[asterisk-users] What to use beyond T1's?

[Patrick]

On Wed, 2006-08-16 at 17:25 -0700, Steve Edwards wrote:
> When you get beyond a dozen T1's or so what have you done?
> 
> We've configured "t1 servers" with quad T1 cards which hand off calls to 
> "application servers" via IAX and this is working pretty good, but, where 
> do we go from here?

Isn't this the phase where it says: profit! :)

> Talk about Digium's DS3 card appears to have evaporated.

Talk is cheap. Sangoma has a DS3 card but iirc that one isn't
channelized and rumours are they may release a channelized one.

> What about a Tekelec or a Max TNT?

MaxTNT and the APX series work very well. Onboard DSPs, echo can, g.729
transcoding, the works. And carrier class. There's also the Cisco AS5xxx
stuff. You can pick up DS3 loaded MaxTNT boxes on eBay for a pretty
reasonable price. Make sure it comes with a license for the OS. I've got
no experience with Tekelec.

> What have you used to get in the neighborhood of 1,000 simultaneous calls 
> into your Asterisk applications?

That's more than a DS3 (28x DS1 or 672x DS0) but doing the math for a
DS3 you only need 7 Asterisk servers with a 4 port T1 card in each.
That's assuming you would take a DS3 in the MaxTNT/APX and send it as
DS1 out to all the T1 ports on the Asterisk servers. Probably cheaper to
just use SIP between the MaxTNT/APX and the Asterisk servers.

> How much did your solution cost and what problems did you experience?

Can't comment on the exact cost but if you go beyond a few dozen of
those boxes (new) the numbers become quite enticing. 

> Did you drag a DS3 to your location or did you co-locate at the CO?

Over here dragging it in usually means putting fiber into the ground.
That can be pretty cost/time/effort prohibitive unless there's an ADM a
small distance away. Co-lo the stuff. There's no need to become a
datacenter operator. There are companies out there who have mastered
that pretty well. Opting for a neutral co-lo will also allow you easier
access to different carriers.

Regards,
Patrick