Travel Technology - Calling SpaceBass(or anyone else) - Trixbox?

SpaceBass, all your ranting about Asterix has pushed me over the edge. I'm going to go... take the plunge.

I have the PC, the x100p card and a freedigits account. My present Voip provider is Vonage but I plan to dump them for broadvoice.

Here's my questions. Using trixbox and the x100p card:

1). am I correct in thinking that I plug my Moto 5ghz wireless base station into the x100p to get dial tone?
2). can I connect to the Asterix server via my wifi UTS starcom F1000 phone and make an outgoing call on the pots line?
3). could I redirect an incoming pots line call through the asterix server to the UTS starcom wifi or sip phone?
3). what does the x100p card really do for me?
4). on the configuration side does it make sense to have my Asterix server in the DMZ or behind my firewall (linksys befzx41)?

That's the begging of my questions. :D

SpaceBass, all your ranting about Asterix has pushed me over the edge. I'm going to go... take the plunge.

I have the PC, the x100p card and a freedigits account. My present Voip provider is Vonage but I plan to dump them for broadvoice.

Here's my questions. Using trixbox and the x100p card:

1). am I correct in thinking that I plug my Moto 5ghz wireless base station into the x100p to get dial tone?
2). can I connect to the Asterix server via my wifi UTS starcom F1000 phone and make an outgoing call on the pots line?
3). could I redirect an incoming pots line call through the asterix server to the UTS starcom wifi or sip phone?
3). what does the x100p card really do for me?
4). on the configuration side does it make sense to have my Asterix server in the DMZ or behind my firewall (linksys befzx41)?

That's the begging of my questions. :D

Its like a frickin' bat signal!
Glad you are taking the plunge.... :D

1) This one took me a second, but I think I follow the question. Do your currently get dialtone from a rj11 (phone) jack on the Moto? If that is the case, then yes. The x100P is a card a lot like a modem that hooks into an POTS/PSTN line... so Vonage through the moto base station looks just like a PSTN line to the x100p.
2) yes, you can point your UTstarcom phone at Asterisk quite easily. If you are using it on the same line you'll have no problems. If you want to use it outside of your network you'll need to forward the approprate ports (more on that in a second) and use your public IP address
3) This is where it gets tricky because the answer to most any "can I do.." question is "yes"...meaning you can do just about anything you can think of. The short answer is yes, you can direct incoming calls to any phone. In that particular case, the UTstarcom is a client of the Trixbox server...its an "extension". So you just set it up like "when someone calls my house number ring extension 1001, 1002 and 1003...but if someone calls my other line (office) only ring 1001 and 1005 and my cell phone "(which is external to asterisk, but it can do that too).
4) a LOT of people put * in their DMZ. Frankly I think its a pretty good idea if you take some basic security measures. For instance, make sure to install the SSL (secure web) modification (yum -y install mod_ssl from the linux command line). I have slight concerns about someone using an exploit to gain access to the box and using it against the rest of your network or even for a dDOS attack or something...but Centos (linux) is pretty solid....
The other option is to forward the right ports. SIP- which is what BroadVoice and most of the others provide is a little harder to get through NAT than is IAX2. However, IAX2 is a little less popular with providers currently. That being said, I'm told Telasip will do IAX "trunks" if you ask.
For SIP:
UDP 5060 (standard SIP port)
UDP 10,000 - 20,000 (standard RTP ports)...you can greatly reduce that number by configuring the range in this file: /etc/asterisk/rtp.conf .... of course all of those files are accessable via the web interface so you dont have to use vi and the linux shell at all.

Also, from with in the web gui there is access to help chat, thats a worthwhile module to install...lots of sharp resources hang out there :D

I'll PM you my email as well... glad to help and really interested to hear what you think as someone with fresh eyes. I may be a little too wrapped up in this sometimes to know just how easy or hard it is to install and use.

-N

I'm about to install an Asterisk system at home to replace my aging Executone <cough><cough> system <blech!>. I need three or four analog ports. Is there a multi-port alternative to an x100p that is inexpensive? I've only seen the Digium multi-port cards and they are rather expensive, at about $100/port. Also, do you have any suggestions for wired VOIP phones that offer ethernet passthrough to a PC?

