[olug] Asterisk consultants and local voip providers

[Jaymz Ringler]

Ryan Stille wrote:
> Hi Jaymz.  I tried calling ViaTalk but the tech they put me through
>  to was about worthless. We need up to 6 concurrent calls, so it
> looks like we'd need 3 lines from them (at first he wanted to sell
> me 15 lines $42 each for our 15 extensions!)  I asked about just
> being able to bump up the simultaneous calls on a single "line" (a
> trunk?) but he didn't think you could do that.

sounds like you got  a hold of a rookie.   ??????   3 lines (2
concurrent calls each) would give you your  6 calls.   But,   they
come in pairs..   so you would actually get 8 concurrent calls.  I've
seen some talk in their user support forums under requested features
and single additional lines are on the list.     Reduced prices for
additional lines nonetheless.    We'll see if they honor that request
in the future. Basically you can get 8 calls for $86/month.


>
> So if we had three trunks, can Asterisk be setup to automatically
> start using the second trunk when the first trunk already has two
> calls going on?  And what about coming back in - now there are
> three phone numbers coming in, but we just want people to be able
> to use our one main number.  I suppose ViaTalk can forward the
> first number when busy to the second, then to the third, etc.?
>
  Yes, when you create an out-bound-route in Freepbx, you first set
the channels.   Viatalk handles 2 calls per sip trunk therefore you'd
set it to 2 channels.   You then add the trunks to be used and in
which order.

In the viatalk management console, you set up the call routing between
your sip trunks / numbers.    Call hunt / rollover when busy etc. 
If 2 people call in on your main number, the next call will roll over
to a second sip trunk if you set it up in viatalk console to do so.
They also have "network unavailable" forwarding in case your asterisk
box blows up or your Internet connection goes down.

> It seems a lot more complicated than just finding a provider that
> can do as many simultaneous calls as we want on a single trunk.
> There is a "Maximum channels" setting in the trunk settings page on
>  freePBX, so I assume you can do more than just 2.

I'd say it's a inconvenient.   It's 2 channels per viatalk
trunk/number.    At first I was getting 4 per number but they
throttled it back.
>
> He also didn't think you could change the caller ID on the extra
> lines, so when the third outgoing call from our office was made, it
>  wouldn't show up as coming from our main number.
>

This is true.   I'm desperately trying to get them to allow a company
to set outbound cid to one number on all trunks.    They're hesitant I
think because there are some states that have legislation about
falsifying CID info.  Probably due to pranksters or E911 ???    You
can try to change it, but they override it with your trunk info.


Viatalk has some drawbacks, but the price is right.     We went from 6
pstn lines and an $850/month phone bill to $86/month for 8 voip
lines.   We also average 14,500 minutes per month.