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On Fri, 7 May 2010, Paul Hirst wrote:
I'm getting fed up with silent calls and marketing calls. I've signed of for the relevant services but it's not made a huge difference.
It can take a month or 2 before the changes work. The TPS and CTPS databases are only updated once a month - when the telesalesdroids are suposed to pull them.
I'd like to add an asterisk server, connected to my phone line, which can provide aPress 1 if you are friends or family If this is a marketing call please go away If this is an otherwise important call please press 2With automatic pass through option 1 if the CallerID matches one in my list of friends and family.Currently I have two things plugged into the phone line. A cordless DECT phone (which gives my three cordless phones) and a SKY box.I have a Viglen MPC-L (really low power ~400Mhz) machine which I'd like to use for this. Since it's so small, I don't believe I can plug in a PCI card so I'm looking for suggestions.Should I be looking at USB ATA devices or ethernet ones? What's the best deal? How do I know whatever I get can be made to work with Asterisk? It seems most ethernet ones support SIP, does that mean they will work?
Ok - you're now into minefield territory :)There are 2 types of phone connections - they go by various names, but it's important to know that one provides 48[1] volts and the other doesn't...
The one that provides 48 volts can drive a phone, the other is a phone. You can't connect 2 phones together and make them work, and if you connect to exchange lines (supplying 48 volts) together - nothing much will happen - until the fuses blow at the exchange and BT gets upset...
So with ATAs - most of them are dsigned to connect to a phone - they provide the 48 volts to drive a phone. Don't plug these into a BT wall socket!
In asterisk terms, they're called FXS and FXO (I think these are the american terms) FXS is a 'station' or a phone, and FXO is a connection to the Office (In the US, exchanges are called the CO or Central Office). It gets worse ;-) you use FXS signalling on FXO lines and vice versa...
So back to ATAs - that are some that have an FXO port on them - that port can connect to a BT wall socket, and handle an incoming call. The trouble is that I've not had much success with these myself, so I always use a PCI card in a box with a PCI slot.
This is what I use: http://www.voipon.co.uk/openvox-a400p01-p-669.htmlbut you're not going to get much change out of 75 quid by the time you add P&P onto it.
However this might be promising: http://www.voipon.co.uk/grandstream-handytone-503-p-620.htmlas it has one FXO and one FXS port on it, so you can connect it to the PSTN line and plug in your existing analogue phone. I've used Grandstreams in the past, but never their FXO ports.
Can I run my SKY box connection through the Asterisk server or do I need to leave it as a normal phone extension?
I'd leave it on a normal phone extension.Although my sky box isn't plugged in at all, but I just use freesat, so I don't know what it actually does...
(If I can run it through Asterisk then I could probably disconnect all my phone extensions and just plug my ADSL router and asterisk box (or ethernet ATA) straight into the master socket giving me the best possible ADSL speed).
With a good faceplate filter and i-plate and properly done internal wiring you really shouldn't have any issues though.
Finally, if it's possible, I'd like to get the SIP client I have on my mobile to connect to my Asterisk server so I can phone the phones in the house from anywhere, provided I can find a Wifi point.
No real issues there apart from Wi-Fi being crap for VoIP. (but I use it myself on my mobile)
I'm obviously looking to do this on the cheap. Any suggestions and advice would be really appreciated.
Personally, I'd get a low-power box with a PCI card and put in a card with one FXO port and one FXS port for the phones. Slighly more expensive but less external plumbing and easier to configure.
Gordon [1] The actual voltage varies, but that's close enough -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html