[asterisk-users] Large number of prefixes in a route to a trunk

[Eric Germann]

We're beginning to test MultiTech's CallFinder CDMA Units, one for Sprint
PCS and one for Alltel.  They sell both.  Our intent is to use them as a
backup line for our main office (which has a PRI) and a backup/911 line for
our remote offices which are all connected via * over a VPN with no local
trunks at any of them.

In the interest of maximizing use of the lines, I'm putting together a dial
plan that includes PCS-to-PCS/Nextel calling for the Sprint trunk.
Essentially, the PBX would look like a cell phone to the PCS cloud.  Total
merged NPA-NXX list for SPCS I come up with is around 7,600 prefixes.  Since
our parent has offices strung out all over the US  and is standardizing on
SPCS, it makes sense to try and leverage as many PCS-to-PCS calls as we can.
Alltel comes in at around 1940 prefixes.

Has anyone found a soft limit for what * can handle in an outbound route
associated with a trunk?  The box that does the routing is a new quad core
with 2GB of RAM.  Any recommendations for whether to use the straight
extensions_XXXXX.conf or write a custom dialplan with a db hook in it?  I'm
sort of in favor of the *.conf files since they remove an external
dependency from the dialplan, if the speed is reasonable, but a prefix list
like this is new territory for me.

If anyone is interested, drop me an email and I will be happy to share the
NPA-NXX extracts for Alltel Wireless, Sprint PCS and Nextel in CSV format.

Thanks in advance and I will be happy to share with anyone or the list if
there is interest in our experience with the devices (they're relatively
new)

EKG