FXS Solutions For Modems And Other Non Jitter Tolerant Devices

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Asterisk Users 4 Comments

In the past we have used Adtran Atlas 550’s to break out FXS ports for devices like modems. The great thing about the 550 is that internally it is all TDM so there is absolutely zero latency.

We are able to use ATA’s for faxes and analog phones but devices that use modems, they fail 99.99% of the time when using an ATA.

We tried to migrate to TA908 devices; they have FXS ports built into the unit. Unfortunately the FXS ports are just ATA’s off of Asterisk, no different than a SPA2012 unit.

The 550 is getting long in the tooth and very expensive for a few FXS
ports, what are you folks doing when someone has a need? It can be a modem for the power company to read the meter, a postage machine that needs to get more postage, an alarm system,etc.

Is the customer buying a POTS line and splitting it the only other way?

Thanks, Matt

4 thoughts on - FXS Solutions For Modems And Other Non Jitter Tolerant Devices

  • Finding less and less need for analog circuits. Alarm -> envisalink, postage machine -> ethernet based, pos terminal -> ethernet.

    Fax is really the only need recently, and even that has alternatives like emailing scans that most people prefer now.

  • Jon Pounder wrote:

    The legal and medical communities still seem to prefer faxing, in the ( mistaken? ) belief that it is more secure. In fact the medical community is fearful of the legal beagles.

    These groups are really slow to change. At least in the USA

    John Novack

  • The couple of times I have received medical faxes to my fax bank scare me about the actual security. My company is not in the medical field, nowhere close, in fact.

    In one case, the fax included the patients name, address, phone, Date of Birth, SSN, and confidential medical history. The comment I made to a coworker was that if I wanted to steal an identity, they had just handed me everything I would need.

    In the second case, it was a question from a pharmacy to a doctors office. Not quite so bad. I called up the pharmacy and said I had a problem with a fax they had sent. After asking me for some information from the fax so they could identify which patient I was calling about they asked what the problem was. I replied that I was a manufacturer of balloons and not a doctor’s office. To say there was a bit of panic creeping into the guys voice on the other end was an understatement. I think I triggered some HIPAA reporting provisions.