Which release to choose for ITSP? LTS or cert?

Hi!

I am developing s solution for a growing ITSP. Currently Asterisk 13.10 LTS (non-cert) is in production and we are planning to upgrade it to a new release.

Currently we build asterisk ourselfs but met some problems regarding Debian 9 (Stretch) and 13.13-cert6 (openssl 1.1.0 build problem and lack of pjsip 2.6).This lead to an internal conversation, if we should switch from cert-branch to the public LTS-branch.

Currently no Digium SLA contract is in place but there might be in the future. What is the preferred guidance in this case? Stick to cert-branch? Base work on public LTS for newest features? Your feedback is very much appreciated.

Without a support contact I don’t see the benefits of running a cert release over the LTS personally.