Alcatel 4400 via PRI

This page explains how to connect Asterisk to an Alcatel PCX 4400 via a 30 channel ISDN E1 trunk. It might not be the only way or the best way of doing it as I have been figuring this out as I go along but could be a useful guide. Please update or comment if you know a better way of doing a particular thing.

This guide assumes you have already setup an Asterisk server and have an Alcatel 4400 connected to the PSTN.

Resources and current progress

A more upto date version of this document was at the forum here:

• The Alcatel Unleashed Asterisk forum

Hardware

You’ll need the following:

• A PRA2 isdn card for the PCX 4400
• A T1/E1 card for Asterisk, I’ve used a Sangoma a102u, an equivalent Digium card would do too
• a cable to connect the two – I used a TY2 96PT at the Alcatel end which I patched into the back of a UTP socket and then used a normal UTP cable to connect to the Asterisk box. The connections are like so

Asterisk Configuration

zaptel.conf:

span=1,1,0,ccs,hdb3,crc4

bchan=1-15,17-31
dchan=16 

zapata.conf

[trunkgroups]
trunkgroup => 1,16
spanmap => 1,1,1

[channels]
language=uk
context=default
switchtype=euroisdn
signalling=pri_cpe
group=1
callgroup=1
pickupgroup=1
immediate=no

echocancel=yes
channel => 1-15,17-31 

extensions.conf

; this needs improving as it only allows fixed length of extension numbers at present
exten => _[0-24-8]XX,n,Dial(zap/g1/${EXTEN})  ; internal calls
exten => _9XXXXXXXXXXX,1,Dial(ZAP/g1/${EXTEN}) ; 9 for external calls

Alcatel Configuration

1. Install the PRA2 card

• Under Shelf/Board create a PRA2 object at the appropriate address
• Plug the board in

2. Create a trunk group for Alcatel<->Asterisk

• Under Trunk Groups, name it something like Asterisk
• Q931 signal variant=ISDN all countries
• Under Trunk Group:
  • B channel choice=yes
  • Under Access create an object:
  • If your card is in shelf 0, slot 4 the physical address will be 0-4-0
  • access type=T2

3. Set the physical link parameters

• Under Shelf/Board/PRA2/Digital Access set
  • Network mode=yes
  • CRC4=yes

4. Set a route for calls from Alcatel->Asterisk

My Asterisk extensions begin with 3, so under Translator/Prefix plan

• 3 – Open routing no.
• Node number=the ID number of the Asterisk trunk group

5. Enable trunk to trunk dialling

This enables Asterisk->Alcatel->PSTN (thanks again Frank 🙂

• Under Classes of Service/Connection COS/5 set Rights COS 5 to 1

Different Connection Types?

I have also tried setting both ends to QSIG instead of isdn all countries/euroisdn but haven’t had any luck with this.