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Routing Phone Calls Across the Network

Members of the ISP-Tech list discuss the feasability and practicality of routing voice calls across your ISP's data network.

[December 6, 2001]

On the ISP-Tech list in November, II asked,

"Can someone tell me what I need to route a telephone call across our Internet connection from one POP to another? What equipment would I need to use? I want to route three telephone numbers during the non-open times of a couple of remote POPs back to our main POP for tech support, billing, etc., without accumulating long distance charges."

A number of respondents suggested some choices of equipment:

[EC observed] "3Com's NBX 100 will do this and a lot more. It's a full phone system, and supposedly, it will handle IP phones across routers. As long as your network throughput is high enough, it should work great. I just started looking into such a beast for similar reasons."

[TB added] "Cisco makes gear to do this, too."

[MM agreed] "If you have modular Cisco routers (1720, 2610 or 3600) you can add VIC cards and send voice via the router. You can also have calls leave your main office and exit at the POP, to save you on long distance bills when you need to call the customer back."

[BL noted] "Altigen also makes this kind of hardware."

DD warned that it might not be worth the expense:

"I looked at doing this four years ago and opted for an 800 number instead, due to the cost of equipment. In four years, I don't think I've spent enough on the 800 number to pay for the equipment I would have needed-but things may be cheaper now."

—End