[Asterisk-Users] Quad BRI card

[Craig Guy]

Any device to legally connect to the PSTN in Australia must be approved by 
the regulatory body.  A process that usually costs at least $20,000 and only 
allows the permit holder to sell the product for conneciton to the pstn.  It 
is a very high barrier to entry for the Australian market.  There is a guy 
in Victoria who certified the Fritz! card and charges $400 each for them. 
Paralell imports are not allowed to be connected.

Some manufacturers do the right thing by certifying the card themselves 
(Eicon for example).  Other manufacturers such as AVM leave it to the 
distributor to certify the card for the local market.

The difference is that I can buy an Eicon card off eBay from the US or 
Europe and legally connect it to the PSTN in Australia as the card comes 
from the factory carrying the regulartory approval mark.  If i was to buy 
AVM, Digium or Sangoma from another country I'm out of luck cause it doesn't 
carry the approval sticker that the Australian distributor puts on it.

I can understand both points of view - as a customer I want a competitive 
market so I get value for money.  As a distributor I want an exclusive 
territory so I can jack up the prices to whatever the market will bear 
without being undercut by nasty competition.

Craig

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michiel van Baak" <michiel at vanbaak.info>
To: <asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Quad BRI card


> On 22:32, Thu 18 May 06, Craig Guy wrote:
>> >From the picture on the web site it looks like it uses a cologne 
>> >chipset.
>> Any idea if these cards will be available in Australia?
>
> Can't you just order them from the digium website?
> Or is digium not shiping to Australia?
>
> -- 
> Michiel van Baak
> http://michiel.vanbaak.info
> michiel at vanbaak.info
> GnuPG key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x7E0B9A2D
>
> "Why is it drug addicts and computer afficionados are both called users?"
>
> _______________________________________________
> --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
>
> Asterisk-Users mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users