ISDN BRI: active or passive card?

Hi folks,
this is my first post here… so be patient! :wink:

I’ve installed Asterisk onto a PC Intel PIV 3.4 GHz (1 Gbyte RAM) and I want to use it as a PBX for this scenario:

7 BRI ISDN Network Termination <—> PBX Asterisk <—> 20 IP phones

The choice for the interface card is multiple:

  1. one passive 8 ports ISDN card (by beroNET or Juhnganns)

  2. two active 4 ports AVM cards (the C4)

Considering the above mentioned hardware and scenario (20 concurrent calls), should I fear the CPU overload intrinsecally caused by passive cards?

Active cards are really expensive, but I can’t afford a crappy quality of the phone services… so, if needed, I’m ready to buy AVM active cards.

Regards.

I’d go for option one, they are cheaper, and it doesnt matter on a pc that fast.

Thanks for the reply.

I think I’m going to rely on a passive card, although I’m still confused about the choice: beroNet cards use chan_mISDN, while Junghanns’ ones support chan_CAPI (via bristuff)… they seem very similiar but I really don’t know which is better…

[quote=“Count”]Thanks for the reply.

I think I’m going to rely on a passive card, although I’m still confused about the choice: beroNet cards use chan_mISDN, while Junghanns’ ones support chan_CAPI (via bristuff)… they seem very similiar but I really don’t know which is better…[/quote]
What is the difference in price between the C4 and the beroNet? Not having an idea about the difference, I would always take the active one in case that you have to offer reliable services.

Maybe also the voicemail server is running on the same CPU, or some users do conference calls, etc. Does it really make sense to save these few Euro/Dollar/Yen?

C4 costs more than 900€, while beroNet 4 passive ports is priced at 600€.

[quote=“Count”]1) one passive 8 ports ISDN card (by beroNET or Juhnganns)
2) two active 4 ports AVM cards (the C4)
[/quote]

Can someone please tell me what is the deferance between passive and active ISDN BRI card?

Hi,

you may cosider contacting you PSTN provider and ask what 16 channels will cost on a E1 / T1 as that way it is east to increase the number of lines in the fucture, and the price is around 300€ for a pasive card. so you will even save mony on the card