Hardware Prerequisites for FreePBX Installation

Dear All,
I am quite new to FreePBX. However I have installed the software on one of my servers. In the process, I could not make the use out of the FreePBX box. Therefore, I would like to seek the advises from this forum on the following

What all cards/equipment/hardware are required and whom can I approach so that I can make the use of my FreePBX server.

Regards

A server for the FreePBX and phones are all what you need to make calls between the phones. If you want to call outside then you will need a Trunk. I use SIP Trunk but there are other options out there.

  • Can you explain what you did in more details? The configuration and networking can affect the functionality of the server.

Hi. Thanks for your quick response. Well ! I have installed freepbx and since I didn’t get the idea on the hardware requirement, the server is ready with the software only. Coming to phone and sip trunk,where will I get such hardwares? Any vendors that you could recommend? . By the way I am writing from Bhutan. Your help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Phones

You could choose any “SIP phone” that you like and fit your needs. If you just want to make and receive calls then a simple phone should work fine. Some SIP phones have colored screen and extra features that come with price. Some brands work better than others with FreePBX. Sangoma (also own FreePBX) phones expected to work better. You can do your search and people here will tell how difficult or easy the phone will work with FreePBX. You could use softphone to install on your computer / laptop (like Blink http://icanblink.com/) or smartphone. You can use it to test your system, by dialing “*43” and you should hear the system repeat what you say, if you do not have physical phone.

SIP trunk

Trunk does not necessary need a hardware. This is for getting a phone number to dial in and out your FreePBX. You could use SIP provider and put the information in FreePBX and should work. I am not sure which SIP providers work in your area. I use personally Flowroute https://www.flowroute.com/

Hi there. Thank you again. I will try to follow your advises asap. Should I need your help, I will bother you again. Coming to sangoma, I tried to contact them but could not get their responses as quick as I needed. Perhaps they are busy with volumes of emails and inquiries.

Any time.

Some of them are here and might see your comment. I Googled “sangoma phones price” and found this page Sangoma SIP Phones - VoIP Supply (to get an idea). There are other resellers and brands to choose from.

You need no hardware. A VM with a single core and 1GB of RAM will run 100+ extensions and 20 simultaneous calls easily.

Hi there. Thank you for the help. Hoping to see reply from sangoma personnel . Would it be possible to get your email address please. ?

Two things:

  • Posting here will also help other people in the future
  • I am happy to help as much as I can. I am not an IT, posting here will get you responses from people with more experience.

Hi. Sorvani. Thank you for your reply. I have installed two instances of the server. One using freepbx and another inside virtual box (using source code). I could see asterisk running in both the servers. . But after that I am stuck. I could not proceed fearing that I may have to acquire some phones/hardwares to get the server working.

I’m a Sangoma employee. I’m not clear on what you’re looking for. If you want to pay for support from Sangoma, there is a link at the top of this page.

For testing purposes you can download a free SIP softphone (Zoiper, etc) and install it on a PC or mobile device.

Ok. I will do as you suggested. Despite being IT, I find you know the working of the pbx. Great to hear such advices.

Hi. Actually I want to get the freepbx server operational. Though I have the server installed , m not sure of what all hardwares /cards/phones do I need to get the call process working.

Try this.

  • Create an extension (PJSIP) in FreePBX server.
  • Download softphone. I am using Blink here (http://icanblink.com/). Put the extension number, the PBX IP address, port (will be on the top of the extension page) and the Secret of the extension.

If things work fine the extension will be registered.

Add_Account

Hi Moussa. I will try this and let you know. Hoping to get similar assistance please.

Hi Moussa. Well the software which you recommended icanblink seem to be a commercial one. I tried using ZoiPer in my android phone. I tried connecting to the PBX server from the android phone. I am getting "This could be called domain, Sip server, Registrar or Sip Proxy. For your information, I am testing this server on my private LAN (which do not have any domain for now ). Also, please check my extension configuration attached.

Regards

And to connect I am using the following syntax
[email protected]:5160 .Hope this is correct. Where 900 is my testing extension number.

HI massou, I finanlly could manage to connect from my phone using Zoiper. When I dial the mobile number, I am getting the error " Please check the number and dial again". Do I need to put any prefix to the mobile number. In our case, the country code is +975.

Regards

Let’s make sure that the system is working. Can you dial “*43”?
If not check Connectivity >> Outbound Routes >> Dial Patterns (Sangoma Documentation)

For this you will need a Trunk. Were you able to find a trunk provider in your area?

Dear Moussa.
I will try this and let you know. On the other hand, it seems like we are on different time zones. At this hour, it’s end of day for us in Bhutan. I will surely get this done and let you. Regarding the trunk , I will see if we have the existing trunk that have been used by our legacy pbx systems.

Thanks in advance.

Also towards the second testing I managed to connect two soft phones using voiper. We tested the talks and we were able to exchange the words/speeches.

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