VoIP

aaronc · 15-04-2005 10:56PM

nava wrote:

Hi

What would anyone recommend, I would like to get 1 in the next few weeks to move to Blueface.

Sipura SPA-3000 from ebay 5767422571 from Germany including delivery €109
Sipura SPA-2100 from ebay 6760137687 from Germany including delivery €104
Grandtream Handytone ATA-486 from VoipTalk £49.99+£22.75 Deliv. = €106
Linksys PAP2 €78 including delivery in Spain (I might be going next week)
or delivered to Ireland for €85 +16% Vat = €99

- The SPA-3000 has an FXO and FXS port. The FXO port is for connecting to an analogue telephone line and not to a telephone handset so only buy this unit if you are planning on using it with your Eircom line (an example of where this type of unit would be useful is to send it to a another country, rent a telephone line there and have it route the incoming calls to you across the internet: Timbuktu -> Analogue Line -> FXO -> FXS -> internet -> FXS -> Handset -> You),

- The SPA-2100 has two separate SIP lines (FXS ports) so you can connect it two different SIP providers. It also has a built in router which is useful if you only have a single Ethernet port on your broadband connection since you will be able to daisy chain the device with your computer,

- The Grandstream HandyTone 486 is the functional equivalent of the SPA-2100 but with a single SIP line so you will only be able to connect it to a single provider at a time. The 486 also has the router and in addition has a PSTN failover port if you have an analogue line available. The PSTN failover port would be used if power to the 486 went down. Obviously if you are disconnecting your Eircom line this particular feature wont be much good,

-I have never used a PAP2 and I'd be interested if you had a link to a European supplier. These units have two SIP lines so can will let you connect to two SIP providers. They only a single Ethernet port so you'll more than likely need a hub or a switch on your network as well.

So in summary if you want to connect to two SIP providers your choice amongst these units is between the PAP2 and the SPA-2100. If you have a spare Ethernet port I'd go for the PAP2 otherwise the SPA-2100. However if you can source the PAP2 I'd take a look at the Linksys RT31P2 and WRT54GP2 units: they would give you the two SIP lines as well as an Ethernet switch and Wireless router respectively.

Also just in case anybody asks you can't use any of these devices to make calls directly to or from Skype.

Aaron

medO · 16-04-2005 03:55PM

aaronc wrote:

- The SPA-3000 has an FXO and FXS port.

Aaron

So I could put an SPA-3000 in my holiday house in Spain, plug it into the Telefonica RJ11 PSTN socket and the broadband modem RJ45, and use it for making and receiving calls to/from my Spanish butcher, plumber, baker etc while I am back in Ireland?

Similarly when I am in Spain, anyone calling my Irish Blueface (or Eircom) numbers could be answered from Spain and I could call anyone in Ireland (or elsewhere) at blueface rates?

medO

JTMan · 16-04-2005 08:17PM

Anyone using Voipbuster ( http://www.voipbuster.com/ ) ?? They are currently offering free calls to 6 counties including Irish landlines. Used them last night with no problems.

aaronc · 17-04-2005 11:45AM

medO wrote:

So I could put an SPA-3000 in my holiday house in Spain, plug it into the Telefonica RJ11 PSTN socket and the broadband modem RJ45, and use it for making and receiving calls to/from my Spanish butcher, plumber, baker etc while I am back in Ireland?

Similarly when I am in Spain, anyone calling my Irish Blueface (or Eircom) numbers could be answered from Spain and I could call anyone in Ireland (or elsewhere) at blueface rates?

medO

Yes.

However dont forget you don't necessarily need a landline anymore to have an incoming number. It's not difficult to get a VoIP Spanish or Irish number so I'd only do the above if you had to have the landline anyway, for DSL maybe. This solution would also be good if you needed a number in a country where you can't get a VoIP number.

Aaron

causal · 17-04-2005 02:12PM

Fungus wrote:

Anyone using Voipbuster ( http://www.voipbuster.com/ ) ?? They are currently offering free calls to 6 counties including Irish landlines. Used them last night with no problems.

Hmm, I installed it yesterday to try it out and it was useless for me. I'm with ntl:750/128. It was worse than Skype - which was poor for me at the best of times. Maybe I tried it when the server was busy. Fungus - what provider/package are you on?

causal

medO · 17-04-2005 03:14PM

aaronc wrote:

Yes.

However dont forget you don't necessarily need a landline anymore to have an incoming number. Aaron

In Spain there is no choice, (where I am). Unfortunately Telefonica didn't manage to piss-off people (like eircom) to create a wireless broadband market. Cable TV is also a minority sport - most people get their TV feed from one of the two Spanish satellite or DTT platforms so few locations (about 700,000 in a country of 40 million) use cable internet. Hence one has to have a phone line to get broadband where I am.

