Asterisk in Church

June 10, 2005 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I started by installing Asterisk@Home on an old PC that I had laying around. It is a 1ghz AMD machine with 256 meg of RAM.

Installation was a snap. I just downloaded and burned the CD image, dropped it in the drive, Turned on the computer and after 20-30 minutes, I had a Linux box that was running asterisk. Don't leave this disk around for you kids to check out. It it installs with absolutely no interaction, not even "are you sure you want to do this?".

I initally ordered a Grandstream GXP-2000 This phone was easily configured via the web interface. I bought it a bit on the bleeding edge, and new firmware is being issued quite frequently upgrading and fixing bugs in this phone. I think it is a quality product, and I would recommend it to others.

I also got 4 Sipura SPA-841 phones. I was quite disappointed with these compared to the Grandstream. 3 of the 4 phones didn't work correctly. One lost network connectivity shortly after installing, and was unable to get past the Initializing network screen. Another had nasty Static when you used the handset. Another had a speakerphone volume that fluctuated wildly. My vendor is going to replace these, but it has not been easy. I also do not like having to use multiple buttons to transfer calls. On the bright side, if the Sipura phones worked the way they are supposed to, I don't think they would be a bad phone for the money.

I purchased two X100 compatable cards off Ebay. These run about 10 bucks each. These are used to connect your old fassioned telephone lines into your Asterisk box.

Configuration of the system is pretty easy. The asterisk at home installation includes a web based configuration tool called AMP. You can use AMP from any web browser on your network and add extensions, set up ring groups, build interactive voice response menus etc. You can record your prompts from any extension.

The one challenge I had with the IVR functions was that AMP didn't have a method to play a sound file, then go to a back to the menu. Instead it would play a file, then hang up. I had to write custom scripts to get around that issue. It was relatively easy to do, but I know that some people are intimidated by having to write scripts.

We implemented this 8 or so days ago, and I think overall everyone is happy. There are some annoyances that we are still trying to work out. Some calls have quite a bit of Echo.The callers do not hear it, but the Church staff do. I also still don't have good phones for everybody.

There are several features that we hope will help communication work better now that we have this implemented. We where able to set up extensions for quite a few of the leaders within the church, and have voicemails left in those boxes directed to their Email accounts. Being able to have the caller call somebody directly is a big value. It saves the staff time because they no longer have to do receptionist/phone running duties. I think it also make the caller more comfortable leaving a message. With the answering machine, they didn't know for sure who would be listening to the message. Also some of the more frequent questions can be answered by the phone system. We have set up recordings regarding the time and location of our services and upcoming events.

I believe that open source software is something that churches should seriously consider, especially for the backoffice stuff like PBX's, File servers, Internet Servers etc. These applications really can lubricate the flow of information, allowing the staff to focus on their ministries rather than logistics.

Comments

Liferoads now has a full featured phone system. I thought it would be good to share the experience that we are going through in case you are interested in undertaking a simular project for your church, business or home. I started by installing Asterisk@Home on an old PC that I had laying around. It is a 1ghz AMD machine with 256 meg of RAM. Installation was a snap. I just downloaded and burned the CD image, dropped it in the drive, Turned on the computer and after 20-30 minutes, I had a Linux box that was running asterisk. Don't leave this disk around for you kids to check out. It it installs with absolutely no interaction, not even "are you sure you want to do this?". I initally ordered a Grandstream GXP-2000 This phone was easily configured via the web interface. I bought it a bit on the bleeding edge, and new firmware is being issued quite frequently upgrading and fixing bugs in this phone. I think it is a quality product, and I would recommend it to others. I also got 4 Sipura SPA-841 phones. I was quite disappointed with these compared to the Grandstream. 3 of the 4 phones didn't work correctly. One lost network connectivity shortly after installing, and was unable to get past the Initializing network screen. Another had nasty Static when you used the handset. Another had a speakerphone volume that fluctuated wildly. My vendor is going to replace these, but it has not been easy. I also do not like having to use multiple buttons to transfer calls. On the bright side, if the Sipura phones worked the way they are supposed to, I don't think they would be a bad phone for the money. I purchased two X100 compatable cards off Ebay. These run about 10 bucks each. These are used to connect your old fassioned telephone lines into your Asterisk box. Configuration of the system is pretty easy. The asterisk at home installation includes a web based configuration tool called AMP. You can use AMP from any web browser on your network and add extensions, set up ring groups, build interactive voice response menus etc. You can record your prompts from any extension. The one challenge I had with the IVR functions was that AMP didn't have a method to play a sound file, then go to a back to the menu. Instead it would play a file, then hang up. I had to write custom scripts to get around that issue. It was relatively easy to do, but I know that some people are intimidated by having to write scripts. We implemented this 8 or so days ago, and I think overall everyone is happy. There are some annoyances that we are still trying to work out. Some calls have quite a bit of Echo.The callers do not hear it, but the Church staff do. I also still don't have good phones for everybody. There are several features that we hope will help communication work better now that we have this implemented. We where able to set up extensions for quite a few of the leaders within the church, and have voicemails left in those boxes directed to their Email accounts. Being able to have the caller call somebody directly is a big value. It saves the staff time because they no longer have to do receptionist/phone running duties. I think it also make the caller more comfortable leaving a message. With the answering machine, they didn't know for sure who would be listening to the message. Also some of the more frequent questions can be answered by the phone system. We have set up recordings regarding the time and location of our services and upcoming events. I believe that open source software is something that churches should seriously consider, especially for the backoffice stuff like PBX's, File servers, Internet Servers etc. These applications really can lubricate the flow of information, allowing the staff to focus on their ministries rather than logistics.