Asterisk and Cell Phone

If you travel frequently, you’ll often find yourself in an airport, hotel, or eatery that offers wi-fi access. Combined a few other technologies, you’ll be able to use that wi-fi to make and receive phone calls using your company’s phone system rather than your cell. You’ll save cell minutes and your battery, plus have access to the power and flexibility of the company PBX. Here’s what you’ll need:

Asterisk-based VoIP business phone system (PBX)
softphone, such as CounterPath’s eyeBeam installed on your notebook.
Bluetooth headset (the same type used with most cell phones)
and optionally, VPN software, such as the open-source OpenVPN.

Asterisk

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably already familiar with Asterisk. But if not: Asterisk is an extremely popular, open source PBX application that runs atop of a Linux-based server. It can be configured to use your business’s existing phone lines and phone numbers, and replaces the phone system that is likely hanging on the wall in your telcom closet. RightBrain Networks is a Michigan-based an Asterisk integrator and can assist you any additional questions you have about about the system.
Softphone

The softphone is a computer application that simply mimics a physical office phone. CounterPath’s basic eyeBeam product is less than $34 per copy and is well worth the money. However, if you’d like to test this setup or would just like to save a few bucks, you can also use their free softphone, X-Lite. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the softphone, it will have to be configured to talk to your Asterisk server. You will need to know your SIP username and password, as well as the hostname of your Asterisk server. The person or organization that maintains your Asterisk server will be able to assist you with these steps.