[Cialug] Asterisk Training

[Tom Pohl]

I agree that documentation on asterisk sucks.  I've found myself  
using the "documentation" (read: source) a lot for figuring out what  
options are available and what they actually do.

The one thing that I absolutely HATE about the IAXy is that there is  
no security around programming it.  Anyone on the lan segment can  
reprogram your iaxy at will with the iaxyprov tool.  In my opinion,  
VOIP should only be limited to trusted lan/wan environments anyway.

-Tom


On Nov 30, 2007, at 10:49 AM, Nathan C. Smith wrote:

> I'm not quite sure why this is, but you are the only person who I  
> have ever
> heard really extol the IAXY.  A lot of people won't touch them with  
> a 10
> foot pole.  I've had mixed experiences with our IAXy - probably not  
> near the
> extent of usage yours gets..  Personally, I prefer the sipuras with a
> cordless phone.  It is true that the IAXY works very well with NAT  
> and that
> is a very strong point.
>
> I'm pretty sure the Sipuras I have used deliver message  
> notification to the
> phone.  I've used a couple different models of cordless (with LCD  
> displays)
> and IIRC they all have indicated messages when there have been  
> some.  I'm
> unsure how reliable they have been once all the messages have been  
> picked up
> - whether they clear the message waiting indicator or not.
>
> <rant on>
> And here is the place where Asterisk goes off the map (here there be
> monsters).  In a commercial phone system there are a lot of  
> features like
> this that you expect to work reliably and be well defined in the  
> manual,
> etc.  IMHO this is where asterisk falls down.  Some of these  
> features are
> known by brand names, there may or may not be a standard defined  
> for them
> and they may or may not work in the phone you are using if they are  
> even
> implemented in Asterisk.  What I think really needs to happen in  
> Asterisk is
> some regression testing. Take a version of Asterisk, implement a  
> commercial
> phone system equivalent - all the features/as many features as  
> possible.
> And then go through and test them all under as many circumstances and
> permutations as possible.  Quality control.  Part of this could be  
> automated
> but since commercial phones should be involved, some of it could not.
>
> I was hoping we would get to a place where we could do this kind of  
> testing
> (as well as code testing, harnesses, etc) in the CallWeaver  
> project, but the
> same thing seems to happen.  People start implementing features  
> from the hip
> and everybody wants something different and the scope creeps.  You  
> never get
> a solid snapshot that is good for deep testing and nothing gets  
> nailed down.
> Maybe that's a big part of the reasons a commercial phone system  
> costs so
> much.
>
> ....and that's what really grinds my gears.  ;)
>
> </rant off>
>
> -Nate
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Tom Pohl [mailto:tom at tcpconsulting.com]
>> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:32 AM
>> To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
>> Subject: Re: [Cialug] Asterisk Training
>>
>> Have you looked at IAXy's (I guess it's called S101I now).  I have
>> several of them and have found their quality to be better than the
>> sipura for long term usage (maybe i've just had really bad luck with
>> sipura devices).
>>
>> The really cool part about them is that they traverse NAT very well
>> since they use IAX instead of SIP.  I've taken one on
>> vacation with a
>> real phone and it's quite cool to have your home phone ring wherever
>> you are :)  Oh, and mine notify my phone for VM notification, but I
>> think it's a combination of features of my panasonic cordless phone
>> and the iaxy
>>
>> -Tom
>>
>>
>> On Nov 30, 2007, at 10:16 AM, jrnosee at gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>> For those not working w/ asterisk in a corporate environment, if
>>> anyone has a sipura device, could we take a look at those
>> as well?
>>> I'm thinking of using one of those @ my home with the mobile/
>>> asterisk bridge project I'm working on.  I'd like to know if the
>>> sipura can handle sending VM notification to home phones as
>> well as
>>> some other things.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Cialug mailing list
>>> Cialug at cialug.org
>>> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Cialug mailing list
>> Cialug at cialug.org
>> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Cialug mailing list
> Cialug at cialug.org
> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug