UKVoIPTalk.com

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:27:08 +0000, B <Á@> wrote:
[color=blue]
>The OP suggested he was a complete beginner and for all we know, he
>might prefer an out-of-the-box solution over the hassle of configuring
>his own ATA[/color]

If you use a supported ATA most service providers have configurator
pages or the ones on 3rd party sites do a good job. Very little effort
to use them.

The real wrestling with ATAs is usually people trying to use them for
services intended only for softphones or other hardware, or doing more
complex functionality that one phone line via one provider.

Phil
--

Usenet spam eaten by a Hamster [url]http://www.tglsoft.de/[/url]
No more cable clowns :-))
Please do not feed or re-quote the trolls.

"Tx2" <this.is.an.inv@lid_email_address.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1fd4027512886e2898968a@News.Individual.NET...[color=blue]
> In article <MPG.1fd3bbeac8473247989687@News.Individual.NET>,
> [email]this.is.an.inv@lid_email_address.com[/email] says...
>[color=green]
>> Happy to experiment a little, but don't want to spend lots of money
>> and
>> time on rubbish.[/color]
>
> One thing that has confused me is what the call charges are.
>
> If I call another VOIP number, any VOIP number, is it free?
>
> If I have to pay for that call (to another VOIP number) how can it be
> cheaper than a normal landline call made via, for example, Primus?
>
> I appreciate calls to a fixed landline will cost, but they don't seem
> cheaper than calls to, for example, Cyprus that I make using 18185.
> Gradwell fees to there are circa 10p per minute, whereas with 18185
> they
> are 1p per minute.
>
> I'm probably missing something, but VOIP might be the new kid on the
> block, I just can't see (yet) how it is a cheaper alternative to POTS.
>[/color]

I switched to VoIP because I am on NTL cable broadband, and I have
cancelled their phone service, and done away with the monthly line
rental charges, so I am better off.

If I was still with BT, I would be using alternative call routes.
Gradwell are relatively expensive in the VoIP market, charging £4.70 for
the equivalent of line rental, plus higher call charges than what can be
easily achieved with other providers using alternative call routes,
including NTL and BT.

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:58:23 -0000, Tx2
<this.is.an.inv@lid_email_address.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>In article <v58jm2t8h8outg1004cdc71ls7c9p6p7eh@4ax.com>, Á@ says...
>[color=green]
>> The OP suggested he was a complete beginner and for all we know, he
>> might prefer an out-of-the-box solution over the hassle of configuring
>> his own ATA. At least let's give him the choice.[/color]
>
>I'm happy with giving anything a try. I'm not worried if it is out-of-
>the-box, but I have no idea what an "ATA" is!
>
>I'm pretty savvy when it comes to most things technical, but VOIP is a
>new area to me, and I'd like to get into the game somewhat.
>
>Happy to experiment a little, but don't want to spend lots of money and
>time on rubbish.[/color]
The choice is yours. As I stated in my first post Vonage is the market
leader. They charge £8/month to cover all UK/Ireland geographic
landline calls.

If you are reasonably technically mined you may want to persue getting
your own ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) and setting it up yourself.
If you are not at all technically minded you may prefer Vonage. It is
likely to work out more expensive in the long run but it is an 'out of
the box' solution and thus ideal for someone who just wants a working
service without any bother. You do, also, have to pay for the ATA
that Vonage supply and it is locked to Vonage - that means that it can
only be used with Vonage - forget about postings about unlocking
Vonage ATAs - it requires skills you are not likely to possess.

If you decide to get your own ATA then you will be able to seek advice
here on which would best suit your needs and how to set it up.
To compare costs with Vonage if you went for your own ATA:-
approximately £38 - £65 for a Linksys/Sipura ATA - depending on the
type.
UK calls from voip.co.uk: £20/year covers all off-peak geographic
landline calls and then 2p/call for peak time calls. A geographic
telephone number, for your area, is included for people to call you.

