Installing Analog Lines

This article deals directly with installing analog telephone lines, not phones or fax machines. Before plugging in any analog telephone lines, ensure that there are FXO modules installed in the analog card. Failure to confirm this may cause severe hardware damage.

To ensure that lines are being plugged into appropriate ports, open the server and verify that the modules in the analog card are colored red.

NOTE: Red modules indicate FXO, green modules indicate FXS (for devices).

Plugging in the lines

If you are connecting analog phone lines to your system, they should be connected in reverse hunting order. Your busiest incoming lines should be placed in your highest port numbers. 

The Fonality PBX dials out from the lowest port numbers first, so to avoid placing an outbound call while an inbound call is ringing this reverse order connection of your lines is essential.

Each port on each PCI card has a port number stamped into the metal near the green LED. When connecting analog phone lines to the PBX server, they must be connected in reverse hunt order (explained below).

As an example:

The analog carrier has a hunt group set up to attempt calls to each of the following numbers in this order; when one is busy, the carrier will then ring the next:

1. 200-300-1001

2. 200-300-1002

3. 200-300-1003

4. 200-300-1004

5. 200-300-1005

6. 200-300-1006

In the Fonality PBX, there will be six corresponding ports on two PCI cards as numbered below. (The port number stamped on the card is shown in parenthesis): 

Connect the phone lines in reverse order so that the busiest inbound line is connected to the highest port number. Example:

1. 200-300-1001 = LINE6 (Slot 2/Port 2)

2. 200-300-1002 = LINE5 (Slot 2/Port 1)

3. 200-300-1003 = LINE4 (Slot 1/Port 4)

4. 200-300-1004 = LINE3 (Slot 1/Port 3)

5. 200-300-1005 = LINE2 (Slot 1/Port 2)

6. 200-300-1006 = LINE1 (Slot 1/Port 1)

Using this line ordering, there is almost no chance that an inbound call and an outbound call will compete for the same port at the same time.

Configuring the card in the Web Admin Panel

Fonality PBX servers come pre-configured with the most common settings for analog connections. However, if editing is required this may be accomplished by logging into the Fonality Web Admin Panel and navigating to Options -> cards. Here, select the card that needs to be edited and the page will display the card options:

Open

The settings relevant for FXO are:

• Signalling - Signalling for phone lines in the North America is almost always fxs_ks. Some countries may use fxs_gs. fxs_ls is almost equivalent to fxs_ks, except fxs_ks is more intelligent about detecting remote end disconnection.

NOTE: Although confusing, this is not a typo - FXO ports use fxs signalling.

• Group - Group is used to separate TDM channels for different outbound hunt groups. The PBX will try to place a call using each of the channel in a group until it finds a non-busy channel or has tried all of the channels in the group. If you configure the server's dial plans to use multiple groups, the call will rollover to the next group if all channels are busy in the current group.

• Echo Cancel - controls software based echo cancellation and can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.

NOTE: If the card purchased for the system has built-in hardware echo cancellation, this setting should always be set to 'no'. Hardware echo cancellation is much more effective than the software version; to enable hardware echo cancellation, please contact the Fonality Customer Support team.

To verify that the card in question has hardware echo cancellation, please refer to the relevant Fonality order; the card's line item will state HWEC or w/EC.

• Echo Training - how long the PBX tries to "train" out echo before a call is established, in milliseconds. This gives the phone system time to listen to the line without any additional noise from end users.

• RX Gain - controls the volume for audio that the PBX receives. If internal users complain of the audio being too low, then increase the gain. If there is static on calls, then try decreasing the gain. 

• TX Gain - controls the volume on audio that the PBX sends. If external calls complain of low audio levels, then increase this value. Increasing the value can also help to eliminate echo.

Once done, click "Apply All Changes" at the bottom. Each port will need to be configured individually.

Advanced users may click "Advanced Mode" at the top, but please be aware that this allows for direct editing of the configuration files and is not recommended for users unfamiliar with Asterisk.