It doesn't really matter in any event. If the plumber calls my local landline PSTN number, the call will go over the internet to Ireland (if I'm not there) and he'll only have to pay for the (local/mobile) call. When I call there, it will go over a VoIP carrier at a few cents per minute or it could be dumped into the Telefonica PSTN by the SPA-3000 box if it is a local call.

medO

medO · 17-04-2005 03:19PM

causal wrote:

Hmm, I installed it yesterday to try it out and it was useless for me. I'm with ntl:750/128. It was worse than Skype - which was poor for me at the best of times.
causal

Complain to your ISP if Skype doesn't work well (and consider dumping them if they don't sort it out). In my experience Skype call quality is excellent if you have a properly functioning broadband internet connection.

medO

capistrano · 17-04-2005 03:31PM

causal wrote:

Hmm, I installed it yesterday to try it out and it was useless for me. I'm with ntl:750/128. It was worse than Skype - which was poor for me at the best of times. Maybe I tried it when the server was busy.l

I'm also on ntl:750/128 and the Blueface VoIP quality is great. Nobody can tell it's not a regular phone line. Mind you, Skype was great for me too. I'd say you have an issue with your broadband connection.

JTMan · 17-04-2005 03:38PM

causal wrote:

Hmm, I installed it yesterday to try it out and it was useless for me. I'm with ntl:750/128. It was worse than Skype - which was poor for me at the best of times. Maybe I tried it when the server was busy. Fungus - what provider/package are you on?

BT Broadband 2 MB package.

Gone West · 17-04-2005 07:36PM

That's pretty interesting about the way spain does it.

causal · 17-04-2005 11:30PM

capistrano wrote:

I'm also on ntl:750/128 and the Blueface VoIP quality is great. Nobody can tell it's not a regular phone line. Mind you, Skype was great for me too. I'd say you have an issue with your broadband connection.

How do these pings compare to you Capistrano (or anyone else on ntl)?
The jolt pings look ok, but the boards seem low; iirc all ntl traffic goes via the uk - maybe this will change with the sale to UGC.

C:\>ping www.boards.ie

Pinging www.boards.ie [82.195.144.58] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=47
Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=47
Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=47
Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=39ms TTL=47

Ping statistics for 82.195.144.58:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 39ms, Maximum = 53ms, Average = 44ms

C:\>ping www.jolt.co.uk

Pinging www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=49
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=49
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=49
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=49

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 25ms, Maximum = 37ms, Average = 28ms

aaronc · 18-04-2005 08:43AM

causal wrote:

How do these pings compare to you Capistrano (or anyone else on ntl)?
The jolt pings look ok, but the boards seem low; iirc all ntl traffic goes via the uk - maybe this will change with the sale to UGC.

You might want to run a few tests using this site..
http://www.testyourvoip.com/

At 09:30 on a test to London:
On an IBB 512/512 connection score = 4
On an NTL 750/128 connection score = 3.8

However you should do a few tests at different times of the day to get any value from the results. And of course when it boils down to it the voice quality on a call is more important then any number. The above site can be useful to help isolate why you are getting poor quality calls.

Aaron

Eglinton · 18-04-2005 11:55AM

Any opinions on this VoIP provider?
Aeon Solutions
https://vipnetphone.com/Online2.asp

causal · 18-04-2005 06:58PM

aaronc wrote:

You might want to run a few tests using this site..
http://www.testyourvoip.com/

At 09:30 on a test to London:
On an IBB 512/512 connection score = 4
On an NTL 750/128 connection score = 3.8

Thanks for the link Aaron. I did three tests at 19:40 - 19:45 hours and scored 4.0, 4.3, 4.4 on my ntl 750/128.

The softphones (X-Lite, voipbuster, skype) don't perform as well* for me as the hardphone (ATA)
The main thing is my calls using the ATA with blueface are perfect

causal
*great excuse for a new PC I think

capistrano · 18-04-2005 07:17PM

causal wrote:

How do these pings compare to you Capistrano (or anyone else on ntl)?

The pings are pretty much the same as yours.

You also said that you only have a problem with the softphones. Perhaps it's your pc microphone and/or sound card? A mate of mine has a crappy mike and calls with hime sound awful. I also get echo on the softphone but none at all using a real phone.

