I didn't realize you had such extensive experience. The hardware being sold by Digium and comps is not cheap and definitely a notch above what we are targeting for the Home controller.

Marc Fleury wrote on Aug 25, 2008 10:53:
I didn't realize you had such extensive experience. The hardware being sold by Digium and comps is not cheap and definitely a notch above what we are targeting for the Home controller.

Yep, I have several ATAs that work quite well as part of a home PBX. I also had Freeworld Dialup (which is no longer free). I can't say that I like Skype because of the P2P aspects of it.

I really liked the fact that I could 'blackball' certain telephone numbers very easily. The voice menu system worked really well though I didn't use it much (other than telemarketer hell ;-). But the ability to use a different voice greeting depending on the number or time of year, or whatever was really cool. I may try setting it back up. I wonder if the WiFi phone I have has a firmware upgrade? Hmmm.

The equipment that Digium is selling is expensive because it's does the job correctly. I think that there's a $600 board (FX0/FXS modules) that will work for what I need (has hardware echo cancellation). Oddly enough if the entire VoIP service is IP then there are no echo problems. I had AT&T CallVantage and it worked well I just didn't like the reliability of Comcast's network (my ISP) and paying for copper service and VoIP service. So I dropped the VoIP, which is still much more dependable. When you start jumping into a hybrid network of T1s and T3s (or E1s and E3s for most of the world). Then things really start working well.

When VoIP standards fix the current set of problems and there is some kind of (paying) service with QoS and battery backup service then I'll get VoIP as a replacement for my copper POTS line.

Oh, despite my comments, we should push forward with VoIP and HA. The two are naturally linked.

A gratuitous event of happenstance has occurred (I just noticed)! The MH mail list has a few posts on Telephony and has some information on the Linksys SPA-3000 and SPA-3102 ATAs and echo problems. I guess I'll have to take a look at my VoIP setup and see if I can get it working. I guess I'll have to read my chapter on VoIP again ;-).

Here are the links provided:

• Geek Zone Forums (New Zealand)
• Whirlpool Forums (Australia)
• Linksys Customer Service

I've already done the impedance matching but I'll try the rest. As I recall the problem is that volume is directly proportional to the amount of echo. I've got two POTS lines I can work with. Unfortunately both go to the same switch (AT&T service on Verizon copper).

Marc Fleury wrote on Aug 25, 2008 10:53:
I didn't realize you had such extensive experience.

I only missed this because I was getting ready for work (bicycling to work). So now we can have some fun with this .... ;-)

You mean you haven't finished reading my book yet?

or

Well you didn't hire me for my good looks.

Actually I though you invited me because I have a very varied background and a long history in HA. I won't know everything but I hope I know a lot.

For everyone else right now I'm just enjoying the last days of summer. So I'm a bit lazy. Once September rolls around I'll get back into it. I suspect a lot of others are doing the same thing.

Todd Comins wrote on Aug 26, 2008 00:50:
As a recent new member I've been trolling this forum trying to get the essence or what OpenRemote is about. I keep referring back to the OpenRemote Roadmap which in short says the following: The ultimate goal is to deliver an open platform for complete Home Automation. ... The first product is AV automation. ... The second product is Home Automation. ...

I am actually happy that was your experience even though I could improve on it significantly. Believe or not that was not clear to most newcomers even 4 days ago. I am trying to make sure our communication is not all over the place.

I assume that there are many other newbies that are like me, trying to infer from the various postings what OpenRemotes is all about and where it is heading. Noteably absent from the roadmap statement are more forward looking capabilities like digital media, communications, web services, etc. So, I think it is understandable why discussion of things like VoIP, etc., haven't been put forward.

thanks for the feedback, now that the first step is clear, the second and third steps are really open for discussion. Remember that this is a community and he who codes wins. Forward looking statements should definitely be included, with clear understanding that these are not version 1 features but should lead to the appropriate forum discussion and have tasks associated.

The addition of communication, digital media, or web services would significantly complicate the stated objectives of OpenRemote. There is value in simpler objectives / focus particularly when starting out. I assume that this would be especially important in an open source effort like OpenRemote. I've never been involved in an open source effort before (but do have experience in industry standards).

Yes that is basically it. A week ago, we were all scratching our heads going does everyone understand WHERE to go first if they want to contribute? and it was clear they did.