I'm about to install an Asterisk system at home to replace my aging Executone <cough><cough> system <blech!>. I need three or four analog ports. Is there a multi-port alternative to an x100p that is inexpensive? I've only seen the Digium multi-port cards and they are rather expensive, at about $100/port. Also, do you have any suggestions for wired VOIP phones that offer ethernet passthrough to a PC?

Ohhh you are going big! Very cool!

For the VoIP phones, I REALLY like the cisco stuff, of course that comes with a price tag. The Linksys phones are basically sipura firmware inside a Cisco shell...and they are amazing. I believe some of them offer a switch built in...at least mine have a 'knock-out' on the back for the port.

My only recomendation for a card would have been the TDM400 from digium, but like you have seen, its expensive. They used to offer a hobbiest/home version that was exactly the same, only a fraction of the cost. Not sure if they still do...
Another option is to use an external adapter. Sipura makes both FXO and FXS...
I get the two backwards all the time... but an FXO is what you use to connecting an incoming PSTN line (a traditional phone line) and and FXS is what allows you connect a traditional phone. Either way Sipura, and now Linksys makes devices with combos of both. You can get a PAP2 which is a 2 port FXS for less than $100 on Ebay...or even for like $40 for the vonage version and re-flash it with the unlocked firmware (if you can find it ;) )
They also made multiport FXO's as wells as combo devices with FXS and FXO ports...mostly under the sipura label.

Hope that helps!

Ohhh you are going big! Very cool!

For the VoIP phones, I REALLY like the cisco stuff, of course that comes with a price tag. The Linksys phones are basically sipura firmware inside a Cisco shell...and they are amazing. I believe some of them offer a switch built in...at least mine have a 'knock-out' on the back for the port.

My only recomendation for a card would have been the TDM400 from digium, but like you have seen, its expensive. They used to offer a hobbiest/home version that was exactly the same, only a fraction of the cost. Not sure if they still do...
Another option is to use an external adapter. Sipura makes both FXO and FXS...
I get the two backwards all the time... but an FXO is what you use to connecting an incoming PSTN line (a traditional phone line) and and FXS is what allows you connect a traditional phone. Either way Sipura, and now Linksys makes devices with combos of both. You can get a PAP2 which is a 2 port FXS for less than $100 on Ebay...or even for like $40 for the vonage version and re-flash it with the unlocked firmware (if you can find it ;) )
They also made multiport FXO's as wells as combo devices with FXS and FXO ports...mostly under the sipura label.

Hope that helps!


Another thing you can do which is variably expensive and requires some additional technical knowledge is to acquire an End of Sale Cisco router which has DSPs (possibly a 1700 or certain 2600s) off eBay as well as VIC-2FXS cards and if necessary an NM-2V and you can then have a trunk to the router and plug the phones in.

Personally I'm probably going to take the CallManager/Unity route with Exchange 2007 if I get the time to do this at home, but, that's just what integrates with job skills I want to acquire.

I've heard some pretty good stuff about FreeSwitch - freeswitch.org recently as well.

I need four FXO ports. That means four free PCI slots... but the price is right.

I like the Linksys/Cisco phones. They are not that much more than the Grandstream ones. I'd need the top-end Grandstream one, GXP-2000, which I've found for $99 (I need POE and an ethernet passthrough). The Linksys/Cisco SPA-942 can be had for $60 more. That's not bad in my book...

I need four FXO ports. That means four free PCI slots... but the price is right.

I like the Linksys/Cisco phones. They are not that much more than the Grandstream ones. I'd need the top-end Grandstream one, GXP-2000, which I've found for $99 (I need POE and an ethernet passthrough). The Linksys/Cisco SPA-942 can be had for $60 more. That's not bad in my book...
Where have you found the SPA-942 fpr $60?

I need four FXO ports. That means four free PCI slots... but the price is right.

