Hi, Does anyone know if Asterisk works with Vonage??? I curently have an ecommerce store front and I need a proffessional front and Asterisk would fit in beautifully. I currently have Vonage and I would like to know if anyone has used Asterisk successfully. Please advise…
Thanks,
I use vonage with asterisk, but not as you might wish. With vonage, you have to use a Vonage device to hook up the “main” phone. Once you have an account, you can add “soft-phones” onto it. These soft-phones can be added to your asterisk box. If you need the configuration, I will happy to supply the format for those. They are a bit picky about them.
I’ve setup an Asterisk server behind the Vonage service.
Vonage service terminated into their provided hardware,
and Asterisk connected via POTS connection to that line.
Works just fine. Setup your own IVR, voicemail, etc.
I have done that as well. However, I really like having unlimited inbound-calls (only limited by the bandwidth). With their softphone account, I have logged upwards of 70 people in-bound for conference calls.
just sign up for voicepulse. I am not giving them a plug but they are really cheap and have good service. Free incomming calls as well.
This sounds really promissing. Scott do you have instructions on how I can install the Asterisk server: Hardware requirements and do I need to buy any cards for the server etc…
Thanks In Advance ,
Moe…
I recommend against the vonage-pots-FXOcard-* route whenever possible… you will get a far better result with a real ITSP imho.
try-
connect.voicepulse.com (they rock)
www.broadvoice.com (can be unreliable at times but usually pretty good)
www.viatalk.com (great CS)
Iron, why would you recommend voiceplus over Vonnage. I’m definitely a newdy on this Open Source PBX stuff and I’m tryng to get up to speed but there is sooo much information out there that it’s overwhelming. However if you have time in your schedule and you find it in your heart to mentor me on this stuff that would be terrific. So what equipment would I need to make this work (the start up cost) and how much monthly am I looking at???
happy to help. I post alot here and if you have a question you want to ask non-publicly you are welcome to PM me.
It’s not so much that I recommend voicepulse against vonage as that I recommend almost anything against vonage.
My main reason for recommending against Vonage is that you have to use an analog channel to do it. Vonage service is locked to the ATA (Analog Telephony Adapter, the gadget they send you). Even though their service is SIP based, the password to use it is locked inside that gadget with no way to get it out. Thus, the only way to use Vonage with * is to get an FXO port for * and plug Asterisk into the Vonage box.
This is clumsy and has a few disadvantages- first there is only one channel. That means only one call at a time can go through, because there is only one wire. (If you get a second line and use the 2nd port on the ATA, then you have two channels, but you pay more). Also, call waiting does not work great with * and FXO ports.
The ‘right’ way to do it is to get an ITSP (internet telephony service provider, aka VoIP service) that allows BYOD, Bring Your Own Device.
This means that when you sign up there is an option that instead of sending you an ATA or gadget of some kind, they just provide you with the SIP login to their server. You plug this login into * via sip.conf and Asterisk communicates directly with their system via SIP, no ATA needed.
This gives you a few advantages because * can be direct with the server instead of having to deal with the limitations of a POTS line…
first off call waiting works much more usefully, and at the same time you get two channels. These are part of the same thing… it means that if you are on the phone and a 2nd call comes in, all the other phones in your office will ring (or whatever you have * set to do for incoming calls will happen to the 2nd call) and a 2nd person can answer the 2nd call, or you can put the 1st call on hold and take it. Most ITSPs limit you to two channels (you need 2 channels to do a 3way call, which is why they allow it).
OTOH, with Vonage there is only one channel per line, a limitation of the fact that it’s an analog wire. The 2nd call that comes in will give you a call waiting beep and you can switch to it. However unless you do the caller just hears ringing then voicemail. There is also no way to get someone else to answer the 2nd call whiel you are on the first, unless you buy another line and set up a hunt group.
It will also save you money because
BTW- FXO ports are analog ports taht connect to a phone line and let * use that phone line. FXS ports are a line, they provide dialtone, voltage, ringing, etc and you plug a phone into it. ATAs provide 1-2 FXS ports. A good way to remember- FXS Serves.
Also when buying VoIP service, there is generally two configurations you will come across. The simplest is the basic stuff, VoIP lines. You get a DID (phone number) and usually unlimited outgoing minutes. Your caller ID is locked to that number, you can block it ala *67 but not change it. You are also generally limited to 2-3 channels. Examples- Vonage/broadvoice/viatalk/etc.
The other type is Wholesale- in wholesale you pay a small amount (VP charges $11/mo) for the DID (phone number) and then minutes are pay as you go, usually at around 1-2c/min. There is usually a much higher channel limit, or often there isn’t one. VPConnect is 4 incoming + 4 outgoing, and you can buy more if you need it. You can also set your own outbound caller-id. VoicePulse Connect is like this.
You should consider carefully which type of service will make more sense to you. Many people dislike the concept of PAYG, but consider that it is actually cheaper if you are using less than 4000-5000 outgoing mins/month.
Hoep that helps!
Vonage has a Small Business Account service which provides direct SIP trunks with either 4, 8 or 16 lines. Go to www.TheVoipConnection.com to sign up.
We have these Vonage lines connecting and registering directly into our Asterisk system. They allow simultaneous phone calls on each line, and I’ve yet to see what that limit is.
I just helped with setting up Vonage as direct Sip trunks into Asterisk without any adaptors.
I have 7 lines (aside from the one tied to the hardware) that go into my Asterisk server. I just got the POTS one to activate the cheap service. I pay $10/mo for the softphone (but you need an account to add a softphone) of which you get unlimited inbound calling. The plus side of this is that it is completely sip, so FXO or any other POTS getting near my server. It’s all IP based. I can show you the registration information to get them working in asterisk if anyone would like to see how this is done. I am currently working on a method of getting that password from that little box so that I can use my asterisk server with the main number as well. I will report back when I either succeed or get really frustrated and throw my hands up in dispair. 
FWIW- the above users fall into two categories. First is the guy selling service, the Vonage business service is not locked to a device. You can also only buy it through resellers, of which a previous poster is presumably one. This I’m sure works great and if they have a good deal I see no problem with it.
The second is mcfadden, using vonage softphone accounts. The problem with these accounts is they are only 500 outgoing minutes each, and charge a few cents a minute above that (you can get a better rate from most other wholesale providers). This IMHO is a bad idea because (As I understand it), softphone numbers cannot be ported in or out. Plus which its more expensive and requries a device-locked account to attach to.
No argument there. It is definitely the more expensive route to go and I would not recommend it unless you already have a Vonage account. My superiors have demanded that I use the Vonage accounts for this service that I am running, otherwise I would probably run with something more like a broadvoice account. A major downside to tying a Vonage account to Asterisk is if you are doing any kind of load balancing (like with an F5), Vonage will complain and decide not to work half the time. They like to see only 1 source IP per account. I will say that the service has been great with their softphones, and we are only using them for inbound calling, but there are many better SIP providers out there.