An example of what an ATA looks like is here:-
[url]http://www.sipura.com/products/spa1001.htm[/url]
This one sells for £38 on
[url]www.broadbandstuff.co.uk[/url]
It can have 2 separate voip lines terminating to one set of telephone
handsets.

To summarise:
Simple choice:
1. Vonage, no setting up, just plug it in and it should work.
@£8/month.
2. Own ATA, set it up yourself and choose your own provider at a lower
cost.


Remove 'no_spam_' from email address.

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:31:35 GMT, Brian A postulated:
[color=blue]
>The choice is yours. As I stated in my first post Vonage is the market
>leader. They charge £8/month to cover all UK/Ireland geographic
>landline calls.[/color]

They limit the time per free call to one hour but this is probably
more than enough for most people. They also have a call forwarding
facility to other UK numbers at no cost which is probably unique.
Recently they have started to offer an option of free calls to a
number of overseas countries including USA & Canada. Their call
quality is good and voicemail is excellent. They offer emergency
calls.

While the cost of £7.99 / month may be higher than other providers
they offer a no-hassle installation. Anyone with broadband and a spare
port on a switch or router should be able to get it up and working
within a minute or two. For those people who have previously had a BT
or NTL line the monthly saving in switching to Vonage will be very
significant if they cancel their normal landline.

The main gripe is Americanisation of some features


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from [url]http://www.teranews.com[/url]

Polly expressed precisely :[color=blue]
> On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:31:35 GMT, Brian A postulated:
>[color=green]
>> The choice is yours. As I stated in my first post Vonage is the market
>> leader. They charge £8/month to cover all UK/Ireland geographic
>> landline calls.[/color]
>
> They limit the time per free call to one hour but this is probably
> more than enough for most people. They also have a call forwarding
> facility to other UK numbers at no cost which is probably unique.
> Recently they have started to offer an option of free calls to a
> number of overseas countries including USA & Canada. Their call
> quality is good and voicemail is excellent. They offer emergency
> calls.
>
> While the cost of £7.99 / month may be higher than other providers
> they offer a no-hassle installation. Anyone with broadband and a spare
> port on a switch or router should be able to get it up and working
> within a minute or two. *For those people who have previously had a BT*
> or NTL line the monthly saving in switching to Vonage will be very
> significant if they cancel their normal landline.[/color]

Presumably you meant those that have cable internet who choose to ditch
a landline could make savings...?

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:20:03 +0000, Phil Thompson said in article
<ijtjm2pg45fih13ln4bdalhbh9fsi1o4s2@4ax.com>:
[color=blue]
>If you use a supported ATA most service providers have configurator
>pages or the ones on 3rd party sites do a good job. Very little effort
>to use them.[/color]

All I can say is that setting up my PAP2 for Sipgate and Finarea took
several weeks to get it fully working. Without the help I got from
this newsgroup I would never got it working at all. Even with this
help, there were quite a number of PAP2 settings that no one could
explain and the suggestion was to try different ones to see if it made
any difference. The syntax of "dial plan" seemed to have been devised
by a geek who wanted to have a laugh at the expenses of gringos.

Admittedly all this was a couple of years ago and maybe now the black
art of ATA configuration has been enlightened a bit.

Contrast this with unpacking a Vonage adapter, plugging it in and then
it worked within a few seconds. It has carried on working perfectly
for months with no attention needed of any kind.

I have never understood why ATA settings have to be so needlessly
complex. Comparing configuring an ATA with installing Vonage is like
comparing the early days of personal computing using a soldering iron
with plugging in and switching on a modern PC.

