[VoiceOps] IP04 family tree (also: Yeastar?)

[Nathan Anderson]

I'm looking into the options that currently exist as far as a cost-effective FXS-laden voice gateway product goes.  We have used Adtran, and they're (mostly) great, but ideally, if we could slash the cost of that gear down, that would be brilliant.  We can deploy an embedded system running Asterisk (MikroTik RouterBoard or Raspberry Pi) + a bunch of dual-port ATAs for a fraction of the cost; the problem is that a stack of ATAs is physically unsightly in a telecom room, and it makes for a bit of a management mess.

If there were an external, stackable, cost-effective DAHDI-compatible interface, that would be ideal.  The Xorcom USB Astribanks look *awesome*, but unfortunately, they are more expensive than IP0X hardware, and bordering on Adtran pricing.

There are always options like Grandstream and Linksys/Cisco, but I worry about 1) reliability and 2) lack of flexibility.

I am (still) very interested in David Rowe's "open hardware" initiatives, such as the IP04 & its cousins, but the Atcom-manufactured units are hard to come by in the States.  (Sure, we can order from China, but what a costly [time-wise] pain.)  Also, they don't come in > 8 FXS port boxes, and so far it doesn't look like you are going to get better pricing than ~$500/8FXS anyway regardless.  But...surely there are other manufacturers out there either that are using the IP04 design essentially unmodified, or close enough.  However, I can't find a comprehensive list anywhere.  As far as North America goes, I have run into Nicherons/SpoTel in Canada, which I'm pretty sure is IP0X-based, but outside of the SwitchFin/SwitchVoice dudes (Bulgaria), that's about it for IP0X hardware, and that surprises me.

I have looked into Yeastar recently, and they have piqued my interest, especially since their NeoGate hardware is both apparently based on Asterisk and is priced to sell.  But it sounds like their firmware is based on ancient code (Asterisk 1.6.2.x) and it is unclear to me how easily modifiable it is.  If it were IP0X based, I could just roll my own firmware and not care about what came preloaded.  But from all reports, they have a TI ARM-based SoC in their boxes, not Blackfin.  Anybody have any experience with their stuff?  Perhaps more importantly, any leads on third-party firmwares for Yeastar boxes?

Thanks,

-- 
Nathan Anderson
First Step Internet, LLC
nathana at fsr.com