How to set asterisk to work as if a panasonic pbx in the old days

tsm

Dear all ching

I used my old panasonic pbx for the last 10 years (without caller id display function)
still remember there is a led light representing each line dialing (green led) in or occupied (red led)
and most important i know the incoming call from which pstn line(s)
[6 pstn shared among the staff in hk office]

2 years ago I started to use asterisk (employing elastix(freepbx) ..so dialplan knowledge is weak)
1 server in HK for 10 users (6 pstn+fxo mainly used to redirect thro IAX to sip phones)
and 1 server in China now >30 users (mainly cisco 7912g)

but I cannot set the asterisk to work in same as the panasonic pbx
so there is always 2 system in my office for the past 2 years

what can I do
to have
1. knowing the incoming call (pstn no) ?
2. to hold the phone call and transfer to someother to take care ?
3. how many lines are occupying, and which pstn I should select to dial out ?

for hk, can I solve the problems by switch to 7960 (6 lines)
to take care 6 pstn
ie every phone registered that 6 extension
and all 6 pstn direct to that 6 extension

any idea?

I found VOIP wonderful but if it cannot set to do the same job as the old pbx
it is not easy for users to change over
I think the same problems should appear in HK and everywhere
and it is why asterisk employment is not that high as it should be
and it is why those voip phone (panasonic) employing sip/voip + ippbx
        asking for >20,000 for 1 server + 8 phone + <8 pstn lines + installation +setting

any ching has similiar experience
can we share?!

角色

1. You have to use analogue Card for your asterisk box such that the inbound PSTN calls can be routed to your HK Asterisk Server.

2. I believe that you better go for VoIP direction such that you may ring the remote end directly.

3. You meant with > HK$20,000 you are able to get 1 server + 8 Phones + 8 PSTN Lines + installation settings. What the exact price?

YH

ckleea

Installation and set up are the most expensive parts nowadays.

tsm

回復 3# ckleea


    Ching
is it technically asterisk can do the job (the 3 requirements)
and in what way
so I can research into the topics
do you mind to leave me some hints

if you think it cannot be accomplished to the best of your knowledge
please give me an indication
so I will not spend too much time on this topics and leave the old system run
and accept the destiny that the open source asterisk cannot do the same job for those hardware mfr.
thanks

ckleea

There are a lot of fine tuning for a given set up hardware and also customization. Imagine that hardware mother board is not that expensive and quite powerful now. But this company is still using older generation of hardware for the pbx product. Also they have made a lof of efforts to customize their phones for connections, what features they provide, etc

For our amateur type of users, we have spent a lot of time to make our system work, tests and trials repeatedly. Only difference is that we do enjoy this experience.