Screw Your Cell Phone Company
This is a sweet little trick you can pull to basically never have to worry about outrageous cell phone billing again.
I personally haven’t owned a cell phone in years, I found it to be very expensive and I would usually end up being forced to pay for services I never used. Now those you have an IPhone, skip right past this article because we know you are Jesus and don’t have to worry about voice rates. But for those of you either stuck in a contract or need to call long distance, this hack is for you!
The Idea
These services used to be offered years ago (and I am sure still exist) - where you would call a number and it would hang up and call you right back with a dial tone - allowing you to make a free outbound call from a service called DISA (Direct Inward System Access)
This is a spectacular idea for cell phone plans with unlimited inbound calls, however, when using this service you’d still have to pay the DISA company for outbound termination. Now a ton of cellular companies still offer a no-catch unlimited inbound calls plan so why not exploit the service and DIY - with Asterisk!
This is something you can do from home, it will cost you as little as 9 dollars a month (for unlimited calling) and about 3 dollars extra in hydro expenses (if you pay hydro). You will be able to have as many phone numbers / extensions as you want and can use it from home / work / across the world.
So here is what you do :
- Sign up with a VoiP company you’ve done your research on - I use Voip Your Life ($25 / Month) -horrible for tech support, however they do not care how many inbound / outbound concurrent calls you make - this number is limited by your total bandwidth - plus they work great with this system.
- Visit your local recycling centre and ask to pick up an old computer - look for one with a closed case, anything should do. If they say no - come back with some garbage and heist one or two on your way out. Dumpster diving for second hand computer hardware can be a lot of green fun - I will write about this later.
- Download and install Trixbox CE and install it on your newly acquired system - if you need help, there are about half a million google results as to how to get this running. Or read Trixbox Without Tears.
- Configure your Trunk, IVR, Inbound Routes, Outbound Routes, DISA and finally your Callback.
So after some reading / playing - youll see that you can call into your system and will be presented with an IVR - interactive voice response menu. You can then program a top secret menu button that will hang up on you and call you back! Once you are called back, you will be asked for a password - the one you set in your DISA configuration. Once you have authenticated yourself you will hear a dial tone. Go ahead and make a call from your free inbound call to anywhere in the United States / Canada without tieing up your home phone
FAQ
Q. That seems like a lot of work - plus I still have to pay my cell phone bill!
A. The point is to use the $10 - $25 monthly VoiP bill for you home use too, many voip companies can port your existing number for free. You also downgrade your cell plan to the lowest rate you possibly can and simply add your home phone number to speed dial.
Q. I got the computer with Trixbox installed, but I can’t place a call.
A. Most likely a firewall issue - set the box with a static IP and forward ports 5004 - 5060 TCP (For SIP) and 10000 - 20000 UDP (for RTP) - or just DMZ the damn thing to get started - fix it later. That or you misconfigured your Trunk / Outbound Routes. The free book mentioned above can help you solve any Trixbox Issues.
Q. Why would you do all this shit when you can just buy an IPhone?
A. Because Google Adsense hasn’t bought me one yet… shutup.