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 22:17:12 +0000, B <Á@> wrote:
[color=blue]
>I have never understood why ATA settings have to be so needlessly
>complex.[/color]

because the things have a tremendous range of versatility and can be
configured for any service working to any international standard for
the connected phone. In practice I have set up several accounts on
ATAs that have required me to enter all of three or four settings, ie
those specific to the account. The sipgate settings as a for-instance
are at
<http://www.sipgate.co.uk/faq/index.php?aktion=anzeigen&type=devices&rubrik=700>

The configuration wizards at
<http://voxilla.com/tools/device-configuration-tools/> save the user
finding the fields in the aTA UI.

If you want to fine tune the ringing cadence or system tones or
electrical properties its all there in an ATA, which is why it looks
complex, but in reality you don't *need* to do any of that.
[color=blue]
>Comparing configuring an ATA with installing Vonage is like
>comparing the early days of personal computing using a soldering iron
>with plugging in and switching on a modern PC.[/color]

The equivalent of "installing" Vonage is plugging in an ATA that you
have paid someone else to configure for you and they have locked the
settings to one service. Obviously its simpler as you paid for the
privelige.

BT Broadband Talk do the same monthly charge as Vonage, with a self
configuring box that isn't locked. Same monthly cost, and cheaper
calls to mobiles to boot.

Phil
--

Usenet spam eaten by a Hamster [url]http://www.tglsoft.de/[/url]
No more cable clowns :-))
Please do not feed or re-quote the trolls.

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 08:25:07 +0000, Phil Thompson said in article
<hb7lm2hju69vrcukc4bs69q1qktschcvgo@4ax.com>:
[color=blue]
>because the things have a tremendous range of versatility and can be
>configured for any service working to any international standard for
>the connected phone. In practice I have set up several accounts on
>ATAs that have required me to enter all of three or four settings, ie
>those specific to the account.[/color]

The problem is nobody can explain the need for the few dozen other
incomprehensible parameters apart from saying "if the default settings
don't work try playing with these other values".

Why does the syntax of the so called "dial plan" have to be so
obscure?

Finally, after you've spent time juggling all these ATA settings
around, why is it then necessary to have to play around with router
port forwarding? My Vonage adapter can be plugged into any switch or
route4r. No only is no configuration of the box required, all this
fiddling with router port forwarding is completely unnecessary.

"B" <Á@> wrote in message
news:3balm2lc3le72t0oasgafut66grv1vrs26@4ax.com...
[color=blue]
>
> Why does the syntax of the so called "dial plan" have to be so
> obscure?[/color]

What's obscure about (*x.|x.) ..?
[color=blue]
> Finally, after you've spent time juggling all these ATA settings
> around, why is it then necessary to have to play around with router
> port forwarding? My Vonage adapter can be plugged into any switch or
> route4r. No only is no configuration of the box required, all this
> fiddling with router port forwarding is completely unnecessary.[/color]

I have no port forwarding set up whatsoever and all my services function -
sipgate, voip.co.uk, voipcheap, voipfone, et all.

"Jono" <no@no.co.uk> wrote in message
news:qHyah.7616$k74.1480@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk[color=blue]
> "B" <Á@> wrote in message
> news:3balm2lc3le72t0oasgafut66grv1vrs26@4ax.com...
>[color=green]
> >
> > Why does the syntax of the so called "dial plan" have
> > to be so obscure?[/color]
>
> What's obscure about (*x.|x.) ..?
>[color=green]
> > Finally, after you've spent time juggling all these ATA
> > settings around, why is it then necessary to have to
> > play around with router port forwarding? My Vonage
> > adapter can be plugged into any switch or route4r. No
> > only is no configuration of the box required, all this
> > fiddling with router port forwarding is completely
> > unnecessary.[/color]
>
> I have no port forwarding set up whatsoever and all my
> services function - sipgate, voip.co.uk, voipcheap,
> voipfone, et all.[/color]

Same here on my Fritz!Box. I have 4 numbers set up on that, plus another
two on a Sipura 2000 plugged into it, and finally an AG-188 IAX ATA with a
link to the CNET system running on a friend's Asterisk box.

(For info on CNET see [url]www.ckts.info[/url])

Ivor