[RafS]

I see that with some of the companies that only do outgoing calls I can make multiple outgoing calls on the same account so now I'm wondering, can you do the same thing with incoming calls? For example, if my phone number is 555-1234 and someone just called me on the number and someone else calls, will I hear a call waiting beep or will the call come in like normal and I can set it up so that it rings another extension? Thanks for all the help. From the other posts I can see alot of people here now what they are talking about.

[mberlant]

There are two halves to the answer to your question.

One half is dictated by your service provider. Some providers will allow as many simultaneous inbound calls as your equipment can handle. Many limit this number. Among those who limit, some enforce this limit in their switch, but most limit it only in your Terms of Service, leaving it up to you to manage.

The second half of the answer is dictated by your equipment. If you use a softphone or an ATA you generally have a physical limit of two voice paths, for use in handling Call Waiting, Call Transfer or 3-Way Calling. Asterisk gives you much more flexibility in what you do with each incoming call.

It is up to you how you program your Asterisk to handle these calls. Much of this decisionmaking is dependent upon how many extensions you have on your system. Many people set up their Asterisks to simultaneously ring several extensions at once. The first extension to pick up gets the call. A second call rings on the idle extensions and beeps in the ear of the first extension, and so on. Other people set up their Asterisks to have an IVR answer all calls, prompt for which extension to ring (Press 1 for Monm, 2 for Dad, 3 for Junior or 4 for Sis), and send the call wherever the caller asks. As I said, it's up to you.

As an end note, a comment about outgoing calls. In general (not a hard rule), if you are paying a provider for each minute of conversation that provider will allow you to have multiple simultaneous outgoing calls. If the account is an unlimited account it is expected that no more than two simultaneous channels will ever be in use, the presumption being that the two channels are engaged in the same 3-way call.

[RafS]

I really didn't think I would get an answer so quickly and with so much info. Thanks alot. Makes me feel not so stupid. :lol: Though I can guarantee that this won't be my last post mberlant. I'm really excited about learning Asterisk. I'll start to look into the different companies. If you know of any companies off the top of your head that don't have limits or that allow at least 3 simultaneus calls I'd really appreciate it. Thanks again!!!!!

[AlexanderBell]

If all you care about is incoming calls, you can't beat BroadVoice's BYOD-Lite plan for $5.95 a month. You can set up Asterisk to limit each line to 2 calls which makes the cost per actual incoming line under $3 with virtually any area code and number you desire.

[mberlant]

I'm not quite sure how AlexanderBell calculates, but a single BYOD Lite plan includes one line (two talk paths). I'm not sure how to squeeze your 3 conversations into that; maybe he can.

If you're flexible about where your phone number is (and with Asterisk you can have many phone numbers) you can get a free New York number from StanaPhone, a free Seattle number from IPKall and a free California number from CallPacket.