[Mac-telephony-list] asterisk art project question

[Martin Joseph via List]

On Dec 28, 2006, at 3:20 PM, James Yamada via List wrote:

> Hello,
> I am an artist working in New York and I have received a commission
> for a sculpture that will utilize 2 VOIP based phones. The work will
> be installed in Union Square which is located in lower Manhattan. The
> phones will allow people to make free 5 minute international calls.
> I  am thinking of using Asterisk  running on a mac mini to implement
> this, but before I progress down the path of learning how to
> configure Asterisk I want to make sure that it can do what I am
> hoping it can.
>
> Here is the scenario:
> I need to configure two ordinary POTS phones to be able to make 5
> minute outgoing calls only. The calls will go only to specific
> international destinations. The calls will last 5 minutes and then be
> terminated. I would like to hook up a system of lights that would
> turn on when a call was placed and then turn off when the call is
> terminated.
>
> Here are my questions:
> 1. Can Asterisk be configured to only allow outgoing calls?
Yes
> 2. Can it limit calls to international only?
Yes
> 3. Can it limit calls to a set of international prefixes?
Yes
> 4. Can it terminate calls after a specified amount of time
Yes
> 5. Can it control, through a serial port or USB port another device
> such as a light dimmer?
Hmmm,  you can do this,  but asterisk (or Open PBX) will be calling  
another program to control the lights.
> 6. Is it easier to do these things using the Linux version of
> Asterisk or another software package?
No, It's identical.
> 7. How complicated is it to make these configurations?
Complicated if you have never/built or used asterisk before.  Not  
that hard for a person that has.
> 8. How difficult is it to limit calls to international numbers that
> generate high charge backs (if this is the correct terminology)?
This might be hard, but you can research higher rate prefixes (like  
cells) and exclude them.
>
> Any insight you might be able to provide would be greatly
> appreciated. I will also be looking for someone who can help me do
> the configuration if the features that I listed can be met.
> Thank you very much for your time. I can be contacted directly as
> well  using ortalon (that little symbol) gmail

Good luck and let us know what you choose to do.

Marty