The Fruits of my Labour

Let us start out by saying that finding a fax-to-email solution that met our requirements was a chore.  Most people we asked for advice told us, "Faxing is archaic.  Forget that and use email instead!".  We agree, but as long as people insist on sending us important things by fax, we will need a way to receive them.

Allow us to introduce you to a telecom company called AcroVoice.  AcroVoice is based in Victoria BC and provides business and residential VoIP service, and also wholesales Canadian VoIP 9-1-1 and American E911, 411 Directory Assistance, Caller ID Name / CNAM Lookup, and of course, it also provides fax-to-email.  Keep reading to find the criteria with which we evaluated their fax-to-email service, and how AcroVoice performed.

Read more...

We don't like Skype.  Actually, that's not true.  We like the concept of Skype, that is, making free calls to people via the Internet.  We just don't like having to use a computer to do it.  We got all excited when we read about Skype for Asterisk, thinking it would be an easy way to receive calls from our Skype-using friends, on a regular phone.

But then we kept reading and said, "Sixty-six dollars per channel!?  Forget that!"

Fortunately, there is a cheaper - and in fact, free - way of accomplishing the same thing.

Read more...

We like Shaw Digital Phone a lot. Shaw Digital Phone is an implementation of VoIP that is run over Shaw's private network, separate from the Internet.  Shaw's reps actively deny that their service is VoIP - we suspect they want to differentiate themselves from providers of broadband VoIP.  This is perhaps with good reason. Because Shaw Digital Phone doesn't run over the Internet, typical VoIP issues caused by latency, bandwidth sharing, and internet outages are entirely eliminated.

Read more...

In a previous article, we wrote about how to build a call recorder out of Asterisk.  Simply conference in the call recorder's extension and Asterisk will record your conversation to a ulaw file.  It is possible for Asterisk to record in wav format but that requires more system resources.  Fortunately, there's a very easy way to convert ulaw files to wav format.  That is by using a program called SoX.  SoX is an open source command line utility for converting many types of audio formats.

Read more...

We have a PBX for home use because we want our telephones to have features that are not common or simply not available from any phone provider.  Some of these features include termination failover, custom incoming Caller ID, and call recording.  In this guide we will show you how to configure Asterisk for use as a home PBX.  If you are building a PBX for a small or home office you will likely use many of the same techniques.

If you do not yet own an Asterisk PBX, there are several ways you may get one.  You can build one out of an old PC you have lying around, or if you'd prefer a low-cost, low-power Asterisk server that is also a 4-port router, read our other article about How to Install Asterisk on an Asus WL-520GU Router.

Once you have Asterisk installed on your hardware of choice, read on to find out how we configured ours.

Read more...

Update: This article is almost a year old and some of the information is now outdated.  While it is certainly possible to run Asterisk on a WL-520GU router, there is now a better router that has been released since we bought ours.  It has a whopping eight times the memory and flash, and a CPU twice the speed of that in the WL-520GU - this is the best consumer-grade router with open-source firmware we've ever seen.  If you intend to run Asterisk on a router, we recommend the new Asus RT-N16.

We have also discovered that USB flash drives (at least the ones we have tried) are not up to the task of long-term use.  So, you may wish to instead use a CIFS share, or connect a USB hard drive instead of a USB flash drive.  Additionally, Asterisk may be installed on many other devices such as the Seagate Dockstar or a QNAP NAS.  If you have a favourite, please comment and let us know what it is and why.

The original article is below, in case it is still helpful for anyone.


Yes, you read right.  For this project, we're going to tell you how we built a fully functioning Asterisk PBX out of a $25 router.  We designed this project because we wanted an Asterisk server for use as a home PBX that could be built relatively easily, used as little power as possible, and cost as little as possible.  The best part is, a lot of the heavy lifting such as compiling Asterisk has already been done for us.  All we need to do is install it.

