Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
OK, then this is easy. Instal Asterisk in the central location, along with a Sipura SPA-3000. Configure that unit to answer the incoming POTS line and act as a VOIP gateway for Asterisk. Then configure two additional SPA-3000 units, one at each employee's location. Then, configure Asterisk (I recommend [EMAIL PROTECTED] for your setup, BTW) to route the incoming call to the right extension based on time of day, auto-attendant, whatever. The SPA-3000 units at each remote site will also be able to accept the employee's incoming POTS line and pass that call through to the phone they normally use without resorting to sending it to the Asterisk server and back. (It's all in the SPA-3000 setup. Very cool indeed. Thanks Tom! Now to throw a monkey-wrench into the works... One of the employees spends a lot of time outside of his home office, and is then reachable only by cell phone. But we (for obvious reasons) don't want to hand out his cell number to everyone who wants to reach him. So, he will often forward his home phone to his cell, and forward the main office number to his home number (so when people call the office, they get his cell without realizing it). Is there any way to use the SPA-3000 at his house to re-route calls (VOIP calls, in this case) to his cell? Or would that have to be done at the office where the server is physically. I'm not clear on whether the Asterisk server can control a remote SPA-3000 in this way. I guess this could be done directly from the Asterisk server, couldn't it? It wouldn't be something that could happen automatically; it would have to be manually turned on and off. But it would also require another POTS line at the main office for the outbound call -- so I'd rather leverage the phone line at his home office to make the outgoing call to his cell phone if at all possible... One more monkey-wrench -- what if I want both of the employees to be on the phone at the same time? Two incoming POTS lines, and two SPA-3000's at the office? Or does it make more sense at that time to get a TDMxx card? This will not change, you're still looking at three lines in the scenario I outlined above. (Unless you switch to incoming VOIP, but I do *NOT* recommend that.) Nope, I don't believe in VOIP replacing POTS completely yet. Maybe in 5 years... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | Jason Marshall, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Spots InterConnect, Inc. Calgary, AB | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
Jason Marshall wrote: OK, then this is easy. Instal Asterisk in the central location, along with a Sipura SPA-3000. Configure that unit to answer the incoming POTS line and act as a VOIP gateway for Asterisk. Then configure two additional SPA-3000 units, one at each employee's location. Then, configure Asterisk (I recommend [EMAIL PROTECTED] for your setup, BTW) to route the incoming call to the right extension based on time of day, auto-attendant, whatever. The SPA-3000 units at each remote site will also be able to accept the employee's incoming POTS line and pass that call through to the phone they normally use without resorting to sending it to the Asterisk server and back. (It's all in the SPA-3000 setup. Very cool indeed. Thanks Tom! Now to throw a monkey-wrench into the works... One of the employees spends a lot of time outside of his home office, and is then reachable only by cell phone. But we (for obvious reasons) don't want to hand out his cell number to everyone who wants to reach him. So, he will often forward his home phone to his cell, and forward the main office number to his home number (so when people call the office, they get his cell without realizing it). We do this all the time. We just moved and have three people working from their homes. The boss's extension rings here locally on a spare phone and rings his IAX2 phone at home. He also forwards his extension to his cellphone when he is out using *72 on the Asterisk box. One employee is working from out of state and his extension calls his cellphone. When someone dials his DID number it dials back out to his cell phone and no one knows any different. When we dial his three digit extension here it goes to his cell phone. The last person has an IAX client running on his laptop and takes calls from there. When someone calls in and presses '2' for support it rings a guy out in production and the other person working from home. I have my extension set to ring my Grandstream phone and my cell phone at the same time and I can take the calls from anywhere. I can even transfer a call back to another extension from my cellphone if they need someone else. Asterisk does all the call forwarding and phone routing. - James Is there any way to use the SPA-3000 at his house to re-route calls (VOIP calls, in this case) to his cell? Or would that have to be done at the office where the server is physically. I'm not clear on whether the Asterisk server can control a remote SPA-3000 in this way. As long as Asterisk has a way to re-dial out a phone line or voip provider, it can route an extension anywhere and the caller will not know it. I