A few questions

[Whacka (United States)]

I’m brand new to this community and have just finished setting my up FreePBX on a Dell I got from a liquidation. I want this VOIP system to be able to make and receive out going calls. I already have a POTS line from spectrum. Is there such thing as a POTS line to VOIP converter? I tried google but didn’t really see anything that I would be for sure to work. Additionaly, how would I set this up as a trunk once I get it, so that I can make out going calls from my CiscoSPA phones I set up.

And now one last question, how would I make sure my PBX wouldn’t become a victim of toll fraud. Would this be something to worry about even with a line coming from a ISP?

[cynjut (Dave Burgess)]

@Whacka

Is there such thing as a POTS line to VOIP converter?

You need an ATA or an FXO card.

@Whacka

Additionaly, how would I set this up as a trunk once I get it, so that I can make out going calls from my CiscoSPA phones I set up.

You would set up a DAHDI trunk.

@Whacka

how would I make sure my PBX would become a victim of toll fraud.

The way to make sure your system is used for toll-fraud is to turn off all of the FreePBX Security Features, allow Anonymous Calling, and set all of your passwords to ‘password’.

[Stewart1 (Stewart)]

As @cynjut says. In a little more detail:

Most ATAs have only FXS ports (they connect to analog phones); you need an FXO port (connect to a phone line).

ATAs with one FXS and one FXO include:

Cisco/Linksys SPA3102 (old) or SPA3000 (really old)
Obihai OBi212 (current) or OBi110 (old)
Grandstream HT813 (current) or HT503 (old)

If you take this approach, the FXS port could be useful for a fax machine, alarm system or a cordless phone with an analog interface.

There are also gateways with 2, 4 or 8 FXO ports for systems with multiple lines.

Alternatively, use an FXO card that installs in your Dell, for example https://www.amazon.com/Profile-Supports-FreePBX-Issabel-Asterisk/dp/B07DL4HCZY/ .

There are many choices, some with multiple FXO and/or FXS interfaces, down to cheap clones of dubious quality that sell for almost nothing.

Regarding security, if you don’t plan to have any remote extensions or VoIP trunks, you don’t have to connect your system to the internet and it will be pretty safe. (There are also attacks based on call transfer, forwarding, etc., but with only one line you are probably safe from that, too.

[Whacka (United States)]

Thanks Stewart, since I’m kinda an idiot when I comes to this. Can you link me to fxo for converting the pots to voip? I want to make sure I’m getting the right thing. Also, I have everything hooked upto a Cisco switch, would creating a vlan isolate the PBX and phones from the wifi

[Ducktour (Edwin)]

TDM 400P are relatively inexpensive gateways. FreePBX/Android has the drivers it will see the card and install.
Sangoma also sell similar hardware.

[tonyg (Tony Guadagno)]

@Whacka

Is there such thing as a POTS line to VOIP converter? I tried google but didn’t really see anything that I would be for sure to work. Additionaly, how would I set this up as a trunk once I get it, so that I can make out going calls from my CiscoSPA phones I set up.

All the above suggestions are great, I would also consider not bothering with any of that hardware and using an Internet SIP trunk provider. they are pretty inexpensive and this way, you don’t have to worry about all the extra parts…just my 2 cents!