Transcoder/Bandwidth Problems

[c.shepard]

At our remote location we just installed 23 ip phones with a 3524 switch, 1760 gateway, 2621 router, and ata186. We have 4 did and 4 fxo ports. We are using Frame at 384k. We have a definity G3 currently only talking G.711.

This posses a problem due to bandwidth. We decided to only allow the remote location to make DID calls so that we do not suffer in bandwidth. The problem is we can only have 4 outbound and 4 inbound calls at one time. We need to be able to have more without sacrificing bandwidth and it is my understanding that we can use a transcoder to use g.729 so that we can use the network for alot of those calls.

At the Main site we have a 4006 switch (which is full), a 3548 switch, a 3640 router (which has one slot available). Since our 4006 is full we were thinking about buying another 4006 or possibly a 6000 series and putting a transcoder in it so that we can use g.729 to g.711 conversion.

We realize that we could go with upgrading our G3 to use qsig but from the several people I talked with qsig is tough to configure on both g3 and cisco. However we want to eventually get away from the G3 and go full Cisco IP so I dont want to throw more money into it.

Does anyone have any insight on the best options for a transcoder and a rough estimate of pricing.

[jcmartin]

There are a lot of ways you can proceed here to acheive your transcoding. You could buy a 6500 with the appropriate cards. Cisco would love it, but it would cost you a mint. If that's all you need it for, it's probably not worth the money. You could also buy a NM-HDA-4FXS and put a DSP-HDA-16 16-channel DSP card in it and put it in your 3640. But, since your 3640 is almost full, you may want to look at current processor utilization before you do this. The 3640 isn't all that powerful, and you may be stressing it out depending on what you already have in it. Another alternative is to buy a VG200 and equip it with either a 36-, 54- or 90-port DSP farm module. Also, it's a bit less efficient, but you could do software transcoding in your existing Call Manager and not buy any hardware. With only 23 phones, you probably won't be stressing out the CM.

And I'm not sure of your exact reasons, but you probably could have put both your gateway and router functions in your 2621 and saved some cash up front...

As for pricing, you should get that from your VAR once you explore your various options.