[asterisk-users] help for a new user

[Steve Edwards]

>> On Wed, 25 Aug 2010, Terry wrote:
>>
>>> I am trying to piece together a solution to do the two things:
>>>
>>> 1. receive faxes on a bunch of numbers, about 10,000 2. receive
>>> voicemails from people on the same numbers
>>>
>>> At this point, I am just trying to see if what is required can be done.
>>>
>>> The faxes need to be received and put into PDF and shipped off to
>>> another server somehow.  That can be FTP, UNC, NFS, something.  This can
>>> be a script, something.  The second thing is people will call these
>>> numbers and leave voicemails.  These voicemails need to be shipped off
>>> to the same server in wav format.  We'll need to know the number in the
>>> programming to know where to send the files.  Basic stuff?

> On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 5:22 PM, Steve Edwards

>> 2) Use TDM instead of SIP.
>>
>> 3) Google for Hylafax.

On Wed, 25 Aug 2010, Terry wrote:

> 1. 10,000 numbers.  2,000 DID, 8000 toll-free.  Max 70 concurrent
> connections.  The customer hasn't provided the actual minute usage at
> this time.  The fax transmissions can be very large, up to 15 pages
> but no usage statistics to show history.
> 2. Why?  I am not disagreeing with you, but since I am so new to the
> field, I would appreciate a point of view.
> 3. I looked at this a long time ago and will again, forgot about it.
> The voicemail requirement started me down the asterisk path first.

1) 70 concurrent means 3 or 4 T1s. I like PRI over other flavors because 
the call setup info is sent out of band (in the D channel as digital data) 
so answer and caller ID/ANI/DNIS are "faster."

2) Fax is notoriously sensitive to timing and packet loss. Your success 
rate will be higher with TDM.

3) Use Asterisk to answer. If you detect fax, hand off to Hylafax. If not, 
route to voicemail.

I've never done a project like this, but this is the approach I would 
start with.

-- 
Thanks in advance,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Edwards       sedwards at sedwards.com      Voice: +1-760-468-3867 PST
Newline                                              Fax: +1-760-731-3000