[TriLUG] Re: voip

Jon Carnes jonc at nc.rr.com
Thu Feb 19 09:18:13 EST 2004


On Thu, 2004-02-19 at 08:43, Ralph Blach wrote:
> Jon,
> 
> I would really like to experiment with asterik.  Can asterik operate 
> with just a sound card.  Are there any providers in the area who server 
> chapel hill?
> 
> thanks
> 
> Chip

Yes.  Asterisk is a complete PBX/VoiceMail/ACD server.  It can use any
VoIP component without the addition of any special hardware - so it can
use a SIP (or other protocol) connection to a Gateway provider like
FeatureTel for it's trunking and can handle multiple VoIP phone
connections (also via SIP).

With the addition of some hardware components, you can hook up ordinary
trunks (POTs lines) or T1's to the server.  You can also add hardware
that allows you to hook Analog telephones directly to the server - but
why bother when the cost of VoIP phones is so cheap these days.

FeatureTel (as well as TWTC, Vonage, Packet 8, etc...) all service
Chapel Hill.  For that matter, anyone in the world with a VoIP server
can service Chapel Hill - its just that only those with a local gateway
will have access to local telephone numbers.

In other words, if you get trunking (or phone service) from a provider
in Washington DC, then your phone number will have the 212 area code and
that will be your local dialing area.  So calling your neighbor in
Chapel Hill will be long distance!  Still the cost of Long Distance is
very small with most VoIP providers.

Don't be afraid to download, install, and play with Asterisk.  It's
quite powerful.  Note though that Asterisk needs lots of CPU in order to
function as a decent phone switch.  A 1Ghz box with lots of RAM and a
SCSI HD could probably handle 5 phones, whereas a 2GHz box could
probably handle 20 phones... It scales well, but does need CPU in order
to function nicely under load.

The highest load, seems to be from VoiceMail/AutoAttendent activities;
servicing these seems to need very fast CPU and a SCSI disk subsystem.
The actual phone connections don't require very much processing power in
order to sustain the connections.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Jon Carnes




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