[WXC/VFX] WorldxChange - open access - especially for Asterisk

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AndrewTD

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# 10227 10-Nov-2006 23:18

Hi all,
I've just spent quite some time reading all 14 pages of the posts in the initial WorldxChange topic.
I'm very impressed with the results people have been getting from WorldxXchange, and from the quick, open and thorough repsonses of Maverick from WorldxChange, and the helpful feedback of many of the other "posters".

I am interetested (as it appears are several others) in getting open access to WorldxChange for the Asterisk PBX systems that I put in place for my small to medium enterprise customers.
Today I pretty much have to use iTalk as their VoIP provider.
As everyone has testified, iTalk customer service is shockingly bad, and perhaps worst of all, they (or perhaps more accurately, people trying to call iTalk numbers) have in the past suffered from congestion.

Maverick has said that WorldxChange hope to be able to open up their service to Asterisk systems sometime next year.

Until they do that I really can't make use of worldxChange at all - as I need the functionality of a PBX as opposed to devices that make just one or two phones work in isolation from any other telephony at the site.

I'd very much appreciate it if Maverick / WorldxChange could keep us all posted with the progress they are making towards being able to open up to Asterisk (and other Sip based systems)

I'm quite sure that WorldxChange would find several willing volunteers here to help test and iron out any issues as they prepare the service for full release.

Also, can anyone recommend alternate VoIP providers whilst we wait for WorldxChange to open up to the Asterisk community here in NZ?

kind regards Andrew TD

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Hawkes Bay
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# 51946 11-Nov-2006 02:37

AndrewTD: Hi all,

Hi right back at ya.

I've just spent quite some time reading all 14 pages of the posts in the initial WorldxChange topic.

You win.

No really. Im not sure what the competition was, but reading all 14 pages of that thread deserves a prize. PM me your address and ill send you a new Microsoft Office branded something.

Welcome to Geekzone.

hmmm... just read your whole post - and decided your prize is for "best first post of the week"

maverick

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# 51961 11-Nov-2006 10:04

Yes we are hoping to be able to support Asterisk users next year as it is a market that we would like to support, but it is probably the hardest market to support

due to the open nature of SIP. I will be looking for some beta testers and will look to include some users from geekzone. When we are ready I will keep you informed and setup a private forum here for feedback once I have some more details, I do not have a ETA for this though guys I'm afraid so bear with us on lack of timings.

As for other providers that will support full SIP trunking.....from my view there is not a lot at all that will be able to do what you need, especially if you are looking for multiple DDI support over a single trunk setup. Sorry that dson't help much but the NZ VOIP market is not that developed yet.........

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

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AndrewTD

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# 51964 11-Nov-2006 10:15

maverick: ...
As for other providers that will support full SIP trunking.....from my view there is not a lot at all that will be able to do what you need, especially if you are looking for multiple DDI support over a single trunk setup. Sorry that dson't help much but the NZ VOIP market is not that developed yet.........

Thanks for that. I do understand you're not being able to put specific timeframes on things. All organsiastions have a finite amount of what I call "organisational bandwidth" (the available time of the organasiations management and operational staff), and it needs to be focused (in my view) on one or two high priorities at a time, do them well - bed them in, then move on quickly.

Now a really smart, flexible operator could always offer IAX trunks as a parrt of their suite of offerrings. That would suit the Asterisk community very well, and provide a very bandwidth effective connection method - which is good for both sides of the connection.

kind regards Andrew TD

sbiddle

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# 51996 11-Nov-2006 16:51

tonyhughes:
No really. Im not sure what the competition was, but reading all 14 pages of that thread deserves a prize. PM me your address and ill send you a new Microsoft Office branded something.

Can I get a prize for starting what is possibly the longest thread on Geekzone? :-)

coffeebaron

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# 52000 11-Nov-2006 17:54

sbiddle:
tonyhughes:
No really. Im not sure what the competition was, but reading all 14 pages of that thread deserves a prize. PM me your address and ill send you a new Microsoft Office branded something.

Can I get a prize for starting what is possibly the longest thread on Geekzone? :-)

I think it was the 4th largest thread, so close but no cigar :(

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=65&TopicId=10222

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exportgoldman

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# 52018 11-Nov-2006 22:23

I think corporate customers running Asterisk would be willing to pay more than the current prices listed, perhaps have a corporate rate to connect Asterisk systems, and offer a SLA / better helpdesk etc with the service.

Even offer a option to supply a Asterisk managed box for $x a month. I have been meaning to learn Asterisk myself, I understand the concepts and have a client running it - the engineer when ever the thing breaks, comes in restarts it, stuffs around for 2 hours then we have telephones again.

Woohoo!

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sbiddle

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# 52028 12-Nov-2006 04:56

exportgoldman:

I think corporate customers running Asterisk would be willing to pay more than the current prices listed, perhaps have a corporate rate to connect Asterisk systems, and offer a SLA / better helpdesk etc with the service.