guess this could be done directly from the Asterisk server, couldn't it? It wouldn't be something that could happen automatically; it would have to be manually turned on and off. But it would also require another POTS line at the main office for the outbound call -- so I'd rather leverage the phone line at his home office to make the outgoing call to his cell phone if at all possible... One more monkey-wrench -- what if I want both of the employees to be on the phone at the same time? Two incoming POTS lines, and two SPA-3000's at the office? Or does it make more sense at that time to get a TDMxx card? This will not change, you're still looking at three lines in the scenario I outlined above. (Unless you switch to incoming VOIP, but I do *NOT* recommend that.) Nope, I don't believe in VOIP replacing POTS completely yet. Maybe in 5 years... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | Jason Marshall, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Spots InterConnect, Inc. Calgary, AB | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
RE: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
(TEMPHOLDER=${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = fax,2,SetCallerID(Fax: ${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = fax,3,Dial(${SECONDARYDIALSTRING}${PRIMARYDIALSTRING},1,T)
exten = fax,4,SetCallerID(${TEMPHOLDER})
exten = fax,5,Goto(fax-exception,exception,1)
[fax-exception]
;Fax exception to send fax machines incompatible with SpanDSP to a REAL
fax, this list is trimmed for readability
;In our rollout, there are actually 160 numbers out of several thousand that
can potentially send to us. Pretty good, yay Steve U!
;TODO DeadAGI script that automatically maintains this list
exten = exception,1,Wait(1)
exten = exception,2,GotoIf($[${CALLERIDNUM} = 7804365798 ]?realfax,1:3)
exten = exception,3,Gotoif($[${CALLERIDNUM} = 7809292186 ]?realfax,1:4)
exten = exception,4,Gotoif($[${CALLERIDNUM} = 7804369640
]?realfax,1:5);etc,etc add numbers as you encounter them
exten = exception,5 ,Goto(virtualfax,1)
exten = virtualfax,1,Macro(faxreceive)
exten = virtualfax,2,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfax ${FAXFILE} ${FAXEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM})
;we have 3 buildings that a real fax can go to, this extension determines
the building, sends it to the right building, sends an email
;to the recipient informing them that their expected fax was received on
hardcopy,
;and informs the receptionist via email that a hardcopy fax came in and
please to distribute it to the recipient
exten = realfax,1,GotoIf($[${BUILDING} = BUILDING1 ]?2:8)
exten = realfax,2,SetVar([EMAIL PROTECTED])
exten = realfax,3,Gotoif($[${FAXEMAIL}foo = foo ]?6:4)
exten = realfax,4,Gotoif($[${CALLRECIPIENT} != Landmark Office
]?5:6);Check for fax DID. If fax DID, inform ONLY the receptionist of the
fax
exten = realfax,5,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogbuilding1 ${FAXEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = realfax,6,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogreception ${REPEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM} ${CALLRECIPIENT})
exten = realfax,7,Dial(ZAP/g0/7023011);Fax number of REAL fax for Building
1
exten = realfax,8,GotoIf($[${BUILDING} = BUILDING2 ]?9:15)
exten = realfax,9,SetVar([EMAIL PROTECTED])
exten = realfax,10,Gotoif($[${FAXEMAIL}foo = foo ]?11:13)
exten = realfax,11,Gotoif($[${CALLRECIPIENT} != Summerhill Office
]?12:13)
exten = realfax,12,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogbuilding2 ${FAXEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = realfax,13,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogreception ${REPEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM} ${CALLRECIPIENT})
exten = realfax,14,Dial(ZAP/g0/7028268) ;Fax number of REAL fax for
Building 2
exten = realfax,15,GotoIf($[${BUILDING} = BUILDING3 ]?15:16)
exten = realfax,16,Dial(ZAP/g0/7023011) ;Fax number of REAL fax for
Building 3 - NOT IMPLEMENTED YET
exten = realfax,17,NoOp(Temporary placeholder)
exten = realfax,18,NoOp(Temporary placeholder)
;We put the FAX extension in this context in case somehow a fax call winds
up in this context but is not detected properly
exten = fax,1,Goto(exception,1)
exten = fax,2,Goto(realfax,1)
hth
-Original Message-
From: James Armstrong [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 11:34 AM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
Jason Marshall wrote:
OK, then this is easy. Instal Asterisk in the central location, along
with a Sipura SPA-3000. Configure that unit to answer the incoming
POTS line and act as a VOIP gateway for Asterisk. Then configure two
additional SPA-3000 units, one at each employee's location. Then,
configure Asterisk (I recommend [EMAIL PROTECTED] for your setup, BTW) to
route the incoming call to the right extension based on time of day,
auto-attendant, whatever. The SPA-3000 units at each remote site will
also be able to accept the employee's incoming POTS line and pass that
call through to the phone they normally use without resorting to
sending it to the Asterisk server and back. (It's all in the SPA-3000
setup.
