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Old 8th Jul 2017, 1:44 am   #1
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Asterisk

I thought it might be fun to have a discussion amongst Asterisk users, hobbyist like myself, or business systems.
I know Julie uses it, and Pellseinydd I think.
Who else?
73s
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Old 8th Jul 2017, 5:43 am   #2
MrBungle
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Default Re: Asterisk

I have no idea what the config is but my company uses it. Certainly less hassle and cost than the Avaya system it replaced. Think we had 150 odd users last time I looked. But then again my team use Slack and our mobiles for all our comms now because we're all slackers and work from home.
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Old 8th Jul 2017, 2:12 pm   #3
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Default Re: Asterisk

Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
I know Julie uses it, and Pellseinydd I think.
I certainly do use 'Asterisk'. For those who are not sure what it is - it is a free program which effectively converts a PC into a telephone system - in its basic form as a PABX. However I (and about forty others in the UK) use it to emulate the old GPO pubic network as it was in the UK thirty or more years ago. We have not only old telephones connected to it but also a number of former GPO public exchanges - UAX5, UAX12 UAX13 etc. Others have old electro-mechanical PAX?PABXs and other have early electronic systems - Senators, Ambassadors, Heralds, London 8/16/32 etc. There is no limit. I've been on the network which is part of CNet (Collectors Network) for about twelve years now. CNet extends into over twenty countries as far away as Australia and New Zealand. I have approaching two hundred and fifty lines hosted off my Asterisk - some are just individual telephones, other are number ranges of complete exchanges which are sent out to the distant end. How do you connect? A number of ways from using a little box known as an Analogue Terminal Adapter (most only work with DTMF but the Grandstream HT502 will work with pulse dialling) for a couple of lines through to building your own Asterisk system to simulate a complete exchange. If you use an old PC, you can get a PCI card that slots in to give incoming and out going lines that work with pulse dialling. The network uses the old STD codes so London is still 01 and Leeds 0532 etc. We also have the old local dialling codes in use where appropriate. The old 'Speaking Clock' is still running on TIM in Director Areas and 8081 or the even older Speaking Clock code. For International calls we dial 010 followed by the old Country code and their old 'Area' codes. So the original Australian Speaking Clock is 010 61 3 1194 - (1194 - the old Speaking Clock code) and reaches the now preserved clock still running in the Telstra Telecoms Museum in Melbourne !!
There is no line rental or call charges!! To join just email CircuitProvision@CNet.uk.com

Forgot to mention - it even extends onto 'smartphones' using the old GPO 'Radiophone' service 03XX STD codes. Who remembers the first UK carphone service starting on 28th October 1959 and reaching London in the mid-1960's?

Last edited by Pellseinydd; 8th Jul 2017 at 2:21 pm.
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Old 8th Jul 2017, 4:02 pm   #4
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Default Re: Asterisk

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pellseinydd View Post
How do you connect?
I have a couple of ATA-connected CNet lines, along with with my BT line, into a London 16 PABX.
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Old 8th Jul 2017, 6:39 pm   #5
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: Asterisk

I used to maintain London systems. Popular in hotels.
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Old 8th Jul 2017, 10:40 pm   #6
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Default Re: Asterisk

Hi, I too am an Asterisk user and connected to CNet thanks to many conversations with Pellseinydd in the early days (and also occasionally these days, which reminds me I must ring soon)

It can be a huge learning curve, especially where CNet is concerned but is great fun too.
I recently set a sipgate line for a couple of my friends to (temporarily) access the "dial - a - disc" service via the PSTN; basically I created an IVR so that when they called the sipgate VOIP number from their landline or mobile they were prompted to dial 16 which then connected them to the dial - a - disc announcement which then played out the track which is held somewhere in the CNet system.

I started with nothing more than a Linksys ATA and was "hosted" by Pellseinydd until I managed to get my own Asterisk CNet server set up using an old tower PC which was eventually upgraded to a laptop and more recently a Raspberry Pi.

Regards

Andrew
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Old 9th Jul 2017, 11:45 am   #7
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: Asterisk

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndiiT View Post
Hi, I too am an Asterisk user and connected to CNet
Are the vintage recordings of operators etc. on CNet typically just "flat" announcements, or are they interactive, so the caller can (appear to) engage them in conversation?

By chopping the recordings into phrases and adding just three lines of code to
extensions_custom_conf the system will wait for the caller to stop speaking before serving the next chunk of dialogue.

I have wasted many hours of cold-callers time with this.

The well known version of this is "It's Lenny!", but I have recorded a few of my own.

