[asterisk-users] Best way to get 60+ analogue extensions.

[Duncan Turnbull]

Thanks very much Rob & Stephen

The channel banks look good. I am not sure if they are easily availble 
in NZ but we can get some in I am sure.

Xorom make very positive comments about their astribanks and that you 
can have multiple channel banks on a server so they look pretty good (if 
they are honest). I can't tell the manufacturer of the other channel 
banks you were referring  to.

In Wellington, NZ, PRAs are pretty expensive and a 25Mbit/sec 
symmetrical fibre connection to a SIP provider is a better deal. On some 
of my other customers we have 15 SIP lines without issue using G711 and 
consuming about 80-100k per line if that. But I take the point so will 
revisit it in the design. Another reason for SIP is the Telepermited 
options available are limited over here, so to connect you really want 
to have an approved device in case you have any issues. But with SIP via 
a Provider you abstract that layer which is cleaner.

If we need to have one E1 then having more for the Astribanks sounds fine.

Cheers Duncan

Rob Hillis wrote:

>Duncan Turnbull wrote:
>  
>
>>Hi All
>>
>>I am looking at a replacement for a hotel PBX which requires at least 60 
>>analogue extensions.
>>
>>I tend to use Sangoma equipment but haven't tried this many analogue 
>>extensions before. I am interested in anyone's experience of which 
>>server platform literally fits and copes well with multiple cards, and 
>>the choice of Digium vs Sangoma or something else.
>>  
>>    
>>
>
>You have several options here, however due to the power requirements, I
>wouldn't recommend you use either the Sangoma or Digium analogue cards
>here - providing ring voltage to that many extensions is likely to
>over-tax the power supply in the server.
>
>I'd either be looking at three channel banks (3 24 channel channel banks
>would give you a total of 72 analogue channels) or two Xorcom Astribanks
>which would likewise give you up to 64 channels.
>
>The Astribanks are probably a cheaper way to go since they connect to
>your server via USB rather than T1/E1 ports.  However, I haven't had any
>experience with multiple Astribanks connected to the same server, so
>there may be issues there that I'm not aware of.  Channel banks are
>certainly the proven and reliable technology, but will be significantly
>more expensive since they connect to your Asterisk server via T1/E1 links.
>
>  
>
>>I may need an ISDN PRA inbound but am working hard to have the inbound 
>>lines via SIP, but if I do that means at least 4 slots on this plan.
>>  
>>    
>>
>
>You'd need to be very sure of the bandwidth and quality of connection to
>your VoIP provider to go with SIP for more than half a dozen channels. 
>This kind of connection can easily be far more expensive than a
>traditional T1/E1 line, so I wouldn't be pushing so hard for SIP.
>
>If you were to use channel banks, you would most likely end up with a
>four port T1/E1 card and would only be using three of those channels,
>leaving a spare one for an incoming T1/E1 line.
>
>If you were to use Astribanks, you would have plenty of space in the
>server to include a T1/E1 card.
>
>_______________________________________________
>-- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
>
>asterisk-users mailing list
>To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>  
>