Fairly new to * but have been reading a lot, have set up an *now server. My intent is to have a private VIOP network contained within a LAN here at work, I already have softphone calls working and am waiting on two GXV-3000s that were ordered a few days ago to test hardphone and, hopefully, video functionality.
My question: if sometime in the future I want my VIOP users to be able to call regular telephone users (internally only) I understand I will need a card in my *server, I read in a few posts that I will need a card for each line I plan to use. I am confused by this. Is it not possible to put one card in the *server, with its own telephone number, and use that as a connection so that everyone using the *server can gain access to the telephone system?
For clarity: I have 25 users that will be using * on a pilot basis, and on campus we have perhaps 6000+ telephone users. What is the best (quality) way, to enable my * users to call the telephone users? whats the cheapest way? and are the two mutually exclusive?
I’m a little confused on what you are asking. I am assuming you just want your 25 users to be able to call out on the PSTN. In this case you can get analog(POTS) lines from your phone company or a T1. Either way you would need atleast 1 card to handle these lines.
I work at a University. We have our own telephone guys, I am not one of them. They assign numbers that we can call internally, like from my desk I can call the help desk by dialing 1046. From off campus phones you would have to dial 656-1046.
All I am asking (for now) is that my 25 users be able to call around to other phone numbers inside our network.
Or by enabling that functionality am I also allowing them to call the rest of the world?
If your internal network is all POTS then you would need an analog card for the Asterisk system. This will allow for the 25 VOIP users to call anyone on the rest of the existing network. Depending on how many simultaneous calls you expect between the 25 and the rest of the network will reflect what type of card you will need. There is a card that handles up to 4 lines(TDM400P) and another that supports up to 24 lines(TDM2400P).
OOHHH OK, so for example I could put a 4 line card in the *server and expect a maximum of four simultaneous calls from VOIP to POTS.
And for this I would need my telephone guys to provide 4 phone lines to my *servers location.
So once the bridge is made from VIOP to POTS is the calling one way only or can the POTS folks call the VOIP folks by dialing one of the 4 POTS numbers?
yes, you can set up an attendant system (even a dial directory), so people calling in can request a specific extension number ("dial 1 for suzie, 2 for rob, 3 for ivan), etc… best to set up a 4-line hunt group and only advertise the one phone number…
also just to add it sounds like you may be connecting your system to an existing pbx. often the existing pbx will allow a transfer with flashing or star codes or whatever. Asterisk can deal with this- transfer it to an extension pattern which 1. flashes the line, 2. SendDTMF()'s whatever is needed including wherever you transfer it to, and 3. hangs up.
There might be some confusion about the number of “cards” and number of “lines”. A lot depends on what the interface your “regular” phone system provide to *. Assume all your 25 users will be using VoIP phones (e.g., SIP phones), and assuming your “regular” phone system (PBX it sounds like) provides “trunk” interface - likely T1’s. Then with 1 “card” in the * you can support a maximum of 24 simultaneous calls to “regular” phones on the campus. And this card has just one T1 interface. If the card has two T1 interfaces, you can have a maximum of 48 simultaneous calls to “regular” phones.
If your campus PBX provides trunk interface, I’d recommend using high density cards. (There are products with 4 T1’s in a single card.) You may not need 24-line capacity for 25 people, but you can extend the pilot to 125 people at no extra cost. (Assuming 4:25 is the right ratio.) To do that with multiple TDM400P’s will cost much more.