<html><head></head><body>Hi JD,<br>
<br>
Thank you, and also the other party, who mentioned the DIY PBX concept to me. I can't believe I'm even considering such a thing for home use, and I may or may not actually try it. However ...<br>
<br>
I was looking over some docs from here:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://nerdvittles.dreamhosters.com/pbxinaflash/docs">http://nerdvittles.dreamhosters.com/pbxinaflash/docs</a>/<br>
<br>
And particularly found the videos interesting from here:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.pbxinaflash.com/community/index.php?threads/piaf-1-7-5-5-video-tutorials.7672">http://www.pbxinaflash.com/community/index.php?threads/piaf-1-7-5-5-video-tutorials.7672</a>/<br>
<br>
And I was particularly impressed with the Incredible PBX based on this video here:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeKk4EQN-48&feature=youtube_gdata_player">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeKk4EQN-48&feature=youtube_gdata_player</a><br>
<br>
What you can do with these things is absolutely amazing, and is a whole new world to me. After watching some of the demos, I was totally in disbelief, since this kind of functionality used to cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and wouldn't even be in dream land for home use.<br>
<br>
SO ... since you opened this can of worms, I have a few newbie questions in case I did want to try this wild ride.<br>
<br>
* Could a Pentium 2.4 GHz, single core, 1 GB RAM machine run the Incredible PBX? Oh, and it's a laptop, so no PCI slots. I think it does have 2 pcmcia slots. My NEW laptop doesn't have ANY slots, as far as I know.<br>
<br>
* Can I support 3 separate phone lines, which is what I have now?<br>
<br>
* How do I, em, attach my real phones to the computer? My cable modem has 4 telephone ports, of which I'm using 3.<br>
<br>
* I'm not clear on the relationship between asterisk, PBX In A Flash, and Incredible PBX. Can someone explain that to me?<br>
<br>
I would only save $ 25 / month by dumping Comcast phone service, since I have the Xfinity bundle pricing, so that's not a big incentive. It serves me well, and I wouldn't want to go to something that didn't perform as well. However, in the context of my original message on this thread, the call control and routing functions of a home PBX are very appealing. Also, I would be very concerned about security, which is mentioned in the video I referenced.<br>
<br>
As always, any info and help is appreciated.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.<br>
Please excuse my potential brevity.<br>
<br>
(To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former<br>
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong<br>
address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)<br>
<br>
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)<br>
<br>
Ron Frazier<br>
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.<br>
linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com">techstarship.com</a><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">JD <jdp@algoloma.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap:break-word; font-family: sans-serif">On 06/05/2012 12:35 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:<br />> Hi Guys,<br />> <br />> You all are always a good source of geeky info, even if something doesn't relate<br />> just to Linux. This year, for whatever reason, I've been getting more and more<br />> unsolicited phone calls, from politicians, charities, surveys, telemarketers,<br />> etc. They're amounting to several per day, and I'm sick of it. I've exceeded the<br />> 12 # limit on the block list for comcast phone service, and I'm about to get<br />> some bigger weapons. I'm thinking of moving from a black list concept, where I<br />> block what I don't want, to a white list concept, where I allow what I do want.<br />> Everything else goes to an answering machine.<br /><br />FreePBX or PBX-in-a-Flash can easily split your home into friendly extensions<br />that ring and unknown callers who get mailboxes.<br /><br />* <a href="http://pbxinaflash.net">http://pbxinaflash.net</a>/<br />* <a href="http://www.freepbx.org">http://www.freepbx.org</a>/<br /><br />Both of those run well inside a VM or a low powered Atom system for businesses,<br />so your home phones shouldn't be any issue.<br /><br />With your own PBX, there is no limit to blocking callers or redirecting them as<br />you like or lots of other things.<br /><br />Been using VoIP service over 10 yrs now. Gone through about 5 different<br />services. These days I pay about $5/month and have been extremely happy.<br />Inbound calls are free. Outbound, I choose if I want extreme quality for a price<br />or good enough quality for free. I'm pretty sure the provider runs FreeSWITCH<br /><a href="http://www.freeswitch.org">http://www.freeswitch.org</a>/ - another PBX that you can run at home, inside a VM,<br />if you like.<br /><br />Comcast was our previous provider, but the issues with their service were<br />unacceptable to me. Besides the HUGE costs, seems they did system maintenance in<br />my area every Thursday afternoon, timed to an important weekly call with a<br />business partner. Dropped calls happened for over 8 months. Calls to complain<br />just got the "reboot the ETA/ATA" or whatever Comcast called it. Useless.<br /><br />For those who want an easy, cheaper, answer, Vonage has a $10/month plan<br />available with unlimited minutes (residential only). It is a nice starter for<br />people new to VoIP, provided your broadband is solid. Many people think they<br />have solid ISP service and discover it is not. Lots of people use Vonage, but<br />the VoIP crowd usually goes to wholesale accounts for their homes. Sure, it is a<br />little more hassle and money isn't everything, but if you like to tinker, VoIP<br />is like a whole new world.<br /><br />Oddly, as I was typing this, callerid showed a call from a Loganville Insurance<br />company. No message = blocked number.<br /><br /><br />The AAUG meets monthly at CBeyond (near Cobb cloverleaf).<br /><a href="http://www.meetup.com/atlaug">http://www.meetup.com/atlaug</a>/ - they lean more towards the professional use of<br />Asterisk, but there are a few hobbyists too. Always a fun time. There's much to<br />learn.<br /><hr /><br />Ale mailing list<br />Ale@ale.org<br /><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br />See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br /><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br /></pre></blockquote></div></body></html>