PRI on ISP Cisco Router Patched to Cisco 4331 for Voice Gateway

[ryanfinnegan44]

All,

The customer was getting a SIP Circuit for the PSTN but will not be ready. We'll use the 2 existing PRI temporary until the SIP network is live. The customer has an Avaya system that will be replaced by CUCM 11.5 and a ISR 4331 as a MGCP gateway with a 2 port T1/E1 card. These 2 PRI come into the building via SM fiber and is seated straight into a Cisco router that is serviced by the ISP. Then of course its an Ethernet hand off to the Avaya PBX. I never seen this solution before the PRI are usually broken out into two separate smart jacks or another device that has Ethernet ports to patch to your T1/E1 card ports. Can I patch from the ISP Cisco router T1/E1 ports to the Customer side Cisco 4331 Voice gateway T1/E1 ports for PSTN access? The two PRI are setup as NI2, B8ZS, ESF. Remember this is only temporary for 1-2 months. The 2nd option I would have to call AT&T to see if they can change the L3 endpoint that has a copper Ethernet hand off to patch to the customers side 4331 Router that will be the voice gateway and PSTN access for the CUCM 11.5.

Thanks All,

[Chris Deren]

Should not matter how the PRIs are delivered, what matters is that the PRIs will need to be handed off to your voice gw as dedicated PRI connections via separate RJ48 cables, there is no way around it.  My only other suggestion would be to ditch MGCP and build SIP connection between CUCM and the GWs, this way when you are ready to covert the GW to CUBE no changes are required on CUCM side and it's simply changes of dial-peers, etc. on the router.  Plus MGCP is very prone to bugs and issues as it has not seen a refresh in 10+ years, so SIP should be the facto protocol of choice for new versions.