$ ping www.boards.ie

Pinging www.boards.ie [82.195.144.58] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=45ms TTL=47
Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=45ms TTL=47
Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=45ms TTL=47
Reply from 82.195.144.58: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=47

Ping statistics for 82.195.144.58:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 45ms, Maximum = 47ms, Average = 45ms

Anthony@capistrano-lap ~
$ ping www.jolt.co.uk

Pinging www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=50
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=50
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=50
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=50

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 25ms, Maximum = 27ms, Average = 25ms

causal · 18-04-2005 09:33PM

Thanks Capistrano.
Yeah it seems the issue is local to my PC - it's a P4 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, on XP-SP2. But I do have a top-notch Plantroincs GameCom Pro 1 headset. It's not saying much if that spec isn't good enough for softphones

causal

ac00785 · 19-04-2005 07:20PM

causal wrote:

Initially I was having trouble logging in my softphone (hardphone was fine - could make/receive calls), next thing the softphone was working fine and I couldn't figure what I'd done to get it working.

Next thing I get a phonecall "Hi, it's blueface here, I saw you were having trouble logging in so I [fixed it]... " :eek: :eek:

How's that for customer service .. they see the problem, fix it, then let you know :cool:

causal

Just wanted to pass on what a great Customer Service Blueface give and would also like to say that Aaron is very willing to answer any queries and is very helpful also. I highly recommend Blueface and am waiting for eircom to port my number so I can finally close my eircom account once and for all. Keep up the quality service Blueface!

nava · 19-04-2005 09:09PM

Hi

ac00785 wrote:

Just wanted to pass on what a great Customer Service Blueface give and would also like to say that Aaron is very willing to answer any queries and is very helpful also. I highly recommend Blueface and am waiting for eircom to port my number so I can finally close my eircom account once and for all. Keep up the quality service Blueface!

I do agree with you ac00785, the service is great and fast, any e-mail that I sent I got a response from Aaron within a few minutes, nealy as fast as using messenger

I also had problems (on my side) at the start and Aaron was able to help me fix them with a couple of e-mails.

Also got a call from him once it was fixed to make sure I was happy with the result.

I'm getting an adapter in the next couple of week and will move from Eircom to Blueface after that.

Keep on the good work Blueface

So happy I decided to have that bigger size, and Blue and with a link

Regards

EvilDoctorK · 20-04-2005 11:56AM

interesting stuff

I have been using Dialpad (www.dialpad.com) for nearly 2 years from time to time with their softphone & IBB Breeze (the 1mb VL kit) ... results have been disappointing ... sound quality is patchy sometimes .. I can live with this (it's no worse than many mobile calls) ... but more annoyingly there's an awful lag on the calls someitmes - in fact most of the time.

I guess from what you are saying Blueface is the way forward ? Anyone else a former Dialpad user here and moved to Blueface ?

On a related note ... anyone know of any good deals on IP phones ? ... does such a thing as a 802.11 IP phone exist ?

capistrano · 20-04-2005 12:37PM

EvilDoctorK wrote:

On a related note ... anyone know of any good deals on IP phones ? ... does such a thing as a 802.11 IP phone exist ?

There are a couple of VoIP WiFi phones out now: Zyxel and Cisco both have an offerring.

secret_squirrel · 21-04-2005 01:55AM

You could also get a pocketpc based smart phone with wifi - skype and xlite softphone both work on pocketpc.

WillieFlynn · 22-04-2005 04:51AM

While I was visiting the US (Houston, Texas) I started using a sipura SPA-3000 with blueface and was surprised at how good the quality was, it was much better than using a soft-phone on my laptop or skype.......... So it looks like I will have to get another one, to play with........

Aaron you now have my business for all outgoing calls

and you will get a few more customers from people who I showed it to.....

Any one wanting to buy voip hardware I recommend looking at http://store.voxilla.com/ where the prices are good and the service is fine. The sipura SPA-3000 is $95.95 and the SPA-2100 is $84.95, SPA-2000 $64-95. The shipping to Ireland will add a little, however cost will still be less than I have seen on any European web site.

Some times with blueface there can be problems ringing mobiles which are roaming. However Aaron said they are looking into it, and considering how quickly and how detailed his reply to my question was, I am confident that it will be sorted out quickly.

Willie.

zenith · 22-04-2005 05:28AM

Just wanted to report that Draytek Vigor 2600VGI works fine with Blueface, which is a WIFI DSL router with two voice ports. (http://www.draytek.co.uk).
I have a DECT phone into one of the ports for roaming the house.

bk · 22-04-2005 10:59AM

zenith wrote:

Just wanted to report that Draytek Vigor 2600VGI works fine with Blueface, which is a WIFI DSL router with two voice ports. (http://www.draytek.co.uk).
I have a DECT phone into one of the ports for roaming the house.

