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Suggestions for Home PBX/Key System?

Posted by Cliff on from the neat-hacks-for-the-home dept.

foobar104 asks: "I'm fascinated by the idea of putting in a home PBX or key system. I don't really have a good justification for this; it just sounds like a neat thing to have. There are commercially available small PBX systems available for $500 to $2,000, plus another $500 to $2,000 for voicemail, but putting in one of those doesn't sound like as much fun as building one from scratch using an older PC and some off-the-shelf components. I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for sources of information, tips, HOWTOs or other knowledge on this subject? I'm sure it's been done before; GNUCOMM and GNU Bayonne are out there, but I'm not having much luck finding tutorial-type info about them."

"The system I want to build doesn't need to be complicated. I'd like to have two outside lines and about five inside lines. I'd like the system to have all the standard cool features, like intercomm and station-to-station calls and such, but I'd also like to do some exotic things. For example, I'd like to implement a call whitelist system, where during certain hours of the day, only calls from numbers on a pre-defined "white list" ring through, and all other calls go to voicemail. I'm guessing that something like that will require programming, and I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. I just don't know where to start.

It sounds like a fun hobby project-- to me anyway. Can anyone point me in the right direction?"

6 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Nice system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting


    It's not a DIY project, but these people make an awesome phone system for home/home office use.

    http://www.talkswitch.com/

    You can get a 2-line or 4-line system, and new systems due out will be able to handle VoIP.

    They're physically quite small, work with standard phones, regenerate caller-ID info (this was a killer for me, I couldn't find any other system that did it), programmable via PC.

    I've had mine for over a year, and mostly use it for the auto-attendant to screen calls, ringdown to try me at home, if I don't answer forward them to my cell,and the built-in voicemail. It's awesome!

    - Turbo

  2. I'm kinda in the industry by fuerstma · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And...

    I think you probably have two options. The biggest commercial effort in this area was called CyberGenie. I forget who made these units, but they are actually pretty neat. They no longer make them or anything, but they are on eBay for like ~$50... you can have up to 10 handsets I believe. The worst part of them is that the OS of the host machine has to be a Microsoft (ugh) and worse yet, Win98 is far and away the most supported OS. I'm on the CyberGenie mailing list (yeah, I guess I Dont get enough spam) and tons of people try to get these going with Win2000 and it isn't worth the trouble. Go ahead and Google for CyberGenie, it'll give you better information than I can give you.

    Your other option is to go out and buy yourself a Dialogic Card and program one yourself. A Simple 4 line ISA card will cost you about $100 on eBay. We use Dialogic cards at my work (http://www.telecorpproducts.com) for some real time voice processing stuff. Well a previous developer bought the wrong model so I borrowed it and took it home. Some of the Dialogic models have Linux support. I popped it into my Linux box, and then developed a simple C app to capture the caller ID information coming into my phone w/ the fairly easy to use Dialogic API that dumps the CallerID info into a MySQL DB. Then a simple PHP page to query the DB and viola.. from anywhere in the world I can see who's been callin our casa.

    From there it's pretty easy to do voice processing, transfers, etc... At work we take the raw voice coming off the card, do some shifting around, and then pass that information off to a RealAudio SDK/Server to send real time voice over the Internet (specific to call center monitoring)..

    Oh well, best of luck... you can either buy a canned, unsupported package or strike out on your own (and I hope open source the results so I can use it for my home!)

    --
    www.jackasscritics.com
  3. I have one, and recommend by mwillems · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have one too - 8 extensions, 3 lines (2 connected). Panasonic PBX: takes key sets or analog sets

    That is one of the most important variables: can you connect cheap analog sets, or must you use expensive key sets?

    Used to be a phone engineer so it's an interesting hobby but also useful: share 2 lines, connect through, redirect fax calls to the fax, etc - recommend you buy a cheap analog PBX - few hunbdred bucks in Europe.

    MW

    --

    ---
    BDOS ERR ON A:>
  4. Software is the hard part, nor is reliability easy by isdnip · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Real" PBX systems have very complex software. Basic call control is easy. Features, especially keyset emulation, take a lot of code. This isn't something to code yourself in your spare time. You might have fun adapting what's out there, but don't confuse "IP telephony" with a real PBX. IP phones are expensive and don't sound as good as circuit phones.

    Standard PBX systems are designed for the famous "five nines" reliability. You don't get that from a regular PC -- for instance, PC hardware can't do hot swap, which any PBX worth its salt can.

    If you're adventurous, you can cobble together "carrier grade" hardware nowadays using off-the-shelf cards in the Compact PCI (which is more accurately "collosal PCI") form factor plus the H.110 bus, which supports 4K time slots of TDM voice. Of course that's overkill for a home system, but some serious phone gear is built that way, using off-the-shelf Sparc or PowerPC CPUs.

  5. Thanks for this submission by Mustang+Matt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I really appreciate the info people are giving.

    I've been wanting to do this in my home for my small business for a while but I've never known how to do it.

    The features I really really want are:
    1. CallerID being stuffed into a MySQL database.
    2. Filtering rules for callerID to serve up special messages for special people.
    3. 44.1 16bit message recording. I know it's overkill but I have never found a home based digital answering machine that is even halfway decent quality. Does anyone know of one? I'm using a Sony right now and it's awful.

    From then on, everything else is just extra good stuff.

    I might keep in touch with you if you don't mind and let you know what I find.

    --
    The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
  6. bbs telecom by mycal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    has 2 inexpensive pbx's, somtimes under $100 on ebay.

    The low end unit has 3 outside lines and 8 inside, the other 4 outside and
    16 inside.

    I use it with a voiceworks voicemail system I got for $300 on ebay.

    It does have caller ID support and RS232 out, so you could do some call filtering there, but it is not as clean as a PC based would be.

    I do really like it, I got it when I built my office and guesthouse and had to have an easy way to share phonelines and intercom. The side result is I only get about 1 telemarketer call every 3 months now, since they never dial through the greeting, and everyone has there own voicemail box. People at my company can also call me at 11PM at my office and not wake the house, totally cool.
    I have 2 outside lines and 1 VOIP line plugged into the outside which works
    well for all.

    The great thing about it is that it uses regular phones and cool keyphones, your choice, and it is analog, so modems and fax machines work well on the inside.

    This is definatly the way to go on a budget. Under $500 you should be good to go.

    mycal