[Asterisk-Users] An FXO version of IAXy?

[Rich Adamson]

> In the interest of Symmetry, does anyone else in the world see any need
> for a device like the IAXy (or the SIP ones from other manufacturers,
> like the ATA186), but one that presents an FXO interface instead, so it
> can be connected not to phones, but the PSTN? 

There's a hugh market for such a box, and none of the current 
manufacturers have addressed the one-to-four pstn line boxes with 
anything that would be considered reasonable quality. The GS 488 appears 
to be their 'test-the-market' box, but its not very usable based on my 
testing. The Mediatrix 1204 does an excellent job with audio, but is 
over-priced and under-supported from my perspective.

The spa3k comes the closest to providing a reasonable interface with 
acceptable audio, but has several functions that really need to be 
fixed. I hope the Linksys folks address those issues instead of dropping 
the box.

 From my perspective, designing a fxo box that can interface to the many 
country standards and has a reasonable echo canceller is not an easy 
task. Much more difficult than designing a fxs box. And, if you look at 
the cost of the hardware echo canceller chips that can support 128 taps, 
the manufacturing cost of a fxo box becomes rather expensive.

If you look at the market from a manufacturer's perspective, the sales 
of fxo boxes are significantly less then the sales of fxs boxes. 
Therefore it makes sense what the majority of them are doing from an R&D 
and manufacturing perspective (eg, address the larger market before 
incurring the expense of the smaller market).