[asterisk-users] Newbie in China: Red alaram in Zaptel for E1

[Lee, John (Sydney)]

I am really grateful to all the experts on the mailing list who gave me
some very good advice on this problem which I experienced in China.  I
think we have fixed the problem and the card is no longer reporting any
problems.  We are able to dial out successfully and we will continue to
test.

Here are my findings of the problem with working with PRI in China.

1) MFC/R2 is the biggest distraction so far when I tested the line.
When the line did not work, I was preoccupied with thinking whether the
line is Euro-ISDN or MFC/R2.  As I found out, the line which I ordered
from NETCOM is definitely Euro-ISDN.  As a matter of fact, the search on
this mailing list about installs in China has returned almost 100% ISDN.
So, the zaptel.conf should be pretty straightforward with no tweaking at
all.

2) Communication with the telco is the other problem.  When we placed
the order, we just said we wanted an E1.  They delivered the E1 no
problem but we forgot to specify that the interface must be RJ48 and NOT
RJ45. As you might know, RJ45 and RJ48 mean 2 totally different
interfaces.  RJ48 is for ISDN and voice connection and RJ45 is for data.
So, after my local contact talked to the engineers, they came and
replace the converter and plug the RJ48 into the Digium card and
everything worked fine.

Hope this helps with any future installs in China!