[asterisk-users] Questions on X100P/X101P cards

[Alan Lord (News)]

On 06/05/09 13:43, Vincent wrote:
> Hello,
>
> 	I'm looking for a dirt cheap solution for SOHO use to handle at most
> a couple of POTS lines, and I notice that X10?P cards go for $15 on
> eBay as opposed to $90 for an OpenVox card or over $200 for a Sangoma.
>
> I have a couple of questions about those cheap FXO cards:
>
> 1. Are they all glorified softmodems, ie. none has an on-board CPU or
> DSP and outsources all processing to the computer's CPU?
>
> 2. Are they all bad, no matter what chipset is used (Intel, Motoral,
> Ambient)? If not, which offer good enough quality to handle a single
> POTS line?
>
> 3. Why are they often bad quality? Because the driver itself is badly
> written? Because PC's don't have enough speed to handle the tasks
> using their own CPU (hard to believe, but I don't know)?

Hi Vincent,

I bought a cheap "eBay" X100p card over a year ago. When I first tried 
it was appalling. I couldn't get rid of the echo and noise no matter what.

I then came across OSLEC (at the time a new Free Echo Canceller). A bit 
of hacking to get it to work and hey-presto! No more echo.

I have been using the same card ever since with no noticeable issues.

I think OSLEC is now the default EC for many distributions so I would 
have thought you will be fine although, of course, YMMV.

For a cheap backup to your VOIP service they do the job. I wouldn't use 
them for a "proper" system though.

HTH

Al