Phone / PBX Noob with some ground level questions:

Asterisk Asterisk General
1

Looking more and more about this it seems this could be easy or a nightmare; so I’d like to kinda make sure I’ve got my head around the basic procedure around a DIY PBX;

Current Situation

  • Mish mash of phones (Cordless, some "Intelligent Phones like an AT&T 1070)
  • Comcast phone service with 4 phone lines

Wanted

- Phone system that allows you to configure so that you can have an automated greeting for what area / extension you wish to call; multiple phones on 1 extension, caller ID, customizable greetings, voicemail per extension, anything else that's wonderful

Here’s what I think I need
1 PC (oldies are OK)
Phones
Punch down Block…
Analog Converter?

???

We have normal analog phones and would like to use them, but also be able to expand to run more cat5 to office places that would require more advanced information;

So basically I’ve read the DIY’s but they seem to be unclear as far as hardware and are more geared to softphones;

Anyone want to get me a good jumping off point?

2

There are several GUI’s that you can use where you can download an ISO and run it straight out of the box (e.g. AsteriskNow, TrixBox etc.) . I think it’s always best to learn the Asterisk syntax since with a GUI you are limited as to what functions and features are in the GUI. Have a look at: h6315.com/ast_docs/Asterisk%20TFOT%20v2.pdf

I would also recommend using IP phones since there is a lot more functionality in them and the price per phone is going to be just a bit more than if you used analog.