I am total newbie and I think I already made huge mistake (lucky me)!
Last month I purchased trixbox + 24 port PoE switch, Quintum FXO box and 8 AAstra phones from dealer in Ottawa. Whole that pile is collecting dust because I don’t know how to connect it to start installation. Dealer doesn’t know and trixbox people don’t want to help. They want 500 dollars a year/minimum for tech support to give out any advice. Products I have are brand new, not broken and I need advice not repairs.
I obviously made 2 monumental mistakes:
First one by selecting Trixbox instead of Asterisk. I got attracted by HUD but when I think better it is not that big advantage over Asterisk. I am coming to conclusion that Asterisk is better appliance to start with.
Second one by buying finished product with idea that instead of wasting time trying to make things work why not buy factory made hardware, connect it and run it. There is warranty support and all those good things that come with finished product. You pay for it when you buy something, right? … not even close
Now I am in process of trying get everything shipped back where it came from. It already costs me almost 4 thousand bucks and wasted time. We use NEC Elite in my small business and idea was to replace it with VoIP PBX for flexibility and saving purposes.
Sorry to hear your problems, But firstly trixbox is Asterisk with freepbx and other apps. If you are having problems with this then you will have problems with any Asterisk based product you buy. As to be honest Trix is the simplest one out there.
Now what to do, Firstly all the Kit you have bought will work with any Sip based system. So sending it back and getting another SIP based system just wouldnt make sense.
You need to accept that just buying a bunch of hardware and connecting it up would get you a PBX was a little naive . If you realy are out of you depth then punt up the $500 for a years tech support, sounds a fair deal or, read the many guides on the web and post questions here and in the Trixbox forum and get it working.
Thanks for post and explanations. You might be right, I expected too much. Manual that came with trixbox is like 10 pages long and there is no diagrams or notes where to connect what. Like you said a little naive.
My existing network has fixed IP address, DSL modem > Apple router (wireless/3 LAN hardwired outputs) > Linksys 8 port switch > PCs.
Now I have new situation:
DSL modem
Apple router
trixbox with 1 x WAN port + 4 x LAN port card
Quintum with 4 x FXO inputs
D-Link PoE switch with 24 ports
AAstra phones x 8
Which way would you connect parts? Confusing part is that trixbox manual says that it should run it’s own DHCP server and also it’s own DNS server.
I should probably find trixbox forum and ask same thing.
Absolutely, box I have does NOT have any FXO/FXS ports, that is why they sold me Quintum 4 x 1 FXO standalone box. If you tell me how to post picture here I could take a picture and post it.
There is one Etnernet port saying WAN, network port, being part of the main motherboard as with any regular PC.
And there is a PCI card with 4 LAN ports and 5 LEDs for activity and label says LAN network ports.
Something else, I see your diagram, remember Quintum is for INPUT analog phone lines, (we have 3). Logically thinking AAatra phones have to plug into DLink Poe switch, not into Quintum.