Nice. Makes you wonder why no one did this so far.

Not sure what you're referring to... but yes, you need to buy a phone number. Head to ipkall.com (free) or icall.com or flowroute.com (paid). There are several such services out there. Once you have the number, you can just point it to your server that is running FreeSWITCH and Plivo.

- You need to install FS on your server and run it. There's an installer for that (Check

http://www.plivo.org/get-started/).

- You need to install Plivo on the server as well. There's a separate installer for that.

So now you have your Twilio-like instance ready.

- To buy a number you can head to ipkall.com (free) or icall.com or flowroute.com (paid). There are several such

services actually.

- Once you have the number, you can just point it to your server that is running FreeSWITCH and Plivo.

- You can buy minutes for usage from a third party such as IVOX VoIP (ivoxvoip.com). Again, there are several such

providers out there.

- Now, go ahead and deploy your Plivo app (just as you would deploy a Twilio app).

I hope this makes it clear.

You know of any recommendations for something a little more in depth? Maybe a book recommendation, if not much is online?

Often times, the terminology is confusing and difficult to know where to start and ease in.

The entire idea with Plivo (much like Twilio and Tropo) is to simplify i.e. let web developers build telephony apps without having to learn much about a telephony engine.

WTF is this?

Plivo and not Plivio. :-)

The site http://www.plivo.org is up again.

Plivo works exactly like Twilio. You just need to set it up on your server and then run your apps off it just as you do w Twilio.

The part I'm wondering is how I get a phone number pointed at my server in the first place.

Well if you're in the US and want phone numbers, there are several free providers such as ipkall.com and paid ones such as icall.com, flowroute.com. In case of the free providers, you won't even have to bear the cost of incoming calls. That's a solid advantage you'll have if you use Plivo. Also, there are hundreds of such number providers around. Just google for them. Once you have the number, you can just point it to your server that is running FreeSWITCH and Plivo.

Cool. Your overview should probably mention this.

Hey, http://www.plivo.org is up!

Twilio being open source - this is a HUGE misconception. Openvbx is just an application on top of Twilio and basically locks you in to the Twilio platform. That's the bitter truth. Plivo is a 100% open source version of what Twilio has been hiding from you.