can anybody suggest what kind of hardware would be the best solution for 60 phones in a hotel environment? & phone lines as well!
pLease advice!
Depending on what type of phones you will be using.
If you are using analog phone, then you will need t1/e1(depending on countries, US uses t1, UK and Australia use e1) TDM modules from Digium where t1(24 channles) and e1(30 channels). To have 60 phones, you will need 3xt1 or 2xe1. You will then need channel banks to connect the phones.
If you want to use IP phone, then you will only need ethernet switches with at least 61 ports (60 phones + 1 server). Cascade two 48 ports ethernet switches will do.
You will also need outgoing lines to PSTN. You can use a t1/e1 for outgoing with ISDN PRI interface.
A PC server with dual Xeon processor with min 2GB Ram will probably serve your need.
Cheers
What mypal said.
And to throw in my opinion, you could really hold the bottom line wayyyyy down if you stuck with ethernet only, since you can ride the rest of the room’s services in on that same lone cable. Further, a bulk purchase of 60+ Sipura IP phones should be significantly cheaper than 60 similar analog phones with the extra cost incurred by the channel banks.
Sipura IP phones - SIP - dual P4 xeon ~2G ram - T1 digium card and voice T1 to LEC.
I have to take issue with the 3xT1 recommendation though, with 60 rooms + 4-7 potentially-outbound adminstrative extensions, (let’s just say 70); a Full T1 is going to provide a ratio rounded out to 3:1. We can go ahead and assume each channel will be fully utilized since hotal infrastructure doesn’t really afford opportunities ffor multiple calls per DS0. Still, 3:1 is not a bad ratio even with no vacancies; what are the odds over 1/3 of the clientele will be on the telephone at the same time ?
Disclaimer: I’m thinking in dialup connectivity mindset, clue me in mypal , others, it is a courtesy or even a legal requirement that voice capacity translate literally out to 1:1 ? That’d be a horror show for data, but I’m green in regards to voice and curious why a 60-room hotel would need more than a T1 voice trunk with a 3:1 ratio.
thanks
J
thanks for the information, we are planning to use the Grandstream ata adaptor or the sipura ip phone. and 1/3 of the clent is goint to make outgoing call at the same time let say. how much bandwidth do we need (ADSL or SDSL) or you suggested E1 (ISDN) line will be efficient. lastly they need to logdown the customer call and they can charge them for it. so i need a external consultant to give me a hand. do you knwo any one capable of doing tese things? and of course the cost of it!
thanks for the information, we are planning to use the Grandstream ata adaptor or the sipura ip phone. and 1/3 of the clent is goint to make outgoing call at the same time let say. how much bandwidth do we need (ADSL or SDSL) or you suggested E1 (ISDN) line will be efficient. lastly they need to logdown the customer call and they can charge them for it. so i need a external consultant to give me a hand. do you knwo any one capable of doing tese things? and of course the cost of it!
where is the location and can you handle the onsite stuff if someone does the server setup and configuratoons for you? You can send me an email to rjkeele@digitalnrg.com
You will also need to provide wake-up calls if you are installing in a hotel. Does Asterisk already have a capability like that? or will it require developing a separate applet to do things like wake-up calls?
The hotel environment is more than phones and a wake up call. Typically a given hotel or hotel chain will want you to integrate with their property management system to update charges on guest folios. You will also have to integrate with their call accounting system and have the ability to set up voice mailboxes when they check in and remove them when the guest checks out. To provide this level of functionality you will need a piece of middleware. I have a solution for this environment. Please feel free to contact me for more details.