Very cool indeed. Thanks Tom! Now to throw a monkey-wrench into the
works... One of the employees spends a lot of time outside of his home
office, and is then reachable only by cell phone. But we (for obvious
reasons) don't want to hand out his cell number to everyone who wants to
reach him. So, he will often forward his home phone to his cell, and
forward the main office number to his home number (so when people call
the office, they get his cell without realizing it).
We do this all the time. We just moved and have three people working
from their homes. The boss's extension rings here locally on a spare
phone and rings his IAX2 phone at home. He also forwards his extension
to his cellphone when he is out using *72 on the Asterisk box. One
employee is working from out of state and his extension calls his
cellphone. When someone dials his DID number it dials back out to his
cell phone and no one knows any different. When we dial his three digit
extension here it goes to his cell phone. The last person has an IAX
client running on his laptop and takes calls from there. When someone
calls in and presses '2' for support
RE: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
numbers like cell phones, the dialstring timeout is way, way
too short. Oh well.
exten = fax,1,SetVar(TEMPHOLDER=${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = fax,2,SetCallerID(Fax: ${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = fax,3,Dial(${SECONDARYDIALSTRING}${PRIMARYDIALSTRING},1,T)
exten = fax,4,SetCallerID(${TEMPHOLDER})
exten = fax,5,Goto(fax-exception,exception,1)
[fax-exception]
;Fax exception to send fax machines incompatible with SpanDSP to a REAL
fax, this list is trimmed for readability
;In our rollout, there are actually 160 numbers out of several thousand that
can potentially send to us. Pretty good, yay Steve U!
;TODO DeadAGI script that automatically maintains this list
exten = exception,1,Wait(1)
exten = exception,2,GotoIf($[${CALLERIDNUM} = 7804365798 ]?realfax,1:3)
exten = exception,3,Gotoif($[${CALLERIDNUM} = 7809292186 ]?realfax,1:4)
exten = exception,4,Gotoif($[${CALLERIDNUM} = 7804369640
]?realfax,1:5);etc,etc add numbers as you encounter them
exten = exception,5 ,Goto(virtualfax,1)
exten = virtualfax,1,Macro(faxreceive)
exten = virtualfax,2,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfax ${FAXFILE} ${FAXEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM})
;we have 3 buildings that a real fax can go to, this extension determines
the building, sends it to the right building, sends an email
;to the recipient informing them that their expected fax was received on
hardcopy,
;and informs the receptionist via email that a hardcopy fax came in and
please to distribute it to the recipient
exten = realfax,1,GotoIf($[${BUILDING} = BUILDING1 ]?2:8)
exten = realfax,2,SetVar([EMAIL PROTECTED])
exten = realfax,3,Gotoif($[${FAXEMAIL}foo = foo ]?6:4)
exten = realfax,4,Gotoif($[${CALLRECIPIENT} != Landmark Office
]?5:6);Check for fax DID. If fax DID, inform ONLY the receptionist of the
fax
exten = realfax,5,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogbuilding1 ${FAXEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = realfax,6,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogreception ${REPEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM} ${CALLRECIPIENT})
exten = realfax,7,Dial(ZAP/g0/7023011);Fax number of REAL fax for Building
1
exten = realfax,8,GotoIf($[${BUILDING} = BUILDING2 ]?9:15)
exten = realfax,9,SetVar([EMAIL PROTECTED])
exten = realfax,10,Gotoif($[${FAXEMAIL}foo = foo ]?11:13)
exten = realfax,11,Gotoif($[${CALLRECIPIENT} != Summerhill Office
]?12:13)
exten = realfax,12,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogbuilding2 ${FAXEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM})
exten = realfax,13,System(/etc/asterisk/emailfaxlogreception ${REPEMAIL}
${CALLERIDNUM} ${CALLRECIPIENT})
exten = realfax,14,Dial(ZAP/g0/7028268) ;Fax number of REAL fax for
Building 2
exten = realfax,15,GotoIf($[${BUILDING} = BUILDING3 ]?15:16)
exten = realfax,16,Dial(ZAP/g0/7023011) ;Fax number of REAL fax for
Building 3 - NOT IMPLEMENTED YET
exten = realfax,17,NoOp(Temporary placeholder)
exten = realfax,18,NoOp(Temporary placeholder)
;We put the FAX extension in this context in case somehow a fax call winds
up in this context but is not detected properly
exten = fax,1,Goto(exception,1)
exten = fax,2,Goto(realfax,1)
hth
-Original Message-
From: James Armstrong [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 11:34 AM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
Jason Marshall wrote:
OK, then this is easy. Instal Asterisk in the central location, along
with a Sipura SPA-3000. Configure that unit to answer the incoming
