Help setting up VoIP using Trixbox or Asterisk

get a cheap server, download the latest ISO, and go to www.sureteq.com, click on documentation on the left, then click on the link down below for CE called -trixbox CE v2.6.2 Complete Setup Guide for Small Business- Have your system behind a firewall and start setting things up with this great step-by-step. Skip over things that you cannot do. For example, either buy a SIP desktop phone for testing, or skip that part until you are ready to purchase one of those. You don't need connectivity to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network-analog and digital lines that come in from the telephone company). You can start playing by setting up some voip trunks. I started with Voipstreet (I still use them and Vitelity) using their IAX trunks as they are VERY easy to setup and you won't struggle with NAT issues. After you have a little success with setting up the free softphone in the Sureteq guide and placing a call over your internet connection via an ITSP (Internet Telephone Service Provider- SIP and IAX trunking for you) then things will become contagious...you'll want to purchase one or two different manufacturers phones and begin to play and see which you like best. You can purchase a PSTN card like an OpenVox A400P to add an incoming POTS (Plain Old Telephone System-incoming analog lines) with an FXO daughter module and if you want to experiment with fax or have an analog phone (cordless from Walmart) then you can also have an FXS module on the OpenVox A400P (this card will support 4 modules for incoming lines and/or analog phones/faxes)...soon enough you'll be addicted and after setting up all of the standard features you'll start scouring these forums for information on how to do specialized or custom things...you'll recieve a bunch of very helpful tidbits from a bunch of great guys (and gals) on here and before you know it, you'll be helping out some guy that is very new and doesn't know much...wait a minute, this is my story...this is how I got started. I don't know as much as some on here, but this is exactly how I got started.

Be sure to look before asking. There are some really great people that will bend over backwards to help out a person just starting out, but there is also frustration when there are some questions that have a zillion posts that are very basic and yet someone will ask the question in a posting when it would have been so easy to just spend a minute or two to find it. But, don't let that shy away from asking questions that you feel might be stupid...we've all had those questions, so long as you have attempted to find the answers before posting.

**below is a sales pitch**Please disregard if you aren't interested**

There are other products out there like Rhino (James is stalking me and will post here when he sees that I have), Sangoma, and Rhino for your PSTN connectivity needs. I just happen to be affiliated with OpenVox which is why I chose them as an example. In the Sureteq guide he discusses the Digium TDM400 which is almost identical to the A400P. If you decide you want more information on these products, feel free to PM me. Also, I do have an old Grandstream GXP-2000 that I would sell on the cheap (great phone for learning, as they can be bought very cheap), as well as a Polycom 430 and 601 that I might part with (they are in my lab) and I would even consider a very decently priced package with one of these phones and an A400P card with one FXO and one FXS module which would really get you going toward realizing how great trixbox and Asterisk is and to have your box connected to different voice mediums.