My office has two analog lines (ph. & fax) hooked up to a Vonage supplied Motorola VT2542-VD Router. We're on the "Small Business Premium Unlimited" plan. There's just two of us that use the phone. Our net connection is a six mbit-ish Comcast line. We'd like to set up a PBX! I'm handy with Linux and was hoping to use Asterisk on Ubuntu, or trixbox. We are planning on buying a couple SIP phones. We don't need separate tele. number, just extensions.
Would our PBX setup with SIP phones be something like this?
NET <--> Comcast HW <--> Router/Switch <--> PBX, SIP Phones
What, if anything, in the above diagram translates the VonageVoip to something that, say, my Asterisk box would understand? Also, what would handle our fax needs if we got rid of all the analog lines?
My understanding is that you need SIP information to run a PBX which Vonage does not give out unless you get a softphone acct. The problem with softphone is that it does not come with an unlimited plan.
I would be very careful about this.
_________________ St. Louis, MO Vonage Customer from February 2005 to May 2010 ISP: Charter Router: Linksys RT31P2 (blew up during electrical storm)
What are you looking for the PBX to be able to provide for you? Most of the features that one typically looks to a PBX for already come with the service, you would just get a line for each desk.
Thanks for the responses! I'd like a good deal of the following Asterisk PBX features:
ADSI On-Screen Menu System Alarm Receiver Append Message Authentication Automated Attendant Blacklists Blind Transfer Call Detail Records Call Forward on Busy Call Forward on No Answer Call Forward Variable Call Monitoring Call Parking Call Queuing Call Recording Call Retrieval Call Routing (DID & ANI) Call Snooping Call Transfer Call Waiting Caller ID Caller ID Blocking Caller ID on Call Waiting Calling Cards Conference Bridging Database Store / Retrieve Database Integration Dial by Name Direct Inward System Access Distinctive Ring Distributed Universal Number Discovery (DUNDi™) Do Not Disturb E911 ENUM Fax Transmit and Receive (3rd Party OSS Package) Flexible Extension Logic Interactive Directory Listing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Local and Remote Call Agents Macros Music On Hold Music On Transfer: - Flexible Mp3-based System - Random or Linear Play - Volume Control Predictive Dialer Privacy Open Settlement Protocol (OSP) Overhead Paging Protocol Conversion Remote Call Pickup Remote Office Support Roaming Extensions Route by Caller ID SMS Messaging Spell / Say Streaming Media Access Supervised Transfer Talk Detection Text-to-Speech (via Festival) Three-way Calling Time and Date Transcoding Trunking Voip Gateways Voicemail: - Visual Indicator for Message Waiting - Stutter Dialtone for Message Waiting - Voicemail to email - Voicemail Groups - Web Voicemail Interface Zapateller
Forwarding calls to outside telephone numbers would especially be useful.
as helpful as many of the asterix features are, most of them will be of little use for your 2 person office. If you need call forwarding, that is already an available feature of Vonage as is call forwarding to other Vonage #s etc. Voicemail is also a feature. So I'm not very clear on the "real" advantage of having asterix in light of the fact that you will have to get an additional account that does not have unlimited calling plans with it.
_________________ St. Louis, MO Vonage Customer from February 2005 to May 2010 ISP: Charter Router: Linksys RT31P2 (blew up during electrical storm)
Honestly, when people want to use a PBX I tell them to go with a company like Broadvoice that offers Bring your own device. if you connect your Vonage Adapter to the Trunk line on the back of your pbx, you are getting compressed audio, uncompressing it at the Vonage box, then recompressing it from your pbx, this is the exact reason calls to tech support sound like **** after they are routed from india to the US. While, I personally do use my softphone to connect my main Vonage line to my pbx, its only worth it for me because I still have my Vonage Employee plan which includes a free softphone. Also, you lose your unlimited minutes if you're bouncing calls out of a softphone line.
They're doing the exact same thing that I said. They want you to sign up for a softphone and use the softphone number to login to the Vonage trunk. Again, this is a bad idea. 1) Your outbound caller ID will be your softphone not your regular phone number. 2) Even with an unlimited minute plan, the softphone line only has 500 outbound minutes, so you're not using your unlimited minutes anyway.
This is why I suggest broadvoice. Their unlimited plan is the same price, and if you're going to spend the extra 5$ a month on a softphone, you might as well spend it on the Bring Your Own Device plan instead and connect your pbx to your real line, and use your unlimited minutes. Vonage does not have bring your own device.
Asterisk is super configurable and extremely reliable. All of Vonage's pbx's are Asterisk. If you're having bad luck with it you're doing something wrong.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Vonage Service Plans
Vonage VoIP Members
Members New onleda New Today 18 Yesterday 12 Total 63280 Who Is On Site Visitors 185 Members 1 Total 186
1 Unlimited calling and other services for all residential plans are based on normal residential use by single-family household members. A combination of factors are used to determine abnormal use, including but not limited to: the number of unique numbers called, international calls forwarded, minutes used and other factors. Subject to our Reasonable Use Policy and Terms of Service.
HIGH SPEED INTERNET REQUIRED. † LIMITED TIME OFFER, VALID FOR NEW LINES ONLY. RATES EXCLUDE INTERNET SERVICE, SURCHARGES, FEES AND TAXES. As a subscriber to Vonage service, you agree to be bound by the Terms of Service. See www.vonage.com/tos for details. ¤ Where available. The number transfer process takes approximately 10 business days from the time you confirm your transfer request. Alarms, TTY and other systems may not be compatible. Vonage 911 service operates differently than traditional 911. See www.vonage.com/911 for details.
Thinking of signing up for Vonage but have questions? Business and Residential customers can call Toll Free 24 hours a day at: 1-888-692-8074 No Vonage Promotional Codes or Coupon Codes are required at www.vonage.com.
The Vonage Forum provides the Vonage sign up Best Offer Promotion Deal as a means to offset
our cost. If you are considering signing up for Vonage and have found our Vonage
News, Customer Reviews, Forums & all other parts of this site useful, please
use our Vonage FREE Month sign up offer Deal Coupon.
Vonage VoIP Phone Service is redefining communications by offering consumers & small business VoIP Internet phones, an affordable alternative to traditional phone service.
The Vonage VoIP Forum Generated This Page In: 0.44 Seconds and 347 Pages In The Last 60 Seconds The Vonage VoIP Forum
Members
New 
New Today 18
Yesterday 12
Total 63280
Who Is On Site
Visitors 185
Members 1
Total 186
+0.07