Voicemail

VOIP question on how to share one connection !!?

Ok, so i was wondering i there is a software or a instrument, which i can connect to my voip provider and anyone who dials my number, instead of getting a voicemail, hits off a dialtone and they can go ahead and dial a number and access my line. like some phone cards do when u call their 800 number and then u hear a new dial tone .. I was just curious to know that if there is anything out there ?

Public Comments

1. Yes you can, but only if the VoIP service uses an 'open' system like SIP that lets you use your own hardware. The feature you are talking about is called Direct Inward System Acces (DISA). Asterisk is an open source Private Branch Exchange (PBX) software package for Linux, that allows you to setup a VoIP server with DISA capabilities that can connect directly to your open access VoIP provider as a trunk. You will then have to connect the line you want the DISA to access to the Asterisk PBX. If it is another VoIP line, no additional hardware is necessary, if it is a standard land-line, you will require an FXO voice card or FXO->SIP adapter.
2. Ben gave a very good answer but I do not know if you are looking to do something advanced like setting up a PBX server. To answer your question, you typically will not be able to do this with a standard extension on a voip service. This would essentially let the whole world use your one extension to dial out and it would be unfair to the provider (especially since most VoIP providers give unlimited calls for one low price) You can, however, setup multiple different devices to use that same extension. For example, I have several VoIP Phones and a softphone running on my computer that use the same extension. Ben is talking about trunk lines and that is essentially what you want to do--use a VoIP extension as a trunk line.