I want to buy, rent, etc. an IP phone (preferably cordless) that attaches directly to the ethernet port of my router. I do not want to go through my PC...I want for this phone to be on all the time.

In order to get a 'dial tone' I would be willing to 1) subscribe to a service or 2) have a PC on a my house that is always on that attaches to a 'real' dial tone.

Any suggestions?

http://www.voipsupply.com/product_in...roducts_id=802

That is a nice wifi voip phone.. But in general you are better off using a Sipura SPA 2002 http://store.voxilla.com/customer/pr...cat=248&page=1 or so and then just using a generic cordless phone

www.voicepulse.com

The general test set for this ilk is a Cisco 7960 with the SIP firmware installed. Other good manufacturers I've had experience with are Polycom and snom.

Of course, I keep a variety of them around... I even have a lovely Mango PingTel, generally accepted to be the first great SIP handset.

Timothy

And no... you can NOT have the Mango. *smack*

It seems that on my original post I was thinking about this problem all wrong.

It is probably better to have a piece of hardware that is attached RJ45 [ethernet] on one side and produces RJ11 'regular phone' on the other side. That way I can attach a generic cordless phones.

I have not added antoher post comparing the services Vonage, Broadvoice, Voicepulse.

I will then need to know what hardware does the conversion stated above better, plus perhaps a foward and IP call to a cell phone using a local exchange.

Thanks.

Yes...that's what a SIP adapter does...which is what you buy/rent from a VoIP provider. You need a VoIP provider to make this work. SIP boxes are not standalone devices.

You're coming at this backwards. Find a service provider that fits your needs (price, feature set, etc.) and they will provide you with the box appropriate to their service.

That's not completely true... you need a SIP proxy, not a SIP provider.

One could also download something like PingTel's IP PBX or Asterisk and DIY VoIP. That would just get you your VoIP connectivity. If you wanted to connect to the regular telephone network, you'd need something like a Sipura IAD.

If you wanted to outsource, a perfect example of a company that will handle outsource SIP proxy services (rather than a telephony-specific approach like Vonage, et. al.) is www.ag-projects.com They'll set up an instance of SIP Express Router and get you up and going. I believe they're SIP only, but publically addressable SIP.

If you didn't need your own domain, Jeff Pulver at Pulver.com sells a cordless IP phone as part of his FWD service, which is also a SIP proxy hosted solution. I believe that there are in and outbound media gateways for that service, too.

Timothy

You can actually do this a couple ways:
1. get a cheapy regular phone and plug it into an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) like one of the Sipura SP1xxx or SP2xxx models or the LinkSys PAP2. An ATA is a box with RJ45 at one end and RJ11 at the other, and a few chips to do things like convert incoming data packets to an analog
signal for the phone, and register with a VOIP server at the other end.

2. Buy an IP Phone from somebody like Zyxel or Sipura.

The ATA route is going to be more compact and better for travel, the IP Phone route is going be more expensive, but fewer pieces involved.

We have a couple of the Sipura 841s and one of the Zyxel WiFi phones at Inveneo, the NGO I work with.

The Sipuras are good as deskphones. They're standard multiline business phones that have an ethernet jack in the back instead of one for a POTS line.

The ZyxelPhone I've got is interesting, but I can't recommend it. It's obviously a first generation product, neat to have around as a WiFi Phone and show off, but it's a little buggy.
They has a new model out, but I haven't used it myself so I can't tell you if it's any better.
Hitachi also has a wireless IP phone, the IP5000

Both of these are pretty expensive, around $350-400 just for the phone.

I personally prefer using a softphone w/ a Bluetooth headset on my Powerbook.

In any case, you're going to need a server at the other end. You can do this via a commercial service like Vonage, Skype, Packet8, et. al. or you can run a VOIP server on a PC somewhere.

Asterisk is a freely available, open source VOIP PBX you can run on most PCs. It runs under Linux, OS X and most modern UNIX systems. I don't know if it runs under 'doze or not.
There is a learning curve in setting it up and getting it running, but it's not terribly difficult for someone with a technical clue.

Also note that if you're going to do the home VOIP server thing and you want to place calls from the Internet to the PSTN, you're going to need a PSTN Adapter card for the PC that's going to be the server.
This does essentially what an ATA does, except that it's a PCI card that fits inside your PC. If you want to be able to both make outgoing and receive incoming calls on the server, you will need to get an Adapter card that supports both FXS and FXO in order to be able to both receive and generate
line ring voltage.

Of all of them, the dedicated ATA w/ a cheapy phone is by far the cheapest solution of all. If you sign up for Vonage or one of the other commercial services, a lot of times they'll just GIVE it to you if you sign up for a year contract. If not, they can be had for around $30-50. The same holds true for the combo wireless router/VOIP gateways from LinkSys you see being flogged at CompUSA/Fry's/Best Buy, et. al.

HTH,
JD

Timothy and all others.
I know the basics about VONAGe and the other compnies. In general connecting through them is easy peasy...

Well here is the twist.

I have been and I use SKYPE. Works great, have a dial in number and the rates for dialing out are excellent.

This works best because I travel 60% of my time and that 100% outside US. So I really want to stick to SKYPE.

So is there a headset/ phone I can use as a wireless headset / phone. I know I have to have my Laptop connected, but that is ok.

Also family is in SA, and they have a PPPoE so vonage is a pain to install.

Any suggestions ?

You can buy a Applico modem/fw which has support of Dynamic DNS and get s you a DNS name even with changing IP. Applico systems updates the dynamic DNS automatically. It is also a SIP proxy, server, NAT traversal , DHCP systems etc. You can have at least 5 SIP systems behind it. Your IP phone (grand Stream is the cheapest) or buy a cordless WiFi phone since Applico systems also support WiFi.

NO need to get a vendor (telephony VOIP) you become a home telco. You can also attach a telephone line and if you do not answer the call it can also forward to you mobile phone.

If you need more information send email to me at [email protected]

Applico supports PPPoE

Here is a VOIP wireless phone, got a wireless connection? Make a call!
http://www.teletronics.com/voipwifi.html