Asterisk / Trixbox digital PABX in real world use
May3
What this looks like is a old Toshiba laptop sitting on a shelf. Which is correct except right now it is handling up to a few hundred phone calls a day as a digital PABX running a Trixbox build of Asterisk+Linux software .
What does this mean? Well…Wanaka Wastebusters, where it is installed (please do not steal it :-), has one phone number people can ring in the normal phone like way. That phone number has been parked at a service provider and there enters the internet. Over the interweb thingy this laptop talks to the provider and can conduct up to five simultaneous calls. At Wanaka Wastebusters there are ten extensions that each have voice mail and are available through the IVR (a recorded message you get when you ring the number) – all of these features are running off the laptop. People can dial within each others extensions and transfer calls etc and generally be productive hopefully.
Nice – but why? Well it saves a few hundred dollars a month on line charges for extra phone lines with Telecom and means we can add users and features as we need them. We can also make use of cheaper calling rates and eventually peer directly hopefully with other businesses using SIP which is the glue like protocol making all the VOIP stuff happening. It is an acronym world.
Pretty cool use for an old computer huh. I’m not sure how long a laptop will last always on but it has been working for 5 weeks no problem and because it has a battery even has its own UPS built in. We might have a sweepstake on what gives up first – the power pack I’d say.
In case of failure or hacking I am building another one on a old IBM Pentium 4 which could be plugged in as a replacement. What I would really like though is a few Sheevaplugs, amazing 5w super computers. That is ’super’ as in awesome not as in a Cray – although they are probably faster than most Crays ever built… maybe one day …
Wireless network between houses – three years and counting…
Jan0
We have had a wireless network operating between 7 houses for around 3 years. The savings on Internet charges have been large and worth the small amount of pain in setting it up and maintaining it.
I get asked a lot about how it works and what we use so here is a brief explanation.
We have a 2.4ghz standard wifi A/G network setup in a star configuration. The central house has a Linksys WRT54G wireless router attached to a standard ADSL 2+ modem, a very reliable unit which has external antenna connections unlike some other wireless routers, you can get these pretty cheap on Trademe. Attached to that and mounted on a small mast is an omni directional antenna from www.gowifi.co.nz something like this.
Each client house has a Linksys WAP54G wireless access point, these are again solid units and we used them because they can be used in reverse as a client instead of an access point. Note – there is a strange bug when configuring these, you need to use IE or Chrome when accessing the configuration panel as some editions of Firefox do not work with it. These have a directional antenna (similar to this) aimed at the hub. Most of these are inside houses and aimed through a window.
Almost all our failures have been at the modem, either it losing its session and not restoring it properly with the provider or it dying completely. We also have a troublesome shelter belt that has grown up and blocked two houses – the gear is true line of sight stuff.
This has enabled our house to lower its telecoms bill from $100+ to $20 by using a voip provider for the phone. Voip is getting better and better in this application but was inconsistant for the first year – still, we are early adopters and that is what you get.
New small business Voip system up and running
Nov3
Well it’s been a bit of an epic – mainly struggling with diverse hardware and getting Telecom to give up the Wanaka Wastebusters number. But the new internet based phone system is now up and running.
The system:
- 4 x lines on standard phones through 1 x Linksys ATA and 1 x WAG with 2 ATA ports
- 4 x people using softphones – X-Lite
- 1 x Linksys SPA922 VOIP deskphone
- Auto attendant on main calling in line
- Eftpos and Fax on a POTs line which also carries the ADSL
- Voicemail on all extensions with voicemail sent to email addresses where necessary
Lessons so far:
- Linksys ATA’s seem to be more reliable and give better call quality than a software phone on a PC.
- Starting out with one sort of end point (ATA’s) would have been easier. Having people on three different solutions makes config and customization a bit of a nightmare.
- The free version of X-Lite does not do a blind transfer, I haven’t found a free softphone yet that does but will try Zoiper tomorrow.
- Without a local digital PBX (Wastebusters is using the Kiwilink service) you are restricted to the options that the external service offers on their (usually Asterisk) setup. In this case a limit of 9 speed dial numbers restricting the pool of possible blind transfer speed dials.
Savings
- Reduced monthly rentals by around $200
- Cheaper calling costs
- Flexible extensible PBX features, mostly changeable through web interface
VOIP system for small business install…in progress..
Aug0
Wanaka Wastebusters has a second hand Samsung analogue PABX that was installed a few years ago. It is relatively reliable (apart from dropping a few calls … hmmm) but the interface to make changes to the settings has prevented any economical evolution to bring it up to a usable solution for the business. This alone makes it worth replacing.
I have been slightly obsessed with VOIP for a while, mucked around with Asterisk on and off and have used World Exchanges VFX service at home for a year or two. I’m not sure why I have this obsession – I suspect because it is such an attractive disruption – voice, and all its features, becoming as cheap and easy as email.
I managed Cactus to start using VFX for it’s main calling line a while back, and now hardware QOS has improved and DSL speed settled down (you can finally get full speed both ways relatively cheaply) it is time to try on a larger scale. The benefits are too big to ignore.
- Hosted PBX – no hardware investment…and features+ like the below…
- Web interface to control the PBX as opposed to semi-blind phone keypad inline programming
- Voicemail to email – email seems to be THE collation point for business communication
- Softphones like X-Lite, point and click phone action! Address books!
- Cheaper calling
- Movable phones – take your latop to the other side of the world and you are still on the same system
I have been working on the implementation plan and have agreement from Wastebusters, I’ll write it up here as it happens.
Clients
