Can a regular modem be used as a FXO/FXS card with Asterisk?

Sorry, i am a super newbie with ASterisk, but from a theoretical point, any MODEM, has a FXO/FXS port on it. Is it then possible to use one as an Asterisk analog card? Are there any drivers that support such usage if it does exist (so far I am unable to verify that).

If not, then what would be a good introductory card to buy, and not spend a fortune. I want to tie my box to 1 PSTN line, and that is it…

Thanks a lot for the help

Hi

From a practical point of view, The answer to you first question is NO and it is asked here on a monthly basis.

If you want 1 PSTN line then you need a clone X100 /X101 card. go to ebay there is normally loads there of varying quality from poor to usable.

Ian

Thank you Ian

The X100 cards are no longer supported. They will not work for you.

Buy an ATA or a Digium analog card.

Even though you can still run asterisk on this card, chances are you will experience some echos.

Or, get an Asus WL-500g Premium WiFi Router and flash it with OpenWRT + asterisk v1.4. Then, attach a CUPhone USB2ATA adapter with a built-in of an FXS and FXO ports to interface with a PSTN line.

If you need Fax function on Modem , asterisk support T.38.
If you need modem access to internet, it is better to use windows server to build a access server.

http://www.telecomchinasourcing.com

[quote=“dufus”]The X100 cards are no longer supported. They will not work for you.

Buy an ATA or a Digium analog card.[/quote]

If it’s true X100 cards are not support anymore, I’d recommend you try another distro rather than spending more money on hardware.

Besides we as buyers should not support monopolistic practices like removing support for competition’s hardware.

The lack of competition on the computer world leads to overpriced products, like Microsoft products.

Do we want to create another Microsoft monster? Do we want Digium cards to be overpriced?

I think not, so let’s support the non-imposing distros out there and boycott those with monopolistic intents.

Wow

You win this weeks prize for the most stupid post.

What does the distro have to do with hardware or application thats run on it. Astrisk will run on almost any *nix distro and windows as well.
Asterisk does not limit what hardware you can use, you can patch it to use any makers compatible card from makers such as Yearstar Pika Sangoma, rhino and many more.

so perhaps you may want to expand on

[quote]so let’s support the non-imposing distros out there and boycott those with monopolistic intents.[/quote] because it seems to show a lack of understanding of Asterisk and OSS

Ian

Hi Ian,

I think he is using military grade stupidity; I don’t think his post would be possible otherwise.

[quote=“ianplain”]Wow

You win this weeks prize for the most stupid post.

What does the distro have to do with hardware or application thats run on it. Astrisk will run on almost any *nix distro and windows as well.
Asterisk does not limit what hardware you can use, you can patch it to use any makers compatible card from makers such as Yearstar Pika Sangoma, rhino and many more.

so perhaps you may want to expand on

[quote]so let’s support the non-imposing distros out there and boycott those with monopolistic intents.[/quote] because it seems to show a lack of understanding of Asterisk and OSS

Ian[/quote]

I’m referring to AsteriskNow, not * itself.

Have you ever tried installing Sangoma cards on it? And now someone pointed out it doesn’t support x100 generic cards anymore (I’m not the one stating this and I said “if this is true” on previous post).

And yes, distros can or cannot have native support for certain hardware. Or you’re gonna dismiss that?

Of course you might be able to install whatever you want if you try really hard, but I think any good * distro should try to support as much telephony hardware as possible and not just Digium cards.

I have nothing agains Digium if that’s what’s upsetting you. You look personally offended otherwise why lower the level of this thread going as far as calling me names?

After all I might not be the stupid and unbalanced person on this conversation.

The x100 card was nothing more than a proof of concept device. It’s not intended to be something you would use to build a system. (Even a test system.)

Digium, Linksys, Sangoma, et al, create REAL analog interfaces for building systems. Anyone who can afford the computer that’s running the Asterisk software should be able to find the money to buy an analog interface. We’re not talking about big money here.

The zap drivers distributed now won’t work well with an x100 card. I’ve tried it, and they work just enough for you to think that it’s just a configuration problem. It isn’t a configuration problem, it’s just that x100 cards are lousy. You should buy a real analog device. Something that was designed from the beginning to be a proper analog phone line interface.

This, to me, is like someone asking, “Can I film a major Hollywood motion picture with a webcam?”. The short answer is, yes, of course you can. It will be cheaper. But it’ll be more difficult to do, will have terrible quality, and no one will want to see it.

It’s the same thing with an x100 card. You can try to use it, and yes it will be cheaper. But it will be more difficult to make it work, it’ll have terrible sound quality, and no one will want to use the system you end up building.

There were only a very few REAL (read; original) x100 cards made. What you get these days are slightly modified modems from companies trying to dump old modem inventory. These cards are junk, and will do nothing but waste your time.

When I see questions about x100 cards, my first (and generally my last) act is to advise people to scrap the card and buy something proper. Frankly, I won’t help people with x100 problems. They generally can’t be solved.

I think maybe you ought to look at the Linksys SPA-3102 it has 1 FXS and 1 FXO port on it works great with asterisk and is rather inexpensive too… and as with all linksys products it is very easy to configure also.

for pure FXS ports get the PAP2-NA… make sure you buy it from reputable source and not used or you may end up with a locked device… the PAP2 gets you 2 FXS ports… again very easy to configure for use with asterisk. both of these are much less expensive than a TDM400 card… although i will say if you have a PCI slot and want the best quality the Digium cards are flawless in their operation… in my case ive moved to an embedded platform and cant use the digium card for that.
-Christopher