POTS line and act as a VOIP gateway for Asterisk. Then configure two
additional SPA-3000 units, one at each employee's location. Then,
configure Asterisk (I recommend [EMAIL PROTECTED] for your setup, BTW) to
route the incoming call to the right extension based on time of day,
auto-attendant, whatever. The SPA-3000 units at each remote site will
also be able to accept the employee's incoming POTS line and pass that
call through to the phone they normally use without resorting to
sending it to the Asterisk server and back. (It's all in the SPA-3000
setup.
Very cool indeed. Thanks Tom! Now to throw a monkey-wrench into the
works... One of the employees spends a lot of time outside of his home
office, and is then reachable only by cell phone. But we (for obvious
reasons) don't want to hand out his cell number to everyone who wants to
reach him. So, he will often forward his home phone to his cell, and
forward the main office number to his home number (so when people call
the office, they get his cell without realizing it).
We do this all the time. We just moved and have three people working
from their homes. The boss's extension rings here locally on a spare
phone and rings his IAX2 phone at home. He also forwards his extension
to his cellphone when he is out using *72 on the Asterisk box. One
employee is working from out of state and his extension calls his
cellphone. When someone dials his DID number it dials back out to his
cell phone and no one knows any different. When we dial his three digit
extension here it goes to his cell phone. The last person has an IAX
client running
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
Aldo Bergamini wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] is believed to have said: Jason, I'm sure these questions have been answered at some point, but I'm too new to this stuff to know the right words to plug into the search function to find what I need. well, yes of course. I have never touched Asterisk before, but have wanted to for some time. Now I finally think I'm going to bite the bullet, as I have a real-world application for it! You are in for some fun and satisfaction; with some small price to pay... My office consists of two employees, neither of whom work in the office physically. Here is what I'd like to do. Hopefully someone can tell me what I need to do/buy/configure/install to make it work... As a minimum set up you will need a CPU plus an interface to your incoming phone lines and most likely to an extension line in the main office. I want all calls to come into the Asterisk box in the main office. Obvious. I want all incoming calls to be recorded (not as concerned about outgoing calls) Can be done from the dialplan. Both employees have regular POTS telephone lines (one fellow has a land line and a cell, the other has just a land-line). I'd like callers to be presented with a short menu of options, the behavior of which might change depending on the time of day (for instance, at night, I'd like both the sales and support calls to go to one employee, while during the day I'd like sales to go to one person, and support to go to another. I'd also like to have an answering machine (built into Asterisk?) pick up calls that go unanswered. Can be done from the dialplan. Voicemail is an Asterisk application. I guess that's about it. I looked at the Digium TDMxx cards, but don't really know what I need in the way of FXO's and FXS's to pull off what I want to do. That's a very good option. As an added bonus, if someone knows of a VOIP adapter that allows one to plug an analog phone into it AND accept both VOIP and normal phone calls to the same phone, that would be cool (and might make things easier to configure, without making each extension 100% dependent on VOIP). You could look into products from Sipura or from Grandstream. Thanks in advance. I'm really looking forward to finally doing something with Asterisk, one of the most exciting projects I've looked at for a while!! But the very best advice I can give you is to start getting used to the Asterisk wiki and get the O'Reilly book on Asterik: it will be your friend. That's the small price to be paid. I found it worth. Regards Aldo ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users As mentioned the SPA3000 has two ports - one for a handset, one for a phone line. They hook into your asterisk as *two* (SIP) devices, giving four ways to use them: - incomming call from telco passed to asterisk (inbound call routing) - asterisk can make outgoing calls through this line (outbound call routing) - asterisk can ring the handset as an extension ( --- you want this one ) - handset can be used to ring other extension (--- possibly this also - ring your partner for free over voip) In the event of a power cut, the SPA joins the lines together - so you will still have local calling. Your going to want a 'dial plan' typed into the SPA3000 config so that normal calls are routed out of the analogue line rather than to asterisk and back. Chris ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
