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conurus
join:2008-02-09
| [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and 7 p A friend of mine has cable internet, 2 phone lines, and do a lot of both incoming and outgoing long distance. Wish to switch one of their land lines to VoIP. 6 computers via LAN + a few wireless G laptops/desktops.
7 single-line phones, 2 connected to one land line and the other 5 phones connected to the other land line.
What would be a good setup for this? (all-in-one wireless G router with VoIP and multiple FXS ports?) Seems like the biggest issue is having too many single line phones.
Having the landline backup the VoIP during power failure is very important. routing PSTN and VoIP calls would be nice to have. | |
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tommy13v
Premium
join:2002-02-15
Glenville NY
 ·ViaTalk
| Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and With a setup like that I would go the Asterisk PBX route with and TDM400p for the POTS line and some PAP2-NA's for the phones.
Take a look at »www.nerdvittles.com/ for some useful information about it and there PBX in a Flash Asterisk server. | |
| conurus
join:2008-02-09 | Thank you! We happen to have a spare computer running Linux. What hardware do I need to plug a pretty big number of phones into the computer? | |
| | mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and said by conurus  :We happen to have a spare computer running Linux. AFAIC, that won't be a good idea to use as a VoIP/PBX production line mainly because it is not very efficient in term of electricity consumption. What you want is a Linux embedded system that runs a PBX system with some FXO ports. You can get a ready made Linksys SPA400 with a built-in of four FXO ports + some ATA devices as extensions or get some open-source firmware supported WiFi router to build your own asterisk PBX + some SPA3Ks + some ATA devices. I have a free LaFonera flashed with DDWRT + asterisk on it to serve my VoIP lines. I use some Linksys PAP2v1 units and a Uniden UIP1869V(onage) Digital IP Phone / Router as my asterisk extensions. For a Linksys PAP2v1 units, I just plugged in some 2-line cordless phones to use.
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Mazilo
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574 | |
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benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
 ·Charter Pipeline
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and With 6 computers, is the power consumption of a 7th a big deal? I doubt it.
As for using Asterisk, I'd recommend it.
My router PC runs Debian Linux, and I also run Asterisk on it. I also installed the FreePBX front end, so you can administer Asterisk via a Web-based interface. The specs of it are:
P3-500MHz
256MB RAM
2GB Hard Disk (so no swap space)
2 NICs 10/100
Dinky 4MB AGP Card (I have this because the AGP isn't good for anything else)
I'd recommend something a bit for beefy because you'd have more extensions. Then again, my router PC has multiple jobs.
Do you have a router PC? Could you install Asterisk on that?
One thing though, if you install FreePBX on the router PC, you'll want to block port 80 inbound access, or whatever port you use for the FreePBX web interface.
After setting it, you can test it using numerous port scanners on the Internet, or from someone else's Internet connection.
As for analog interface cards, you might want to look into ZapMicro. They're cheaper than Digium. I'd tell you my experience, but I've yet to try them. I haven't fully implemented my Asterisk PBX yet. | |
| | MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC
| See the discussion below about turning a very low power consumption system that only costs $200 into a full-blown Asterisk system. You can buy these boxes at Walmart.
I'm running a home based Asterisk system using the same motherboard (I built my own system rather than buy the full $200 version). I use an 80% efficient Antec Earthwatts power supply. Very small startup cost and operating cost.
SEE: »pbxinaflash.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336 | |
| | | mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and said by MartyT :I'm running a home based Asterisk system using the same motherboard (I built my own system rather than buy the full $200 version). About three years ago, I bought a bare-bone e-machine from a local Fry's Electronics for $99 and had been stressing it out to run a Debian Linux with 256MB for two years. Recently, a friend gave me a 512MB PC2700 RAM and I installed it to make the machine run smoother. It never crossed in my mind to consider this machine running as an asterisk PBX system. My LaFonera is good enough to run about 32 VoIP accounts now. 
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Mazilo
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574 | |
| | | | MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC
| Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and Mazilo and I have been collaborating on getting Asterisk to run on another embedded type system that we both own, a Netgear WGT634U router, so we have a common interest in this thread. I use a standard PC for my Asterisk production system, and he uses a LaFonera. I'm happy with my setup, and he is happy with his.
A question for Mazilo I've never asked. Does your LaFonera based Asterisk system also support the Asterisk voicemail capability, particularly the voicemail to email feature? | |
| | | | | mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and said by MartyT :A question for Mazilo I've never asked. Does your LaFonera based Asterisk system also support the Asterisk voicemail capability, particularly the voicemail to email feature? I haven't configured my Fonera (the one running on DDWRT v24RC5 with asterisk v1.2.24) to handle voicemail, yet. I am in a process to get my other Fonera running with OpenWRT SVN + Asterisk v1.4.17 (still not able to compile a recent released of v1.4.18, yet) compiled from source. This unit will hopefully have voicemail + GTalk supports and among other things.
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Mazilo
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574 | |
| mgraves1
join:2004-04-05
Houston, TX
·Junction Networks
1 edit | If Asterisk is a definite part of the equation, which is just one option, you might consider Astlinux.(»www.astlinux.org) It's an embedded Asterisk distro that includes the OS and router capability with QoS and traffic shaping provisions for VOIP.
I've run it for years on various hardware. I started with an old P3-800, the moved to a mini-itx Celeron 500, then a Soekrsi Net4801 and most recently a recycled H-P T5700 thin client.
Using H-P T5700 as Asterisk or NAS
»tinyurl.com/yoc8nn
Setting up Astlinux on Soekris Net4801.
»tinyurl.com/2gtpsn
Asterisk definitely adds management overhead. A completely different solution might involve using a phone system that handles the various lines & extensions for you. I recently bought a Snom m3 cordless SIP/DECT phone system, which can have 8 extensions, each with their own dedicated VOIP registration. You could easily have up to 8 separate, private numbers , one assigned to each handset. Then pick which number rings which handset(s). Since its DECT you can have more than one base to provide RF coverage throughout a large house.
I have one of the first m3s in the US and wrote a detailed review for www.smallnetbuilder.com. It will be published in the next week or two.
Michael Graves | |
| | MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC | Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and this snom dect solution looks really interesting! can't wait to read your review. | |
| | | | | MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC
| Re: [Equipment] Large home with cable, 2 lines, 6 computers, and I was at a voip seminar today and a snom representative was there. I got a chance to see the m3 system and talk to him. I also showed him your review. He was pleased and shared it immediately with the company in Germany.
I spoke to someone else who has one of these systems, and they agreed it was cool, but also mentioned that there have been lots of software updates. Any comment? | |
| | mgraves1
join:2004-04-05
Houston, TX | I eventually upgraded my m3 to v1.07..but I honestly wasn't having any problems with it. | |
| mgraves1
join:2004-04-05
Houston, TX
·Junction Networks
| In the 60 days that I've had them I haven't upgraded the software at all. Its running v1.07 as I recall. I haven't seen any need as yet. However, I do hope that they provide a means to remotely provision the contact list. That's a major drag and would press me to load new firmware immediately.
Except for that I'm happy enough with the device.
Michael
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Michael Graves
Houston TX
»blog.mgraves.org | |
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