Add VoIP lines as default LD dialout

[colpaz]

Hello all,
I've recently been taking care of our small company's Merlin Magix phone system. Resources are limited right now, and we're not likely to call in any of the normal pros for setting anything up. With the help of this forum and the search tool, I managed to muddle through setting up a tip/ring port for a conference phone, and in so doing learned a fair bit about the system.

What I'd like to investigate now is the possibility of slashing our outbound long distance bills significantly. At the moment, we have 4 ground start lines, and through the day would have 1 or 2 active long distance calls. Telco rates for the long distance are horrific, and we'd like an easy way to cut the costs.

My thinking, though not necessarily a "best practice" way to manage a PBX, would be to add 2 cheap VoIP ATAs with inexpensive unlimited LD plans, and configure the PBX to route outbound LD calls through the VoIP before the telco lines.

Is this doable?

From memory, what we have at the moment:
-processor board
-012 TDL LS-ID
-012 TDL LS-ID
-016 ETR
-voicemail board (not configured, and not working as far as I know)
-012 TDL LS-ID
-024 TDL
-024 TDL


Thank you all!

Best Regards,
Colin

 

[colpaz]

Should be:
-processor board
-412 TDL LS-ID
-412 TDL LS-ID
-016 ETR
-voicemail board (not configured, and not working as far as I know)
-412 TDL LS-ID
-024 TDL
-024 TDL

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Your current lines are not ground start, as you only have cards that support loop start lines. Not relevant to the discussion, however.

Connect the ATAs to a couple of unused LS trunk ports, put those ports into their own pool, and change the ARS tables to use the new pool before using the current pool for long distance.

Do a print of Trunks/General, Trunks/Loop Start-Ground Start, and ARS/All to see how it all fits together.

 

[colpaz]

Thanks for the response - my apologies on the ground start bit... I am rather new at this.

Sounds rather straightforward, we'll probably end up going ahead with this.


Thank you.
Colin