Even offer a option to supply a Asterisk managed box for $x a month. I have been meaning to learn Asterisk myself, I understand the concepts and have a client running it - the engineer when ever the thing breaks, comes in restarts it, stuffs around for 2 hours then we have telephones again.

Woohoo!

Sounds like you need a new Asterisk expert - Asterisk is *very* stable if it is configured properly.

AndrewTD

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# 52050 12-Nov-2006 09:25

I'd have to agree with sbiddle - Asterisk is very stable when configured right, and using at least half-pie decent hardware i.e. a stable server (or PC) to run on.

kind regards Andrew TD

slipmat

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# 52185 13-Nov-2006 16:36

Hi All,

In regards to other SIP compliant devices, my company provides the Epygi Quadro PBX solution to SMEs.
We also, are hanging out for some of the more sophisticated features WxC has over iTalk.
The Quadro is an all-in-one box providing routing (w/ QoS), PBX features, voicemail, T.38 fax etc.

When WxC is ready, I can provide a test unit for your engineers to test with your network, so just say the word.

Thanks.

sbiddle

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# 52189 13-Nov-2006 17:23

slipmat: Hi All,

In regards to other SIP compliant devices, my company provides the Epygi Quadro PBX solution to SMEs.
We also, are hanging out for some of the more sophisticated features WxC has over iTalk.
The Quadro is an all-in-one box providing routing (w/ QoS), PBX features, voicemail, T.38 fax etc.

When WxC is ready, I can provide a test unit for your engineers to test with your network, so just say the word.

Thanks.

These units look quite cool - what sort of price are they in NZ?

slipmat

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# 52278 14-Nov-2006 12:40

sbiddle:
slipmat: Hi All,

In regards to other SIP compliant devices, my company provides the Epygi Quadro PBX solution to SMEs.
We also, are hanging out for some of the more sophisticated features WxC has over iTalk.
The Quadro is an all-in-one box providing routing (w/ QoS), PBX features, voicemail, T.38 fax etc.

Thanks.

These units look quite cool - what sort of price are they in NZ?

Yeah they are great little units - feature packed and simple to install and use.
There are a range of devices to suit SOHO businesses to larger businesses, but usually the total solution price is comparable to an Asterisk solution (we deal with Asterisk solutions also).
However I don't want to get off topic, so if you want more info feel free to PM or check out http://www.3bitvoice.co.nz

The VFX service will be a great complement to the Quadro once WxC opens it up to 3rd party SIP devices. I had the pleasure of attending one of the promo events held by Linksys in regards to their products and the VFX service, and was impressed with what I saw.

hads

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# 52755 16-Nov-2006 22:57

sbiddle: These units look quite cool - what sort of price are they in NZ?

They are quite cool.

They use some open source software inside, they are well priced, and probably one of the most compelling features for some: the FXO units (not the ISDN ones) have been telepermitted for New Zealand.

hads

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maverick

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# 52768 17-Nov-2006 05:48

hads:
sbiddle: These units look quite cool - what sort of price are they in NZ?

They are quite cool.

They use some open source software inside, they are well priced, and probably one of the most compelling features for some: the FXO units (not the ISDN ones) have been telepermitted for New Zealand.

hads

These devices has a level of compliancy with our system all ready but does require interop testing within our network, Matt has kindly supplied us a unit and it is at present going through interop testing, at this stage the unit is looking promising for being added to our supported devices list.

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

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macca51

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# 54378 1-Dec-2006 14:12

Maverick, currently testing Avaya IP Office V4 which supports SIP Trunking, but only have in-house units at present. Would be interested in testing when your SIP Trunk service is online next year. Keep me posted.

Bwooce

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# 54725 5-Dec-2006 19:41

@xaviercollin:

VFX lock down their devices to minimise their support costs. Therefore it costs us all less because there are not :
1. People on the phone asking why their Asterisk setup has stopped working when all they did was recompile their kernel
2. People badmouthing them in forums because the service doesn't work when they've "optimised" their ATA settings
3. People setting up multiple devices on the same number and expecting it all to work properly (wanting shared call appearance but not knowing how to arrange it).
4. People complaining the service is down when they can't push new, updated, config information out to the ATA.

Mix in "but my brother-in-law made it all werk perfuct" and you've got a lot of unhappy people who expected high reliability from their home phone service...

This is a common model and it is not done to annoy people; it is done to maximise profit. If you want it bad enough you can get the equivalent service from a variety of other providers, but it won't be integrated and it may not be reliable. You'll pay more or get less support, but then thats fair either way. If you really want to run your own PBX then there is a cost to this -- why should anyone forgo $$ because you want to twist a consumer-focussed commercial service into a cheap business option? I note that iTalk has put fair-use restrictions on for local calls, probably for this very reason.

Look at the problems iTalk has reportedly had due to the open access. I'm not one for security by obscurity but opening up all your settings to script kiddies and losing the ability to remotely update configs means it costs more money to support each customer.

Bruce

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