I was wondering about that, I have a Draytek Vigor 2600 (not VoIP) and it is excellent equipment, highly advise this company to anyone looking for seriously good equipment. Unfortunately I have now moved to NTL cable BB, so it isn't of any use to me (it is ADSL), so now I'm looking at the Draytek Vigor 2900VG (cable compatible version).

digitaldr · 22-04-2005 04:47PM

Eircom seemed to have f***ked up my DSL (even though I'm with Digiweb) - hasn't worked since the upgrade which was 3 weeks ago - DSL light out on the modem. They don't seem too bothered about fixing it either. I've signed up for Smart but don't know if I'll be able to get it given my ongiong line problems. So I've been thinking about IBB Breeze and getting rid of the eircom line. A few questions:

How reliable is the blueface/breeze combo was thinking of going for 2Mb/2Mb service? I wouldn't be to bothered if there were occasional problems but I can see my wife getting annoyed! She already thinks that there's far to much gadgetry in the house.

Can you hook an SPA-2100 up to your existing internal phone wiring? I have a dect phone but like to keep a wired one too as I always know where to find it!

How does the two line thing work on the SPA-2100? Can blueface get me a new Dublin number for one line and could I use my old (ported ) number for the other? Or is it just two outgoing calls can be made at the same time? Or none of the above?

Thanks

aaronc · 22-04-2005 05:57PM

digitaldr wrote:

Eircom seemed to have f***ked up my DSL (even though I'm with Digiweb) - hasn't worked since the upgrade which was 3 weeks ago - DSL light out on the modem. They don't seem too bothered about fixing it either. I've signed up for Smart but don't know if I'll be able to get it given my ongiong line problems. So I've been thinking about IBB Breeze and getting rid of the eircom line. A few questions:

How reliable is the blueface/breeze combo was thinking of going for 2Mb/2Mb service? I wouldn't be to bothered if there were occasional problems but I can see my wife getting annoyed! She already thinks that there's far to much gadgetry in the house.

Can you hook an SPA-2100 up to your existing internal phone wiring? I have a dect phone but like to keep a wired one too as I always know where to find it!

How does the two line thing work on the SPA-2100? Can blueface get me a new Dublin number for one line and could I use my old (ported ) number for the other? Or is it just two outgoing calls can be made at the same time? Or none of the above?

Thanks

Theoretically the IBB 2Mb Breeze product is more than suitable for VoIP given that the highest bandwidth a VoIP call will take up is 82.1 Kbps (G711 codec at 64 Kbps with 18.1 Kbps IP overhead). Contention ratios will also play a part but the most recent literature I have seen from IBB states there is a 24:1 ratio on their 2MB product so you are guaranteed 85.3 Kbps. Despite this the best advice would be to find someone that has the product.

You can hook an analogue telephone adapter (ATA) such as a SPA-2100 up to your existing wiring and have multiple extensions hanging off it. Of course you need to connect the ATA to the line before it splits.

With the SPA-2100 you have the ability to use two different SIP accounts, one for each analogue telephone port. You can use these ports simultaneously so you can have multiple outgoing calls. Likewise you can have two simultaneous incoming calls or one incoming one outgoing. For incoming numbers it's important to realise that the number is no longer tied to a telephone port as it typically is in the PSTN World. So while you can definitely have a different incoming number on each port on the ATA you could just as easily have 10 incoming numbers on each port or the same incoming number on both ports. Or you could have a Dublin number on one port and a US number on the other port. It's a bit to get your head wrapped around

.

Aaron

digitaldr · 22-04-2005 06:25PM

Thanks for the speedy reply Aaron - it's good to get it from the horse's mouth! You're right it's hard to get your head around. Hopefully I can get the smart telecom product with free line rental. If I can I would use blueface for calls and still have a regular phone for emergencies.

causal · 22-04-2005 06:30PM

You can make emergency calls on blueface.
You do need power and a net connection.

On a separate but related note:
Mobile phone is always a useful backup, dial 112 - even if you don't have the phones PIN; even with a keypad lock on; 112 will always work.

causal

digitaldr · 22-04-2005 06:38PM

There's nothing like a fixed pstn phone in an emergency because knowing my luck my broadband would be down and my mobile battery would be flat

. Also I have found pstn for all its faults to be a lot more reliable than broadband. At least if it does breakdown they usually don't take > 3 weeks to fix it - I guess they have to guarantee voice quality.

causal · 22-04-2005 06:43PM

True. And if you do get the free line rental with Smart - then why not

Also, if you're buying an ATA or whatever - get one with a PSTN fallover port
the Grandstream ATA 486 has one; and irrc so does the Sipura 3000.
- if you're BB connection drops or whatever the phones will still work - automatically switching over to the pstn line.
imho the Sipura 3000 is better than the Grandstream 486 (I have the 486 :rolleyes: )

causal

VoIP

Comments