[Asterisk-Users] I stumbled on this list...

[Nick Bachmann]

>
> Hi there,
>
> I stumbled on this list mostly by accident.  I came across Asterisk *
> as a means to help me get a better handle on my soaring telephone
> costs.  Each month I look at my phone bills and my stomach just turns
> because I can not find any competition to Verizon which is the local
> anointed phone company around here.

Trust me, it could be worse.  You could have Ameritech, for example.  Or
Quest. In fact, I'd say Verizon is probably the best of the major
RBOCs/ILECs (I'm in former GTE country, not NYNEX/Bell Atlantic, which
might be different).  But even then, they do leave something to be
desired.
> Since I am a neophyte at all this I was wondering if some kind soul
> would confirm/disconfirm my assumptions about this software called
> Asterisk *.
>
> 1)  Am I correct to assume that there is a way to dump Verizon and
> strictly go VOIP in a SOHO situation?

Yes.

> 2) Can 1-800 numbers terminate to a VOIP assigned number?

This a service of the provider that many do offer.

> 3) With VOIP am I under the assumption that one must also purchase
> licenses for such service to work.

No, you don't need to purchase licenses.  Asterisk is published under the
GNU General Public License.
> 4) Who are the companies I can purchase VOIP service from?  I need
> numbers in my local area code, plus I need some kind of unlimited VOIP
> service Asia - mainly to Taiwan.

Google can help with this. There are a couple of "Big" providers such as
NuPhone, Voicepulse, etc.
> 5) Am I being unrealistic in my savings by implementing an Asterisk *
> PBX in our SOHO situation.

There is not doubt, that VoIP can save you money.

If you're talking about a number or two, you'd be best to stick with just
getting an ATA (a little box that turns your phone line into VoIP) from
your provider, and not messing with a full fledged PBX.  But if you have a
PBX or Key System already, you might consider using Asterisk.
As a warning, however, if you don't know much about (pick two) telephony,
Linux, or software development, and you're still interested, you might to
well to find somebody (like, say, me :-) who can give you a turnkey
system.
If you do want to go it alone, there is a book at
http://www.asteriskdocs.org/, a wiki at http://www.voip-info.org, and a
search engine at http://search.voip-forum.com/.  Please utilize these, as
they will answer most of your questions about *.
Nick