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Last edited by Graham G3ZVT; 9th Jul 2017 at 12:04 pm.
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Old 9th Jul 2017, 12:06 pm   #8
Pellseinydd
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Default Re: Asterisk

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndiiT View Post
Hi, I too am an Asterisk user and connected to CNet thanks to many conversations with Pellseinydd in the early days (and also occasionally these days, which reminds me I must ring soon)

It can be a huge learning curve, especially where CNet is concerned but is great fun too.
I recently set a sipgate line for a couple of my friends to (temporarily) access the "dial - a - disc" service via the PSTN; basically I created an IVR so that when they called the sipgate VOIP number from their landline or mobile they were prompted to dial 16 which then connected them to the dial - a - disc announcement which then played out the track which is held somewhere in the CNet system.

I started with nothing more than a Linksys ATA and was "hosted" by Pellseinydd until I managed to get my own Asterisk CNet server set up using an old tower PC which was eventually upgraded to a laptop and more recently a Raspberry Pi.
I wonder how many old telephones and telephone systems (ex-public and private) are connected? There are over 30 CNet Asterisk servers in the UK with literally hundreds of 'exchanges' (old STD codes) set up. Asterisk is a system that is far more flexible than old systems in that you can replicate almost any type of 'exchange' to which you can connected your restored vintage telephones and dial the codes that were in use when your phones were in their 'first life' !!

As Andrew says - even 'Dial-a-Disc' is there - from the days before the iPlayer

Try dialling Bridgend (01656) 83 85 83 and after the initial announcement dial 16 for 'Dial-a-Disc'

Or you can try ringing 'Craggy Island' (CNet has the only link to the island!) with the old STD code 000666 then try 32 for the Parochial House or 26 for Father Jack's direct line .

Or try 010 61 3 1194 for the Speaking Clock in the Melbourne Telecoms Museum .

The Bridgend number will be in your 'free' calls package if you have one and there is no charge for calls on CNet.

Don't hesitate to ask if you are interested in connecting to CNet. And there is plenty of help if you need it - most of us have at some stage.

Have fun

Ian
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Old 9th Jul 2017, 7:24 pm   #9
julie_m
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Default Re: Asterisk

"Dial a Disc" is quite an easy service to implement:
Code:
exten => 160,1,MP3Player(/path/to/song.mp3)
exten => 160,n,Hangup()
But I thought I could do better than that:
Code:
;;;;;;;;;;;  VERY PRIMITIVE  JUKE BOX CONTEXT  ;;;;;;;;;;;
[vpjb]
exten => s,1,Background(jklm_juke01)
; "Press 1 for Ocean Colour Scene. Press 2 for Crowded House."
exten => s,n,WaitExten(1)
exten => s,n,Goto(1)

exten => i,1,Hangup()

exten => 1,1,Background(jklm_anykey)
; "Press any key to stop the music and return to the menu."
exten => 1,n,MP3Player(/home/julie/songs/09_policemen+pirates.mp3)
exten => 1,n,Goto(vpjb,s,1)

exten => 2,1,Background(jklm_anykey)
exten => 2,n,MP3Player(/home/julie/songs/15_distant_sun.mp3)
exten => 2,n,Goto(vpjb,s,1)

exten => _X,1,Hangup()
I made my own voice prompts, with the contents as per the comments, prefixed with my initials to keep them separate from standard Asterisk ones (they need to be in /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/). You probably will have your own favourites, so change the intro message to suit your repertoire, and the filenames to suit where you saved your MP3s. You will also need to have something like
Code:
exten => 160,1,Goto(vpjb,s,1)
in your default context (change 160 if you want to use a different number for the service). Then, issue `dialplan reload` in the console, call the number and listen!

There's nothing stopping you from extending this to handle any number of tracks -- except how long you might want to listen to mono audio with a 4kHz top limit and a telephone handset pressed to your ear! However, beyond about 10 songs it gets sufficiently unwieldy to be better off done using an AGI script.
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Old 9th Jul 2017, 7:47 pm   #10
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Default Re: Asterisk

Quote:
Originally Posted by julie_m View Post
There's nothing stopping you from extending this to handle any number of tracks -- except how long you might want to listen to mono audio with a 4kHz top limit and a telephone handset pressed to your ear!
If you could stream from a live audio feed, it would be wonderful for workers in call centres wanting to listen to the cricket commentary whilst pretending to be working.
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Old 9th Jul 2017, 9:07 pm   #11
julie_m
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You can do that a couple of ways! There used to be a driver that gave you a virtual sound card that was connected to a virtual device in Asterisk. That was superseded by JACK, a more generalised layer which interconnects audio devices under software control. Or you could use Linphone in scripted mode.

Even lower tech would be to bodge a connection from the earphone socket of an actual battery-powered radio into the base of an actual phone .....
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Old 9th Jul 2017, 10:02 pm   #12
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: Asterisk

I've just set this up, you might say it's long distance, and it's definitely Vintage Telecoms, historical even.

You have to talk though.
0560 385 8561

I might change it to something else tomorrow and probably kill it altogether by the end of the week.

Graham.
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