ALDI VOIP phone (Dec 3rd)

thund3rbird_

in case any of you got this phone you have to register and buy eur10 credit in order to avail of the eur8 free.
I got it to work with Blueface's softphone but not with Skype.

just connected it up to a Mac tonight and the display just shows 'VOIP Phone'

however, checking the system profiler I found this:

VOIP USB Phone:
Version: 0.00
Bus Power (mA): 500
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Yealink Network Technology Ltd.
Product ID: 0xb001
Vendor ID: 0x6993

A quick google found me http://www.yealink.com/en/skypedown.asp
Here you can download Skype butmore importantly a program called SkypeMate

As soon as I ran this the phone kicked into life and I can now use with Skype.

Win & Linux versions also available.

watty

It's not a voip phone. They work without a PC. It is a USB soundcard shaped like a phone with buttons on it.

Really manufacturers need to stop calling these VOIP phones. They are USB voice handsets. The PC does all the VOIP stuff.

Daibheid

thund3rbird_ wrote:

in case any of you got this phone you have to register and buy eur10 credit in order to avail of the eur8 free.
I got it to work with Blueface's softphone but not with Skype.

I picked one of these up but when I attempted to register after getting all the way through the process it announced there was a problem and I should contact a UK number. I tried again - same result.

I also noted it didn't offer any RoI dialling codes so I used Belfast. Another discouraging sign was insistence on a post code.

The support line was answered promptly and cheerfully by someone who then did everything I did on line while I hung on the phone spelling various bits of address etc. Same result. Still waiting on the promised email confirming registration!

So thund3rbird did you manage to complete registration and what's your workaround?

Thanks!

watty wrote:

Really manufacturers need to stop calling these VOIP phones. They are USB voice handsets. .

spot on there Watty!

Qwerty?

I just got one today as a present, can you get it to work with VOIPStunt? I can use it to make and recieve calls using the VoipStunt software, but the handset dial pad doesn't work. Will I have to register to get there softphone software in order to be able to use it with Voipstunt?

Oracle

watty wrote:

It's not a voip phone. They work without a PC. It is a USB soundcard shaped like a phone with buttons on it.

Really manufacturers need to stop calling these VOIP phones. They are USB voice handsets. The PC does all the VOIP stuff.

That's an interesting point Watty. I agree, although I'd never really thought about the difference before, the term VOIP Phone should only be used for phones that work without needing a PC. In practice I just look for a USB connector, then I know it's a PC only phone.

Another point of confusion is the term VOIP being used when the product only works with Skype or another proprietary form of VOIP, and isn't SIP protocol compliant. I think a product shouldn't be called VOIP if it isn't SIP compliant.

Assuming Blueface software is SIP based, it seems like thund3rbird_ got the Aldi PC Phone to work with both.

Just browsing around the Yealink site and I found a download page for software for VoipBuster, X-Lite, X-Pro, MSN and GoogleTalk (among others): http://www.yealink.com/en/otherdown.asp Thats great choice and compatibility (assuming they work!)

watty

Yes Blueface uses SIP and the Free Asterisk SW to run it that you can run at home (Trixbox on dedicated PC recommended).

MSN/Windows Messeger recent version does do SIP, but no firewall/NAT support. Gizmo is free and uses SIP

X-Lite is free version of X-Pro and doesn't do a low bit rate codec, Low bit rate codecs are better on arbitary internet than PCM (G.711) used by most free Soft Phones. Gizmo can use low bit rate iLBC, but this doen not work with low bit rate G.729 which is default in physical SIP / ATA products. Fine for other Gizom users and swaps automatically to PCM.

Daibheid

Seems form PMs I'm not the only one getting messed aroound about this phone/a/c registration.

No email with registration by Friday so I follow up with a another call to the UK and an email to back it up.
Again very pleasant support staff who assure me of a call back.

They did call back to say my credit card had a confirmation problem and I'd have to take it up with my bank. So I tried online registration once more, this time with a CC statement to ensure I had my address match it to the letter, to no avail and then called the credit card company. They confirmed they had authorised payment on three separate times so the problem is with the UK company.

Called the service line again, gave them the info - leave it with us.....

Nothing yet so it seems the options are return for a refund or give up on registering for an a/c with these people and just use the USB phone by using some of the links helpfully posted on here and/registering an a/c with Skype or some similar provider that can handle credit cards.

I'll try one more call to the support line first though only because I've left my cc details with them - otherwise this would have been landed back to aldi long ago!

Oracle

A bit off-topic here but one of the nice things about Smart076 VOIP is being able to get the X-Pro Software free when you register. Considering registration is free. The software can be used with any VOIP providers settings

thund3rbird_

Daibheid wrote:

So thund3rbird did you manage to complete registration and what's your workaround?

didn't bother further with the reg when I got it working with skype (via skypemate)
don't see why aldi are making us pay a tenner to use the 8 yo-yo free credit :mad:

@ Oracle : the blueface softphone was downloaded here via a link on the BF site

watty

Oracle wrote:

A bit off-topic here but one of the nice things about Smart076 VOIP is being able to get the X-Pro Software free when you register. Considering registration is free. The software can be used with any VOIP providers settings

Does the X-Pro expire or anything? Because I think it does G.729 which is not available "free" or with free Soft SIP phones.

What's the catch of registering at Smart076?