For right now I just want to run a sigle VOIP line, using my computers sound card. I have a DSL line, 768 down, 128 up, and a +1 ghz computer with ata 133. Woudl this be good enought for a simple install?
Chip Jon Carnes wrote:
On Thu, 2004-02-19 at 08:43, Ralph Blach wrote:
Jon,
I would really like to experiment with asterik. Can asterik operate with just a sound card. Are there any providers in the area who server chapel hill?
thanks
Chip
Yes. Asterisk is a complete PBX/VoiceMail/ACD server. It can use any VoIP component without the addition of any special hardware - so it can use a SIP (or other protocol) connection to a Gateway provider like FeatureTel for it's trunking and can handle multiple VoIP phone connections (also via SIP).
With the addition of some hardware components, you can hook up ordinary trunks (POTs lines) or T1's to the server. You can also add hardware that allows you to hook Analog telephones directly to the server - but why bother when the cost of VoIP phones is so cheap these days.
FeatureTel (as well as TWTC, Vonage, Packet 8, etc...) all service Chapel Hill. For that matter, anyone in the world with a VoIP server can service Chapel Hill - its just that only those with a local gateway will have access to local telephone numbers.
In other words, if you get trunking (or phone service) from a provider in Washington DC, then your phone number will have the 212 area code and that will be your local dialing area. So calling your neighbor in Chapel Hill will be long distance! Still the cost of Long Distance is very small with most VoIP providers.
Don't be afraid to download, install, and play with Asterisk. It's quite powerful. Note though that Asterisk needs lots of CPU in order to function as a decent phone switch. A 1Ghz box with lots of RAM and a SCSI HD could probably handle 5 phones, whereas a 2GHz box could probably handle 20 phones... It scales well, but does need CPU in order to function nicely under load.
The highest load, seems to be from VoiceMail/AutoAttendent activities; servicing these seems to need very fast CPU and a SCSI disk subsystem. The actual phone connections don't require very much processing power in order to sustain the connections.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Jon Carnes
-- Ralph "Chip" Blach [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Linux Technology Center Raleigh, NC 27514 outside 919-543-1207 tie 441-1207
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