I like the Linksys/Cisco phones. They are not that much more than the Grandstream ones. I'd need the top-end Grandstream one, GXP-2000, which I've found for $99 (I need POE and an ethernet passthrough). The Linksys/Cisco SPA-942 can be had for $60 more. That's not bad in my book...

I'm really happy with the Linksys phones....except the wireless ones!

As for the FXO cards, the x100p (wildcard as they are called) can be found for like $15 on ebay. However, I've heard of people having problems with three or more... so you may want to look at the external FXO options for 1 or 2 of the lines.

Of course, you could always ditch the PSTN lines in favor of VoIP trunks :D

Where have you found the SPA-942 fpr $60?I said $60 *MORE* or $160. Know where I can get it for less?I'm really happy with the Linksys phones....except the wireless ones!

As for the FXO cards, the x100p (wildcard as they are called) can be found for like $15 on ebay. However, I've heard of people having problems with three or more... so you may want to look at the external FXO options for 1 or 2 of the lines.

Of course, you could always ditch the PSTN lines in favor of VoIP trunks :DI've been wondering about 4 FXO cards too. I suppose we could get away with 3 as I'm planning on dropping one PSTN line and we recently got a Sunrocket VOIP line. TO tell the truth, I'm less than happy with the performance of the VOIP line. I'm not sure whether it's because it generally sucks or because I have it connected behind my router. Calls tend to drop and I can't manage to receive calls on it. I've been traveling too much of late to be able to take the time to debug any of this.

How do the external FXO options work? Are they as I suspect, single port per box things? I really want to stay away from wall warts and the like. What exactly do I need to connect the Sunrocket gizmo to my Asterisk box?

Oh -- I see lots of references to the SPA-942 being easily configurable to 4 lines with a firmware update. I also see places selling the update for $35. Do I need to budget $35 for each phone for the update or can I buy it once (or even download it from somewhere)? I probably do want to see the status of each line on each phone so I'd need more than two lines/phone...

Have I asked enough questions?

I suppose we could get away with 3 as I'm planning on dropping one PSTN line and we recently got a Sunrocket VOIP line. TO tell the truth, I'm less than happy with the performance of the VOIP line. I'm not sure whether it's because it generally sucks or because I have it connected behind my router. Calls tend to drop and I can't manage to receive calls on it. I've been traveling too much of late to be able to take the time to debug any of this.


I hear concerns about routers often, but really that shouldn't matter if you've forwarded what ever ports they require. Could it be a bandwidth or traffic shaping (from your ISP) issue?


How do the external FXO options work? Are they as I suspect, single port per box things? I really want to stay away from wall warts and the like. What exactly do I need to connect the Sunrocket gizmo to my Asterisk box?

Oh -- I see lots of references to the SPA-942 being easily configurable to 4 lines with a firmware update. I also see places selling the update for $35. Do I need to budget $35 for each phone for the update or can I buy it once (or even download it from somewhere)? I probably do want to see the status of each line on each phone so I'd need more than two lines/phone...

Have I asked enough questions?

Regarding the external FXO options- frankly I've never used one so I cannot give you a lot of insight there. I think Supura made (or makes) a 2 port option, but not sure about more than 2.
As for the sunrocket thing, you treat it just like a PSTN line. In other words, you come out of their FXS and into your FXO. You might call them and see if they support using your own device- IE trixbox. Ask if they support SIP trunks.

As for the SPA-942, I do have one but only the 2 line firmware. I really dont know about the feasibility of using the firmware more than once. However, if you buy it and want to send me a copy I'll test it :D

One note about lines: depending on what you want to do exactly remember that Asterisk doesnt really need a multiline phone to use multi lines... For instance, on my one line phones I just dial *8 then the number go out over my work line or *5 goes out over my NuFone account...straight dialing (no prefix) goes out over the home Broadvoice account. Similarly you can transfer, conference, etc all through feature codes. Incoming lines work the same way. You can prefix the caller IDs...so when a work call comes in it starts with McK: followed by the real caller ID. When it rings phones that are not set-up with office lines, you can just look at the caller ID and tell who it is.
I guess what I'm saying is, typically people don't get phones that support the number of "call instances" for each incoming or outgoing "trunk" they have.

