Comments on: Digium Confirms Major Issues with AA50 VoIP Appliance: Spotaneous Reboots and Memory Card Write-Lock, A Review http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/ Eclectic Commentary on Technology & Business by Dennis Little Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:33:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Dennis Little http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-19048 Dennis Little Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:56:51 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-19048 Hi Francesca, Asterisk would work well for what little requirements you mention here, but the AA50 from Digium most certainly would not! There is an Asterisk users group on LinkedIn where you may want to ask questions too. -Dennis Hi Francesca,

Asterisk would work well for what little requirements you mention here, but the AA50 from Digium most certainly would not!

There is an Asterisk users group on LinkedIn where you may want to ask questions too.

-Dennis

]]> By: Francesca Massaro http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-19033 Francesca Massaro Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:52:28 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-19033 Does anyone know how this product would perform in a 50+ seat call center with an additional 50 office personnel? I'm trying to decide whether or not to go with a traditional Toshiba or Avaya system or to go with Asterisk. Any information would be helpful! Thanks. Does anyone know how this product would perform in a 50+ seat call center with an additional 50 office personnel? I’m trying to decide whether or not to go with a traditional Toshiba or Avaya system or to go with Asterisk.
Any information would be helpful!
Thanks.

]]> By: Barry Schneider http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-15710 Barry Schneider Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:24:02 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-15710 Has anyone come to a resolution or heard any more about the CF read-only problem? I have been struggling to get this fixed for weeks now. Thanks. Has anyone come to a resolution or heard any more about the CF read-only problem? I have been struggling to get this fixed for weeks now. Thanks.

]]> By: Andrew http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-15447 Andrew Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:08:33 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-15447 I've been waiting for 4 months, they still have not posted an update. Digium can go @*$% themselves for the terrible product, support, and pricing they provide. For a grand i'd expect this thing to work. They send all of their basic support to the evening group which only responds at night, so if you have to reply back it wont get to them for another 24 hours. And their first response doesn't normally come for several days. HORRIBLE product HORRIBLE support. I'm with Kong I will never give digium another dollar. BTW I run an entire call center on Asterisk's open source version and now believe even more that open source is the way to go. I’ve been waiting for 4 months, they still have not posted an update. Digium can go @*$% themselves for the terrible product, support, and pricing they provide. For a grand i’d expect this thing to work.

They send all of their basic support to the evening group which only responds at night, so if you have to reply back it wont get to them for another 24 hours. And their first response doesn’t normally come for several days.

HORRIBLE product HORRIBLE support.

I’m with Kong I will never give digium another dollar. BTW I run an entire call center on Asterisk’s open source version and now believe even more that open source is the way to go.

]]> By: Help for Asterisk AA50 including issues, how to rebuild compact flash filesystem, and workarounds | IT Consulting Blog http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-14082 Help for Asterisk AA50 including issues, how to rebuild compact flash filesystem, and workarounds | IT Consulting Blog Tue, 11 May 2010 20:10:10 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-14082 [...] Background: http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spo... [...] [...] Background: http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spo... [...]

]]> By: Kong http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-13996 Kong Sat, 08 May 2010 15:20:45 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-13996 First of all, I would like to commend you on your article. It's the best AA50 support I've gotten EVER from Digium. You've pretty much hit the nail on the head. We've been having problems since day 1 and have not had a resolution. For a diskless PBX, I can't believe it's more unstable than our whitebox configuration. The web GUI doesn't work perfectly under a different browser. No one at Digium admits to these problems here. Their resolution is for me to continue to wait for a resolution while my system reboots and voicemails get full and file system gets corrupted. Last time I checked, a pbx is usually one of the most stable part of the IT infrastructure. It's nice to see someone doing a great job of explaining their issues. I will never buy a Digium product again. First of all, I would like to commend you on your article. It’s the best AA50 support I’ve gotten EVER from Digium. You’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head. We’ve been having problems since day 1 and have not had a resolution. For a diskless PBX, I can’t believe it’s more unstable than our whitebox configuration. The web GUI doesn’t work perfectly under a different browser. No one at Digium admits to these problems here. Their resolution is for me to continue to wait for a resolution while my system reboots and voicemails get full and file system gets corrupted. Last time I checked, a pbx is usually one of the most stable part of the IT infrastructure. It’s nice to see someone doing a great job of explaining their issues. I will never buy a Digium product again.

