Re: [hylafax-users] Faxing over VOIP?

["Rob Rothberg" <rrothberg@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/16/06, A J Stiles <hylafax_resp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Thursday 16 November 2006 06:04, you wrote:
> Ok, so here I'm reading the book "Asterisk: The Future of Telephony",
> and so far very exciting, but I'm wondering, and maybe this is getting
> ahead of myself, but what's the missing piece of the puzzle between
> asterix and voip provider?
>
> Is just an internet connection going to be all that's required? Sounds
> too good to be true...

All you need is someone to provide a SIP to POTS gateway  (or alternatively,
an ISDN telephony card and an E1 line).  That allows you to receive calls
from, and make outgoing calls over, the PSTN.  You can do SIP to SIP
(actually SIP to IAX at one end, IAX to IAX over the net and IAX to SIP at
the other end; but the servers take care of all that)  over the internet
without a gateway, but all parties will need SIP telephones.

ISDN has a hefty up-front cost  (after all, it's basically a trunk line, and
the equipment that plugs into it needs correspondingly more regulatory
approval since it can do more damage);  but it does work out cheaper the more
you use it  (what you pay for calls doesn't have to cover maintenance of some
of the equipment that would ordinarily be inside the exchange.  It is now at
your end; you are digitising the calls and time-domain multiplexing them onto
that trunk line).  And don't forget, depending upon circumstances, you might
be able to sell a gateway service yourself and recoup some of your costs.  Be
warned, though; comms reselling is a full-on business in its own right, not
just a sideline.

--
AJS

 

Not sure this is an appropriate question for the HylaFAX list, but you don't need POTS at all.
My PBX is straight VoIP without SIP clients for the most part,
though of course that limits the PBX features tremendously.  I have a
vanity 800 number pointed at my VoIP DID number.  Incoming calls go to
an IVR, all extensions forward to outside lines... cell phones for the
most part, and Asterisk just opens up another VoIP channel to foward
the calls back out.  I even use a VoIP provider that allows CID
spoofing to maintain the CID info on the incoming calls at the outside
numbers I forward to.

For other resources on Asterisk, check the forums at www.trixbox.com, 
www.freepbx.org and www.voip-info.org
 as well as the wiki at http://aussievoip.com.au/wiki