[Asterisk-Users] PSTN noob question

[Rich Adamson]

> After reading a retarded amount of docs I'm still unable to figure out how to 
> get Asterisk to monitor my phone line and pick it up when the phone 
> rings...Im using a voice/fax/data modem on ttyS2. Any tips/pointers to 
> another stack of docs? Is this even doable without special hardware?

No, its not possible with the modem you're talking about. Interfaces
to a telephone line require an FXO interface, which can take the form of
digium's hardware products (www.digium.com), external (ethernet attached)
modules (1204 from www.mediatrix.com), ISDN adapters, etc.

If you have a broadband internet connection, you can also sign up with
several different providers that provide telephone numbers in many cities,
extending those numbers to your asterisk box across your broadband 
internet service.

Probably the least expensive what to play with asterisk is to purchase
the x100p card from digium (supports one telephone line).

You might dig around the http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php (wiki)
as there is a substantial amount of information on that site.

Rich