The first version of this article was published on the VoIP Tech Chat forum in August 2009.  The article that you are reading right now is the latest version.  The forum no longer allows us to edit the original post so we have moved it here.

A common question people ask is, "Why do you need a PBX for your home?"  The answer is we wanted telephone features that we haven't been able to find for a price we're willing to pay.  Now, we can have nearly any feature we want.  Some of these include termination failover, custom incoming Caller ID, and call recording.  The best part is that when we're done, the device will still function as a router.  You won't even need to wedge another AC adapter into your power strip.

Read more...

The question of VoIP security often comes up on various VoIP forums, and it's a good one.  Could someone be listening to your conversation?  While it's theoretically possible, here are a few security tips that will help keep your network secure.  The first thing we'd like to point out is that VoIP can actually be much easier to secure than traditional telephone service!

Read more...

Instead of using a customary ATA to convert legacy telephones or PBX equipment, some users of VoIP prefer to use a "pure IP" system and use IP phones.  There are advantages to both methods.

Read more...

For those of you who are just joining us, many VoIP users use a piece of hardware known as an Analog Telephone Adapter or ATA.  It allows you to use any analog telephone or legacy PBX and route your calls over the Internet using VoIP.  ATAs made by Linksys are the most popular, probably because of their wide range of configuration options.  They can be configured to match almost any region.  They include the PAP2T, SPA2102, and SPA3102.  Let's talk about the technical differences between these ATAs, give you some suggestions about where you can buy them, and most importantly, tell you how you can detect a counterfeit ATA.

Read more...

ATAs made by Linksys (formerly Sipura) are arguably the most popular ATAs amongst consumers and small businesses, because of their wide array of configuration options.  However, their default settings are not appropriate for users in Canada and the USA.  Let's talk about some settings you can use to ensure that your VoIP equipment properly matches your region.  We apologize in advance for Mango's verbosity but truly feel that the information in this article is very important.  If you're in a hurry, read the bold parts, and the last three paragraphs labeled important note.

Last update: January 14, 2012.

Read more...

One of the most common questions we get asked about VoIP is, "Is it still okay if I dial 10 digits for local calls?"  Guess what: that's up to you!  The dial plan on Linksys devices is one of their most powerful features, and with it, you can configure your dialing rules any way you want.

We were going to write an entire introduction to dial plans but discovered Cisco has rewritten lots of Linksys documentation and done a great job of it.  So instead, here's a link to the Cisco ATA Administration Guide - dial plans start on page 63 of the PDF.

What we will post are some excellent dial plans along with some examples of various tips and tricks you may not have thought of.  These should work with the PAP2T, SPA-2102, SPA-3102, and similar devices.

Read more...

We recently had Shaw Digital Phone installed at the office.  Shaw provides what is sometimes known as Cable Telephony, that is VoIP run over a managed network separate from the Internet.  Shaw's reps actively deny that their service is in fact VoIP - we suspect they wish to differentiate themselves from Broadband Telephony services due to the fact that companies offering analog phone lines have been long since branding VoIP as unreliable.  Shaw however has done a great job of eliminating the issue of bandwidth sharing as the data simply does not run over the Internet.  If someone does not want to learn to implement and maintain a broadband VoIP system, Shaw is an excellent cost-effective alternative.

Everyone asks us how the sound quality compares, and we can't really describe sound quality succinctly.  So, Mango made a movie about it:


As far as we're concerned, Shaw Digital Phone appears to be better quality than an analog line, and G.711 the best of all.

Read more...

I've been trying to decide which codec I want to run my VoIP system off.  There seem to be two that are the most popular.  The G.729 codec is certainly very appealing as far as bandwidth is concerned - it runs at only 8 kilobits - that's kilobits, not kilobytes! - per second.  It does have some limitations, however.

Asterisk servers have a nifty feature that lets me download recordings of voicemail in *.wav format.  I decided to call my voicemail a few different ways so that I could compare.

Read more...