Brian Weeden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I have looked at Asterix before and
never got around to setting it up.
The problem is that I don't have a landline - just my cell phone.
And the SIM card will not be in that cell phone as it will be
traveling with me and have another country SIM. So I'm not sure how
Asterix would get the calls and forward them as I am under the
impression that it needs to be connected to POTS somehow to do that.
Maybe I'm wrong.
And normally I would just have the phone company forward the number
but I am guessing that forwarding my Canadian number to an American
number would cause some sort of sizeable fee.
I'm not sure how forwarding charges from the Telco works because I've never
used it, but I bet you are right that if you forwarded calls from your
cellphone to some international phone number you would bear the expense. Plus
it might be some ridiculous rate because it is a cellular service and they seem
to like to screw you whenever you step outside what your normal service plan
allows.
I don't know anything about Grandcentral so I can't add my opinion about it;
however, I do have a fair amount of experience with Asterisk. Right now I use
Asterisk in my home and business with a four port card [2 pots lines (FXO), 2
phone lines in the house (FXS)], a per minute voip account, and I'm currently
experimenting with bluetooth connectivity to a cellphone. It is definitely
easier to setup Asterisk for use with a VOIP service provider than with a
landline because all you need is a high-speed internet connection which is
something you've probably got already.
Going on the idea of strictly using a VOIP service to interface with Asterisk,
you would need to forward your cellphone number to the voip phone number. A
call from Canada to the U.S. would probably be no biggie since most VOIP
companies charge the same fee for calls to Canada as the U.S. Because you
ultimately need to terminate the call to a mobile number you would configure
Asterisk to forward that incoming call to your current cellphone number as an
outbound call via the same VOIP service or some other VOIP provider else that
will terminate the call to your destination for less.
1. Incoming call on Canadian cell number ==> Forward to local VOIP number
2. Incoming call to Asterisk server ==> Forward to Current Cell number
through cheap VOIP service
I was under the impression that most US cellphone providers allow calls from
the U.S. to Canada. Time used would be deducted from your minutes but no extra
charges are incurred. Better check that out with your provider. If you can
forward the call for no extra expense to a US# then you could just forward the
Canadian cell# directly to the U.S. cell# while you are stateside. I imagine
you would just be losing minutes on both cellular accounts.
You would probably want to forward your incoming calls through a VOIP service
if you are going to the EU because I think those folks have to pay for just
about every second they use a phone including local calls. I also think it is
more expensive to make international calls to EU mobile numbers than an EU
landline.
There are VOIP plans that are Per Minute (what I use since I use very little
minutes) and plans that are Unlimited. Careful with "unlimited" plans because
I've read on forums that companies monitor the frequency of calls and the
randomness of the numbers. They might deem you as abusing that plan and charge
you a different rate/fee. CallCentric, Telasip, Teliax, Voicepulse are just a
few of the VOIP providers that support Asterisk.
If you are going to be in a hotel or office with access to a high-speed
connection it might be good to use a cheap ATA from Linksys or Grandstream and
pair it with a regular telephone. You could then configure the ATA to
communicate directly with your VOIP provider and eliminate the extra cellular
minutes and long distance fees. You could also use a PC or laptop with a
softphone.
You could install Asterisk as a virtual machine on your home computer if you
don't have a spare pc to dedicate to it. Any management of the dial plans on
the Asterisk system could be done remotely over the internet.
-Tharin Olsen