On Nov 26, 2005, at 4:01 PM, Jason Marshall wrote: I want all calls to come into the Asterisk box in the main office. This is relatively easy, but how you do it depends on where the analog POTS lines are terminated. At the central office or at the employees' remote location? (I assume that they terminate at the remote locations) You're right, I should have been clearer. The way things are now is probably suboptimal, but here it is anyway. We have one phone number, the line for which is terminated in the main office, which is where I'd like the server to be. The two employees, offsite, have seperate lines which terminate in either location. OK, then this is easy. Instal Asterisk in the central location, along with a Sipura SPA-3000. Configure that unit to answer the incoming POTS line and act as a VOIP gateway for Asterisk. Then configure two additional SPA-3000 units, one at each employee's location. Then, configure Asterisk (I recommend [EMAIL PROTECTED] for your setup, BTW) to route the incoming call to the right extension based on time of day, auto-attendant, whatever. The SPA-3000 units at each remote site will also be able to accept the employee's incoming POTS line and pass that call through to the phone they normally use without resorting to sending it to the Asterisk server and back. (It's all in the SPA-3000 setup. What we do, depending on who is on at that time, is forward the main number (which is hooked up to an old portmaster 2 via a modem, so reachable remotely) to whoever should be getting the calls. This is suboptimal for at least two reasons that I can see: 1) We're paying for a phone line which is basically never used -- the call forwarding happens at the telco's switch in the CO, so nothing ever comes in over that line; This will not change, you're still looking at three lines in the scenario I outlined above. (Unless you switch to incoming VOIP, but I do *NOT* recommend that.) 2) There's no way to record the calls, or to have a consistent voicemail prompt, nor is there any way to present the caller with any options if, for instance, the person who has the phone forwarded to him is busy, or has gone missing for whatever reason... Asterisk will indeed solve this problem. [snip] If I put one of these at each of the two remote sites, could I set them up so that the employees' phones would ring whether the call was routed to them via VOIP, OR if I call their current phone number? So if the server dies, or the DSL to the employees' locations dies, we could revert back to the lame way we're handling call routing now -- by just forwarding the main incoming line to one employee's number? Yes, on both counts. The downside of using a SPA-3000 at the remote location to answer the phone, send the incoming call to the asterisk server, and then send it back to the extension at the remote site is that you will use double the bandwidth. using SIP reinvites might help with that, though. If I understand you, this scenario would be to intercept calls to each employee's current telephone number, redirect the call via VOIP into the Asterisk server, and then direct another VOIP call back to the employee's handset. If that's what you mean, that's not what I hope to accomplish. No one knows each employee's actual telephone number. It's all hidden with the call-forwarding of the main number to each employee's number. Given that you have the one incoming line at the central location, you are good to go. Don't worry about the above. I should see if my local bookstore has a copy, to save on shipping (and delays at the border). If no one has it, I may very well take you up on your offer. Do you have a paypal seller's account? Yes! Feel free to make donations as often as you feel necessary... ;-) Tom Tom Rymes Cascade Link Systems www.cascadelinksystems.com (603) 375-1414 Intelligent technology solutions for small businesses. ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
