New user, Asterix + Landlines

Asterisk Asterisk Support
1

Hi all.
I have looked into Asterix before, but being a very novice user of telephony, never really got into it…besides it was only for one voip line at home :smiley:

I have now been asked to set up a basic telephone system.
The current set-up is just 2 normal UK BT lines, both with seperate numbers.

The scenario required is to be able to place customers on hold, have voicemails etc and ideally transfer between the 2 numbers :question:

My questions are, is Asterix suitable for this? If so I will do some serious reading to help me with install and setup lol
And how would I interface 2 normal landlines with exsisting numbers into it? is this possible?

Sorry for sounding dumb and I do like to read about things before asking, it just seems I do not know what to search for.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

2

depending on if you want to use regular phones you have now or digital phones
there are multiple options you need to search on

patton.com/technotes/fxs_fxo.pdf

you can buy either the phones or the ATA adapter on ebay cheap

3

you need two FXO ports to plug in landlines. This would probably be a Digium TDM400 card or Sangoma A200 card.

Then you need phones of some kind. I’d recommend IP phones instead of analog phones- they are more expensive but much easier to use. I generally recommend SNOM and AAstra phones…

Hope that helps!

4

Hi Guys,
Thanks so much for your replies, I really want to get the hang of all this.

So from what your saying I need an add-on card, which I will read up on, Plug my phones in and setup Asterisk (not sure how yet, but I’ll get there) and then I’m set.

Will these phones, with the help of the FXO card still have their traditional BT numbers? and will I be able to transfer calls between the 2?

Thanks again guys, I know I sound a bit daft, just want to make sure I research the right bits :smile:

5

Hi all,
One last question then I’m going to dive on in.

Is this card on e-bay any good for my situation? I’ll need 2 because we have 2 landlines, but can I use these cards and then use my normal lines to put on hold, transfer etc etc.
Just don’t want to buy anything not needed.

Cheers guys

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Digium-X100P-FXO- … dZViewItem

6

The X100P is a very low cost card but is only really useful for “development” and testing purposes. I have used a couple and some are not too bad but can give echo problems on many occassions which are difficult if not impossible to eliminate. I would go for a Digium TDM400P with 2 x X100M modules. More expensive but much better quality. I would also try to use decent quality IP telephones line Aastra or SNOM. If you need to interface analogue phones have a look at something like the Digium S101I IAXy or a Sipura SPA-2000 (there are many similar devices).

Remember that even though you have only two BT lines you can still have more than two IP phones. It’s just that you will be restricted to two incoming/outgoing calls at once across the lines.

7

unless you are prepared for poor quality calls, don’t think about using the clones for UK lines. the impedance is wrong, callerid needs a patch etc etc. if it’s for a production system, buy the appropriate Digium or Sangoma FXO card and do it properly.

8

Thanks for all your answers and advice guys.

I’m going to dive in and see what happens, going to steer clear of these cheapo cards as per your advice.

Thanks all.