Hi,
I’m a new Asterisk user. I thought that I would introduce myself and put my setup on the forum in case any one has a problem with a similar configuration and needs some help or can see something I’m doing wrong and give me some advice. Constructive criticism on my setup is gratefully rxd.
We chose to go the Asterisk route because mainstream PBX manufacturers seem to rip you off at every point possible. I did investigate the Mitel CXi 3300 ICP which looked great. But the idea of a “free” phone system caught the attention of the people who pay for these things. Anyway I’ve spent a while reading, learning and banging my head on the desk. As far as my time goes, I think the Mitel solution would have been cheaper - but in the future it doesn’t cost 000’s to change Asterisk.
At the moment I’m running with the following:
( I will update Zaptel but it’s working at the moment. And I don’t want to break Wanpipe )
Software:
Asterisk v.1.2.4
Zaptel v1.2.3
Libpri v1.2.2
Wanpipe v2.3.3
My linux Distro at the moment is Fedora Core4
Hardware:
Intel P4 3.0GHz 800FSB w HT, 2GB RAM.
Sangoma A102 (firmware v25)
Handsets - 10 * Aastra 9331i (firmware v1.3)
Linksys SRW224P PoE Switch
Telco:
Affinity (Kingston/Hull Telecom) provide an E1/PRI/ISDN30 line, at the moment we have 6 trunks/channels.
It’s all setup and working with :
incoming / outgoing / internal calls working.
Voicemail
Parking
Music On Hold
I have problems with the following:
- I can’t set outgoing CallerID information. No matter what I do outbound calls end up “Withheld”.
- Calling outbound - I get overlapping ring tones, i.e. I hear the standard UK ringing but also at a different rate I hear another ring tone overlaid. I also get the ringing sound overlay when I dial a wrong number and the BT lady says “The number you have dial could not be recognised”.
- Inbound calls - calling into Asterisk you get a short click or crunch then hear ringing. (Is this a timing issue do I need to put a wait() in somewhere?)
I’m going to investigate these teething problem later so unless you straight off what I’ve done wrong don’t worry about solving them.
To get the ISDN working I read lots about the configuration of PRI interfaces and eventually got it working after lots of “changing every setting”.
Some of the config settings from wancfg. for my E1 Card.
Physical Medium: E1
Line Decoding:HDB3
Framing: CRC4
TE Clock Mode: Normal
Protocol: TDM Voice
Operation Mode: TDM_VOICE
TDM Voice Span : 1
Multicast : No
HDLC engine : Enabled
My zaptel.conf :
#############
loadzone=uk
defaultzone=uk
span=1,1,0,ccs,hdb3,crc4
bchan=1-15,17-31
dchan=16
#############
In the next week I will be moving my installation to a Dell PowerEdge SC1425 Twin 3GHz Xeon, RAID1 SATA 80GB, 1GB RAM, Dual GBit Ethernet. I will reinstall Linux (possibly Debian) with a cut down basic installation. I will recompile Asterisk, Zaptel, Libpri & Wanpipe and move my Asterisk configuration over. I am also going to put the Asterisk box and the PoE switch on their own APC 2200va UPS.
Sorry for the long introduction, I didn’t mean it to get this long. But now everyone can see what config (or find it in a search) I have, if I can help anyone with a similar config just let me know.
Regards, Liam