One of my customers has asked me to augment their extremely outdated phone system such that they can do better call handling. They want to create tone menuing with which callers can be directed to the appropriate party, a recorded message…you get the idea. They don’t know it yet but I’m envisioning ways in which I can facilitate telecommuting, call monitoring for training purposes, etc. Of course I told them Asterisk was the way to go. I’m a full-time software engineer and am pretty confident I’ll be able to get Asterisk to sing the right tune, but I’m a bit shaky on the analog hook-up part.
They are very interested in seeing the Asterisk solution. The trouble is: I can’t spend a whole bunch of money on new hard-phones right at the beginning. They presently have a circa-1995 Panasonic setup (KX-TD1232) inside an extremely old building with no modern network wiring to speak of (nor conduit to pull it through). Their antique wiring barely accommodates their 32 extensions. So, I’ve cooked up a kludge that I think will tie them over until newer infrastructure can be installed.
I’ve purchased an Adtran 750 with 2 FXO and 3 FXS modules. I’m hoping to combine it with a TE110P and patch it in between their KSU and the 8 CO lines they have coming into the building. Their KSU can have 4 more CO connections added that I’ll hook up to the remaining four FXS channels.
I’ve read this but I’m going in a bit deeper than SirBryan did and am hoping for a few more pointers.
Let me know if you’ve tried this and the pitfalls you ran into. If you have any further suggestions they’ll be helpful, too.