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FXS and FXO are the interfaces for analog telephony also called POTS (Plain Old Service). The expression was initially meant a joke but is used as common expression nowadays. FXS (Foreign Exchange Station) means the wall jack or the interface to the system which FXO devices can be connected to. Using these interfaces a call can be established. The port provides the necessary electricity as well as the dial tone and the call signal. FXO (Foreign Exchange Office) is the port that receives the analog line on the or fax machine. It establishes the connection to the analog line (FXS). FXS devices connected to system are referred to as endpoints (e.g. a ).
Analog plugs are always pairs and appear as male or female plugs. If no system is used the (FXO) is directly connected to the FXS port. The port is provided by the company.
If the system is used, the analog lines provided by the company, are connected to the system. The phones on the other hand are connected to the system. Many traditional systems provide both, FXS and FXO ports. Many IP systems require additional gateways to provide FXS or FXO ports.
A call coming in via an analog line is initiated like this: Pick up the of the FXO device. The FXS port on the corresponding sides recognizes that the call should be established and expects the number, encoded as DTMF signals.
An incoming call works like this: The FXS port provides the necessary electricity. The starts ringing. By picking up the , the call is established.
When purchasing a system, it needs to be considered home many and analog ports are required eventually. If you want to connect an analog fax machine to the system, you will need at least one FXS port. If you want to use analog lines with your system, you need one FXO port per line.
Analog gateways are used to provide IP systems (PBXs) with analog ports. The gateway, provides the physical ports. It establishes a connection to the PBX using the local network. This way the IP system behaves the same way as an traditional system with analog ports.
Analog interface cards of doing the same job as analog gateways. In difference to gateways, they are built into the system instead of transferring data via the network.
AskoziaPBX IP systems are also available with built in analog FXS and FXO ports.
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Norstar VoIP Gateway Questions
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(TechnicalUser)
(OP)
11 Jan 11 11:55I started with a search on here for VoIP Gateway and the last post was back in . I read through a lot of what was already on here but I still have questions.
Just so you know what you are dealing with here, I am not a professional installer but I support our small office needs just fine typically.
All but one of my salesmen are 20-50 miles away from the office. These past two days we've had really bad snow and ice and we have had to be closed because nobody could get into the office. Aside from VPN access to their computers I would love to be able to add remote access so that, as long as the weather hasn't affected power at our homes and at the office, we can answer any incoming calls as if we were in the office.
I know there are companies that offer full IP PBX solutions and I know that there are hosted solutions as well. The owner of the company won't go for a complete overhaul of our system so I was wondering if there was a VoIP add-on to our current Norstar MICS system that would allow us to accomplish what I mentioned above. I found the Norstar VoIP Gateway through Google but coming here and searching for posts about it, it appears that it is really only for connecting remote branches and not what I'm looking to do.
We use two T1s bridged for our system right now and I believe we are PRI. Any light you can shed on this subject for me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Jeremy
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(TechnicalUser)
11 Jan 11 12:05There aren't any good solutions for your situation as your system isn't IP enabled. You might try an ATA connected to a SIP gateway and another SIP gateway at the other end. Make sure they support both FXO and FXS. They'll use a regular analog but that may be all you need. You can find these for less than $100 each.
Look into upgrading to a BCM50 and reusing all your existing sets and giving remote users VoIP sets. It was designed to do what you're wanting.
(Programmer)
11 Jan 11 15:44Oldestgeek is correct.
Interestingly enough though, a friend wanted a Nortel system in his house in Indianapolis, 170 miles south of my location in Chicago, so I bought him an 8x24 DR3 on ebay for $25, and some sets for $5 a piece on ebay and we wired up his suburban 2 level house and basement/garage with Norstar phones. He originally just wanted the system for an intercom so his kids could page or call in the house or for his wife to call their kids to dinner.
Then since I am running a BCM with SIP trunks in my home office/test lab, I created 2 DID's for him on my SIP provider and went to CDW and bought a Cisco PAP2 ATA device. We plugged the ATA into his home router from Comcast and ran the other end to the CO ports on his Norstar and he can call me via a six digit intercom call via our SIP provider. Annoyingly enough but for kicks, he can even page me through my sound system in my home office. Since we are both on the same account, we can call each other for free between Indianapolis and Chicago at no charge, other than the monthly DID fee which is $1 per line.
Let me know if you need more details.
(TechnicalUser)
(OP)
13 Jan 11 16:58Thanks for the reply guys. I decided to lookup Nortel online to see if they'd have one of their authorized local people call me about this and apparently Avaya bought them out a year ago. Not really a problem to me but the lady who I finally spoke with pushed the Avaya IP Office product. Any experience with this product? They are coming out on Monday morning to see what I've got and talk about what they'd recommend.
(Programmer)
15 Jan 11 11:20How many users??????If a lot then you should upgrade to BCM or IP Office (which will soon be compatible with the nortel sets).Or if just a few users then go with digital extendersEXTender for each userExtender at the PBX site.Something like that, you need to speak with a rep at Citel for more info.
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curlycord
www.curlycord.com
(TechnicalUser)
(OP)
15 Jan 11 12:49curlycord - We currently have 15 phones on our MICS in the building and I need to have the ability to add 10-12 remote phones with the ability to have everything running concurrently. Don't know if that's possible or not but that's what I'm going after. If it's not possible to do a mixed setup like that then I just need to look at upgrading to a full VoIP system with the same capacity I guess.
(TechnicalUser)
16 Jan 11 01:37The BCM is exactly what you need. You can use your existing digital sets at the local site and new IP sets at the remote over a VPN or a point-to-point.
(Programmer)
16 Jan 11 21:59To add, BCM is still currently being manufactured and support will be around for years to come. If you upgrade to a BCM, your features will work fairly identical to an older Norstar platform.
Again, if you want to try the other option with the ATA devices, that's an inexpensive method to your request.
(IS/IT--Management)
17 Jan 11 17:41An easier option might be speaking with your telecom provider. They might have the ability to do "find me follow me" with the DIDs.
We use the Citel extenders for a few remote offices, but they can get pricey fast.
(TechnicalUser)
(OP)
17 Jan 11 18:11Thanks for the additional replies. I met with an Avaya/Nortel reseller today to discuss this and their recommendation was to switch out the MICS to their IP Office product. I just have to wait until March before the Nortel TE sets are supported on the IP Office platform. Whether they were just trying to sell me something or not, who knows, but they said the BCM products are being phased out. I realize there will be an amount of supported time if I bought them but I am leaning toward going with the Avaya product. One of the cards for that box has 10 IP lines in addtiion to some digital lines for $600 retail. I'm not sure what the total cost for what they are talking about will be yet because they haven't received pricing on it yet. I'll update the topic just for future reference for others that might stumble on it.
(TechnicalUser)
20 Jan 11 17:41Rather than rip-and-replace the existing hardware, you may connect your Norstar to a "hosted VoIP PBX", like RingCentral, .com or many others. This way you will get all the latest voip features (including remote office) right on your legacy PBX hardware!There is a specialized voip gateway designed specifically for this purpose - look at SAN at www.ankom-tech.com
(TechnicalUser)
(OP)
20 Jan 11 18:12Thanks for the info ankomtech! I'll definitely call and talk about what you offer with the SAN and compare it to what I've already looked into.
(Programmer)
20 Jan 11 23:56I've done something similar to Ankomtech with my voip.ms account. I explained it above.
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