Jason Marshall schrieb: I'm sure these questions have been answered at some point, but I'm too new to this stuff to know the right words to plug into the search function to find what I need. I have never touched Asterisk before, but have wanted to for some time. Now I finally think I'm going to bite the bullet, as I have a real-world application for it! My office consists of two employees, neither of whom work in the office physically. Here is what I'd like to do. Hopefully someone can tell me what I need to do/buy/configure/install to make it work... I want all calls to come into the Asterisk box in the main office. I want all incoming calls to be recorded (not as concerned about outgoing calls). Both employees have regular POTS telephone lines (one fellow has a land line and a cell, the other has just a land-line). I'd like callers to be presented with a short menu of options, the behavior of which might change depending on the time of day (for instance, at night, I'd like both the sales and support calls to go to one employee, while during the day I'd like sales to go to one person, and support to go to another. I'd also like to have an answering machine (built into Asterisk?) pick up calls that go unanswered. what you're looking for is basically [EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://asteriskathome.sf.net It has all features you mentioned already integrated (and many more, too). -- Tomek http://wpkg.org/email2fax email2fax - email to fax gateway for Asterisk ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
On Nov 26, 2005, at 12:48 PM, Jason Marshall wrote: I'm sure these questions have been answered at some point, but I'm too new to this stuff to know the right words to plug into the search function to find what I need. We'll let it go just this once... ;-) I have never touched Asterisk before, but have wanted to for some time. Now I finally think I'm going to bite the bullet, as I have a real-world application for it Awesome! Welcome to the community. My office consists of two employees, neither of whom work in the office physically. Here is what I'd like to do. Hopefully someone can tell me what I need to do/buy/configure/install to make it work... OK, all of this is possible, and as someone else mentioned, the easiest, it just works way to accomplish this is through [EMAIL PROTECTED], which you can find at http:// asteriskathome.sourceforge.net. How you accomplish it will depend on a few variables, though. I want all calls to come into the Asterisk box in the main office. This is relatively easy, but how you do it depends on where the analog POTS lines are terminated. At the central office or at the employees' remote location? (I assume that they terminate at the remote locations) I want all incoming calls to be recorded (not as concerned about outgoing calls). [EMAIL PROTECTED] can handle this. It's in the extension setup. Both employees have regular POTS telephone lines (one fellow has a land line and a cell, the other has just a land-line). Again, it will be important to know where these lines terminate. I'd like callers to be presented with a short menu of options, the behavior of which might change depending on the time of day (for instance, at night, I'd like both the sales and support calls to go to one employee, while during the day I'd like sales to go to one person, and support to go to another. I'd also like to have an answering machine (built into Asterisk?) pick up calls that go unanswered. IVR Auto-Attendants are built into [EMAIL PROTECTED]/AMP. They are called Digital receptionists, IIRC. Voicemail is also built-in. I guess that's about it. I looked at the Digium TDMxx cards, but don't really know what I need in the way of FXO's and FXS's to pull off what I want to do. This is why it's important to know where the phone lines terminate. If they are in the office you can use a TDM400P with two FXO ports. You can also use an ATA such as the Sipura SPA-3000 that has an FXO port built-in. If the lines terminate at the remote locations, then the second option is your only one, unless you put a server in both locations. (which is a bit overkill...) The downside of using a SPA-3000 at the remote location to answer the phone, send the incoming call to the asterisk server, and then send it back to the extension at the remote site is that you will use double the bandwidth. using SIP reinvites might help with that, though. As an added bonus, if someone knows of a VOIP adapter that allows one to plug an analog phone into it AND accept both VOIP and normal phone calls to the same phone, that would be cool (and might make things easier to configure, without making each extension 100% dependent on VOIP). The SPA-3000 is capable of doing this. configuring one the first time can be a bit of a bear, but Google is your friend... Thanks in advance. I'm really looking forward to finally doing something with Asterisk, one of the most exciting projects I've looked at for a while!! Well, good luck and, incase you haven't gathered, google, lists.digium.com, asteriskdocs.org, and voip-info.org are your best online resources for help. Also, the new book Asterisk: The Future of Telephony is a great resource. It's available online as a download under the creative commons license, and it is also published by O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/asterisk/index.html Come to think of it, I have an extra O'Reilly official version of the book that I will sell for $30 shipped. (Never used, I already have another copy...) Tom Tom Rymes Cascade Link Systems www.cascadelinksystems.com (603) 375-1414 Intelligent technology solutions for small businesses. ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Small office with all employee's offsite
