Dry-Loop

Hi everyone;

first time poster here!
and, a really stupid question to start.
I was wondering if Asterisk can be set up on a Dry-Loop (Dry-DSL)?
Presently, I’m using a Ontario based ISP, and Vonage (yuck). And,
I would like to setup my own VOIP.
If I can use it on DRY-Loop, what do I need?
my setup is:
ISP <-> modem <-> Smoothwall router <-> Switch <-> LAN
<-> Vonage

If I can use it on DRY-Loop, what do I need, hardware that is

Thank you in advance
And by the way, I did do a search on Dry-Loop, but, came up with nothing.

You need to have Internet connectivity before you can get VOIP working.
This implies that you “must” have an ISP.

To answer your question:
Any DSL provider in Ontario should be able to provide Internet service over a dry Loop; but the use of a dry loop will not impact your ability to use VOIP in any way shape or form.
VOIP is just a bunch of protocols that run over top of IP; it is completely independant of physical infrastructure.

I happen to live in Ontario; I have been using Iristel as both an ISP and a VOIP provider for about five months. They may not be the cheapest out there, but they provide a stable service any they are more than happy to let you use your own Asterisk software.

-chris

thanx for replying.
so then, i don’t necessarily need a telephone number from a telephone provider then, as long as i have internet coming into my house, that’s it.

what hardware do i need? (cards etc…)

Naked DSL? Where are you? Almost nobody offers that service.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_DSL

If you had plain old DSL you could use the POTS side and wouln’t need Vonage unless you have the bandwidth cranked all the way up. In that case you wouldn’t want to use the POTS on the DSL drop so you would want to pull your DSL filters and POTS phone.

If I understand you want Vonage into your Asterisk box and that Vonage will hang off your DSL.

I have a proof of concept box that I happened to be forced to hook up to my Vonage MTA that happens to hang off a DSL drop in my lab.

You’ll need at a minimum a TDM400P card polulated with one FXS and one FXO module. The Vonage MTA will hang off your ethernet hub or router like device which will in turn hang off your DSL Modem. Your Asterisk server could then hang off the ethernet hub or router like device also. This means you’ll have to have a range of IP addresses from your DSL vendor and use a subnet mask on your Asterisk box tcp/ip stack unless your router type device can handle DHCP and at least 2 ip devices on your side of the cable modem. I’m doing this with a hybrid setup with DHCP and static ip devices on a static IP subnet so if you have questions shoot them to me and I’ll try to help.

Regards,

Ike

BTW stuff:

I do not recommend running an ethernet drop off your cable modem into the Vonage MTA then out of the MTA to your Asterisk box. I also do not recommend pushing large files up while handling calls through the Vonage MTA as your audio will get choppy very quickly.

If you have a SIP vendor you could do away with the TDM400P card and Vonage MTA and use SIP instead of Zap over your DSL connection but keep in mind that DSL is asymmetrical so outbound SIP could get choppy fast and you’ll have to have a static IP so your SIP vendor knows where to route the service. DHCP in this scenario will not work for you.

I live in Montreal, Canada. Naked DSL = Dry loop = Dry-DSL. Actually, I’m not sure about the U.S., but, many people in Canada do actually use Dry-Loop. Why have a phone line with your local carrier when you don’t want one, but, at the same time want Internet.
Actually, I did not say I want Vonage inside my Asterisk box. I said, I am presently using Vonage, which, I would prefer not to. So, I would like to set up Asterisk over a Dry-DSL line, then use a VOIP service provider to terminate my calls.

Canus,
You asked about hardware… there are many options out there.
Depending on what you want to do, you may not require much hardware at all.

You have to make two choices:
First off you need to pick a VOIP provider.
Secondly, you have to decide on home phones.

If you don’t like Vonage then switch to something else.
SIP trunking is working well for me… I don’t have any problems with voice quality and contrary to “ikeconn’s” warnings, I am able to operate with a single dynmically assigned IP.
My complete harware solution consists of:

  1. a PC running Asterisk
  2. two SIP hard phones
  3. an ADSL gateway provided by my ISP
  4. an ethernet switch.

-chris

Thanks Chris.
I very much appreciate that. After posting yesterday, I did a lot of research, on what I need, how-to’s, etc… And, I figured that I could set an Asterisk box, without POTS on a broadband connection. But, I just wasn’t sure. And, now you just comforted me.
If you don’t mind me asking you, on your Asterisk computer, do you have a FXO or FXS card installed?
Or are you directly connected to your router via ethernet?

Chris

Canus,

I have no FXO or FXS cards in my Asterisk server.
All communication to and from the Asterisk server is via a single Ethernet port.
I am running Asterisk 1.4.X on top of Solaris.

One more thing I will mention: I own a Linksys SPA-3102… but I don’t use it.
I don’t like the SPA-3102, it has echo problems that I could not get rid of and it does not handle DTMF tones very well.
After I bought a pair of SIP hard phones, I stopped using the SPA-3102.
But… I don’t regret buying the SPA-3102 because it allowed me to run a hybrid system while I was learning the ins and outs of Asterisk.

-chris