PTravel

Your Own VOIP/SIP Phone System

This is about how to get free domestic (US and Canada) phone service that will let you make and receive free phone calls from anywhere in the world, including your cellphone. You also get a full-featured, flexible phone system that gives you voice mail, voice mail to email, fax (incoming and outgoing), “smart ringing,” call forwarding, interactive voice response, conference calling, remote extensions, video conferencing and just about every other feature of a complete business phone system. It’s not complicated (well, only a little complicated) and requires a total hardware investment of as little as $100.

I’ve been doing this for several months now, and I’ve been using this system for over a year. I’m not an IT guy and, though there were some initial challenges, once I worked them out, the system has been working flawlessly. The voice quality meets or exceeds standard landline phones.

If there’s enough interest, I’ll post specific details for each aspect of the project.

Here’s what you need to do your own:

Internet Service As long as you have an internet connection you can set up a system like this. The bandwidth demands for VOIP (Voice Over IP) are low, so you don’t even need a particularly fast connection.

FreePBX This is free, open-source software that provides a graphic user interface for configuring and managing Asterisk, a free, open-source PBX software. FreePBX with Asterisk is available here: https://www.freepbx.org/ The “distro” is downloaded and burned to CD. Let a computer boot from the CD and it will install and configure both Asterisk and FreePBX.

Computer FreePBX runs on a standalone computer (it’s a Linux system). Very little computing power is required. I’ve run my system on an old laptop and a thin client. Currently, I’m running it on a cheap “super slim” desktop. All it needs is a hard drive, a CD drive, minimal memory (4 Gb is plenty, and it can run with as little as 1 or 2 GB) and an ethernet port. I bought a refurbished machine for $89, delivered, that works perfectly.

You can also use a Raspberry Pi 2, a $40 computer that’s roughly the size of a pack of cigarettes. It’s available on Amazon and here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products...-pi-2-model-b/ There is version of FreePBX for it that is available here: http://www.raspberry-asterisk.org/

SIP Trunk This is the gateway to the world-wide phone system. Trunks are available from a variety of providers. They give you a phone number (or you can port an existing phone number), called a DID, and an IP address to which you point your FreePBX (or your SIP phone). SIP service providers charge for this service, usually around $20/month (Vonage is an example of a SIP service provider). HOWEVER, Google’s Google Voice service works with FreePBX and is completely free for US and Canada domestic calls. Google’s rates for international calls are very, very reasonable – for example, I pay less than 2 cents a minute for calls to China.

SIP Phone SIP is a communication protocol used for VOIP (Voice Over IP). SIP phones are readily available everywhere (I like Grandstream’s phones, but any SIP phone will work). You can also get inexpensive adapters that let you to use standard analog phones (called POTS for “Plain Old Telephone System”). New SIP phones range in price from $40 or so up to several hundred dollars. The Grandstream phones that I use range from $90 to $150 or so.

and/or

SIP Client The SIP client lets you make and receive calls right from your computer. I use a free program called Zoiper, available here: http://www.zoiper.com/en

SIP Phone App The app lets you make and receive calls from cellphone. The SIP app uses your data, not your call minutes. Zoiper has free apps for Android and iPhone.

Though setting up a system like this is not as simple as just plugging a phone into the wall, it’s not rocket science, either. It should be doable by anyone whose understanding of computing goes beyond, “it’s magic.” FreePBX is very powerful and can provide everything from a simple “phone and answering machine” to a complete 1,000+ phones business phone system. When it’s first setup it may seem intimidating but, as with other powerful software, you only need to work with subset of its available features.

As I said, if there’s enough interest from FTers, I’ll do more posts explaining each aspect of this system so people can set up their own.

NOTE: I have no financial interest in any of the products and services mentioned. I just thought I could short-cut some of the learning process that I went through when I set up my own system.

gfunkdave

This sounds like a fun techie project, but I think it's far easier to just buy an ObiTalk device and connect it to a Google Voice account. Free calls to the US and Canada, and cheap calls to many other countries.

PTravel

That get's you the free phone service. However, it doesn't get you all the PBX features. Incidentally, I use an Obi device to link my cellphone to my system so that, when I'm at home, calls to my cellphones ring on my home phones.

gobluetwo

I could see it being far more useful if you are running a business than it would be for the average residential user. What does your primary usage consist of?

PTravel

My primary usage is personal, though I also use it for business. I have several trunks. I have a "private" personal line, as does my my wife. I also have a "commercial" personal line that I use for businesses that require a "home phone number" and I think might have a legitimate reason to call me. I also have a "junk" line that I use for internet purchases, businesses that should never have a legitimate reason to contact me, etc. It goes direct to voicemail.

