For those of who have never heard of Skype, it’s a service that allows users to make free calls from their computers over the internet to other Skype users; and ultra-low cost calls to landlines and mobile phones globally.  Asterisk is a popular open source PBX system that manages the routing of calls in addition to other features including unified communications.  Companies like Dalcon provide the software that makes it easy to put this valuable new communications tool to use.

The Advantages of Skype and Asterisk

The main advantage of Skype and Asterisk is of course, value.  Both Skype and Asterisk have been well known in the VoIP world as low cost alternatives to more traditional forms of communication.  The growths of these applications have been spectacular, and as more businesses learn that the value they bring doesn’t come with a sacrifice in quality, the more they will continue to grow.

Skype to Asterisk, using software like the Dalcon Communications Manager, allows your company to:

1. Make free calls globally from any phone on the Asterisk PBX to Skype users.
2. Make low cost domestic and international calls (either with unlimited minutes subscriptions or low costs such as 2.1 cents per minute to many global destinations).
3. Allow Skype users to call you on a Skype user address, receive the call on your Asterisk PBX and then route the call to any extension , IVR/auto attendant, queue, or even outside cell phone.
4. Place a Skype button on your website so Skype users can call your company instantly from their computer.
5. Allow Skype users to make a free Skype call from anywhere in the world into a conference bridge on the Asterisk system so that you can have a mix of Skype, internal, and external phone users on one conference call.
6. Purchase a Skype-In landline phone number for your company ($5/month) in most any city worldwide. Calls to that number can ring into your company’s Asterisk/DCM system and be routed in any way you choose.

How it works

Once you have an Asterisk-based PBX, such as the DCM, you can order Skype for Asterisk connectors and sign up for your Skype business account.

Now your options are limitless.  You can make Skype calls using softphones and desktop phones. Asterisk can be configured in many different ways to automatically switch between Skype calls and normal calls.  For example, you might set the system up so that dialing *9 on a desktop phone allows you to “SkypeOut”—in other words, make a Skype call out to an international landline or mobile phone.  Another possibility could be simply configuring Asterisk to automatically SkypeOut when you dial a number with an international country code.  Using DCM you can set up any Skype user as an extension on your system and when you dial that extension on your desk phone it automatically routes the call to the Skype user over the Skype-to-Skype network.