[Asterisk-Users] Newbie has a few basic questions please.

[Marconi Rivello]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:25:25 -0500, Bruce <bruce at bruce.homelinux.com> wrote:
> 
> I think I am missing the whole purposes of *. i see that it can do
> mainy things, but in laymans temrs I am not sure what it does.
> I am very proficient in Linux and would like to use * for the
> following:
> 
> 1) I would like to get rid of my landline(verizon) and use voip as my
> main means to communicate on the telephone.  I would like to be able
> to plug in my plain old phone into my linux box and be able to make a
> phone call to my family who has a plain old telephone line going into
> thier house, using voip and then I guess connecting to the pstn.  Can
> i do this?  If so, how? What hardware do I need? Can anyone connect to
> PSTN lines for free? Or do I need to pay some phone company somewhere?
> 
> thanks to anyone who can help.
> 
> Bruce

You can use a regular telephone with voip. You will need an ATA
(analog telephone adapter). Like Sipura 2000, some cisco, or linksys
(they use SIP)... or you can use IAXy (uses IAX). Or you might want to
buy a SIP phone like cisco's or a grandstream (around USD 65)... Or
you can just use a free softphone. Like firefly, SJphone, Xten...

You can have a (100%) free NY incoming number (StanaPhone), or
Washington (IPkall, also 100% free). Stanaphone allows outbound
dialing too, not for free, of course. But to US it's only 2c per
minute. There are other companies that provide this kind of service
(some that charge monthly fees, others that are "prepaid"), just
browse along and see the one that better fits your needs. Just to
mention a few: broadvoice, voicepulse, lingo, sipphone, gafachi,
mutualphone, nuphone, iconnecthere, mywebcalls (not SIP, just H323),
vonage...

Sipphone also provides free PSTN to SIP connection, but you must dial
an access number and then dial your SIP number. Stanaphone and IPkall
provide direct numbers for free.

Hope it helps you get started. Take a look at the asterisk wiki
(really important), and at the voip providers' websites.

Regards,
Marconi.