Brand new installation - 17.0.19.17 - Now what?

General Help
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PBX Version: 17.0.19.17
PBX Distro: 12.7.8-2408-1.sng12
Asterisk Version: 21.5.0

Hi- brand new noob here. I’m a SOHO user doing this as part of my homelab hobby, but also, I’m paying far too much for landline phone service and really need to dump it. I have approximately zero budget so have to stick with free stuff for now, although I will probably buy some cheap Digium phones- probably more D-series- but will take advice on that.

Just installed v17 on Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) x86_64.
Have two older phones, a Digium D50 and a D70. They were both stuck in a firmware update loop and wouldn’t boot, but after DAYS of messing around with firmware, I got them to work. Now they can call each other, take voicemail messages, etc. Yay.

I have used Asterisk and FreePBX before, in a past life. I worked for a place that was playing with it on the side, then their Nortel system died a spectacular death, and Asterisk/FreePBX suddenly became the primary system. I even wrote some custom dialplan code, and maintained a home-brew IVR.

But that was 6 or 7 years ago, and I have forgotten everything I knew, and everything has changed besides.

I have a few goals: (in no particular order)

  1. Get a few more phones - I’m familiar with D-Series and they work well, unless I get advice to the contrary.
  2. Get a SIP provider. Please someone recommend some good ones for the home hobby guys like me, who want to eventually port over and existing landline number to it.
  3. Install a PCIe analog card to support my existing (analog) cordless phone.I used to have such a card in my server to support the few analog extensions we had to have. I’ve long ago forgotten what sort of card that was. Suggestions? Does the basic free PBX I have support that?
  4. Create a simple DVR, maybe use some custom dialplan to ask a question at the front to weed out the spam calls, something that will defeat robo-dialers. In a past life, I played an SIT tone, followed by allison’s voice saying “We’re sorry, this number does not accept calls of this type. If you know the extension you want to reach, please dial it now.” Getting back into the mysteries of custom dialplan code will take some doing.
  5. Any other good advice on next steps?

Thanks in advance.

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  1. D series are EOL, so buying them means finding them used.
  2. One way to judge a SIP provider would be if they provide sample config for FreePBX showing PJSIP. Many still show old (and flawed) chan_sip config from more than a decade ago.
  3. IMO ditch the idea of using a line card, especially if you don’t already have one. Get a stand alone ATA with the necessary FXO/FXS ports, and you will be able to use it once you discover that moving to virtualized is the way to go. I have a few cards gathering dust now, and have no appetite for messing with dahdi anymore.
  4. In my experience any IVR that requires user input will block a robocall. It need not be elaborate nor do you need custom diaplan. If you’ve been away for years, you may not be aware of the allowlist module, it allows you to only challenge unrecognized CID numbers.
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KingArthur:
Thanks very much for the reply.

  1. D Series is EOL- any suggestions for something similar that’s more current? I need something very basic with a display-- like the D-50 but not with the sidecar - the BLF field it has on its right side.
  2. SIP providers-- you gave some good advice for filtering out some that have support for old tech, eg chan_sip, but I still need some ideas where to even start looking for an affordable provider.
  3. Standalone ATA - care to suggest one? I have a Grandstream GXW4008 laying around, can I use that? Will it be obnoxious to integrate it?
  4. IVR / allowlist, etc: Good advice. Thanks.
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