Asterisk PBX Voice Over IP Phone System

Asterisk is the complete PBX system for your PC.

Asterisk is a free PBX Business Phone System program that runs of the free Lynix Operating system with business features like Auto Answering, Voice Mail, Dial Action, Call Hold & Transfer, Music on Hold, PC Caller ID Pop Up, Call Conferencing, Call Queues, Incoming Routes, Heads Up Display, and More.

Every family should have one of these as you can download a soft phone on any computer with an extension setup through the Asterisk server and you whole family can communicate for free with a high speed internet connection.

All you have to do is insert the disk, press enter and follow the provided Instructions.
You will need a computer that will boot off of a CDROM that has a good fast processor and the more memory you have in the system the better the Asterisk PBX Phone System will work.  Installer will need adequate computer skills, reading skills, and Patients.

Any VOIP Phone will work with the Asterisk phone system.  The most affordable phones we found are the Linksys SPA series VOIP phones.  From the single line business phone like the Linksys SPA241 single ethernet port and SPA922 with 2 ethernet ports or the multi line Linksys IP phones like the SPA941 single ethernet port or the SPA941 with 2 ethernet ports depending the call load and how many phones you will have on your system.  The difference between the single ethernet port phones and the phones with 2 ethernet ports is the single port phones need a dedicated internet cable connected to them and the phones with two ethernet ports can be connected between a computer connected to an existing computer network connected to the internet.

Once you have your Asterisk phone system computer and phones set up the Asterisk phone system and the Linksys phones are literally plug and play with an existing computer network, the 2 port ethernet phones.

Using the VOIP phones to answer calls over the internet in off-site locations is also an option for the Asterisk phone system as all you have to do is plug the phone into an existing internet connection, make sure all of the necessary internet ports are open to the the internet on internet connections behind a firewall and you are set.

Incoming line connections to the Asterisk Phone System

Incoming lines can be configured in one of two ways.  The first way is a regular phone line provided by a telephone service provider such as AT& T through a Digium FXO card or through an Internet Service Srovided SIP phone line with a username and password.  With an Internet Provided phone line a Digium FXO Card is not necessary.

Asterisk Phone System Features

Asterisk Phone System Features include: Auto Answer and Automated Attendant, Voice Mail, Ring Groups, Heads Up Display, Windows PC Administration, Call Transfer, Call Hold, Call Park, Call Logging, Call Forwarding, Caller ID, Call Conferencing, Dial by Name, Unified Messaging sends Voice Mails to Email, Music on Hold, Overhead Paging,

Asterisk Computer Recommendations

Asterisk will work on a computer as low as a 500 Mhz Pentium 3 although it will work kind of slow.  For the best results use the fastest computer processor like a 1.5Ghz Celeron or P4 you can afford with idlest 512 RAM or as much RAM as possible for the best results.