Switching to VoIP

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Installing Legacy Interface Cards

|

37

It’s a good idea to give your Linux PC a static IP address, too. Though some adminis-

trators prefer dynamic addressing for just about everything on their networks, IP

telephones work better if their PBX is always located at the same address. Using a

dynamic (DHCP) address for a VoIP call server is like putting diesel in that Dodge

Omni—it might work for a short time, but pretty soon, it will cause problems.

For the duration of the book, the Asterisk server’s address will be assumed to be

10.1.1.10.

Installing Legacy Interface Cards

Using PCI interface cards and USB devices from Digium, VoiceTronix, Quicknet,

and others, Asterisk can communicate with POTS, FXO/FXS, and T1/E1 phone

lines:

• Standard analog telephones (Quicknet Internet PhoneJack, Digium TDM400P,

VoiceTronix OpenSwitch)

• Regular analog telephone lines (POTS) from the phone company (Digium X100P

and TDM400P VoiceTronix OpenLine)

• T1 and E1 telephone lines from the phone company (Digium T100P, E100P,

TE405P, and TE410P)

Many of the examples in this book use IP telephones, which communicate with the

Asterisk server using Ethernet and therefore don’t need specialized interface hard-

ware to access the PBX. A legacy interface card is not required in order to use Aster-

isk for VoIP—in fact, ...