VOIP, Discussion, questions and answers

tonyhamm

Like Saeed says you either need a router with decent QoS services or low internet use during the call if you want to use a pap2 ATA without too many problems.
And this applies to most voip boxes. My brother for example has a zoom 5201 (great voip box but tends to blow up after a few weeks) although good normally his cheap router can unknowingly take him VOIP offline for hours at the most critical times.

Plus, people tend to get unusually irritated when they hear echos, electronic gurgling and broken calls real quickly when there is an internet load. As a way to lose friends and alienate people I can fully recommend it. With the pap2 ATA, You will also find a irritating problem in needing to use a seperate phone for each service provider (like sipgate incoming and betamax outgoing) unless you flash the unit into a Sipura 1001.

IMO You have to pay around £30 per year in electricty to have the router always on, so its worth paying a bit for a decent router running tomato/oleg/openWRT which has QoS, and perhaps you may run a Network Storage (NAS) with it, with any number of other processes like mailserver, webserver, a wireless printer server and get the most out of the electricity juice and internet connection your paying for 24/7 anyway (thats what I am doing with my now old relic of a USB 2.0 WL500gP router - there are better ones out there).

As a now experianced VOIP user having used a couple of voip boxes, (still on a pap2 currently) take it from me - the router (i.e. with QoS) is much more important a consideration than the actual VOIP box.

On this point, in just 1-2 months there will be a new generation of magnificantly capable open source routers coming to the UIK like the Asus RT-N16 for sensible prices. (already in the US for $99) Its well worth losing freinds until you can get one of these IMO.

dominiquereynolds

tonyhamm wrote: »

On this point, in just 1-2 months there will be a new generation of magnificantly capable open source routers coming to the UIK like the Asus RT-N16 for sensible prices. (already in the US for $99) Its well worth losing freinds until you can get one of these IMO.

Now I am excited just read about it at:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/wifi-routers/351550/asus-rt-n16

Saeed

tonyhamm wrote: »

Like Saeed says you either need a router with decent QoS services or low internet use during the call if you want to use a pap2 ATA without too many problems.
And this applies to most voip boxes. My brother for example has a zoom 5201 (great voip box but tends to blow up after a few weeks) although good normally his cheap router can unknowingly take him VOIP offline for hours at the most critical times.

Heard about the zoom ATA before, not great. If you stick to linksys, netgear or d-link, you should be fine.

Plus, people tend to get unusually irritated when they hear echos, electronic gurgling and broken calls real quickly when there is an internet load. As a way to lose friends and alienate people I can fully recommend it. With the pap2 ATA, You will also find a irritating problem in needing to use a seperate phone for each service provider (like sipgate incoming and betamax outgoing) unless you flash the unit into a Sipura 1001.

Did I give you the spa1001 tip? it's not for the faint hearted - flashing can brick the device so only do this if you know what you are doing. The other option is to buy a dual input dect phone , but these are a bit expensive. A good option might be to have a voxalot account fo multiple providers or sipsorcery which is free.

IMO You have to pay around £30 per year in electricty to have the router always on, so its worth paying a bit for a decent router running tomato/oleg/openWRT which has QoS, and perhaps you may run a Network Storage (NAS) with it, with any number of other processes like mailserver, webserver, a wireless printer server and get the most out of the electricity juice and internet connection your paying for 24/7 anyway (thats what I am doing with my now old relic of a USB 2.0 WL500gP router - there are better ones out there).

have you thought about switching energy suppliers, most routers consume around 10 watts, which should be around £10-15 in electricity.

As a now experianced VOIP user having used a couple of voip boxes, (still on a pap2 currently) take it from me - the router (i.e. with QoS) is much more important a consideration than the actual VOIP box.

Which ones have you used tony? I would be interested in any reviews you can give. I have a number of ATA and routers at home including Dlink VTA, Linksys PAP2 and RT31P2, and Netgear TA612V, my favourite is the RT31P2 - it is a PAP2 and a router all in one which will QoS your calls. This is the one I would recommend for all users who are new to VoIP, or a PAP2 if you have a good router already. I have approx 3 years total experience with voip and would recommend that that your bear tony's advice in mind.

tonyhamm

dominiquereynolds wrote: »

Now I am excited just read about it at:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/wifi-routers/351550/asus-rt-n16

Yes there is a lot of excitment about this router.

This router is running on just 12Watts; a full fledged operating system, with 512MB of memory and 512MB of Flash memory, a 533MHZ CPU, 1000 Mbit/S ethernet lan, and N class wifi.

It basically becomes an always on networked PC (as well as a router) if you stick a USB HDD into it.

tonyhamm

Yes - thanks for the spa1001 tip BTW! Not used it but thanks to that, i found there is a yahoo group on how to do it and set it up. Bit to much trouble. Still on 2 phones. Old WL500gP router. Getting this QoS router was the key, and finding it runs linux and has a USB so I could attach network storage and I could compile to it etc.. was amazing. It is a wonder.
Now thinking of getting something like the spa3001 which I can get rid of this 2 phones business and just plug into a single DECT set and then upgrade the router to a more capable RT-N16 and run Asterix on it - all on 12 Watts. Thats the plan anyway.

Saeed wrote: »

Heard about the zoom ATA before, not great. If you stick to linksys, netgear or d-link, you should be fine.

