[asterisk-users] Is Asterisk ready for Prime-Time?

[John Novack]

Bill Andersen wrote:
> This is not a troll.  I've used my real email because I want this
> taken seriously.  I'm not trying to make anyone mad, I just want
> some real discussion on this issue.  Please bare with me...
>
> I'm a USER of Asterisk.  We purchased 3 commercially available
> "Asterisk Based" PBXs a little over a year ago. (I won't mention
> which one at this point - I don't want to bad mouth them - yet!)
> Two of the systems are very small (5 SIP lines/6 Polycom phones).
> The third is on a PRI with 30 Polycom phones.
>
> My smaller sites work pretty good.  I've only had to restart
> Asterisk every month or so.  However, my 30 station system
> is a continuous headache.  I average a restart at least once a
> week.  Sometimes a couple of times in the week.  I'm always being
> called to "fix" something that just stopped working.
>
> I DON'T WANT TO GET INTO A "Well, don't just complain, tell us
> your setup and we can help you get it working".  This list HAS
> helped me figure out some of the issues.  THANK YOU!  But the
> purpose of this post is more of a fact finding mission.
>
> 1) Was choosing Asterisk for our company the wrong decision...
>
>    a) IF... I expect a phone system to just work.  Once it is
>       configured, a phone system should just work with
>       very little attention.  My previous system was a
>       Comdial with external voice mail on a DOS based PC.
>       I LITERALLY WENT OVER 4 YEARS WITHOUT HAVING TO REMOVE
>       POWER TO THE COMDIAL CONTROL OR RE-BOOT THE VOICE MAIL PC.
>  
>    b) IF... I really only need a phone system that allows an operator
>       to answer each call and transfer them to the appropriate
>       person.  I need voice mail, but very little auto attendant
>       features (mostly after hours).  All the bells and whistles
>       that Asterisk offers are cool, but don't bring that much to
>       the table for our purpose.
>
>    c) IF... Stability is more of an issue than high end features?
>
> 2) Are there any users out there that really DO have an Asterisk
>    system that just works like clockwork?  I'm saying, once setup,
>    run for a year (or more) without any issues?
>
> 3) If SO, Should I simply consider a different vendor?
>
> 4) If NOT, and if my expectations are that a system SHOULD just
>    run and run without any problems.  Is Asterisk simply not my
>    solution.  Is Asterisk not REALLY ready for production.  Because
>    in my mind (as a user of phone services), "dealing" with the
>    phone system, even on a MONTHLY basis, means that the system
>    is NOT really production ready...  Before we installed an
>    Asterisk based PBX, I spent maybe 4 hours per YEAR with phone
>    issues (setting up a new station?).  Since we moved to an
>    Asterisk based PBX, I spend 4 hours (or more) every WEEK!
>
>    Am I expecting too much?
>
> Bill
>   
For those of us who have spent many a year in telephony, I tend to agree 
with you. Asterisk is NOT ready for prime time
Total cost of ownership for a supply house system ( Comdial, now 
Vertical, with a Keyvoice DOS based VM ) or an NEC DX series with VM on 
a CF card)  in a small to medium sized office simply hangs on the wall 
and works, for years and years, and has many more features than most 
offices need or use. Last month I replaced a 20 year old system that 
finally failed, I have other systems installed and working  in excess of 
10 years, and seldom have any service issues. Mostly are user 
reeducation on mailboxes and the like when people leave and no one knows 
a password.
Square Hybrid Key systems ( Shared Line Appearance ) have worked 
flawlessly for 20 years, and a host of other features that Asterisk is 
still struggling to get working. Many of these systems are more 
affordable than Asterisk at either the wholesale or retail level as well.
The current fad is IP or VOIP and regrettably many businesses jump into 
the deep end of that pool without the faintest idea of where they will land.
That said, there is also a place for Asterisk or a like system, and many 
of the users on this list have them in place and doing the job, but the 
system is not hang it on the wall and forget it. PC based systems in 
general from a hardware perspective are NOT as reliable, nor is the 
operating system or the application. They DO need to be restarted from 
time to time.  In fact in my experience the system should have an 
automatic reboot once a week at a quiet time. Many versions of Asterisk 
can get insane and be cured by a simple reboot that seems to give the 
real Linux experts the heebiejeebies.  A reboot should not be considered 
blasphemy, though I have only seen one hang on the wall system that 
needed that in 20 years, and that was strictly due to  a timing issue 
with short term power outages.
Too many select the equipment and system they know, rather than what is 
right for the customer.
I am in a group of antique telephone equipment collectors that use 
Asterisk as an interface to a world wide private network of switches,  
with a great deal of success, but it is a real struggle to overcome 
changes that have been made from version to version, sometimes 
completely out of the realm of expressed policy, that may not break the 
"average" users application but bites our Tandem application.

Just my opinion, worth what you paid for it!

John Novack

-- 
Dog is my co-pilot