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Home > Archive > Voice Over IP in UK > August 2006 > Any Asterisk expert out there?
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Any Asterisk expert out there?
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| Les Desser 2006-08-14, 1:11 pm |
| I posted here some weeks ago (17/07/06) . An updated copy of my
original post is below.
Assuming we could be convinced that a suitable and reliable system could
be put together, is there anyone who could provide us with hands-on help
to set up a suitable system?
While a charity, we would still be prepared to pay a reasonable fee.
We are located in north London.
=============
We are a volunteer emergency first responder group and currently share a
Siemens switchboard with a company, that provides us with the features
below (except recording)
We need to set up our own independent switchboard. To replicate the
existing one, even with a reduced configuration is likely to be very
expensive and so we are looking for alternatives.
Our needs are:-
4 incoming lines from the public.
8 outgoing lines to the operators
The operators are housewives in their own homes and have an ex-directory
line reserved for answering emergency calls.
The switchboard would be sited at an un-attended location.
Calls are received on a central number and forwarded simultaneously to
*all* operators via PSTN. The duty operator should answer but if that
does not happen (may already be on a call) then any one of the others
will answer.
So, any ringing incoming line must be forwarded to all available
outgoing lines which must all ring until the call is answered, at which
point the remaining lines must clear down, ready for a subsequent call.
We also need to record the 4 incoming lines as MP3 files.
Due to the nature of these calls (24/7 emergencies) the system has to be
at least as resilient as a traditional switchboard.
===============
--
Les Desser
(The Reply-to address IS valid)
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| Les Desser wrote:
> I posted here some weeks ago (17/07/06) . An updated copy of my
> original post is below.
>
> Assuming we could be convinced that a suitable and reliable system could
> be put together, is there anyone who could provide us with hands-on help
> to set up a suitable system?
>
> While a charity, we would still be prepared to pay a reasonable fee.
>
> We are located in north London.
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/...+United+Kingdom
--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpEaTm@ale.cx)
17:25:32 up 20 days, 22:47, 4 users, load average: 0.55, 0.26, 0.11
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| Les Desser 2006-08-14, 1:11 pm |
| In article <11576663.vXborQiNyv@ale.cx>, alexd <look@my.sig> Mon, 14 Aug
2006 16:25:50 writes
>
>http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/...+United+Kingdom
Thanks for that - I will work through the list.
--
Les Desser
(The Reply-to address IS valid)
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Les Desser wrote:
> Due to the nature of these calls (24/7 emergencies) the system has to be
> at least as resilient as a traditional switchboard.
if you mean that literally then one has to ask if VoIP is the way to
go. The reliability has to be lower than the PSTN with the nature of
the Internet. Are you going to hot standby this Asterisk server and
back it up with a UPS etc.
(visions of calling the emergency number and getting a German voice
telling me something is off line etc).
Phil
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| Les Desser 2006-08-18, 1:11 pm |
| In article <1155906063.094995.251480@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, PhilT
<newsnet@gmail.com> Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:01:03 writes
>
>if you mean that literally then one has to ask if VoIP is the way to
>go.
I was not thinking of using VoIP
>The reliability has to be lower than the PSTN with the nature of the
>Internet.
Agreed
>Are you going to hot standby this Asterisk server and back it up with a
>UPS etc.
That is what I was trying to imply with my "resilience" comment.
I suspect that it may be difficult to achieve.
If a hot standby works reliably then that takes care of PC failure.
I see UPS as a more serious problem. While an extended power outage is
rare, it is not rare enough to ignore. So we would need to look at a
standby generator, unless we could find a PC solution that could run on
UPS batteries for up to, say, four hours at a reasonable cost.
I now have a very rough cost for a traditional Siemens switchboard
(£4000) and a 4-channel ISDN recorder from Re-Tell at a further £4000.
If an Asterisk solution, including hardware, UPS and set up costs could
be had for significantly less than that then I would be interested in
investigating further.
Alternatively, if there was some way of feeding an ISDN 30 line in
parallel to both the Siemens switchboard and an Asterisk box, maybe we
could use Asterisk just for recording and that would not need any hot
standby or extended UPS.
--
Les Desser
(The Reply-to address IS valid)
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| google@bathfordhill.co.uk 2006-08-22, 7:11 pm |
|
Les Desser wrote:
> In article <1155906063.094995.251480@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, PhilT
> <newsnet@gmail.com> Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:01:03 writes
>
be[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> I was not thinking of using VoIP
>
>
> Agreed
>
>
> That is what I was trying to imply with my "resilience" comment.
>
> I suspect that it may be difficult to achieve.
>
> If a hot standby works reliably then that takes care of PC failure.
>
> I see UPS as a more serious problem. While an extended power outage is
> rare, it is not rare enough to ignore. So we would need to look at a
> standby generator, unless we could find a PC solution that could run on
> UPS batteries for up to, say, four hours at a reasonable cost.
>
> I now have a very rough cost for a traditional Siemens switchboard
> (=A34000) and a 4-channel ISDN recorder from Re-Tell at a further =A34000.
>
> If an Asterisk solution, including hardware, UPS and set up costs could
> be had for significantly less than that then I would be interested in
> investigating further.
>
> Alternatively, if there was some way of feeding an ISDN 30 line in
> parallel to both the Siemens switchboard and an Asterisk box, maybe we
> could use Asterisk just for recording and that would not need any hot
> standby or extended UPS.
>
> --
> Les Desser
> (The Reply-to address IS valid)
Hi
Are you looking at using ISDN30e or ISDN2e ? TBH it wouldnt matter.
You have many options. you could just use asterisk as a recording
platform cost would be a coulple of grand. or go for a pair of * and a
ISDN gateway so the calls will route to the active server using ucarp.
* can if implimented well be as reliable as a traditional PBX .but the
cost will be close to the seimens cost.
Ian Plain
www.cyber-cottage.co.uk
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| Les Desser 2006-08-23, 7:11 am |
| In article <1156290142.042944.186320@74g2000cwt.googlegroups.com>,
google@bathfordhill.co.uk Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:42:22 writes
>Are you looking at using ISDN30e or ISDN2e ? TBH it wouldnt matter.
We need 12 lines so ISDN30 makes sense, except that we want to record
the 4 incoming lines.
If we use an external ISDN recorder then those 4 lines would have to be
2 x ISDN2 and the remaining 8 on ISDN30 (I assume)
>
>You have many options. you could just use asterisk as a recording
>platform cost would be a coulple of grand.
Are you suggesting the following: Go the route of a traditional
switchboard with ISDN30, and somehow daisy-chain the lines between the
switchboard and * so that we us * for the recordings but the switchboard
would continue to function independently?
A 4-line recorder is about £4000 so I can see major savings to do the
recordings via *. If the PC went down and we lost a days recordings we
would not be too concerned.
Your mention of an ISDN gateway sounds interesting. What is it and how
is implemented?
Besides the cost of the PC, what would be the hardware costs to do just
the recordings via *, if it were possible?
>or go for a pair of * and a ISDN gateway so the calls will route to the
>active server using ucarp.
>* can if implimented well be as reliable as a traditional PBX .but the
>cost will be close to the seimens cost.
I presume, that would include the recording capability, saving £4k for a
recorder.
--
Les Desser
(The Reply-to address IS valid)
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