[bazlowe]

Hi there,

I'm moving house soon and I'm beginning to plan setting up my digital home. I have a question about VOIP....

I will have two lines from talktalk coming into the house and i want to be able to send this around the house over the cat5 cabling.

What do i need to do this?

I have an MS 2003 server which i've been told i can install software on to manage call features etc. I've also been told I need a Telephone switch?

Not sure what i need!

Any suggestions would be great.... Thanks in advance

[TOMMOHAWK_UK]

You can install VoIP software on 2003 server but it depends what you want to do - ie what features you want etc. There is a windows based solution called 3CX which is a PBX that runs on server 2K3. Your broadband connection will be fine for all your VoIP calls both inbound and outbound and if you have 2 lines then better call quality can be achieved if you plan to use 1 for data and 1 for voice. Anyway, as for a telephone switch I think that is a bit misleading. You can use a normal switch for VoIP phones (all the phones I have encountered are 10/100 so no need for a gigabit switch unless you are going to use it for data aswell). If you use a standard switch then you will need to provide power separately to each phone using a mains adaptor or using a PoE injector at the switch. The alternative is to use a PoE capable switch - this is a better solution but mainly intended for business use (unless you have money to burn). Hope that helps.