]]> By: Andrew http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-12473 Andrew Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:40:36 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-12473 I've been using an AA50 for a while now and must say it definitely serves its purpose as a simple device for a small office. Other than that, i wouldn't recommend this thing. Digium support is slow to respond (4 days to an email is common), and innadequate. Apparently they are actively working on the CF card crash issue. It's been 5 months and they are "actively" working on it? that's gotta be a cruel joke. I’ve been using an AA50 for a while now and must say it definitely serves its purpose as a simple device for a small office. Other than that, i wouldn’t recommend this thing. Digium support is slow to respond (4 days to an email is common), and innadequate. Apparently they are actively working on the CF card crash issue. It’s been 5 months and they are “actively” working on it? that’s gotta be a cruel joke.

]]> By: Dennis Little http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-11429 Dennis Little Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:49:40 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-11429 Hi Reggie, Our solution to the problem has been to reboot the AA50 at the beginning of each day, but you have to make sure the unit is not writing voicemail or you will face file system corruption. There is a new version of firmware available on Digium's beta site, but the release notes do not address this issue specifically; I am loathe to update the firmware and have other issues crop up. At the end of the day, I would recommend using a compact computer equipped with a high efficiency power supply, whatever telephony card you need for analog service and a redundant (RAID1) disk setup to protect from disk failure. I have priced some units in recent months and you could build two units (one for standby in case of failure) for the cost of one AA50 with a year of support. If you are not well-versed in telephony solutions, I also recommend engaging an experienced party to help with all of the planning and implementation. On a side note, you will want to check with Digium to ensure that the license is transferable to you if you buy used. Otherwise, you may end up with a unit that you cannot get support or updated software for, and at worst, can not legally use. Best of luck in your search and integration! Hi Reggie,

Our solution to the problem has been to reboot the AA50 at the beginning of each day, but you have to make sure the unit is not writing voicemail or you will face file system corruption. There is a new version of firmware available on Digium’s beta site, but the release notes do not address this issue specifically; I am loathe to update the firmware and have other issues crop up.

At the end of the day, I would recommend using a compact computer equipped with a high efficiency power supply, whatever telephony card you need for analog service and a redundant (RAID1) disk setup to protect from disk failure. I have priced some units in recent months and you could build two units (one for standby in case of failure) for the cost of one AA50 with a year of support. If you are not well-versed in telephony solutions, I also recommend engaging an experienced party to help with all of the planning and implementation.

On a side note, you will want to check with Digium to ensure that the license is transferable to you if you buy used. Otherwise, you may end up with a unit that you cannot get support or updated software for, and at worst, can not legally use.

Best of luck in your search and integration!

]]> By: Reggie F Burns http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-11427 Reggie F Burns Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:27:29 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-11427 Hi Dennis! Interesting article here. Although this device no longer seems to be sold by Digium, my shop has been looking at picking up an AA50 from a third party due to its lower cost than the AA60 and (in theory) better reliability, due to being a diskless system. These issues you bring up are pretty disconcerting, have you had any luck getting them resolved since posting this article? Has Digium released a firmware update for these issues? The company seems to be trying to get away from this product as fast as possible (another warning sign, it would seem). However, they might just be trying to push sales of the AA60, which appears to be a disk-based device at twice the price. Any advice for a small office trying to get their feet wet with a low-impact / low-maintenance VoIP PBX? Hi Dennis! Interesting article here. Although this device no longer seems to be sold by Digium, my shop has been looking at picking up an AA50 from a third party due to its lower cost than the AA60 and (in theory) better reliability, due to being a diskless system.

These issues you bring up are pretty disconcerting, have you had any luck getting them resolved since posting this article? Has Digium released a firmware update for these issues? The company seems to be trying to get away from this product as fast as possible (another warning sign, it would seem). However, they might just be trying to push sales of the AA60, which appears to be a disk-based device at twice the price.

Any advice for a small office trying to get their feet wet with a low-impact / low-maintenance VoIP PBX?

]]> By: Dan S. http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/2009/11/02/digium-confirms-major-issues-with-aa50-voip-appliance-spotaneous-reboots-and-memory-card-write-lock-a-review/comment-page-1/#comment-9844 Dan S. Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:30:59 +0000 http://www.keycruncher.com/blog/?p=138#comment-9844 Excellent post, keep at it! Excellent post, keep at it!

]]>