We'll let it go just this once... ;-) Thanks *8-) I want all calls to come into the Asterisk box in the main office. This is relatively easy, but how you do it depends on where the analog POTS lines are terminated. At the central office or at the employees' remote location? (I assume that they terminate at the remote locations) You're right, I should have been clearer. The way things are now is probably suboptimal, but here it is anyway. We have one phone number, the line for which is terminated in the main office, which is where I'd like the server to be. The two employees, offsite, have seperate lines which terminate in either location. What we do, depending on who is on at that time, is forward the main number (which is hooked up to an old portmaster 2 via a modem, so reachable remotely) to whoever should be getting the calls. This is suboptimal for at least two reasons that I can see: 1) We're paying for a phone line which is basically never used -- the call forwarding happens at the telco's switch in the CO, so nothing ever comes in over that line; 2) There's no way to record the calls, or to have a consistent voicemail prompt, nor is there any way to present the caller with any options if, for instance, the person who has the phone forwarded to him is busy, or has gone missing for whatever reason... Both employees have regular POTS telephone lines (one fellow has a land line and a cell, the other has just a land-line). Again, it will be important to know where these lines terminate. I guess that's about it. I looked at the Digium TDMxx cards, but don't really know what I need in the way of FXO's and FXS's to pull off what I want to do. This is why it's important to know where the phone lines terminate. If they are in the office you can use a TDM400P with two FXO ports. You can also use an ATA such as the Sipura SPA-3000 that has an FXO port built-in. If the lines terminate at the remote locations, then the second option is your only one, unless you put a server in both locations. (which is a bit overkill...) So the SPA-3000 is used to take an incoming call, and send it to the server over IP. Considering the price of the SPA-3000, it makes more sense than the TDMxx cards, if I wanted to go with an all-VOIP setup. Which I might want to do. If I put one of these at each of the two remote sites, could I set them up so that the employees' phones would ring whether the call was routed to them via VOIP, OR if I call their current phone number? So if the server dies, or the DSL to the employees' locations dies, we could revert back to the lame way we're handling call routing now -- by just forwarding the main incoming line to one employee's number? The downside of using a SPA-3000 at the remote location to answer the phone, send the incoming call to the asterisk server, and then send it back to the extension at the remote site is that you will use double the bandwidth. using SIP reinvites might help with that, though. If I understand you, this scenario would be to intercept calls to each employee's current telephone number, redirect the call via VOIP into the Asterisk server, and then direct another VOIP call back to the employee's handset. If that's what you mean, that's not what I hope to accomplish. No one knows each employee's actual telephone number. It's all hidden with the call-forwarding of the main number to each employee's number. The SPA-3000 is capable of doing this. configuring one the first time can be a bit of a bear, but Google is your friend... I'm up for a bit of a challenge! Come to think of it, I have an extra O'Reilly official version of the book that I will sell for $30 shipped. (Never used, I already have another copy...) I should see if my local bookstore has a copy, to save on shipping (and delays at the border). If no one has it, I may very well take you up on your offer. Do you have a paypal seller's account? Thanks very much for your help! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | Jason Marshall, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Spots InterConnect, Inc. Calgary, AB | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ___ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
