[Leaplist] Meeting 3/19/09: Asterisk and VOIP

[John Simpson]

On 2009-03-18, at 0942, Jesse Rhoads wrote:
>
> If anyone has had questions about Asterisk or VOIP, feel free to  
> email me in advance so I can be prepared to answer coherently.

a few questions come to mind almost immediately, things i have  
personally been asked by clients whenever the subject of VoIP comes  
up, and which if i had known the answers at the time, i could probably  
have turned into significant savings on the clients' phone bills, as  
well as more work (and recurring work, for system changes) for myself...

(1) what companies out there can sell minutes and/or phone numbers  
which can be assigned to an asterisk box via IP? what's their pricing  
like and what kinds of results have people typically had with them?  
what web sites, forums, wikis, etc. exist for people to compare the  
providers, or to help each other with asterisk-related issues?

(2) if somebody has one or more existing phone lines, whether via POTS  
or PRI, what are their options if they want to plug those lines into  
an asterisk server instead of a $25,000 nortel system? where can they  
buy the cards needed in order to physically interface the lines to  
their system? and what kind of real-world performance can they expect  
from a typical asterisk server- for example, if somebody has a PRI  
with 8 (or 23) voice channels, how "big" a machine would they need in  
order to reasonably be able to handle that many calls at once? or  
maybe with just two to six lines, plus multiple voice terminals (i.e.  
phones on peoples' desks) carrying "intercom" conversations?

(3) i'm pretty sure you can set up a network of multiple asterisk  
servers which are linked together somehow- for example, one in  
orlando, one in tampa, one in jacksonville, and so forth. many  
companies have a "dial 9 for an outside line" policy, is it possible  
to set up something like "dial 81 for an outside ORLANDO line", "dial  
82 for an outside TAMPA line", and "dial 83 for an outside  
JACKSONVILLE line"? and can you set up something where somebody  
dialing into the local orlando number can dial a code, and then be  
patched through to make an outbound local call from the jacksonville  
number? or even better, where the outbound line is selected based on  
the number you're calling- for example, if you're dialing a 904-786  
number (jax), it would use a jacksonville line to make the call,  
thereby saving toll charges?

i personally want to build a machine which handles one POTS line, plus  
one VoIP line, and set up a way so that when calls arrive on the POTS  
line, if they're from certain numbers they are automatically forwarded  
to my cell phone, otherwise they get a menu... and where i can call  
from my cell phone, dial a code, and call out through the POTS line.  
(the "POTS" line here is actually a vonage adapter with a british  
phone number, this will enable my client in the UK to reach my cell  
phone without dialing an international call, and allow me to call them  
from my cell phone.)

and of course i have several clients who are interested in knowing  
more about my being able to set them up with an asterisk server, so  
long as i know how to make it work and i'll be able to support it.


> I may be a little late arriving due to work obligations but I do  
> plan to live up to my promises. :)

we'll be there, torches and pitchforks waving in the air... =)


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| John M. Simpson    ---   KG4ZOW   ---    Programmer At Large |
| http://www.jms1.net/                         <jms1 at jms1.net> |
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| http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173 |
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