[asterisk-users] Asterisk to PBX

[Trevor Hammonds]

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 logan<logan04x at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm an absolute newbie and wanted to know the following.
>
> I want to have a setup where I have a PSTN line connected to my
> Asterisk box and want to know if it is possible to make more than one
> simultaneous outbound call through that VoIP gateway? Can Asterisk do
> this magic of concurrent calls on one PSTN line?? If I put it in other
> words then can I receive more than one simultaneous call on a PSTN
> number through Asterisk (the dialplan would forward those calls to
> different extensions) and the phone line still be able to receive more
> calls?
>
> Do I need some special hardware for the above or a simple SIPURA3000
> would be good enough?
>
> Please pardon me if this is not the correct list for this question.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Best Regards,
> Hitesh

Hitesh,

The short answer is no.  The long answer is that Asterisk (and,
indeed, any other PBX) is not be able to make or receive any more
analogue calls than the number of available analogue trunks (or lines)
to which it has access.  You may, however, use an ITSP to send
outbound calls over the Internet, leaving your analogue line free for
an incoming call.  You may also be able to subscribe to Busy Call
Forwarding on your POTS line.  This way, when your analogue line is in
use, additional inbound calls may be forwarded to a DID (telephone
number) provided by an ITSP -- essentially increasing the number of
"lines" available to Asterisk.

Sincerely,
Trevor Hammonds