VOIP Home Network: Help Needed

Hello VOIP User Community,

To start this thread off I want to say that I am a complete newbie to VOIP (I am (almost) a BSc Computing & Information Technology graduate, so I have a foundation in networks however I am as I mentioned; completely new to VOIP. I have been approached by some family friends to setup a home network and a home telecoms network as the friends are interested in using non wireless telecommunications for their own reasons. I am comfortable with building a computer network as I have done so in my own family home and it works fantastically. However I am unfamiliar with voip (I have read the sticky on setting up voip network): http://www.voipuser.org/forum_topic_8289.html however I am getting the vibe that the post is meant for small to medium business' the situation I am in is providing a VOIP network for a home.

What I am after is the following:

1. Ability for standard analogue / digital (PSTN) incoming calls to be received.

2. To be able to phone standard telephone numbers (PSTN)

3. To be able to phone other voip users.

4. For the sum of all hardware / software to be as low in cost as possible.

I have heard of open source PBX software such as asterisk however I am not sure what hardware/software is required for such a 'home' voip network.

The requirements are for a single PSTN incoming line such as 01276 xxxxxx to be split into a number of extensions for each bedroom.

Some questions I have at this early stage are:

Do I need to connect these friends to a VOIP provider or will their ISP take on the job?

Can they keep their original BT (United Kingdom) telephone number?

I have read an excerpt from VOIP Deployment for Dummies and it has a network topology that I am interested in basically it integrates both a Computer network and a telecoms network all in one; although subnetted to keep them seperate.

Does any one have any resources, tips, advise, etc as any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to Voipuser forums.

I think you have not had a reply because you have not given enough information. How many users will there be? How fast is the network and what other services will it provide as well as voip? The most critical thing with voip is bandwidth.... one person downloading files, running torrents or watching online videos can ruin voip communications.

There will be a maximum of four users; 2 of which are light users (email, www etc) and the other two are heavier users but are not currently living with their parents. Worst case scenario if they did return and consumed the bandwidth then I guess I would have to build in firewall rules and the such to constrict or even completely prevent their use of bit torrent and other such clients. (Something i would have to look into).

As to the specification of the LAN:

The family friends are basically knocking their house down and are rebuilding so they have approached me to construct a proper (wired) network with structured cabling.

The main specification I have chosen are:

Gigabit technology (i.e. gigabit switches etc)
Cat6 UTP Solid Core (For the under floor ethernet cable runs) I know that Cat6a and cat7 cables exist but i'm not sure about their compatability with the selected Netgear gigabit switches that I have chosen.

Compatible Router (They're location limits them to standard ADSL2/ADSL2+) and not fiber optic or cable.

The network will provision a more secure (opposed to wireless) connection for all of the client computers (4 max)

A part from any (occassional) file sharing they won't be running any services such as web servers and it is doubtful that any games consoles will be connected.

It is plausible that they might watch VOD services but I guess I would have to look into (QOS) at the router end I guess i.e. give the majority of bandwidth to the mission critical services/devices.

Hopefully i've answered a few questions,

Just read another post answered below my one in this catagory and it made me think that I could have 2 physically seperate networks 1 for voip and 1 for everything else then the voip network has maximum bandwidth and 0 interference.

But I have been doing some research as to what is needed for this VOIP home network:

To allow us to send/receive calls from the existing PSTN we apparently would need an FXO, I have found what I think an FXO is on this page:

http://store.digium.com/productview.php ... =1TDM440EF

(Might not be an FXO as I am new to VOIP)

My basic understanding is as follows:

Modem / Router -> Switch (Modem router has built in firewall)

Switch -> Nodes (Computers)
-> PBX Server such as a linux machine running asterisk

PBX SERVER has FXO installed in its PCI Slot

PBX/FXO -> ethernet line out to each ip voip phone

Is this right at all? It may not be clear enough will provide a diagram if needed.....

Have subsequently found this:

http://www.ipchitchat.com/products/atcom/ax400p.htm

(Much cheaper) and actually says its an FXO/FXS (which helps)

I had a house network until 3 years ago with 5 computers on it and rather slow but reliable ADSL internet. I used a ClarkConnect (free) server on an old computer and soft voip clients and an ATA box for better voip. Most of the time it worked well unless a user started up torrents. The nice thing about the server was that it was very easy to restrict bandwith to selected users and reserve bandwidth for voip. Everything Voip has improved since then.
Now I just used a Linksys 3102 box that has FXO and FXS and a 3 handset normal cordless phone that handles everything perfectly well and I have now removed most of the ethernet wires from the house.

If the current residents are going to manage the system you might want to keep it simple rather that going for a full blown Asterisk system.
A multi FXS/FXO ATA and a good router that can provide QOS might be all that you need.
If you want something more elaborate there are now a number of hardware Asterisk/PBX boxes available that, along with some IP voip phones (Grandstream make some that work well and are inexpensive).

Thankyou for answering my posts, I am getting closer and closer to the desired set up.

And yes the residents will be manging the system so as you commented a full blown ASTERISK Server setup with supporting infrastructure will be impossible for them to troubleshoot if it did fall over. So as you mentioned a simple setup would be far cheaper and also far easier to manage.

They are interested in avoiding wireless phones, which channelled my thinking into chorded IP Phones.

I have been pointed in the direction of the ATCOM IP-04 IP PBX:
http://www.ipchitchat.com/products/atcom/ip-04.htm

In your opinion would it be simpler to manage / cheaper than my original suggestion?

If im heading off in the wrong direction in terms of the ATCOM IP04 and should just go for a similar setup to the one in your previous post please do mention so, as your advise so far has gotten me closer and closer to an implementation plan for a cheaper and more manageable solution.

Many thanks,

Damn, think i've made a whoopsie:

The IP-04 is asterisk powered I'm guessing they don't mean on board i.e. you require an asterisk server, which would take me back down that inconceivable route.....

Possible options:
Look for a good reliable router with usage controls QOS etc (might come from your ISP) and some IP phones as starter. The phones will connect to external voip provider(s) and who the provider is would depend on the amount of service that you wish them to provide.

Use the current analogue phones in the house and connect each them through an ATA box (with FXS and FXO) and to the Network. (Some people like their old phones).

Run an Asterisk server in the house. These work very well but consume a fair amount of power. This might be a later extension of the first option, Would be useful if the house is used as an office.

Use a "hardware appliance" Asterisk box (lower power) like the one that you found. These are fairly expensive by the time you have all the components. Look like they may be a tidy solution .