[Asterisk-Users] Where to start?

[Ian A. Underwood]

Ed Mansouri wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> The goal would be to minimize the expenditure on new equipment, and
> utilize as much of the existing equipment as possible, so I guess it just
> depends on what the requirements of working with an open source PBX are.
> The current desktop phones are pretty sophisticated and provide a lot of
> functionality the preference would be to continue to employ them.

It looks like that at a minimum, you'll need at least one 4-port FXO card 
(which Digium now sells...for around $350 I think).  This would handle the 
incoming calls.

Most proprierary PBX systems like to use their own phones as well, so in 
almost all cases they are not going to work w/ anything outside the PBX 
they were designed for.  That's just how it is...and how PBX vendors can 
lock you into their technology.

You could set the PBX up to pass-through calls on the analog lines with a 
4-port FXS card ($305 @ digium)...and extend w/ IP phones as you can move 
things over.

As far as phones go, you can find Cisco 7960s online for as little at $400 
apice...or you can deploy softphones to your desktop computer and use those 
instead.

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