VoIP and Phone Numbers

[HalfEatenPie]

Hello everyone!

So I have a concept/idea that I'd like to ask your guys' opinions on.

Goal

- Send/Receive Phone Calls

- Send/Receive Texts

- Work on an Android phone

So my current idea is to setup an Asterisk server and get a phone number from someone like Flowroute and use the Linphone android application to send/receive phone calls and texts.  

There's also Kamailio as an alternative to Asterisk but I don't know if it'll actually fit the bill.  

Unfortunately my knowledge in this area is pretty limited.  I know there will be people who suggets Google Voice and as much as I'd love to use it, it doesn't do call forwarding on an international level.  

Currently, the best alternative I have right now is to use Line2, because it has everything I want (phone number, text, call, etc.).  But, at 10/month I think it'd be much easier for me to simply get my own setup going.

Any suggestions?  Any ideas?  Anything wrong with my current model?  I'd say texting (SMS) is pretty important if not more important than the actual call portion.  

 

[Hxxx]

ehm I haven't done any type of SMS stuff on Elastix for example, i think it can't. So I really don't know if sms will be supported on your project idea. 

The only problem I see with Flowroute is that they don't do SIP TLS, so it will all go unprotected, no privacy. As far as I know.

Interesting project, but I think that the hassle and cost is bigger doing it that way. I mean VPS KVM for Elastix or equivalent, then pay Flowroute, no TLS so, no peace of mind, worth mention that it might work or it may not be as you like, you have to play with the codecs and all of that, it might cost you extra too. 

Why not searching something like what you are using (Line2)? Something already chewed and working.

Your idea would be worth if it were a call center? maybe.. But for a single person, idk...

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Hm.  Well Flowroute not supporting SIP TLS would be an issue.  

The cost of a VPS would be considered negligible because I'll just be using it on an already-being-used VPS.  The cost of a phone number is much less than 10 dollars a month.  Therefore that's why I Think I can minimize the cost by running my own.  

It' be much more convenient to use Line2, but minimizing cost (and also getting more experience in the VoIP area) is my main focus of this project.  

 

[MartinD]

Speak to Sean @ OpenITC. We've only recently had a conversation about this very thing!

 

[howardsl2]

I'd say use PBX in a Flash (Asterisk+FreePBX+Extras), follow guide in my signature to install on your VPS. For getting a DID phone number you can use Anveo (or Anveo Direct, may be cheaper). They support SMS. And for Android VoIP client try Zoiper. It works great for me and they recently added SMS feature in their app. I never used said feature though.

 

[dcdan]

Why not use voip.ms? They have incoming SMS support/forwarding (outgoing is a bit limited ATM but should work for your purpose).

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Speak to Sean @ OpenITC. We've only recently had a conversation about this very thing!

Thanks sent a message to Sean on IRC. 

I'd say use PBX in a Flash (Asterisk+FreePBX+Extras), follow guide in my signature to install on your VPS. For getting a DID phone number you can use Anveo (or Anveo Direct, may be cheaper). They support SMS. And for Android VoIP client try Zoiper. It works great for me and they recently added SMS feature in their app. I never used said feature though.

It seems most of those are the process of forwarding the calls to the actual phone number.  That's great and all but my thought was more of maybe having a native application in Android which is able to send and receive calls/text.  Not having it forwarded to my regular phone number.  

 

[howardsl2]

It seems most of those are the process of forwarding the calls to the actual phone number.  That's great and all but my thought was more of maybe having a native application in Android which is able to send and receive calls/text.  Not having it forwarded to my regular phone number.  

Now I understand your question better... In that case you can create one Asterisk extension for each of your frequent contacts, no phone number is required and all calls between these will be free. That's what I do for my family. For example, create extension 101 for yourself and 102 for your wife, then you can call your wife by dialing 102 in Zoiper. Choosing a suitable codec will enable you to call via 3G as well as make video calls (not supported in Zoiper for Android but you can use SipDroid or CSipSimple instead).

Also, Anveo supports SIP registration directly so you can skip the PBX and configure Zoiper to register directly with Anveo. You still need to apply for a DID there though.

It looks like my signature did not show up last time due to me using Tapatalk... Here is my PBX in a Flash guide.

 

[datarealm]

We've been running freepbx for about 2 years now.  So far its been rock solid...

(Pardon me while I go find a piece of wood to bang on....)