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We have a PBX system from Nortel. I guess the model is Meridian. Over the years, parts are becoming harder to come by and it's probably time for a new system. I'm interested in Asterisk because it would be cheap to do (I think).

The lines that come into the building (6 for phone service) are analog POTS. It looks like Asterisk would allow me to load-up a PC with 6 analog modems, but I don't see any examples of this type of set up. What kind of modems would I need?

Also, am I setting myself up for a headache? The Nortel system is functioning now with one dead line. It's not the end of the world, so I can take my time getting this done right. If I can make a test system with just two incoming lines and two hardware phones, I will try that first.

Is a 10/100 network with other network and internet traffic on it good enough for a possible 6 extensions being used at one time?


10/100 network will be just fine for 6 lines at once without a problem.

The hardware Sein recomends will work for you, and work well. Loading up with the cheap modems doesn't scale past 2 ports very well.

Asterisk is very nice, and can do some wonderful tricks if you know how to program it. Doing what you want would be easy to set up, and quite possibly be able to be done with Asterisk @ Home http://asteriskathome.sourceforge.net/ It's a distro that does a full install of Centos and Asterisk, has a nice web interface to configure. I'm currently using it at a couple of clients for their phone systems.

This wiki is pretty good for info: http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
_________________________
--Ben
78GB MkIIa, Dead tuner.