A trunk in the simplest of terms is a pathway into or out of a telephone system. A trunk connects a PBX to outside resources, such as PSTN telephone lines, or additional PBX systems to perform inter-system transfers. Trunks can be physical, such as a PRI or PSTN line, or they can be virtual by routing calls to another endpoint using Internet Protocol (IP) links. In this chapter, we will discuss the following:
Various types of trunks allowed by FreePBX
Methods for setting up each type of trunk
Checking the status of any configured trunk
FreePBX allows the creation of six different types of trunks as follows:
Zap, IAX2, and SIP trunks utilize the technologies of their namesake. These trunks have the same highlights and pitfalls that extensions and devices using the same technology do. Zap trunks require physical hardware cards for incoming lines to plug into. SIP trunks are the most widely adopted and compatible, but...