Voip and landline telephone system
 

I need a bit of help through the jungle. I have a cordless landline phone and a 4-port router plus a Sipgate account (currently used through the PC). Is it possible to have a unit into which I can plug the 'traditional' phone line and also make and receive VOIP calls on a different number without PC involvement? I don't really want to have to buy a 'new' dual phone.

BOAC,

Your wording is confusing.

If all you want to do is run a telephone extension from your master socket in which you can plug in another telephone, you can do that either by running a simple telephone extension or if you want to be more future proof technically, just look up the concept of structured cabling using CAT5/CAT6 cable and then use a balun to give you the socket for the phone (not as complicated as it sounds).

Something like this?

How to Switch to VoIP and Ditch Your Home Phone Bill Forever

O.K. it's an American site, but I think it describes what you are trying to acheive. This appears to be a U.K. spec equivalent:

Thanks, Pram - I had seen the OBI elsewhere and it looks from your link 1 as if it would need to be the 110. It would be useful if any members had experience of using this.

Pricey, but is this the sort of thing you're looking for...
DrayTek Vigor 2860 2860n xDSL Router, Firewall and VPN Device

Thanks,

FF, actually I think the TP box looks more like what I want - a quick read on the SPA suggest VOIP only?

As of today, however, I am kindly being 'lent' a GigasetN300 to play with - should be with me in a week or so, so 'time out' while I discover more about this.

I was going to recommend a Gigaset but you beat me to it. I think you'll be very happy with it (I presume it's coming with a handset). They can have up to six SIP registrations (VoIP numbers) as well as one normal phone line. I have one in my apartment in London and another in my place in the 'Med so I can make and receive calls on the same number at both locations and have free calls between them.

If you want to carry on using your existing handsets then the Cisco SPA series is worth a look but when it comes to configuration they're about as user-friendly as a cornered rat.

Thanks, Sergio - I was hoping to use the existing cordless landline phone for simplicity and lack of 'clutter' (the system is for Mrs B and some charity work) so perhaps the Cisco would be worth the struggle! I'll see how the Giga works first

Dual setup
 

@Sergio,

Could you elaborate on your system as it would solve a problem for me.

which handsets do you use?
where did you get your SIPs and how much did/do they cost upfront/ongoing

Do you need static IPs at both ends?

TIA

EG

Update - short delay on arrival of Gigabox.

EG - No to static IPs as far as I am aware - I don't.

Will report. At the moment, being in 'ignorant land', I am not sure whether a USB VOIP phone will plug into a Gigaset box via a USB-RJ11 adapter, and if so work!!

Ah - so much to learn and so little time.............

EDIT: Hmm! Posted AFTER your post, ExG. Listed before!?? I'm pretty sure you will need a static IP to run a VPN, though.

HI BOAC,

Look forward to hearing how it works in practice.

I was interested in the two box/two country aspect, so effectively creating a VPN between, where a call to line A in country one can be answered on handset 2 in country two and vice-versa.

I assume that box A and box B need to be able to contact each other, to make both ends work. With static IPs there should be no need for a third party other than the SIP provider. I can probably get a static IP at one end, but the other end will be dynamic.

Also, from my research - prompted by this thread I have heard that the gigabox can be picky about which handsets it works with - it would be interesting to hear from Sergio about practical experience.

Thanks

EG

Gigaset VOIP telephones
 

I have been using a Gigaset VOIP telephone kit for the past six years or so. Really fantastic piece of kit, the dog's whatsits in the telephone world.

Current VOIP range can be see here.

What about a FritzBox?
 

I have been using an AVM FritzBox for the last few years. I have VOIP accounts with two providers, Voipcheap.com and Orbtalk, both of which are PAYG. The Orbtalk one at the time gave a free geographic UK tel no: other SIP services may give you the same.
In the UK I have a Fritzbox which, as well as being an ADSL WiFi+fixed router modem, also takes the POTS line (ie normal phone line) and the two VOIP services and allows multiple DECT handsets to phone out and take incoming calls on any line. It will also answer any line and listen for Faxes if wished, which it will then answer and forward to an email address, and/or take voicemail messages, which it will again forward to an email address. It can also forward incoming POTS calls to the VOIP system.
If I am abroad with an internet connection, I can then either use a computer with VOIP or else a Linksys VOIP system to connect to the Orbtalk and VOIPcheap systems.
PBW

Yes to the above - box arrived and fair a bit of head-scratching I got it set up with one of my BT cordless handsets, although it obviously lacks all the functions a Gigaset handset would have. I can now call on Sipgate or with a suffix #0 on my land line, and incoming similar on that handset. So far so good, with a bit more playing to do.

Let me know when you come up against the inevitable call-quality issues, as I've spent several years working on reliable cost-effective solutions for that.

Oh, and do buy the Gigaset and don't buy the Draytek.

Will do MB (and indeed, likewise, good to see you around). Apart from 'playing' with the system, Mrs B will not be using it regularly until 1/1/14 so 'quality reports' will be delayed. So far the recorded quality is quite acceptable.

The long and short of it is that unless you have a router that does QoS 'properly' (as opposed to just having a button saying 'QoS') then you WILL suffer call quality issues whilst using the Internet at the same time as calling.

To answer another question, a static IP is not required as STUN takes care of all that.

M.