James,

Thank you for the reply.  I do not have phone service in my home.
I've been 100% cell since 2003.  I do have an old analog phone - big
heavy thing...  If I connect it to the wall outlet there is nothing.
I've tried every outlet in the house.  I didnt expect to find a tone
as we've never connected phone service here.

My assumption, however stupid it might be, is that I could set this up
to make calls but as I began to read more and more I started reading
about gateways and other costly services that I was hoping to avoid --
for now at least.  This all began when my wife went food shopping
around the holiddays and wanted to know if we had something or not
already, and I wasnt home to confirm or not.   So I got to thinking,
if she could call the VoIP box and get one of those "press 1 for
spices... press 2 for dry foods, press 3 for canned goods, press 4 for
snacks, press 5 for drinks............." and it would access a
database that I already have set up with our groceries already in
there.   Yea - geeky, I know.  :-)

So that was the plan but first I needed to be able to get this thing
set up.  I THINK you're saying I need to purchase another service to
get myself to make calls.   I dont know anyone with a SIP server..
I'd rather keep it all inside our home if possible.  I've got a lot of
old hardware laying around and I do have MODEMs - internal and
external 56k types.   Thanks for the hints.  I'll check into Magic
Jack type stuff and see how it can help.

-M


On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 3:19 PM, James A. Shigley <[email protected]> wrote:
> I can't help you two much with configuration of linux, but as to the call 
> question. You will need some route for the server to be capable of 
> sending/receiving calls. There is a couple of ways to do this cheaply.
>
> Buy a standard telephone modem (usb, pci, or serial). And plug into wall a 
> jack. This will only allow you one call at a time. But if this is just a 
> proof of concept that sounds like it will be plenty. Your number would be 
> whatever the phone jack corresponds to.
>
> Integrate it with something like skype.
>
> Buy one of the products similar to a magic jack which will work with linux.
>
> Or if you know someone who has a sip server already running. And is amiable 
> to letting you piggy back off of it. Your  phone number would point to that 
> person's Server (be it one of the friends that the person is lending you, or 
> a number that you have forwarded/ported at/to them) with it set to forward to 
> your asterisk server. from there you could use your dialplan to do whatever 
> you wanted it to. And for outbound you would send the calls out thru the 
> friends server via sip or iax.
>
> James Shigley
> Monroe Telephone Answering Service
> 409-981-9213
> Infinity 5.51,UC 4.02.3803, Blink 3.0.104
> Ecreator:2.21, eResponse 1.1.7
> Webportal,WebApps,
>
> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email, including any attachments, contains 
> information which may be confidential or privileged. The information =is 
> intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you 
> are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, 
> distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you 
> have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by 
> "reply to sender only" message and destroy all electronic and hard copies of 
> the communication, including attachments.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] 
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of UIT DEVELOPMENT
> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 1:54 PM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: [asterisk-users] Really Silly Question From Total Newbie
>
> .........................
>
> My main question is: CAN I make call from that box to my cell phone
> using a soft-phone?   If so, how can I do that?   Also, can I use my
> cell phone to call into that box?   I dont know if I have to get a
> phone number, or do I NEED a phone number?   At the moment, I do not
> have any dollars to throw at this project.   Its purely for learning,
> proof of concept sort of thing for myself on my spare time in the
> evenings.  I would simply like to be able to call out and be able to
> call into that box.  Later on down the road maybe I will get into
> setting up an IVR using a database so I can call into that system from
> wherever and get information read back to me.  But, first things
> first....  I'd like to know if I am heading down the wrong path here.
> ...........................
>
> _______________________________________________
> -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
>
> asterisk-users mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
>
> asterisk-users mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>

_______________________________________________
-- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --

asterisk-users mailing list
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

Reply via email to