I also have a line I use for "business" -- it's the primary line I use at my office (our office PBX forwards my calls to it so that it functions like an extension). That way I can work at home when I want to, but to my clients, opposing counsel and courts (I'm a lawyer), I'm "in the office." I also get calls to my home phones in the office, which is very convenient, particularly when I'm calling the cable company or the bank and it wants to recognize me by my phone number.

As I noted in another post, I have an Obi device that connects my cellphone via bluetooth to my system so that, when I'm home, calls to my cellphone ring and can be answered on any phone in my house, which is very convenient. I ever have a cheap wireless phone in my bathroom so I can hear the phone if I'm in the shower (or otherwise engaged).

I can send and receive faxes through my PBX from any of my computers anywhere I happen to be, and use that for both business and personal needs.

Finally, my system lets me make and receive calls on any of my phone numbers from anywhere I am in the world (as long as I have internet access).

It all depends on what you want from your phone system. I really like the convenience of having a phone system that works exactly the way I want and can be configured to do whatever I want it to do. Until relatively recently, this wasn't possible and, particularly, not for free.

JohnMI

So, I'm currently trying to find an easy way to make calls using my cell phone from outside the USA into the USA while I am overseas. I'll have data on my phone via WiFi, but won't have real phone service.

I could see using this to accomplish that -- but I'm wondering if there might be an easier way? Maybe with an ObiTalk and Google Voice?

Anyone have any suggestions? Again, I just want to be able to take my Android phone overseas -- where I won't have real phone service, but will have WiFi -- and be able to make calls (and, if possible, receive them) using my normal phone and phone number.

- John...

tehiota

You could just signup for VoIP.MS Sip service. Their primary business is SIP/IAX Trunking, but because they run Asterisk (with a custom front end), all the power of the IVR, Call Queue, Faxing is included in the service. (You're just paying for the time on the call). You can then tie it into your choice of softphone on the PC or cell phone.

The Web UI isn't pretty, but if you were going to hack together your own PBX, you can figure out their UI.

I *don't* work for the company, nor have vested interest, but I've used their service for many years in the past and been quite pleased.

javabytes

I'm kinda with tehiota and gfunkdave on this. It sounds like a fun project to tinker with. I'm the kind of person that spent high school configuring Windows domains and running my own Exchange server, and running things like FTP servers on my first Android phone. But for something like this, if it's something I need to rely on for "production" use, I'm happy to pay the $0.85/month to VoIP.ms. If nothing else, it's way cheaper than the electricity for the box I'd have to run.

PTravel

Most all SIP trunk providers also offer a set of PBX-like features. I'm aware of none, however, that offer the complete configurability of FreePBX, including VoIP.MS. If they offer enough for you, that's fine, then.

I have 3 trunks from Google, 1 from Callcentric, 1 from my Ooma (via an analog connection) and 1 from MagicJack (via an analog connection). One of the advantages that I have is trunk fallover -- if one trunk fails (and sometimes they do), the system automatically falls over to another trunk.

PTravel

It depends on what you mean by "normal phone and phone number." If you have SIP service, e.g. Vonage, you can use either a generic SIP app or one provided by Vonage.

gfunkdave

You seem to have better telecom infrastructure than many small businesses!

PTravel

Well, yes . . . I think that's true to a certain extent. As I said, it's all about what you want your phone system to do for you. My attitude is, if there's a feature I would like and I can implement it, why not? Incidentally, one of the things that FreePBX will do is handle video, as well as voice, calls. Two of my SIP phones have video. The problem is, so far, there really isn't anyone I can think of with whom I'd like to take and place video calls.

Siberian_Viktorya

sound interesting, but why not just use Google Voice and Obihai device?

I bought the Obi110 when it was on sale for only $20 5 years ago. Before that, my monthly landline bill was almost $90. After I got the Obi110, my monthly bill went to $0. Have been very happy with the service 100%. The only thing extra that I have to pay is international call, but Google Voice int'l rates are extremely reasonable.

JohnMI

Well, I guess what I mean is that I currently have a cell phone that works fine in the USA. It will not work overseas. I would simply like to be able to make and receive calls -- to my current cell phone number -- while outside of the USA (and therefore not on a cell network, but connected via WiFi).

- John...

PTravel

Because all that gets you is a single phone line without any of the extras that a fully-switched system can perform.

I'm not aware of anything specifically designed to do what you want.