We are keeping our existing analog lines, mainly because international calling rates for SIP providers are 10-30 times higher than our current provider. We need a 4 port FXO card to move from an old 3COM NBX to a FreePBX server. I ordered a used TDM410 to test with but have seen some people complain that they no longer work. I am not sure that is true. Is the TDM410 a viable option, I see brand new TDM410s and the AEX410 for sell everywhere when I search for FXO cards. I would really prefer not to use a FXO gateway and trying to keep cost as low as possible without shooting myself in the foot.
I know you said youād prefer not to have to use a FXO gateway but in all honesty those have been the easiest to setup and get them to just work for us in the past where analog was required.
My main question is will the TDM410 or AEX410 still work? What is an affordable gateway you would suggest?
Funny, I was just looking at those. I might try it, I see a used one for $80. Do you configure hung group in the gateway or in freepbx?
Honestly, now that you ask I am trying to rack my brain to remember if any of the ones we have deployed have more then a single line connected to it and I canāt recall.
I would probably want to handle that in the PBX and not the Gateway but again zero experience with multiple analog lines in these.
Have you ever tried the Grandstream HT841?
Have not but this looks like a newer model. If we had a need Iād probably give this one a try instead of the one I linked initially.
I ordered the HT841 for $99. There is an advantage to a gateway in that I donāt need to have a card installed and can probably virtualize freepbx. I should get the TDM410 in a couple of days and I will report back if it even works.
Iāve never encountered this before, so Iām very curious. Possibly, I or other readers of this thread are aware of reliable providers that may offer a much better deal. Which countries do you call the most? Landlines or mobiles? Would it help your business to have incoming numbers in these countries?
What country are you in? Who is your current carrier? Are your analog lines copper pairs from the central office? If not (they are delivered as analog from a cable MTA, fiber ONT, etc.), your present carrier probably has an option to deliver these lines by SIP. Even if the price is no better, youāll enjoy better voice quality and reliability, shorter call setup times, and possibly control over outbound caller ID (for example when forwarding calls to staff mobiles).
I am in USA. We call from landline phones. I donāt know if SIP rates are high or we just get awesome rates. I think it is a combination of both. We call everywhere because we are an international business. We call to South Africa for $0.015/min, Saudi Arabia $0.076/min, UK is $0.005/min (actually half the cost of domestic calls using VoxTelesys). I checked with every SIP provider on the 3CX list and all were way higher. For example, I called SIP.US to request a rate list and was immediately told they were not competitive on international rates. This is probably not an issue for most people since they mainly do business in their own country, but a third of our business is outside the USA.
To be fair, some numbers in the rate plans are only 2-4 times higher, I guess it depends on the exact number you dial, but my fear is we have calls to some numbers in these countries that get charged at $0.40-0.88/min and I get into big trouble for it, because even mobile numbers on our current plan are nowhere near that high. So, I am really comparing worst case in both plans, not best case.
Stewart, if we call Spectrum to get on a SIP line then we get converted from Business to Enterprise and our calling rates go up. That and they mostly just push Ring Central.
Iām just adding another vote for gateway. This will be your most āfuture resistantā option. This will allow you to talk to anything that speaks sip and not be locked in to FreePBX/Asterisk or any other single solution. This also opens you up on hardware to not require a pci port. Heck you can even go with a cloud solution.
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You should check rates at Anveo-Direct. Most of the UK is less than $.05/minute. Cellular Vodaphone calls are indeed $0.48. South Africa ranges from $0.11 to $0.15/min. They also give you the ability to get DID numbers in most countries, if needed. Iāll admit that Spectrum appears to have good pricing for many of the areas.
I see that Spectrum also offers SIP trunking for PBX so you might want to investigate that as well. See https://enterprise.spectrum.com/products/voice-collaboration.html#trunking . You might be able to negotiate the rates with a sales rep.
Anveo-Direct has 4 rate tiers from budget to premier. I have listed standard in the link below. I like Anveo and have used them for years.
Check the Anveo-Direct rates at https://voice.anveo.com/anveodirect.standard.csv
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Wow, Iām really impressed by those aggressive rates ā I would guess that they are close to what Spectrum is paying. Cable companies (especially in the US) are not known for low rates.
Gee, and I thought that only airlines followed the pricing model of charging their best customers the most 
However, @kenn10 has good advice ā tell the sales rep youād like to switch to SIP (or otherwise port your numbers elsewhere); could he offer the same or similar international rates?
I have Voxbeam as a primary international provider, and also recommend AnveoDirect as suggested by @kenn10 .
Here are some comparisons for the examples you gave:
Country Spectrum Comcast Voxbeam AnveoDirect
South Africa mobile .015 .350 .081 .124
Saudi Arabia fixed .076 .470 .083 .101
United Kingdom fixed .005 .080 .005 .008
If you can get Spectrum SIP at similar rates, thatās probably the best deal (and also simplest).
Otherwise, you might consider a reliable SIP provider for incoming, domestic outgoing and some international routes, keeping one Spectrum āanalogā line for the expensive destinations.
Other options: Popular low cost international providers include Betamax (see https://voip-comparison.com/ ) and Virtual Phone System, Phone numbers and PBX | Zadarma , though I have no experience with either.
In the US, Iām a very satisfied Mint mobile (a T-Mobile MVNO) customer, paying $15/mo. ($17 incl. taxes and fees) for āunlimitedā domestic talk and text, with 5 GB data. International rates are quite aggressive: UK fixed is free (included in plan), Saudi fixed is $0.075/min., though South Africa mobile is a poor deal at $0.17. See https://www.mintmobile.com/features/international-calling/ .
Iām not sure how you would route International to 1 or 2 lines and also share a number between SIP and POTS lines. I was watching NetworkChuck which is what made me start thinking about this in the first place and he just put out a new video where he uses Amazon Chime SIP Trunk and I found a rate list that looked pretty good but Saudi Arabia wasnāt on it. I am going to try to find out if they are offered it or if the rates I found even apply to their SIP Trunking service.
I got the TDM410 and it installed fine, all the ports automatically show up in FreePBX, didnāt really need to do anything. I also got the HT841 but I canāt get outbound calls to work. I am going to ask for help in a new thread.
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