I’ve been doing some reading for the past hour or so and this program looks awesome, but I’m not sure how it will benefit me as a home user. I currently have SBC DSL (which I’ve tested at 3000kps / 412kps) and an available computer that has linux on it… just a few questions to have answered before I dive in.
Is this a logical system for a me being a home user that only needs one phone (possible two in the future)?
Can I cancel my current phone service?
What determines my phone number? Would I be able to use the phone number that’s assigned to my DSL service?
Asterisk of course provides a lot of cool features. But I think that most home users would not need Asterisk.
It is much easier to buy and use a SIP phone or a Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) to connect to your VoIP provider.
I am using Asterisk at home so I can connect my old ISDN hardware via Asterisk and chan_misn. And also because I just like to play with the cool features.
What do you want to do, and why do you think that Asterisk would be a nice tool for you?
I think Asterisk or any other utility/service that would lower my monthly bill would be useful and beneficial. Would I be able to do that, or would I still need some kind of provider?
You’ll still need a phone line for your ADSL connection to work. Whether or not you can cancel your phone account and still keep your ADSL service is another matter. That will depend on where you are and who your phone provider is, probably. You certainly can’t do it where i am (yet).
Some people use only internet telephony for their phone service, but whether you’d want to do that might depend on whether or not you can get a local phone number for your VOIP account, among other things.
Your best bet is to try it out for a while and find out. Certainly don’t go cancelling your phone account until you’re sure that’s what you want to do!
You don’t need asterisk to use internet telephony, just a VOIP phone - either a software one which will run on your computer, or a hardware one, which will plug into your ADSL modem/router or your LAN etc.