I have two old Linksys SPA941 handsets which my grandchildren would like to play with, calling between two separate buildings on the same LAN. I don’t want to pay for a monthly billed external VoIP service so I searched and found Freepbx. I repurposed an old laptop by installing Debian 12 and then Freepbx 17. When I tried to register the handsets they didn’t connect. Another web search suggested that I need Chan_SIP enabled but to do this I need to downgrade Asterisk 22 to Asterisk 20. There is a nice web page describing how to do this here:
However when I get to the Asterisk menu there is no such command as asterisk-version-switch. I tried it from within the Freepbx admin menus and also from a terminal screen. This is getting frustrating.
Can anyone tell me how I can get these old phones to work? Do I need Freepbx at all or is there a simpler solution. Note that no real PBX features are needed, just for the phones to be able to call each other. No outside calling needed.
There should be no need to use chan_sip; chan_pjsip should be no problem for phones, in a simple environment.
However, you can probably just point the phones at each other, as long as you set up your DHCP to give them static addresses. Although people here use “client” to mean phone and “server” to mean PABX, SIP uses them in relation to who makes the first move, so the calling phone is the client and the called phone is the server.
With static addresses, you shouldn’t need to register.
There may be limitations in the phones that prevent a point to point configuration.
As @david55 said. Try enabling IP dialing and test. If that works, set the dial plan as a Hot Line, so when you pick up one phone it rings the other. If IP dialing fails, post details.
These phones support SIP URI dialing. If there’s no need for PBX features, you could always go that route. You’ll have to dial from the alpha mode which might be hard for the kiddos but I think you can save it as a speed dial.
I no expert but during my installations I ran into a similar problem and needed to use the (asterisk-version-switch) switch prior to install at the end of the distro. But I think it can be done from he CLI under bash shell. depending on your Distro / Linux OS.
thank you for taking time to reply. I did try chan_pjsip and it didn’t work. A search suggested that only chan_sip would work, hence my attempting to enable it.
Re just getting the phones to talk to each other - I have now tried that with mixed results. I have managed, sometimes, to have one phone call the other using a kind of hot-phone setup, but often a voice channel is not established, plus it’s a little hit and miss with placing the call in the first place.
FWIW I have given the phones a fixed IP address each - one ending .201, the other .202.
I will continue to try to get it working but it is a frustrating process.
Thanks Stewart. I have done as you suggest. Results are mixed, sometimes one phone will call the other when the handset is lifted, sometimes not. Also a voice channel is not often established even when they do ring.
Thanks. I have tried to find the asterisk switch commands from both bash and from the admin menu, but it has not been recognised. I’m now working on the idea from David55 and Stewart.