What hardware do I need

Asterisk Asterisk Support
1

Hello all,

I’m totally a newbee and have been introduced to Asterix only recently.

What I have:
I have an Intel system about 3 Ghz and 512 MB ram + I have VOIP connection from VONAGE which I have been using from a long time + I have the 2 port linksys router which came with my vonage connection + I have the telephone handsets

My questions:
1.What additional Hardware do I need if I need to use this VOIP line to connect to say 10 handsets (phone sets)?
2. is one VOIP connection sufficient for 10 people? or do I need to get more VOIP connections considering my requirement would be that there would be 10 concurrent users at the busiest time of the day.

I’m sorry for posting questions which might be very basic, but as a newbee it would help me go a long way.

Thank you

2

hi falconhead,

A p4 3Ghz with 1Gb memory could handle 10 concurrent voip calls.

Your bandwidth would have to be sufficient to allow 10 concurrent calls, and your voip provider would have to allow it also. your config would also have to be right.

If you are running strictly voip, no PSTN lines, you will not need any other hardware to ‘get it working’ but be prepared, getting it working is the easy bit. Getting it working to an acceptable standard is the real battle.

good luck,

seabro

3

[quote=“http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+dimensioning”]# Pentium 1, 166mhz, 32meg ram: Successfully runs 4 SIP calls with codec g711
[/quote]
(Regardless of this kinda old school reference, the link voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+dimensioning is worth exploring.)

As to additional hardware, true if you have a real VoIP account, you don’t need anything else for the server. However, since you are on Vonage, you must have an FXO interface in the Asterisk box, because Vonage does not provide you a VoIP account. You have to treat it like a POTS line.

Additionally, what kind of “phone sets” do you plan to use? If you are thinking of regular POTS office phones, then you need to dole out 10 FXS interfaces.

In short, you’ll need a card that supports 10 FXS and 1 FXO at the minimum. You can get rid of Vonage and sign up a VoIP provider (a real one), and eliminate FXO. (There are lots of added advantages to use a VoIP provider.) But you are still looking at 10 FXS unless you buy IP phones. Alternatively, you can combine a PRI card with a channel bank to do the same, and leave yourself some growth space.

Check out voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+hardware for commonly used cards.

4

Thanks Seabro and Valley for your precise answers. these are the exact answers I needed. I guess I need to know a lot of things about VOIP and I’m willing to learn. and I think with this responsive members of Astrisk forum my learning curve will be cut short. I’m really excited about Asterisk and I bet this is the feeling most of us have gone through when they were introduced to Asterisk.

Valley:

  1. I can invest in the card for the FXS and FXO and I can invest on the IP phones. But according to you which is better in terms of performance?

  2. I can get rid of Vonage as well. do you have any recommendations to VOIP providers?

Thanks once again for the wonderful support.

5

I don’t have specific providers to recommend, but voip-info.org should have enough information to get started. As to FXS (+ regular phone) v.s. IP phone, there are merits to both approaches. But if you don’t have a large investment in legacy phones to preserve, IP phones would be easier to manage, provided you have a good LAN infrastructure. Asterisk could also provide more features with IP phones than with regular phones. (Requires additional planning.) voip-info.org also have good reference to various vendors.