My Phone System

[CurtisMachek]

I thought I'd post here, let you guys in on the favorite part of my studio - my phone system.

 

Part 1 - The Equipment

 

It's my version of a broadcast phone system, and it works just as well as anything that costs $3000+ from Telos, Comrex, etc.

 

I'll start with the system itself. It consists of a small Nortel Norstar Business system I bought off ebay. $120USD bought me 4 digital telephones, and a KSU for up to 6 lines.

 

I also got myself a JK Audio Innkeeper PBX, which is a broadcast phone hybrid which connects between the handset and the base of the phone.

 

The nice thing about Norstar is they have an extra handset jack on the bottom for "headsets". I plugged my hybrid in there, and can now pickup calls on the hybrid by pressing the line button. I take them off the hybrid and onto the handset by simply lifting the handset.

 

Part 2 - The Phone Lines

 

Part 2 is the incomming lines. I bought a North America Toll Free number from TollFreeForwarding, $20/month contains 110 minutes, extra mins charged to credit card. This company is good because you can forward to SIP VOIP Addresses.

 

Off ebay, I bought 2 Linksys PAP2 VOIP Phone Adapters, $40/each. This gives me up to 4 incomming lines.

 

On my Windows VPS (which runs my website and streaming server already). I installed 3CX Phone System Free Edition, which is a VOIP PBX Software.

 

With a little bit of configuration, I forwarded my toll free number to this PBX, which forwards calls to my Linksys PAP2's, which give me 4 incomming studio lines.

 

For outgoing, I pay for Voipbuster, and configure it with my 3CX System. It turns out to be like 3cents/minute. This is good because it's reloadable as you need.

 

 

In the end, I have 4 incomming toll free lines, for $20/month (I go over my minutes, I pay about $50), and a multiline broadcast phone system, for about $500.

 

Thx for reading,

-Curtis

[QueenBee]

Hi. That sounds like a real cool set-up. And not a bad total expense too.

[carlwelden]

It's my version of a broadcast phone system, and it works just as well as anything that costs $3000+ from Telos, Comrex, etc.

 

The gear from Telos and Comrex are both dauntingly expensive. Glad to see you found some innovative ways to make it all work for you. I am still pondering the notion of buying a used/older model Telos Zephyr codec for ~$1,000.

 

I need to learn more about ISDN costs and availabilty in my region first before I even consider it.