Asterisk as a voicemail system for other PBX's.  While
> Asterisk does have a way to indicate voicemail to a given phone (I haven't
> tried an h.323 phone, but it definitely works with SIP and IAX, and it
> shouldn't be impossible to make the zaptel driver recognize the stutter tone
> (if it doesn't already, I haven't poked into that source), a whole new
> configuration dialect or subdialect would have to be invented to convey the
> message between the two.  Simple dialplan should be able to give you a 'one
> click to pickup external voicemail' type setup- it's the indication which
> Asterisk configs simply don't understand presently.
>
> Nice little project for 1.6, if there's enough interest- I'd put it in as a
> feature request in Mantis.

Even detecting the stutter tone is too late for what I want.

Let me explain my motivation for the request....

We have a legacy POTS based PBX with FXO trunks and FXS station ports on 
the unit. It is running a very old release of the software and to upgrade 
to a version that will allow me to do VoIP will involve telephony card, 
software and licencing upgrades. The existing system itself works well and 
does pretty much everything we need it to do except has no VoIP 
capabilities. The long and short of it is, that by upgrading I would gain 
very little functionally other than VoIP for a lot of $$$$.

So I thought of putting a Y jack on my station port and running it to an 
FXO port on another box running Asterisk. This way when my phone rings in 
the office, I can also ring whatever channels I want in Asterisk and if I 
make a call from a VoIP channel bridged to by station port, I can make 
calls as if I was sitting in my desk at the office. This, by far, has 
given me the most bang for the buck and is the quickest, dirtiest and 
least disruptive way to get VoIP terminals onto my system. The only thing 
missing from my little setup here is the ability to flash my MWI light on 
the VoIP phone in my home office when I have a message waiting on the 
office PBX. The phone at my desk in the office somehow has the flashing 
light; I figured there has got to be a way I can detect it and pass it on.

BTW, I forsee the legacy PBX being phased out and the Asterisk "adjunct" 
taking on more and more of the role of the main PBX.

Bob.