[Tfug] VoIP/PSTN bridges (?)

[Nick Lopez]

On 2012-08-29 10:52, Bexley Hall wrote:
> Nowadays, something like the first device would be used to
> connect a VoIP PBX to the PSTN.  Something like the second device
> would be used to connect a VoIP PBX to a traditional station set.
> (Though I won't add the VoIP compatibility requirement to the
> mix as I can work around that).
>
> - What are each of these devices/functionalities called?

    That magic term your looking for is ATA (Analog Terminal Adapter).

> - What likely products should I investigate?  (size, cost)

    I have an old Sipura SPA3000 I use for messing around with stuff, it
has an independent FXO & FXS port. It can answer calls from
MaBell^WUSWest^WQWest^WCentury Link and send them to your asterisk box
for interrogating the caller, then when your Asterisk contortions have
deemed the caller worthy it can forward the call over to the FXS port 
to
ring your phones. A quick perusal of voipsupply only turns up one
current ATA that has both FXO & FXS ports, that is the successor to my
old SPA3000, the Linksys SPA3102
(http://www.voipsupply.com/linksys-spa3102) for $70. Jumping up to a 2
in/2 out VoIP gateway kicks it up to $315
(http://www.voipsupply.com/audiocodes-mp-114-2fxs2fxo).
    You might be able to find something along the lines of what you want
cheap from Grandstream, but be warned, they're cheap for a reason. If
you're looking more for an internal PCI/PCIE card it looks like they
aren't any cheaper new, but I know somebody trying to offload an old
digium 4-port analog card.

    - nick