Asterisk Open-Source PBX System

New project is underway to connect GoogleTalk/Jabber with Asterisk. Delivery date and details can be seen here: http://www.networkingpipeline.com/blog/archives/2006/04/asterisk_server....

...to the Verizon rj11 jack on the wall!
Or you use the magical wireless connectivity available only in the author's town.

Very technical, very specific article. How about a followup that dumbs it down just a bit, such as, you connect the Digium PCI card to your network, this is how much upload speed you'll need per line, you find a voip carrier by looking for this service (sip...) You can/can't have branch offices with the same number and transfer calls across the city/town with call transfer...

I know someone stuck on Vonage's two line SB plan, who is looking for something cheap, where he can migrate his number to something like Broadvoice or some other service, and have one or two (or more) voice lines, plus a fax line like through Vonage. Number portability takes care of the original number, but the technical details on using Asterisk with a carrier to replace Vonage (or Broadvoice which has their own adapters like Vonage, or bring your own adapter) still isn't clear.

What exactly needs to be done to migrate from Vonage Voip to Asterisk, where I can get one voice and one fax (or actually 2 voice lines) which actually has functional call "hunting" for each voice line? Who do I call to order the service, once I have a dedicated box for Asterisk and Digium modems? Unless the cost comes in less than either Vonage for two lines, or Broadvoice or other Voip for multiple single lines, what's the point besides the geek factor? Using call forwarding on busy with multiple single lines, you get all the benefits of all the other services, without worrying about another point of failure in the hardware, a huge UPS for a computer vs. a UPS for a few phone adapters, plus the cost of electricity of running that computer 24/7 every month.

While the technical details are nice, the major part of the story, the connection explanation/possibilities as compared to something like Vonage/Broadvoice so one can fully understand what/why is missing. The technical details would be a nice addition, but I doubt that most post-purchase users are going to use this article for relying on their phone system when the mailing list for Asterisk and the abundant docs online are all available and will be utilized anyway.

Good technical explanation, but the article misses the mark. Thanks for the article anyway.

callerid example is wrong

Should be:

[brett]
type=friend
host=dynamic
secret=brettsecret
context=cg1
callerid="brett"