I need to get some kind of phone service which is VoIP because I am just about to outgrow my lan lines, and I do not want to expand them anymore. I have been thinking about packet8, because of the excellent business services they offer, but I have been turned to Asterisk by a friend. the savings would be huge with just a handful of users.
I have experience with Windows Server/MSSQL 2000 and a little linux (redhat)/mySQL experience, but I am definately no linux guru. In todays world, I could always find someone to help me when I have a problem. Do you think it would be wise for a person like me to use Asterisk in my business? I think this is a great technology and I would hate to pass it up just because packet8 may be a little easier.
I guess I need a little direction, I am reading about termination right now, but I don’t know of any real world experiences people have had with this.
I would recommend for you to have a look at Asterisk@Home, which is a packaged ‘softappliance’ implementation of Asterisk where it installs the OS for you, compiles, provides a GUI for configuration and installs several other useful apps.
I have been reading on their website for a few minutes now, under the features section it seems kind of small. Is this a scaled down version of asterisk as seen on www.asterisk.org? If so, how can I find out what features are missing? The product is called asterisk@home - it is suitable for business use as well?
I have been reading on their website for a few minutes now, under the features section it seems kind of small. Is this a scaled down version of asterisk as seen on www.asterisk.org? If so, how can I find out what features are missing? The product is called asterisk@home - it is suitable for business use as well?
Thank you,
Br[/quote]
Indeed, the ‘core’ Asterisk has more features, for this I recommend having a look at the book:
Lots of folks use Asterisk@Home in an SMB environment, it even includes the opensource SugarCRM application for SMB. The reason that the Asterisk@Home does not have all of the features as the ‘core’ Asterisk is that it simply does not expose them in the GUI. The Asterisk running Asterisk@Home is the same underlying code as the ‘core’, so it is possible to hack it to expose more features, just not via the GUI.
Indeed, AMP (AAH’s GUI) is a bit limiting, but once you begin to learn Asterisk, you will use AMP less and edit config files directly for most things. AAH is a great first start for learning Asterisk by getting an Asterisk installation up and running easily IMO.
I have downloaded Asterisk@Home, and I am currently playing with it but I have run into a problem. I can buy minutes from calldaddy.com (that’s the only place I know of), but I don’t know how to get phone numbers. Can you point me in the direction of where to go, or to an article where to learn more online? I don’t even know what to search for.
By getting phone numbers, I mean how do I make my own phone number. I would like to give people a phone number, and have my phone ring when they call it.
