why use routers with voice gateways??

[admin_2]

In other words, could I have cisco AS5300 connected to PSTN via pri and also connect directly to another cisco AS5300 across IP WAN?

I see that cisco uses two routers on the WAN connectivity part, could they be eliminated if what's described above is done?

[#2]

There's no serial interface( wan link) on AS5300, normally you would be expected to connect the AS5300 to an edge router (25/26/7200) and then to the

other side.

[fbahram]

Furthermore to that, you do nothave to have "routers with voice gateways" if you have a 3600 voice gateway, which can be both the telephony/voip gateway as well as the WAN connectivity part, all in one.

Eventhough the AS5300 does have high-speed serial interfaces, it is really not suited for WAN connectivity and is designed to be a LAN access-server. This is an exception.

Hope this helps.