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ohn starts his presentation with something like … instead of fearing PBX vendors who offer an alternative to traditional PBX, go the easy route and make them your ally. Resell IP PBX from an outsourced vendor and ensure quality of service since you control the network as an ISP.

On the other hand, John says, “Mobile phones fail on service and flexibility.”

(I was wondering if he has tried the Nokia e61i? I have one since May 2008 and find it a very useful and flexible tool. But then again, it is very difficult to find one. They are more popular in Europe and Asia and more easily available there from the local mobile companies. See my blog posts on mobile voip at http://suzanne.supertec.com/search?q=mobile+voip.)

Todd believes the mobile phone has not replaced the landline as the top choice of telephony. He mentions the IPhone as an example of inflexibility for business use.

(Check out the article that compares a Blackberry Storm to an IPhone at http://www.newsoxy.com/blackberry/article11516.html.)

Asterisk assists you to provide more interesting services more quickly. No matter where you use Asterisk whether at the customer premise or in your switching center, Asterisk can make your company clearly a better choice unless your competition also uses Asterisk.

John Todd states, “In which case, you’ve got to rely on that fundamental that you’ve got which is the network.”

And I guess he means here that the better quality your network and because of the control that ISPs have to manage their network, the better they can compete with other ISPs who use Asterisk who may not manage as well. But I personally think that customer service and company leadership matter just as much.

Most ISPs in the audience at ISPCON are selling PBX services and POTS and really SIP trunking which displaces existing vendors is basically what John added. He shared a chart with us

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John usually talks to audiences who are very unhappy because they don’t own the network nor have control over QoS, but WISPs and other ISPs attending ISPCON are in control and do own the network. The voice they sell can be as good or bad as they are willing to enable with the power they have.

Asterisk is a viable tool to provide voIP. Often used as a telephony toolkit, as voie application, set of APIs, and PBX. Decide to make the call go over SIP or PRI or SS7 link. The APIs give call control over other interfaces for web 2.0 apps, pre-existing database to make calls out… The PBX is very popular worldwide.

“You’re using Asterisk. You just don’t know it.”

Asterisk experienced more than a million downloads in 2008. Watch the video for more info and stats. This video was recorded by me Suzanne during ISPcon 2008.

If you the ISP or WISP is not using and selling Asterisk-based product, who is? That’s a question Todd posed. I would say, “Someone is. No, many are.”