On Tue, 2 Nov 2010, Ronny Adsetts wrote:
Hi,
Firstly, I'm new to Asterisk and am a system admin rather than a phone
engineer. I've googled and read around but haven't been able to answer
my questions sufficiently to buy hardware and get this thing set up.
Secondly, if I've missed vital information from what is below, please
let me know what.
Throw away the Samsung and go for a pure Asterisk solution.
Onward...:
So, what I'm trying to solve us remote working. We're a small company,
less than 10 employees, with a few of us moving to working from home. We
have VPN access to the office already set up. In the office we have a
Samsung iDCS100 hooked up externally to a couple of ISDN/2 lines (BRI I
believe these are termed) and an analogue line. Internally we have
standard Samsung extensions, mostly digital though we do have an
analogue extension card.
With lots of remote workers you need a hosted solution - that'll save your
office ADSL line b/w when the remote workers make/take calls.
What I'd like to add on is the ability to hook up VoIP (SIP?) phones
(software, hardware) and have them treated by the Samsung as extensions.
Then we could transfer calls from the Samsung to the remote VoIP phones
or have the VoIP phones make external calls via the Samsung. We'd run
the VoIP connections over the VPN for security and minimise exposure.
That's the hard way. Just scrap it and replace it completely.
I think (am unsure hence the questions) that this can be done in the
following ways:
1. Add analogue card(s) to the computer to run Asertisk and treat them
as analogue extensions in the Samsung. Statically route each extension
to a VoIP handset/user.
So incoming via ISDN, Samsung converts to analogue, PC converts to VoIP
and then out again - it'll work (maybe), but it's a huge waste of
resources.
2. Add BRI card(s) to the computer to run Asterisk and somehow hook up
the Samsung.
Do-able. Connect Asterisk to your ISDN2, then host the Samsung off the
asterisk box. But then, might as well dump the Samsung and just put VoIP
phones on everyones desks.
3. Other ways? Would a digital extension card in the computer solve the
one-to-one analogue problem?
Just throw it out.
As you can see I'm lacking in a lot of knowledge here and need to ramp
up fairly quickly. Pointers are all I need really, I'm willing to learn
and read docs. The company we used to install the Samsung and cable up
for us just wanted to sell us a newer Samsung and were of no help.
Precisely - they want to tie you into a 7-year contract rather than let
you be free and easy.
Personally, I'd run a 2nd BT line in, put ADSL on it and use that for
VoIP, then port your lines into VoIP. Even better would be to use a hosted
service - especially for that number of staff and remote staff. No faffing
with VPNs either.
If anyone has done something similar and can share the basic of how they
did it, I'd be eternally grateful. Specifically what's the best way
hardware wise of hooking up the Asterisk computer to the Samsung and in
rough terms, how do I configure it (the Samsung PBX especially).
Really, just think about replacing the lot. It will save you endless
headaches and sleepless nights in the long-term.
If you want to DIY it, it's less than £1000 of hardware including the
Linux box to run it on. Or you can buy a pre-built solution, or go hosted,
or "get a man in" to do it for you - although you'll likely end up paying
more, but at least you'll get support. Porting the numbers and dumping
both the ISDN2 and Samsung will save you money in the long-run though.
Gordon
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