Thanks -- I hear what you're saying about the number of lines. I'm so used to the key system we have I guess. I'll try with two and see how it goes.

It looks like I need four FXO ports... I sure wish the four port cards were not $400, but that seems like a MUCH cleaner way to go than getting four PCI cards or two PCI cards and two external boxes with wall warts & cables. All of that will still cost close to $200. The Rhino R4FXO card seems a bit less expensive than the Digium card. I found it for $328.95+shipping. I've not seen any PCI-X cards yet. I'm sure they will be out as soon as I buy a PCI one, though. Any suggestions?

What are the thoughts on the Budgetone 200? I'm doing my * server for home so don't really need more than 1, possibly 2 lines. I like the 100mbs of 200 vs. the 10mbs of the 102.

If I understand things correctly, can I get an FXS (what recommendations for a cheap but reliable FXS do you have?) and connect my existing analog phone(s) to the *?

What are the thoughts on the Budgetone 200? I'm doing my * server for home so don't really need more than 1, possibly 2 lines. I like the 100mbs of 200 vs. the 10mbs of the 102.

If I understand things correctly, can I get an FXS (what recommendations for a cheap but reliable FXS do you have?) and connect my existing analog phone(s) to the *?

i haven't used the budgetone phones but I do hear good things about them. Check out www.voip-info.com and search around there. They tend to have good solid reviews.
I didn't realize the SPA-94x phones were only 10-baseT...that could be a bummer!
Have you checked ebay for cisco phones? I've had the best luck with them, however if they are not already configured for SIP, then re-flashing them can be tricky.

As for the FXS modules, also called ATAs (analogue telephone adapters), there are tons on e-bay but I've had problems with the inexpensive Asian no-name models. I have had great luck with the Linksys PAP2. You can pick it up for about $40, but its tied to the vonage service....if you search around you'll find that its fairly easy to unlock. You could probably PM someone that posts here a lot and I...i mean THEY might be able to tell you how to do it.

-N

So guys...its been a month....whats the latest?

Well, I've been working way to much the last month to get too far...

I bought a PAP2 on eBay, unlocked it and got it working. I have my internal extensions working. The trunk to the PSTN is a different story. The knock-off x100p card shows up as a "Tiger Jet Network Inc. Tiger3XX Modem/ISDN interface", so I am working through that problem.

I had my UTS F1000 wifi phone working with *, but somehow a vonage firmware upgrade came through and trashed the phone (I had unlocked it), so that distracted my attention. I've had to send it off to Germany for a fix because I'm no longer an vonage customer and they won't fix it, even though it is still under warranty and they screwed it up.

I hope to have it all up and running by the end of this month.

Update - still can't get my knock-off x100p card to work but VoIP in and out are working nicely.

My UTStarcom F1000 came back from being reflashed without all the Vonage crap and works great as an extension. I have it configured so I can send/receive calls at home or any place I can find a WAP that doesn't require a browser. It's kinda cool to get an extension to extension call when I am away from home. Until I can get the PSTN bit working I won't make a full switch on all the home phones.

Update - still can't get my knock-off x100p card to work but VoIP in and out are working nicely.

My UTStarcom F1000 came back from being reflashed without all the Vonage crap and works great as an extension. I have it configured so I can send/receive calls at home or any place I can find a WAP that doesn't require a browser. It's kinda cool to get an extension to extension call when I am away from home. Until I can get the PSTN bit working I won't make a full switch on all the home phones.

PSTN can be a pain, at least on a budget. There are some cards from digium but they are pricey (like $500 I think). You might also want to look into the sipura external FXO boxes. They are like the the x100p's but more reliable. You basically set them up like a SIP trunk.

Another option, one I played with, is to forward PSTN calls to a SIP or IAX account. You can easily pick up a phone and un-do it so its not as big of a plunge.

Glad to hear the F1000 is working well. I've been having issues with my Hitachi Cable IP5000 lately and I might take a look at the F1000.