Bottom line why/when g729a codec?

Thanks,

I think I may buy 2 licenses for the test server. Then buy additional ones for the production server when it goes active. That way I will always have the codecs to use on the test server. It is nice to know if I did upgrade my test server I should not lose the cost of my licenses.

Jeff

[quote=“jp”]
If I purchase and install codec on this test server. If/when I want to upgrade to a Newer more powerful production server will I need to purchase licenses again for the new production server? I am presently testing on an older pIII 600 and will most likely be reinstalling on a more current server when I put this into production.

Thanks, Jeff[/quote]

When you install codecs they are associated with your network cards. So, if you put your network cards in another machine you will be able to continue using your codecs. Or, if you change network card more the once, you can contact Digium. They will reset your licence and you will be able to install it on another machine (network cards).

Tomislav

I was wondering if “concurrent channels” = “concurrent calls”… I would assume this is the case, in an environment where there are TDMs in place… since I consider each line a “channel”

But what If I’m doing a SIP handoff? If I receive the packets SIP and hand them off SIP?

I just want to make sure that concurrent channels = concurrent calls, before I purchase these.

[quote=“jp”]Thanks,

I think I may buy 2 licenses for the test server. Then buy additional ones for the production server when it goes active. That way I will always have the codecs to use on the test server. It is nice to know if I did upgrade my test server I should not lose the cost of my licenses.

Jeff[/quote]

For test codec g729 you can download binary version from:

kvin.lv/pub/Linux/Asterisk/

For more information about G729 you can read on page:

readytechnology.co.uk/open/i … 29-g723.1/

.

And if your network card dies, look out!

I’ve recommended buying the Digium g729 codec on this forum in the past, but i’ve come to the conclusion it’s not worth the hassle.

I bought a licence from them a few months back, for use in my single-user asterisk server. In that time, i’ve had two network cards die on me (not the same one twice, i’ve got two cards in that box) and i’ve upgraded the hard drive. Also, once, i installed a new version of Asterisk and - because the installation script told me i should delete third party files in the lib directory, i deleted the codec. Then i installed it again and re-registered it - which i may not have needed to do, i’m not sure.

Now, after the second NIC had to be replaced, they’ve told me i’ll have to buy another licence - which i’m not very happy about. It’s not a question of the money, US$10 isn’t that much. It’s more the fact that i’ve paid for something and i can’t use it. It’s also far too much hassle to be messing around with all this nonsense - specially when all i get out of it is a very small improvement in audio quality compared with, say, the gsm codec.

It might be a different story if i was running a full-scale PBX for lots of phones. But even then, i wouldn’t want to have to go through all the hassle - and maybe ultimately have to buy a whole new bunch of licences every few months!

I reckon, specially for small-scale users, you’re better off with the open source codecs.

I’ve tried the codec and I’m not impressed. The sound is muffled, and the call volume low. If you were hoping for near PSTN quality, forget it. It’s ok, in that you can hear the other end ok, but not as a substitution for alaw/ulaw. My users hate it, and I’ve had to remove it. If you want to know how it sounds, try GSM. I’ve found it only slightly better. Don’t get me wrong, it works, and it doesn’t break up, but it’s a bit like a recording you made on a tape where you didn’t have the gain high enough and you can hear the hiss of the tape in the background.

rgds

What phone or phones are you using with it? I have used g729 with Grand Stream HT486 and Zyxel P2000W, and I’d say the quality is very good.

I actually bought the license after reading this thread. It really does make P2000W usable. Before I rather used analog phone connected to my * box through HT486 using ulaw beceause of better quality of sound compared to P2000W. After getting g729 license for P2000W the sound is so much better, I’d never use HT486 using ulaw instead of using P200W with g729 (I only have one license which I made available only for P2000W expect pass through for HT486s).

BR,

-T

Yeah, i agree. I can barely tell the difference between g729 and GSM most of the time. The only advantage g729’s got, in my opinion, is that it’s more widely used than GSM - most (all?) hardphones support it, but not all of them support gsm. ILBC is possibly better than either of them though - although, again, there’s so little difference between the sound quality, it’s hard to say which is better.

what codec arrive better sound quality for medium bandwidth (like 20Kibps)?

iLBC sounds very good at about 23kbs

rgds

I believe the g729 is not worth the hassle of having to deal with licenses. I settled with ILBC which provides very good audio quality at 23kbps and represents a lower load to the CPU.

Regards

Ramiro

what about speex?

finding a provider that supports it is somewhat difficult

Changed my opinion of this codec, it’s not PSTN, but is better than calling a mobile. Don’t know why it’s got better, perhaps leaving the system alone for a while has let it settle down :wink:

[quote=“middletn”]finding a provider that supports it is somewhat difficult[/quote] but i can connect two asterisk boxes :wink:

Agreed, and that’s what I intend to use to link various * boxes over broadband

rgds

If the price is so low to * sipro.com/pricelist.php
Why not just include it with the product price?

KM

[quote=“kieranmullen”]If the price is so low to * sipro.com/pricelist.php
Why not just include it with the product price?

KM[/quote]

Each active channel requires a license, therefore the number of licenses needed is dependent on the implementation. Further, it is a business decision to sell seperately as opposed to bundling. And, maybe (do not know) there may be licensing issues with bundling.

I have a question regarding g729 and pass-thru: If my phone says that it supports G.729A (Sipura SPA-841), can I use G.729A with asterisk in pass-thru mode without purchasing any g729 license?

Yes. That’s what i’m doing at home at the moment, since the motherboard in my server died and i’m running Asterisk on my laptop - i can’t be bothered buying a g729 licence just for this temporary situation.

It can be a bit tricky to get it working though. I’ve found that the only way i can get it to work properly is to disable all other codecs on the channels that i want to use g729 on - i.e., phone and all ITSPs, in my case. If you don’t do that (and you can play around with it and see what works for you), you will almost certainly find that you get problems because one channel wants to use a different codec and Asterisk doesn’t seem to be clever enough to look at all possibilities for both channels and work out what the best codec will best be to connect the two - and then insist on both ends using it.

The problem you will have is that voicemail etc won’t work.

The only reason i’m running with only g729 is because one of the ITSPs i use only offers g729 and g711 - and i don’t want to be using g711 over a 128kbps upstream internet connection. If it wasn’t for the fact that i use that ITSP a lot, i would be using gsm. There’s very little benefit from using g729 - you get near enough as good voice quality from gsm or ilbc, with much less hassle. So i wouldn’t recommend doing it if you’ve got a choice.