[asterisk-users] Multi-tenant with receptionist features for managed service

[Gordon Henderson]

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009, Geraint Lee wrote:

> We can put about 9/10 calls using SIP/gsm through our BT Business Network
> ADSL package connection (832kbit upstream, £65/month) before you notice the
> quality starting to drop, but you could always get two connections and
> "bond" them together into one using openvpn or some other method if you
> wanted to.

Ugh. GSM )-:

I've never really had much luck with BT as an Internet provider either - 
their wholesale network - good, retail broadband, bad...

In theory, you should be able to get 10 G711 SIP calls over a business 
quality 830Kb/sec upload ADSL line. I get 9 on my test setup before any 
packet loss. I managed 11 calls using IAX over the same line before loss. 
(Entanet ADSL and a Draytek router - £25 a month)

Intersting idea re. using openvpn or similar.. I have sites with 3 ADSL 
connections - one for incoming calls, one for outgoing and one for general 
office use.. That works when the call numbers in/out is relatively 
balanced though.

I know of a local company who're regularly putting 20 concurrent calls 
over the same broadband setup using G729...

Gordon



>
> 2009/3/17 Gordon Henderson
> <gordon+asterisk at drogon.net<gordon%2Basterisk at drogon.net>
>>
>
>> On Mon, 16 Mar 2009, Gavin Henry wrote:
>>
>>  Dear all,
>>>
>>> I'm currently researching options for a MT asterisk gui/system for a
>>> small business centre that will have 12 units in it. Each unit will be
>>> configured for one extension.
>>>
>>> The system there will have a max of 12 concurrent calls to PSTN
>>> provided via an ADSL/SDSL link to our VoIP provider in the UK, using
>>> g.711, maybe g.729 dependant on networking costs. Fallback will
>>> be to 4 analogue lines should this go down.
>>>
>>
>> Gavin,
>>
>> You won't get 12 concurent G711 calls over a standard ADSL line in the UK.
>> If you're on an ADSL2+ service you may get up to 1.1Mb/sec upload speed, but
>> even then, 12 * 80 = 960Kb/sec which is really pushing it, so use G729, or
>> get that 2Mb SDSL line in. Make sure it's a decent ISP too. Using IAX will
>> give you a few extra channels though as the IP overhead is less.
>>
>>  What is key is billing information and the ability for a receptionist
>>> to see all active calls and do transfers etc. Much like the Flash
>>> Operator Panel. Desktop Software may also be needed for this purpose
>>> or can be done via a traditional bank of lines on an IP phone
>>> accessory module.
>>>
>>
>> Have a look at: http://www.astassistant.com/ rather than FOP. Even has a
>> Linux client which is nice...
>>
>>  If anyone has any ideas on the best way to put this together, I'm all ears
>>> ;-)
>>>
>>
>> The consultant in me says "Pay someone to do it for you" :) However it's
>> not that hard to do and setup if youve done something similar in the past -
>> and your budget is tight. If you know you're going to get more of these,
>> then go for it - spend your time on the software and front-end for the the
>> first one, then the rest are clones...
>>
>>  I was going to use an OpenVOX card and Dell T100 box, with 12 Aastra
>>> 53i phones. There's a £4k budget for this (still waiting for more
>>> into)which
>>> will include the networking connection and equipment. If I can afford it I
>>> normally go Sangoma with Echo cancellation, but as it's a fallback
>>> service,
>>> so I'm not bothered.
>>>
>>
>> When budgets tight - I've deployed a lot of Grandstream phones - might give
>> you a bit more breathing space if you use (eg) GXP280's for the client
>> phones and a GXP2000 + button box for the receptionist.
>>
>> You can save money by building your own hardware too. Atom mobo, 1GB of RAM
>> and an OpenVox card running oslec is still overkill for this. I mostly use
>> 1GHz VIA boards for these sort of projects with up to 60 extensions.
>>
>> Billings a PITA and other than what I've written myself, have never found
>> anything that works the way I'm happy with... Good luck!
>>
>>
>>  I think I've covered everything. There will be many more business
>>> centres to come as this first project will be the blueprint one. The
>>> end goal is to also move this to a data centre and not have it on site
>>> with the pstn fallback options, but use redundant links to our DC.
>>> Like a mini-ITSP for our area. I haven't figured the receptionist part
>>> for that bit yet though ;-)
>>>
>>
>> Personally I'd stick the box on-site and have a central peering server or 2
>> in the DC - well that's how I do it ;-) You'll struggle to get properly
>> redundant links in that budget range too - one JCB can ruin everyones day!
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Gordon
>> --
>> www.drogon.net
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