On 10/27/06, John Van Ostrand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Fri, 2006-10-27 at 16:53 -0400, Rob Russell wrote:
> I just signed up with LES.net and faxed them my payment form. I would
> try Unlimitel but they don't seem to have any 519 DIDs that are local
> to Windsor.
>
> Would it be sensible to sign up for Unlimitel's A-La-Carte plan to
> experiment - even if I may cancel in a couple months?
Or find another provider that can give you a DID you need.
> I was hoping to be able to call one DID from my cel phone then have
> Asterisk route the call to the end phone number that I actually want
> to call. For that far end to terminate, don't I need another DID
> (assuming I get rid of my Bell home phone service)? I read a thread on
> the list a while ago and I thought that was the conclusion.
What you're talking about is DISA (direct inward system access.) This is
where an outside caller (you) can gain access to the outgoing lines (and
potentially other features.) You need to think about how you're going to
authenticate to keep others from using your system to place calls. A
second DID is not required for that.
You may be confusing a DID with a line. With SIP a single DID can handle
more than one incoming call and more than one outgoing call.
You could use a single DID, publish it as your home phone number. When
you want to call from your cell phone call your home number have
asterisk detect your phone (via caller id) prompt for a password, and
then give dial tone for you to complete your call.
Incoming calls can make it to your cell phone in two ways. Either ring
both home and the cell, or provide a voice menu to allow callers to
choose. If you don't want a voice menu, then a second DID is required.
Yeah, I thought a DID was basically equivalent to a line - it sounds
like a single DID may do everything I'd like. I'll try out the
outgoing (cell to elsewhere) first, then figure out the routing for
incoming calls - for incoming calls all my numbers are in the same
city so far anyhow. I'll look up DISA and see what I can learn.
> I think I understand it now. Part of the confusion comes from having
> the idea that a phone number is tied to my house engrained in me for
> so my whole life. I'm comfortable enough with it at least that I don't
> think I'm going to get surprised by a monster phone bill. As long as
> my minute use for the first while is in the range of a few hundred
> minutes / month I can make sure I know what I'm getting without
> blowing a lot of money.
My office has 6 full-time people and two part time people. We use about
6000 minutes per month and 5 of us are on the phone quite a bit. My
guess is that unless you have a bunch of retro teenagers who still use
the phone you'll be fine.
Even 2000 minutes would be only $22.
No retro teenagers at home :) Concrete numbers like that make it easy
to plan though.
> Thanks for all the input, I'm feeling a lot more confident about this
> now, even if I do have to reconsider the hardware I want. At least as
> soon as they process my payment I should be able to work on dialing in
> to my Asterisk server. In itself that'll be a big step for me.
You should also not be surprised if odd things happen. I've heard people
with VoIP providers having weird problems like not being able to dial
Canadian 800 numbers, or DMTF not being heard until a few seconds after
a call connects.
Also be aware that modem and fax may not work as well as you'd like, or
not at all.
I've read about the fax thing and needing T.38. For the amount that I
fax (a few pages a year), I can find alternatives.
I've run in to the 800 number problem when making calls from Michigan,
I'd hoped a side-effect of routing through a Windsor DID would be to
avoid that.
Good luck, and have fun.
Thanks :)
--
John Van Ostrand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Direct Inc.
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