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[suityou01]

I want

Local number.
Pbx functionality including hold music.
Voicemail.
Multiple extensions.
DTMF menu (simple one)

I have looked at virtual switchboards, but none of them work with a local number. They all want to supply you with an 0870, 0845 type number. As I'm a local business for local people I want a local number.

Do I need to fork out for a PBX? Is there a virtual pbx solution I have missed?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Ta.

[NickFitz]

A friend of mine has all that kind of stuff going on with a single-board-computer in the cupboard under the stairs running Linux and some open-source thing; he can use his iPhone to connect to it from the States and make UK calls at local rates, amongst other neat tricks

<Googles...> Asterisk, that's the one

If you want more info about how he got the hardware side sorted out (and he did it all himself, though admittedly he's always been a hardware kind of chap) let me know and I can ask him; he'll probably blog about it if he knows people are interested, or at least email me a summary I can send along.

It isn't a turnkey solution, but it isn't particularly complicated either.

[FarmerPalmer]

As above said, Asterix running on a Linux PC is your answer.

If you want more than one dial-in number then some VOIP providers will supply local numbers on their accounts, so people can dial in to you from a non-voip service (e.g. BT). Sipgate and Voiptalk are providers which will do this.

[suityou01]

Thanks for the tip. I'm building a VirtualBox now and having a play around.

[Cliphead]

Thanks for the tip. I'm building a VirtualBox now and having a play around.

I'm also interested in doing something similar, I'd appreciate it if you could post your experiences.

[suityou01]

I'm also interested in doing something similar, I'd appreciate it if you could post your experiences.

Yes of course, will do.

[d000hg]

They all want to supply you with an 0870, 0845 type number. As I'm a local business for local people I want a local number.

Is that because you think a local number looks more friendly? I guess it's a valid argument, but on the other hand one could say an 0845 number looks more professional.

Or is this a money issue also?

[suityou01]

Installed virtual machine. Launched the interface. Have not got a bloody clue what anything means. DIDs, trunks, routes. This is not going to be easy. Also there is no friendly documentation, only reference material, which will take weeks to read through.

Being lazy a "how to install asterix and get a simple voip system working" type document would be really handy but googling has unearthed nothing so far.

Also, having no idea at all whatsoever how it works, what hardware I need (if any) makes me unconfident.

[RichardCranium]

Have not got a bloody clue what anything means. DIDs, trunks, routes. This is not going to be easy. Also there is no friendly documentation, only reference material, which will take weeks to read through.

Document what you do. Do so with a mindset of "How could I do this again, quickly?"

Then type it up. You then have two choices:
a) Plan B of setting these things up for others;
b) Writing "The Dummies Guide to PBX".

[NickFitz]

Document what you do. Do so with a mindset of "How could I do this again, quickly?"

Then type it up. You then have two choices:
a) Plan B of setting these things up for others;
b) Writing "The Dummies Guide to PBX".

WRCS

Back in the 90s my first steps from the mundanity of stuff that ran on "a computer" into the magical new world of Internet development involved a number of projects for BT that allowed people to specify configurations for such exotica as ISDN-30 and private circuits via a web-based interface.

One of the supplementary projects I did was an online searchable glossary of terms (which had a user interface on Netscape 3 and IE 3 that still rivals many available on lots of "Web 2.0" sites today). I learned two things from this: firstly, that even people whose job involves specifying telecoms configurations find it hard to keep track of the terminology; and secondly, that so did I. I still can't remember the precise distinction between Calling Line Identification Restriction, Calling Line Identification Presentation, Connected Line Identification Restriction, and Connected Line Identification Presentation - or CLIR, CLIP, CLIR, and CLIP, as they aren't known, for obvious reasons, except when they are

So, make lots of notes and then WRCS - it could turn out to be a better Plan x than the reason you started looking into all this in the first place