Asterisk FAQ

As all FAQs are, this is a work in progress. There will be FAQs left unanswered and FAQs that haven't been asked yet (but will be) that will need to be added to this page. This is just a starting point.

  1. In the Dial application, (e.g. Dial,Zap/1-0 (pause) 0418640015), what's a pause character?

    It's 'w' for "wait" since p might represent "pulse" at some point.

  2. Is it possible to have multiple Quad T1 boards in an asterisk system? In other words, can a system be configured with 8, 12, or even 16 T1's in a single system?

    The largest configuration currently (as of March 2002) is 3 in a Dual 1.8 Ghz Athlon MP system. It works fine for the conferencing application it's running, but that is not a configuration that is recommended at this point.

  3. Can instances of Asterisk running at separate locations utilize VoIP facilities on a WAN to appear as one system?

    Yes, that's a workable model. Asterisk supports using other remote asterisk servers to extend their dialplan. So, for example, at each school you could configure the Asterisk server locally to know how to route a set of local extensions, and then simply point it to the central server for other extensions.

  4. I bought a Creative Labs VOIP-Blaster. How can I hook it up to use with Asterisk?

    You may hook up the VOIP-Blaster to Asterisk, but you can only use it to talk to other VOIP-Blasters. Due to the patent on the codec used by the VOIP-Blaster, it isn't likely that Asterisk will allow the VOIP-Blaster as a simple handset (other than with other VOIP-Blasters) anytime soon.

  5. What can I use as a handset with Asterisk?

    There are several options for an FXS solution.

    1. Internet Phonejack is the most inexpensive solution. At $100 for ISA or $150 for PCI, this is probably good only if you're setting up under 5 phones.
    2. SNOM IP Phone handsets. At $300 a pop, these are rather expensive, but they're fully supported by Asterisk and come with the Asterisk IP stack preloaded. See the GnoPhone site for everything these phones are capable of.
    3. A channel bank is the most expensive for the unit, but you get the most bang for your buck. Although they run upwards of $500, they will allow more than one phone handset -- and a traditional handset, at that.
    4. Digium now sells an FXS card in 1, 2, 3, or 4 FXS port configurations.

  6. Why can't Asterisk find termcap (or openssl or ...)?

    It actually can't find the development headers. If you're having this problem, there's a good chance, you're using RedHat or Mandrake or another RPM based distribution. Find the identically named packages with the word "-devel" and install them. This should take care of your problem.

  7. I'm just exploring Asterisk right now. Can I use my voicemodem to try it out?

    The short answer is no. Yes, technically, you might be able to, if you are knowledgable and you have a full-duplex modem (most are only half-duplex). However, if your time is worth anything, it's probably cheaper for you to purchase the X100P (or a TDM DevKit) from Digium.