[TriLUG] Options for replacing Panasonic PBX with Asterisk

[Cristobal Palmer]

You can get one analog interface card from digium that has four ports:

http://www.digium.com/en/wheretobuy/digiumdirect/productview.php?category_id=17&product_code=RTDM11B

The kit I link to above is $241 and includes the card, an FXS module
and an FXO module (among other things). Additional FXO cards would run
you $85 each. What were you referring to that runs $100 each?

You could use the card in a PC you already have or build a low-end PC
from spare parts or new parts for < $300.

Why do you have to lose the intercom? What kind of wiring is that on?

Good luck with your new system, whatever you go with.

Peace,
CMP

On 4/3/06, Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale at gmail.com> wrote:
> I woke up this morning to my wife telling me that our phone system
> seems to be dead.
>
> We've got a Panasonic TA-624 system at the house.   It seems to have
> reacted badly to last night's storm.  It did this once before, and I
> had to reset it and reprogram it.  This time, it doesn't even seem to
> want to power up.  It's strange because it's well protected both with
> a whole house surge protector on the meter, and with a phone line
> protector.  Nothing else in the house seems to have been affected,
> including a wireless phone which is in parallel with the Panasonic
> system behind the same phone line surge suppressor.  That seems like
> it would make it hard to pursue as an insurance issue, either with the
> homeowners policy, or with the insurance provided by Wake Electric
> with the whole house protection.
>
> So I'm faced with fixing this system, or replacing it with an asterisk box.
>
> Of course my preference would be asterisk, new toy, more
> programmability, configuration backup, etc. etc. The main concern is
> cost.  Right now, the Panasonic system has capability for 4 (or it
> might be 8) incoming PSTN lines, although I'm only using 1 at the
> moment, and 16 internal lines, of which we are using 12 if I'm
> counting correctly.  We've also got 8 proprietary Panasonic phones,
> which would be useless in an Asterisk system. Of course basic phones
> these days are pretty cheap.  We'd be losing some of the function
> though like intercom and station buttons and indicators, which is
> somewhat troublesome.
>
> But that seems to be adding up to quite a few FXS cards, and a lot of
> money.  Some of these extensions might be paired to save the need for
> quite so many ports, but...
>
> Unfortunately, the budget is going to be pretty slim for this.  Are
> there reasonable alternatives?  I've also looked at things like the
> Digium IAXy which would be nice from a wiring point of view (all of
> our internal phone lines are Cat-5 running back to a pair of Home
> Director structured wiring boxes).  But $100 a pop, is too painful to
> consider.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> --
> Rick DeNatale
>
> Visit the Project Mercury Wiki Site
> http://www.mercuryspacecraft.com/
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--

Cristobal M. Palmer
UNC-CH SILS Student
cristobalpalmer at gmail.com
cmpalmer at ils.unc.edu
ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer
"Television-free since 2003"