Did I give you the spa1001 tip? it's not for the faint hearted - flashing can brick the device so only do this if you know what you are doing. The other option is to buy a dual input dect phone , but these are a bit expensive. A good option might be to have a voxalot account fo multiple providers or sipsorcery which is free.

have you thought about switching energy suppliers, most routers consume around 10 watts, which should be around £10-15 in electricity.

Which ones have you used tony? I would be interested in any reviews you can give. I have a number of ATA and routers at home including Dlink VTA, Linksys PAP2 and RT31P2, and Netgear TA612V, my favourite is the RT31P2 - it is a PAP2 and a router all in one which will QoS your calls. This is the one I would recommend for all users who are new to VoIP, or a PAP2 if you have a good router already. I have approx 3 years total experience with voip and would recommend that that your bear tony's advice in mind.

Saeed

tonyhamm wrote: »

Yes - thanks for the spa1001 tip BTW! Not used it but thanks to that, i found there is a yahoo group on how to do it and set it up. Bit to much trouble. Still on 2 phones. Old WL500gP router. Getting this QoS router was the key, and finding it runs linux and has a USB so I could attach network storage and I could compile to it etc.. was amazing. It is a wonder.
Now thinking of getting something like the spa3001 which I can get rid of this 2 phones business and just plug into a single DECT set and then upgrade the router to a more capable RT-N16 and run Asterix on it - all on 12 Watts. Thats the plan anyway.

Good stuff, looks like your making great progress there. I am also trying to sort out running asterisk on a router like yourself. Thought I'd give you the benefit of my reseach and the one tip i've come across is not to use the same router for asterisk as for the rest of your internet needs. The Asus may be ok as it looks beefy, but most routers don't multitask well such as running asterisk, wireless, acting as a NAS etc, at the time. You may be better off with a cheap Fonera/WRT54GL and running Asterisk on that and switching off the wireless on them. I too like you wanted to simplify everything and use one device, and save the wattage but it doesn't look like that will happen.

I have installed Asterisk on a Fonera but have not got around to setting it up yet. Good luck and keep me posted.

If anyone else is running asterisk particularly on a Fonera and can give me a hand with the sip.conf or extenstion.conf files, I would be grateful.

Thanks

dominiquereynolds: if you need a hand setting up your RT31P2 let me know.

tonyhamm

Instead of a serperate cheap but limited Fonera/WRT54GL perhaps
a sheevaplug (just 5watts) with a 1.6Ghz processor, 512MB RAM and 512MB of Flash, USB and 1 GB LAN would be worth getting to handle all this stuff and more.

Its a shame all this stuff is readly available and dirt cheap in the states from the online retailers, but still expensive and hard to get here. I think you can get one here for about £80 though.

Saeed wrote: »

Good stuff, looks like your making great progress there. I am also trying to sort out running asterisk on a router like yourself. Thought I'd give you the benefit of my reseach and the one tip i've come across is not to use the same router for asterisk as for the rest of your internet needs. The Asus may be ok as it looks beefy, but most routers don't multitask well such as running asterisk, wireless, acting as a NAS etc, at the time. You may be better off with a cheap Fonera/WRT54GL and running Asterisk on that and switching off the wireless on them. I too like you wanted to simplify everything and use one device, and save the wattage but it doesn't look like that will happen.

I have installed Asterisk on a Fonera but have not got around to setting it up yet. Good luck and keep me posted.

If anyone else is running asterisk particularly on a Fonera and can give me a hand with the sip.conf or extenstion.conf files, I would be grateful.

Thanks

dominiquereynolds: if you need a hand setting up your RT31P2 let me know.

tonyhamm

Just couldn't resist buying one of these 5W sheeva server plugs from newit.co.uk. Hoping to sort out my email to get it all in one place, and run asterisk with it.

Thinking of the Linksys ATA 3102 or 3000 as the FXO interface to the normal phone line, but the voxillia forums appear to be packed with people complaining about everything being first class with the normal voip FXS ports, but complete rubbish with receiving normal phone calls via the FXO port on these devices.

tonyhamm wrote: »

Instead of a serperate cheap but limited Fonera/WRT54GL perhaps
a sheevaplug (just 5watts) with a 1.6Ghz processor, 512MB RAM and 512MB of Flash, USB and 1 GB LAN would be worth getting to handle all this stuff and more.

Its a shame all this stuff is readly available and dirt cheap in the states from the online retailers, but still expensive and hard to get here. I think you can get one here for about £80 though.

harrywellskin

For Mobile and phone VoIP try RingCentral Services.

vishy01234

A bit of feedback on Voipcheap. I have seen that they have been given a recommendation of sorts on an article about cheap Voip calls on this site.

Please AVOID VoipCheap. They have no customer services number, do not reply to emails (2 weeks later and I am still waiting for a reply), and have been charging me for merely attempting to make a call and deducting from my credit!!

Yes, that's right, I have been charged for just the attempt to make a call. A connection fee is one thing, but to charge for mereley dialling a number and not being connected is a joke. They don't mention this anywhere on their site or tarriff breakdown.

Call quality is poor and people keep on complaining when I have used their service about the call being choppy. I use other Voip services like Skype and Gradwell and have a 50mb Virgin high speed fibre optic internet connection so it has nothing to do with the quality of my internet connection. They scam ten pounds off you, and then charge a dubious 20% or so VAT on top making it £12!!

Avoid Voipcheap. Please please please avoid Voipcheap. They are scam artists in my opinion.