Not dumb at all. Seeing that most end users in the world are still on the PSTN, you're going to want to attach to it at some point.
Since this is Asterisk, you have options. Lots of them. And, using careful dialplan-ning you can mix and match to your heart's content. Here are some examples: 1) Use a Digium or a non-digium card to connect to POTS, ISDN, PRI, etc. 2) Use a "in and out" VoIP provider such as telasip, vonage, etc 3) Use an "out only" VoIP provider such as voipjet (generally lower per-minute rates) 4) Use an "in only" VoIP provider (examples fail me...) 5) Use an FXO card (as in #1) but connect it to another device rather than the telco. E.g. a cell phone 6) Use a full-blown GSM gateway 7) Etc Using the above options, I personally have configured Asterisk to: 1) Interface to my T1 2) Use voipjet to place outbound calls 3) When dialing a company cell phone, send it out a cellular device until they're all used up, then use the T1 Bob McDowell -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Charles Marcus Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 4:38 PM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Dumb question - reaching the PSTN Hi everyone, I am fairly new to the idea of VoIP, although I've been reading about it off and on for the last few years. Now it is starting to look mature enough to consider implementing it, but there is one thing that I haven't been able to get a clear answer on... With Vonage, you are using the Vonage network - it is their responsibility to route your call to the endpoint, which is more than likely on the old fashined PSTN. If I install Asterisk, how do my calls actually get completed? How do they get 'bridged' over to the PSTN? I attended a Seminar today hosted by Dynasis, and one of the issues was VoIP. ShoreTel was there, and the said I had to have phone lines, whether they were POTS lines, chennels from a T-1, whatever, we still had to have phone lines. Now I'm confused. If I implement an Asterisk based system (yes, I'd be paying a consultant to help), will I still have to maintain phone lines and pay full price for Long Distance? Simple pointers to White Papers on this issue will be sufficient. Many thanks, -- Best regards, Charles _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users EMAIL PRIVELEGED & CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT COMMUNICATION *** PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT COMMUNICATION *** This e-mail message and all attachments, if any, may contain confidential and privileged material and are intended only for the intended recipient. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail or by calling (417) 869-9192 and destroy the original and any copies of this e-mail. EMAIL PRIVELGED & CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT COMMUNICATION.DOCDKH _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users