Landline answerphone software? hardware?

[Adams_16v]

alreet pets!

I'm currently looking for either some software for the computer or some kind of hardware based anwserphone system.

Basicaly we have jus had a business landline fitted, but we arent around a lot of the time to take calls.

We thought about diverting to mobiles, but we are also looking into other options.

Does anyone know of any software for the computer maybe that can handle answerphone messages? preferably something that might be able to determine the difference between a real call and a fax before deciding what its going to do.

Cheers for any help!

 

[sn00p]

trixbox does this and more, it's an open source pbx.

We use this.

 

[Adams_16v]

thanks mate, just looking at it now, all sounds good!

does this work with a normal BT landline though? im a bit confused

 

[sn00p]

thanks mate, just looking at it now, all sounds good!

does this work with a normal BT landline though? im a bit confused

Yep or VOIP or both.

What you need is an FXO card, look in the asterisk FAQ and you'll find loads. Digium (the people who originally wrote asterisk) sell them, alternatively many PCI isdn modem cards can be used.

Once asterisk has detected the card you can set up the routing on it. You can do all sorts of clever things with asterisk...music on hold, menus, voice mail depending on the incoming line, time of day etc.

We bought our FXO cards from ebay, 6 quid jobbie! We also use VOIP which has the added advantage of "multiple lines" on the same number.

We use grandstream IP phones to connect to the asterisk box and they work a treat.

 

[Adams_16v]

excellent! ill have to dig out an old pc and give it a go!

Cheers for the info, much appreciated!

 

[sn00p]

excellent! ill have to dig out an old pc and give it a go!

Cheers for the info, much appreciated!

Word of warning. You'll want some semi-decent hardware to run it on, I wouldn't recommend digging out that old Pentium II 166!

 

[Adams_16v]

hehe no probs, iv got a half decent spec pc up in the loft (i think)

 

[Adam]

why not just get call minder put on you line with BT.

its basically 1571 but you can listen to your messages remotely i.e from yuor mobile.

 

[sn00p]

why not just get call minder put on you line with BT.

its basically 1571 but you can listen to your messages remotely i.e from yuor mobile.

Business line he said, call minder isn't very professional!

 

[Adam]

erm yeah business call minder, you can record a personal professional message!

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/btbusinessProducts/displayProduct.do?productId=BTB-6438

 

[Adams_16v]

cheers for the help both of ya!

i think im gonna give the trixbox a go, as I like playing with stuff like that, and I like the long list of features. (and its free)

i think it can do faxes too which would be a big help!

Thanks!

 

[sn00p]

Bumpage.

Did you ever try trixbox? What did you think?

 

[Adams_16v]

alright mate.

i had a good look and all sounds good.

i found a pc too, but its a bit s**t spec so i dunno if to try it on it or bother getting something a bit better.

we just have a bog standard answerphone at the mo.

i will report back once i try it tho!

 

[sn00p]

I suddenly thought of this today because I need to add some more physical BT lines to our box (in addition to the voip lines) when we move office upstairs and I remembered this thread.

Asterisk is very very cool. You will need something fairly decent to run on depending on how many calls you intend to take at once and what fancy features you want to use.