[lug] VOIP setup advice

[Nate Duehr]

Daniel Webb wrote:
> I now have two residences about 100 yards apart connected by 802.11b.  I
> need phone service in both locations, but it seems like a lot of money
> to be giving the phone company ($50 absolute minimum).  So, I'm
> considering offering to pay a neighbor the difference to upgrade their
> DSL to the top-tier service, piggybacking on their DSL, and use Asterisk
> as my PBX server, with two Digium IAXy (S100I):
> 
> http://voipstore.pulver.com/product_info.php?products_id=52&osCsid=c578bb0aacaac6118932f0adce9dcfcb

First off, why Asterisk?  Are there advanced features in it where you 
need/want to run your own PBX?  Do you need extensions and support for 
multiple SIP phones?

To simply extend one building's analog phone line to another over IP, 
there are ATA's out there that will do FXO on one end and FXS on the 
other that you can poke their IP addresses into them via touch-tones 
(DTMF) from a connected phone.  KISS principal applies here if you have 
anyone in your building who can barely dial a phone.  Make it work 
reliably first, then add features.  :-)

> and using livevoip.com with two DIDs for $14 + 1.2 cents a minute (still
> unsure if the per-minute rate is for outgoing calls or incoming and
> outgoing).  

Why pay a per-minute rate at all... plenty of VoIP providers doing 
flat-rate service these days.  Hunt around a bit.

If all you're looking for is to "put a phone line" where there already 
is IP... one of the flat-rate services with their bundled ATA is 
probably the simplest solution.  (i.e. Vonage, etc.)

One thing to consider... if the "head-end" of your network is typical 
SOHO routers and such, voice quality may be a problem when the overall 
outbound/inbound pipe is fully loaded.  Linksys (and others) make SOHO 
routers that do QoS now that can help with that, giving your ATA or 
whatever you use priority over other data traffic.

You can get FXO/FXS cards for Asterisk for about $9 these days.  If 
you're dying to have the complexity of setting up the PBX machine, plug 
the phone line in building A into one of those cheap cards on an 
Asterisk box over there and then you can "extend" it via SIP, IAX, 
whatever.  If you already have an investment in old regular phones in 
building 2, you'll want an ATA to go from Ethernet back to analog.  But 
if you don't have phones over there yet, you could just use SIP phones.

The options are virtually endless... and range from "hack it yourself 
cheap" to "I bought Cisco CallManager and a pile of routing switches 
with Cisco IP phones and power over ethernet modules".  ;-)

Getting a phone line (either from a provider or from the first building) 
to the second building is a piece of cake -- the devil is in the details 
of exactly what features you want when you get done.  Free international 
calling to 25 countries?  Support for SIP phones, including softphones 
on your PC?  Conferencing?  Voicemail for multiple people via menu?  Via 
DID's?  Integrated with e-mail?  Music-on-hold?  "Follow-me" call 
routing that will ring all of your phones?  Access to community networks 
like Free World Dialup?

Nate