localzuk Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 I am intending to migrate our custom build of Asterisk from its 7 year old server to a VM this summer, with a Sangoma Vega 50 4 port FXO interface connecting it to the outside world. I was hoping to move us to Trixbox, as it would make the system more "standardised", but it appears that the project has been killed off. So, what is the go to package for a quick and easy out of the box install of Asterisk? Is it the FreePBX distro? Elastix? AsteriskNOW?
Sc00by Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 We have spent the last 5 years migrating 300+ extensions from a 25yr old Alcatel to a VoIP based setup. We started with Trixbox as an experiment but quickly moved to FreePBX and have never looked back! As for the Vega 50 units, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. We bought a 4 port 50 followed by a 50 port 5000 and they gave us nothing but grief, both software and hardware issues. The biggest software issue is that when adding a user and 'Applying' the setting it would disconnect any active call on the box. OK if your on the 4 port but if your adding the 50th user to a full 50 port box it's not an ideal situation. This behaviour was confirmed by their tech dept! The hardware issue was a ringing current drop on long lines. The units claim 3km i think? - We couldnt get a 200metre line to work reliably. In the end we settled on FreePBX 2.11 primary which is mirrored to a secondary server off site, phones register to both for quick failover, Sangoma A101DE for our ISDN and Sangoma A400 for some backup analog lines, all duplicated across 2 servers. We also went with Cisco VG224 24port gateways for our analog lines and these have been 100% reliable even with our longest line (1300metres) which is beyong its listed spec.
localzuk Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 I'm using it as fxo, so once it is up and running there won't be any changes made to it. Freepbx will be handling all the extensions and call routing.
Sc00by Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 It might be ok as FXO but with us it was nothing but a headache causing roughly an 8 month delay in the project. With regards to the PBX itself, I would recommend FreePBX hands down, lots of support online and its very flexible to adding your own custom dial plans etc. Sangoma recently bought them over and now offer an appliance, hopefully they'll keep the free side of things (they claim they will but we'll see...) however it gives them funding to keep it moving.
cpjitservices Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Asterisk/FreePBX , or if you dont need ring groups etc 3CX has a free version.
localzuk Posted June 25, 2015 Author Posted June 25, 2015 3cx isn't an option I'm afraid - it no longer supports our handsets.
cpjitservices Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 With FreePBX... what android clients cam be used. I like 3CX because you can take your extension with you in the form of 3CX Android / IOS app ? anyone done this on freepbx ?
cpjitservices Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 3cx isn't an option I'm afraid - it no longer supports our handsets. Which handsets are you using @localzuk ?
pcstru Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 With FreePBX... what android clients cam be used. I like 3CX because you can take your extension with you in the form of 3CX Android / IOS app ? anyone done this on freepbx ? Yes. I generally use CSipSimple on an Nexus connecting to a FreePBX install with VOIP and FXO truncs. You can also use the 3CX softphone client - it's a while since I configured it all so I can't remember why I chose CSipSimple over that (but I do seem to remember there was a reason!).
localzuk Posted June 25, 2015 Author Posted June 25, 2015 With FreePBX... what android clients cam be used. I like 3CX because you can take your extension with you in the form of 3CX Android / IOS app ? anyone done this on freepbx ? I use Zoiper for connecting to Asterisk from my Android phone. Which handsets are you using @localzuk ? Grandstream GXP-2000 mostly, but a handful of newer equivalent models (GXP2120 for example).
cpjitservices Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 (edited) @localzuk - They aren't a supported device but they are compatible. https://www.grandstream.com/products/gxw_series/gxw410x/documents/gxw410x_interop_3cx.pdf You may need to edit some DHCP options for auto-provisioning to work. Edited June 25, 2015 by cpjitservices
pcstru Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 We have spent the last 5 years migrating 300+ extensions from a 25yr old Alcatel to a VoIP based setup. Aahh! I'm about to do almost exactly this. Did you use any external support? If so who?
Sc00by Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 We are all iPhones here and use Bria as the SIP client with the g729 codec which connects back in via OpenVPN. This works great on 3G and above mobile connections and WiFi As for our setup, we did it all inhouse
pcstru Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 As for our setup, we did it all inhouse You say you did it over 5 years, did you integrate the two systems or run them entirely separately from each other? Do you have any external support now? Where are you and can I come visit?!
Sc00by Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 You say you did it over 5 years, did you integrate the two systems or run them entirely separately from each other? Do you have any external support now? Where are you and can I come visit?! We installed a PRA2 ISDN card in the Alcatel which gave us a QSIG E1 link to the VoIP side. The Alcatel handled our external ISDN right up to the last day before change over. The same card in the VoIP server which was used for the Alcatel link is now used for our BT ISDN. With the link between the two systems in place it gave us time to gradually experiment and move extensions across (while doing everything else IT related at the same time) We still don't have any external support and don't feel we need it with what we have in place (mirrored, redundant links, backups etc). Unfortunately we're not open to any visits 1
pcstru Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Shame about the visit but understandable. BUT, does that mean you have a second hand PRA2 ISDN card going cheap? :-)
Sc00by Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Not at the moment, we're keeping it as a complete backup system There's a few on ebay just now with one in Germany for £100. We were 4 figures for ours!
localzuk Posted June 30, 2015 Author Posted June 30, 2015 Well, I've now installed and played around with both Elastix and FreePBX OS, and have determined that Elastix is a heck of a lot more polished. Something as simple as http proxy support, for example. I have had to fiddle around with a bunch of text files to put proxy addresses in on FreePBX, and still can't get the modules admin tool to use them via the web interface. Plus, Elastix has more features installed and free by default. FreePBX even wants you to pay for XMPP support when OpenFire is installable at a click in Elastix. So, yeah, think we're gonna go with Elastix! 1
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