“I’ve heard good things about Asterisk VOIP software, but I don’t know much about it…”

I can inform you on this point.

First of all, Asterisk is not a VoIP client. Asterisk is a software implementation of a PBX. Put simply, what it does is receive calls (usually VoIP calls, though, with the appropriate hardware, you could also handle calls from the telephone network) and forward them to an appropriate destination.

For example, you could implement an asterisk dialplan (a funny work for “script”) where, when callers dial in, they are greeted with a voice prompt that says “Press 1 to go to Tech Support, Press 2 to go to sales…” (you get the picture).

And then, when they, for example, press 1, they are sent to a queue (where they get to listen to loud music and voice prompts that reassure them that “your call is important to us”), until they are eventually picked up by a human. Call proceeds normally from then on. This is just a simple example. The call manipulation possibilities Asterisk offers are virtually endless.

I, personally, have some experience with it, having used it at work to implement a call center for a small operation – a painful experience, mind you, but a rewarding one, since I knew next to nothing in regards to VoIP.

In my experience, I’ve learned that documentation is scarce, and configuration is somewhat painful. The way some of its features are implemented sometimes seem archaic and not at all flexible, making you have to jump through hoops to do something that should have been simple. But it is light on resources and gets the job done rather well after it is up and running.

Asterisk has a bunch of interesting features for call centers and telephone networks in general, but I doubt end-users would be interested. Unless you want to build a VoIP network of some sort from the ground up to replace Skype’s network, Asterisk is not for you. And even if you are, there is probably software out there that is better suited for such things.