[asterisk-users] implementing an intercom with asterisk

[Gordon Henderson]

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008, Jonathan Disher wrote:

> On Aug 26, 2008, at 2:27 AM, Gordon Henderson wrote:
>> Do you have some sort of IP connectivity between the sites? 400
>> yards is a
>> too long for copper cat5, but can be done with fibre, wireless or
>> free-space optics... (which I don't personally recommend!)
>
> The current plan is wireless bridge + directional antennae.  That
> wasn't the problem I needed to solve.

Good luck there then... (don't use Wi-Fi - go for something more robust!)

>> (And if you haven't IP how are you talking to the phones between
>> sites?)
>>
>> So what's to stop you from putting a Cisco phone into auto-answer
>> mode and
>> calling it via ths Page() application?
>
> This is an industrial environment.  I'm looking for a slightly less
> expensive (and hopefully more robust) device - whether an intercom
> unit + ATA or a magic black box that does everything I want and has a
> power plug and an ethernet jack.  Dedicating a $175 cisco phone to
> this is overkill, IMO.  I had given thought to this, it is a backup
> plan, but again, I'd like to get something perhaps less expensive to
> the function.

What about a $40 Grandstream BT200? (Or whatever they are where you are - 
I can buy them for under £40 in the UK)

Or if there are going to be phones on every desk, just double them up as 
intercoms... I know zilch about Ciscos, but this can be done with 
Grandstreams and Snoms, so I imagine that Ciscos being a "market leader" 
will have this capability as a matter of course ...

Gordon