Asterisk

I don't know if anyone has posted anything like this here before so here it goes, lol. I've been looking into various alternatives when it comes to telecommunications and found something that might be of use to fellow ATSers. It's called Asterisk. Here's what they say about it from the website:

"Asterisk is an open source framework for building communications applications. Asterisk turns an ordinary computer into a communications server. Asterisk powers IP PBX systems, VoIP gateways, conference servers and other custom solutions. It is used by small businesses, large businesses, call centers, carriers and government agencies, worldwide. Asterisk is free and open source. Asterisk is sponsored by Digium"

Please let me know if any of you feel that this is helpful in any way. Thanks for listening.

Its quite a common platform for small businesses and with some good hardware to provide the outreach into the PSTN world you can have a very good phone system for next to no money and given its open source and 99% software only you have a very low cost support system compared to a commercial system

reply to post by Maxatoria


I've been thinking about setting one up for my home. Essentially all you need is a basic landline coming into your home. The system allows you to setup all sorts of features and it's FREE Well, the software is anyway, lol.


Asterisk Features

What exactly is it that you want to do?

reply to post by Nevertheless


Well here in Canada as you know the telcos have a monopoly here. No competition what-so-ever. This is an somewhat easy way for individuals to move away from $100.00+ phone bills. Keep in mind that this is only for people who use landlines in their homes. I know what your going to say "Who uses landlines anymore?", lol. Well, if it means that I'm paying for a basic landline vs massive cell bills then I'll take option one, lol.

Asterisk is a telephone pbx (Private branch exchange, a private telephone switchboard.).
Basically a business telephone system.

Are you running your own business at home?

You don't need a pbx if you're looking to lower your home phone bills.

What you might actually want is Vonage.

reply to post by grey580


I want to be able to control everything, . By the time you add everything onto your phone(s) (voicemail, call display, etc.) an average bill can start to balloon way past what you expected. Plus the fact that most of these companies only offer 3 to 6 months of these free services, after which your bill goes up (savings, but only for a short time). This system will give anyone these options for less cost to them over the long haul. And when I say long haul, I mean for as long as they want an asterisk server in their homes. You don't have to use this system for business, it can be used as a home telecommunications server. I've set these systems up for lets just say very wealthy people in their homes to be used as their home phone system.

Just wanted to put it out there. Hopefully some ATS members can save some money.

Anyone that has any voice (TDM or IP\SIP) experience is very familiar with the different versions of Asterisk that are/were available.

It's a fun system but you still need someway to connect to the PSTN.

Anyone that doesn't know should grab it, grab Wireshark or whatever tracer you want to use I figure out how SIP works.

You need a couple of things:

1) High speed internet
2) Computer (Preferably with an SSD HD)
3) Asterisk

This is how I've been setting them up.

Originally posted by RedShirt73
You need a couple of things:

1) High speed internet
2) Computer (Preferably with an SSD HD)
3) Asterisk

This is how I've been setting them up.

1. Like i said..connectivity to the PSTN =)

2. You don't need an SSD to run Asterisk but it's no harm if you use one.
hell I have been running my various installs on virtual boxes

3. Yup.. Im lucky im a UC Engineer meaning I get to play with enterprise VOIP\SIP solutions integrating a monster legacy Nortel pbx, CUCM and other fun things!

reply to post by opethPA


Can I ask you what your overall feelings about Asterisk are? Would you feel that it's a viable alternative for people?

Originally posted by RedShirt73
reply to post by opethPA

 

Can I ask you what your overall feelings about Asterisk are? Would you feel that it's a viable alternative for people?

edit on 16-5-2013 by RedShirt73 because: (no reason given)

For the home user and small business user, 100% yes.

On a large scale enterprise deployment , for example mine is some place around 20k phones and 9k voice mailboxes, other things make more sense.

We're running Asterisk using FreePBX at one of our sister companies. And I hate its guts. We're running it on a pretty low-end PC - which was cheap, but the telephony cards were three arms, two legs and an eyeball. So it wasn't exactly free. Or cheap. And the IP phones aren't exactly buy one, get two free either...

It does have some nifty tools and functions - many not available with off-the-shelf PBX systems. When it works, it works fine. When it doesn't... it takes ages to figure out what the problem is... Maybe I'm just negative towards Asterisk, because it runs on Linux. And don't get me started on how much I hate Linux.

That said - you get a lot of software, and yes the software is free. So, if you're clued up with Linux I would suggest Asterisk. And not just for small businesses. It can easily work for mid-sized companies with a strong enough network. Maybe a bit of an overkill for just plain old home use.

Originally posted by Gemwolf
We're running Asterisk using FreePBX at one of our sister companies. And I hate its guts. We're running it on a pretty low-end PC - which was cheap, but the telephony cards were three arms, two legs and an eyeball. So it wasn't exactly free. Or cheap. And the IP phones aren't exactly buy one, get two free either...

It does have some nifty tools and functions - many not available with off-the-shelf PBX systems. When it works, it works fine. When it doesn't... it takes ages to figure out what the problem is... Maybe I'm just negative towards Asterisk, because it runs on Linux. And don't get me started on how much I hate Linux.

That said - you get a lot of software, and yes the software is free. So, if you're clued up with Linux I would suggest Asterisk. And not just for small businesses. It can easily work for mid-sized companies with a strong enough network. Maybe a bit of an overkill for just plain old home use.

There is no way I would any build of Asterisk on anything over 10k phones and probably less than that.
A lot of it depends on your PSTN connectivity, endpoints, blah blah blah.

reply to post by opethPA


Agree 100%. Guess it depends on the definition of small/mid-sized companies. Personally I wouldn't put more than 500 phones on Asterisk. Simply because I'm waaaay to lazy for that kind of hard labor.

reply to post by Gemwolf


My feelings about Linux are as follows:

Originally posted by RedShirt73
reply to post by grey580

 

I want to be able to control everything,

. By the time you add everything onto your phone(s) (voicemail, call display, etc.) an average bill can start to balloon way past what you expected. Plus the fact that most of these companies only offer 3 to 6 months of these free services, after which your bill goes up (savings, but only for a short time). This system will give anyone these options for less cost to them over the long haul. And when I say long haul, I mean for as long as they want an asterisk server in their homes. You don't have to use this system for business, it can be used as a home telecommunications server. I've set these systems up for lets just say very wealthy people in their homes to be used as their home phone system.

edit on 16-5-2013 by RedShirt73 because: (no reason given)

Just wanted to put it out there. Hopefully some ATS members can save some money.

edit on 16-5-2013 by RedShirt73 because: (no reason given)

Well a couple of things. It's a pbx. So there's start up costs involved.

First you will need either POT (Plain ol Telephone) lines or PRI (Primary Rate Interface) for your phone. So you don't get away from a phone company so easily. You have to have a provider.

Second you will need a server to put the pbx software on. And with that you will need either modems for each phone line or a PRI card to handle the PRI line. So hopefully you are computer literate enough to install the server on the computer and install those cards. PRI cards can be a bit expensive. You will probably spend around 1K for server and PRI card.

Third you will need to wire your home and buy the phones that will work with the phone system. Maybe some polycoms for $150.00.

I'd go with a Ring Central cheaper all around
www.ringcentral.com... l4.wKA

reply to post by RedShirt73


easiest way to play, pbxinaflash.com...

get a good old pc or run as a virtual machine, a soft phone on your computer and/or smartdevice and a google voice number to see if its what you want to get into before you invest.
been using it at home for 10 yrs +.
There is a lot you can do besides save money over a pots line.