atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Aastra Telephones & Systems Astrisk call quality and dropped parked calls

I've been asked to have a look at a Asterisk VOIP system. It has 2 issues: some phone voice quality is poor and sounds like a speakerphone and sometimes parked calls get dropped. Before I commit to looking into this, can I get some insight into what I should look for? I am asuming poor network layout. This being a small private school I suspect they went super cheap with the network side. I am totally not familiar with this system. I would like the new client but if this needs to be sub'd out I need to know ASAP.

Asterisk runs under Linux on a standard PC. If you don't have knowledge of both, your new client would be better served by someone that does. (Man, I hate to be a bearer of bad news! )
That said, Linux and Asterisk are open source programs.(FREE) If you have a spare PC (Doesn't take a whole lot of memory or the fastest processor) you might want to start studying. Asterisk and Linux are not going away. Periphial cards are on e-bay and other places.

I work with Linux off and on. While I am not what you would call expert I can handle it. I go way back with OSs like DOS, VMS and others. If I can download the Asterisk system I can load it on a virtual machine here. If I cannot handle it I will pass it on but at least I can get a little something for perhaps fixing the existing issues.

But please, where would one begin to troubleshoot this? Is it a software issue or is it just a bad handset? The problem is reported as intermittent. They have Aastra phones, models 6755i and 6731i.

The main problem is excessive echo on some calls. My first hunch is they have Dlink switches bought from Costco and have their phone network on the same LAN as their classrooms with 50 students accessing the Internert at the same time.

Asterisk is available on the internet for free. There are also some versions with proprietary GUI's and/or other non open source stuff, that folks want money for, so beware of what you are getting. Most periphial cards have brand-specific software that they work best with, although they'll usually work 'OK' with the default Asterisk software.

Can't comment on the Aastra phones, no experience.

Echo can be dealt with, in the Asterisk, either in software or hardware. Need to find out what, if anything, has been implemented. But all of the problems you describe are very often due to poor QOS, either within the LAN, or out on the 'net'. And if they are using a 'dynamic' broadband link....!

If you get out on the internet, there is a world of info on Asterisk, as well as the manual, that isn't too 'dry', so to speak. Don't pay for it, it's a free download. I printed mine out. (What a pain doing 2-sided print with 20 pound paper on a 'economically priced' printer!)

I think there's some confusion here. What do Aastra phones have to do with Asterisk?

Those are the phones they chose to use with the system. Is it not relevant?

Thanks LH. I am pretty sure I will find a disaster waiting for me. I strongly suspect they will have a 768K dynamic service and daisy chained 15 dollar switches from PC Club. They did not specify their provider. What I am going to do is a full walkthrough on Friday. I've got Asterisk up and running on my server. What is the main difference between the Free PBX versus the Asterisk GUI install?

Sorry, I've only messed with the basic Asterisk and read notes about the other versions.

Asterisk Gui was a product that Digium was writing on their own.

Freepbx is a gui that a community wrote. Digium now uses Freepbx on their AsteriskNow product. They have switchvox which has its own gui for people that pay.

The issue with Gui's are the macros that are written do not allow you to really make changes through CLI to the conf files.

I would not really suspect the Aastra phones, I would suspect the network, echo comes from cheap handsets, or even the cards. We need more info, what type of TDM hardware is there? Are they pots lines? Or are they using an ATA to convert lines to SIP? Or is it a PRI/T1? What version of Asterisk are they running? Zaptel or Dahdi? Which echo canceller are they using the standard one MGCP or Oslec? Oslec is a better choice.... I had a customer with horrible echo I installed Oslec and cleared it up right away.

Also their bandwith to the internet is a mute point, unless they are sending calls over it....

more than likely its not the phones. Its more likely the bandwidth.