"Roger Baker" <me7@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:80d5t2hrl92rg9q2a0viuh5pbj4fprkagp@news.individual.de...[color=blue]
>I have an account with voip.co.uk and subscribe to their £1.99 a month
> service.
>
> My mum is getting older now but has broadband as she tends to be a bit
> of a 'silver surfer'. I seem to be making an increasing number of
> calls to her these days and she likes to chat to her friends during
> the week. The voip.co.uk option of 2p for up to one hour during peak
> periods would seem to suit her and also allow me to phone her for
> nothing.
>
> I have been looking at the option of one of the cheap Chinese ATA's on
> Ebay for her, and was wondering if anyone could give any experiences
> of having used one. The two common models seem to be the Gate 101 and
> Gate 102. She doesn't need any bells and whistles, just something to
> plug in and work.
>
> Anyone care to pass on any of their experiences with these devices?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Roger.
>[/color]
Hi Roger,

I have precisely such an arrangement for my elderly mother using the Gate
102. This unit allows incoming calls via PSTN as normal and outgoing calls
via VOIP service provider. I configured the GATE 102 to dial 9 for the BT
line rather than *00 default value. So to dial e.g. emergency service it's
a case of 9 (wait for BT dial tone) 999 rather than 999.

I used [url]www.voipcheap.com[/url] who provide good rates (virtually free) for UK
calls and a good rate for callling UK mobiles. Selected counties are also
"free".

The GATE 102 is better than the GATE 101 if you intend to keep the landline
(recommended). Expect to pay around £20 - better than the typical "buy it
now" price of £33 on eBay.

Two things to be aware of - no caller ID is sent for dialled out calls with
this arrangement; also there is no distinctions between busy, unavailable or
miss-dial for dialled out numbers via VOIP - you get the same "busy" tone.

In all, the setup seems reliable and safe if you keep the landline and the
cost savings are considerable. Let me know if you need more specific
configuration details but overall, it is very easy to configure.

Cheers from Mike