Please forgive me

If this info is somewhere on the forum but I don’t see a search and don’t see any topics that cover the issue.

I am new to VoIP and PBX programs as here - I have worked with “normal” PBX, however.

My first question is will FreePBX work with any VoIP line - I have MagicJack at present? If the program is based on my computer I don’t see a reason why it would not.

Can one single incoming VoIP line handle more that one call at a time?

I do need conference calling to a large number of people but that can be handled outside the issues here.

At present, a single line and a PBX program with multiple voice mail boxes (recording) will work for me but in the future I will need more lines. What program(s) would you recommend for future needs?

Tks all - I appreciate any help - jb

Jeb,

The search is located on in the left hand column. The best place to start reading is to select Documentation and select the first few links. http://freepbx.org/support/documentation/getting-started.

MagicJack is a USB base ata device that last I checked only worked on a Mac or Windows system. It will not work here. FreePBX is a user interface for asterisk which runs on Linux.

Tks for the info - do you have a suggestion as to what I may use?

Take care - jb

As for a desktop based phone system or one that uses MagicJack no. But if you are interested building and learning about a good system take a look at PBX in a flash, and elastix as two good places to start looking for a beginner (use google). They are complete distros that contain everything you’d need to get started (including FreePBX). Like I said it’s a great place to start, once you get a feel for it you can even consider building your own and have total control.

I guess I am missing something - I can understand that a program would not work on Windows or another system, but why does it make a difference what the incoming phone line is?

If it is computer based and I plug a phone line into it, how does it know if the phone line is coming from the wall or from VoIP?

Tks - jb

Well that is like saying what is the difference between a network jack and a phone jack. As you know you can’t plug one into the other and they just work.

Sounds like you need a quick crash course on the telco industry and VoIP. Try starting here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voip, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POTS, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSDN, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSTN for starters (there are many, many other places and google is your friend).

Will do but if I can plug my telephone into either one and it works, seems like a computer based software program should be able to handle the call, no matter how it gets to it.

I’ll spend some time on the links - tks - jb

think about it - this piece of hardware (magicjack) is not compatible with linux/asterisk - so how would you interface this to asterisk? - like Airplane tires wont fit on your car - however there is a solution, somewhat similar to cutting up your car to fit such tires - another device.

If you get an FXO card that is compatible with asterisk (Rhino, Sangoma, Digium), then you can plug the magic jack into your FXO card, and you can then use a number of VOIP phones or softphones to make calls on that -
-you will then be converting PSTN to VOIP (magicjack), back to analog, then back to voip

  • your results may be wonderful, or may be terrible depending on the quality of fxo card you use, and the quality of magic jack and your internet, you are only capable of controlling the first item here.

The concept of magic jack is great, but I dont really think it is a viable business solution.

You would be better off getting a line from someone like les.net, vitelity.com, or connect.voicepulse.com (first 2 give 2 simultaneous calls, last gives 4). They all have some unlimited inbound packages, so they come close to the magic jack service.

lastly read this:
http://voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+Primer

Tks total -

Until now I was not aware that FreePBX would only work on Asterisk - I was looking at several programs and with this one it seemed the best place to find info was on this forum.

Will spend some time with what you as well as fskrotzki have suggested.

Tks - I do appreciate all the input - jb