First things first

So, you want to save on paying for international calls and you are here.

You are not a techie telecom person and but willing to spend time and learn the basics and understand the mantra - 'no pain no gain'.

I will keep it really simple by detailing steps which should make you up and running in less than half hour.

Things to do:

1. You want to install freePBX on your pc/laptop at home.
2. You want to make SIP calls between 2 sip phones.
3. You want to make PSTN to PSTN calls using freepbx.

Before I begin, many thanks to Ward Mundy on www.nerdvittles.com and a superb job Ward!.

Most of what is reproduced here can be found at the link above. Before you begin reading any further, it makes a lot of sense to start DOWNLOADING the necessary stuff to your laptop/pc, reason?

One of the downloads is ~650MB(see below for the link to this file, bit torrent or http).


Now that you have started the download, go ahead and read this link NOW! => README-FOR-WINDOWS-INSTALL. If you spend some time and read the page slowly and carefully, you have all the information necessary to install and make your first call.

Follow these steps to make your first call in a few minutes.

1. Step-1 Download VMWARE PLAYER - (roughly 30MB)
download the free VMware Player and install it on your Windows system. Just follow the prompts and accept the defaults. Once the install completes, reboot your Windows machine.

Once you have successfully rebooted the pc, you can go to step-2.

2.Step-2 Download trixbox from one of these (roughly 650MB)

a>Bittorrent - Please grab the torrent file from here
b>http downloads - So just click here

c>or BubbaPCguy's mirror

d> or here

e> or here

3. Step-3 Download a SIP Softphone for placing calls into the Trixbox/Freepbx. My pick is the Snom Softphone, easy to use and has a webpage to add callers to addressbook Click Here.

Otherwise, there is X-lite phone from www.xten.com - Click Here

4. Buy an adaptor which can be unlocked, you can plug regular phones into these adaptors and make calls.

5. Or Buy SIP hard phones which look like regular phones except they plug into the router(your landline phone plugs into the wall, right?).

Online Help
So, what if I get lost, where to look for information?

VIDEO TUTORIALS ON ASTERISK
1. My favorite - TrixBox without tears Both PDF(164pages by Ben Sharif) and HTML guides here

2. HowTo Setup LINKSYS SPA3102-Awesome Instructions with screenshots
3. SureTeq - A link from rizshers tripod page takes you here, beautiful!
4. More information can be found here if you have read all the basic information


More Links:

1. Tutorials : Part I, Part II, Part III,Part IV and Part V

2. Howto Configure a SPA3000
3. VoIP Provider Reviews and Configuration Tips for Asterisk@Home


Advanced Links

Home of the Super Champion, King of FreePBX

1.Asterisk Documentation Online
2. SeUpAsteriskAtHome
3. Hitchhikers Guid To Asterisk

Online Forums:

Fatwallet - Post that started it all for me
http://www.trixbox.org/modules/newbb/
Voxilla forums
www.dslreports.com

Unlocking Adaptors:
Howto Unlock DLINK VTA-VR (recent microcenter.com deal)
Another way of getting to the folder name and encrypted key for the XML file on DLINK VTA-VR