Can I use a Linksys SPA3102 FXO gateway to access Paging?

[Phoneguy65]

I have a client where we service the PA and all cabling. They recently switched from a Meridian PBX to a Cisco system. Previously the Meridian accessed the different PA zones via individual trunk ports and simply began speaking.

With this IP system there are no local analog trunk ports. I was wondering if Cisco call manager can be configured to provision access to a Linksys/Cisco SPA3102 gateway as if it were a local analog trunk and therefore resume their connection to the PA? I already have installed a zone controller that simulates an analog CO and can go off-hook with a test set, dial a single digit zone selection and begin speaking. It all works fine. I simply need the Cisco system to pull up the 3102's FXO port as if it were a locally connected analog CO line, allow the user to dial one DTMF digit, then of course to provide an open speech path. My zone adapter supplies talk battery, so the FXO port should be happy, it just that the call manager and the 3102 need to be appropriately configured, if at all possible.


I could cabbage a set for each zone and steal the speaker audio, running it to the respective zone amplifiers, one set per zone, but this seems to be an expensive solution if the 3102 can be configured to work with call manager and have the PA hardware work as it is.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!



Pat MacKinnon
Omni Telecommunications Inc.,
London, Ontario, Canada

 

[DallasBPF]

Actually you can get FXS ports that talk to the CallManager either from FXS card in your gateway router (just need to install a 2 - 4 port FXS card) or by getting yourself a VG224(gives you 24 analog ports) oh and I almost forgot, you can get a ATA180 adapter;

http://cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/gatecont/ps514/index.html

Those will give you analog (FXS) connections on your voice network.

------------------------------------
Dallas, Texas
Telecommunications Tech
CCVP, CCNA, Net+

CCNP in the works

 

[Phoneguy65]

The problem with FXS is there would be no disconnect supervision for the PA zone controller to know when to drop the connection. If we interface with FXO, the terminal adapter will revert to 'on-hook' when the user hangs up, therefore breaking loop current and quickly resetting the connection to the PA adapter and eliminating any reorder tone going over the PA.) This also has the collateral benefit of quickly freeing up the interface for the next user needing to page.

Is there a way for the 3102 (with has both FXS and FXO, and it is only the FXO port that is needed here) to be accessed from the Cisco system?



Pat MacKinnon
Omni Telecommunications Inc.,
London, Ontario, Canada

 

[whykap]

Yeah you should be able to do it with h323. So you would add the 3102 as an h323 gateway to cisco.
The assumption here is that the 3102 is h323 compatible (can't imagine that it wouldn't be).

 

[Phoneguy65]

It appears the SPA3102 does not support h.323, which caught me off guard also.

Anyone else have some insight on this or is h.323 the only protocol call manager will accept when linking to an external FXO gateway?



Pat MacKinnon
Omni Telecommunications Inc.,
London, Ontario, Canada

 

[whykap]

So does it support SIP then? If so you can add it as a SIP endpoint and go from there. You will need call manager 6.x or higher and a lot of trial and error to get it working. Unless you can find a doc on the web that tells you exactly how to do it.

I suggest a 2 or 4 port FXO module in one of your routers and you will have this up and running in less than an hour. A two port FXO module can be purchased for around $100-$150 or so.

 

[jontom1]

Using an ATA device progammed as a regular DN and add a TAMB module form Bogen. You can also get this from Graybar. It does not need external power. Your PBX probably used a universal trunk port which just provides audio but no ringing.