[My first message -- I just joined the mailing list. I hope that this
message isn't too off topic.]
I'm thinking of how to set up a light-use home phone in Kingston.
VoIP seems like it might be a cheap but effective means. The home has
Sympatico broadband but no POTS.
I attended the September meeting where Stephan Monette of Unlimitel.ca
talked.
It seems as if an Unlimitel.ca DID plus a some kind of ATA thingee
might do the trick. I have no experience so I don't know the gotchas,
but here are some things I wonder about:
- is the service going to be reliable or annoying? No point in going
to a lot of effort and ending up with something annoying. POTS is
an easy alternative. (I will be doing tech support for this phone
from Toronto which might be difficult without a working phone. So
it pretty much "just work".)
- is Unlimitel a reasonable provider for this kind of application?
They seem much cheaper than the retail VoIP providers ($2.50/month
for a DID + $0.011 per minute within their coverage area). Do you
recommend other choices?
- Is it a good idea to buy their recommended Mediatrix 2102 -
Residential VoIP Access Device ($149.00 + S&H)?
- I don't know the brand (I think that they used to make really
interesting sound cards for PCs). Anybody know about quality?
Support? Longevity? Community (i.e. how many others use it and
can be helpful)? I do like supporting a Canadian company.
- it seems as if it is really easy to connect between the ADSL modem
and the broadband router. If I understand correctly, it acts as a
transparent bridge except keeping the VoIP part of the flow. Neat
trick!
- I presume that this works well with Unlimitel since they sell it.
Is it likely to work well with other providers? With Asterisk (I
might set up Asterisk at another site some day)?
- alternatively, people on this list seem to have been able to unlock
Linksys Pap2 devices sold for connecting to Vonage. These are
cheaper (~$65) than the Mediatrix 2102. Is it as good? Better?
Would it connect well to Unlimitel?
The right way to deploy these seems to be behind the broadband
router. How much grief does deployment behind NAT cause?
Is an unlocked Pap2 easy to set up, or is it an underdocumented
adventure?
- alternative 3: the "Linksys VOIP Wireless-G Broadband Router With 2
Phone Ports (WRT54GP2-CA)" ($154 at futureshop). Is this locked to
Vonnage? The Futureshop site's description does not mention Vonage.
Since it includes the router, it avoids the inside/outside question
entirely. It includes Wireless G, which isn't needed and might be
a security issue (I hope that it can be turned off). I wonder if
there is Open Source firmware for this.
- Since DIDs are so cheap from Unlimitel, it might be nice to have two
(in different area codes). Is it easy to support two with these
devices? Can the calls be routed to a single handset or would two
handsets be required/adviseable? (All three devices have two FXS ports.)
Anything else I should be considering?
Thanks
