tesco internet phone

Any good?

But more to the point, am I going to have to blast holes through my nice
secure freebsd-based firewall if I want to use it?

And more generally, I think I saw somewhere that the h/ware they're
selling will work on other systems such as skype; but what about
software for non-windows users? Anyone know of any good offerings?

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Mike Scott Harlow Essex England.(unet -a-t- scottsonline.org.uk)

Thus spaketh Mike Scott:
> Any good?
>
> But more to the point, am I going to have to blast holes through my
> nice secure freebsd-based firewall if I want to use it?
>
> And more generally, I think I saw somewhere that the h/ware they're
> selling will work on other systems such as skype; but what about
> software for non-windows users? Anyone know of any good offerings?


Crap phone ideal for Skype and crap service, very poor value.


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"Mike Scott" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:GZoqg.83947$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Any good?
>
> But more to the point, am I going to have to blast holes through my nice
> secure freebsd-based firewall if I want to use it?
>
> And more generally, I think I saw somewhere that the h/ware they're
> selling will work on other systems such as skype; but what about software
> for non-windows users? Anyone know of any good offerings?
>
> --
> Please use the corrected version of the address below for replies.
> Replies to the header address will be junked, as will mail from
> various domains listed at www.scottsonline.org.uk
> Mike Scott Harlow Essex England.(unet -a-t- scottsonline.org.uk)

Hi Mike. I have the Tesco Internet phone and can recommend it. It's very
easy to use with good call clarity following the lastest software update
recently. It's ideal if you like to stay in control of your international
calls as its payg. I like being able to use it via my laptop for
portability.
Fred.

Thus spaketh fred:
> "Mike Scott" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> message news:GZoqg.83947$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Any good?
>>
>> But more to the point, am I going to have to blast holes through my
>> nice secure freebsd-based firewall if I want to use it?
>>
>> And more generally, I think I saw somewhere that the h/ware they're
>> selling will work on other systems such as skype; but what about
>> software for non-windows users? Anyone know of any good offerings?
>>
>> --
>> Please use the corrected version of the address below for replies.
>> Replies to the header address will be junked, as will mail from
>> various domains listed at www.scottsonline.org.uk
>> Mike Scott Harlow Essex England.(unet -a-t- scottsonline.org.uk)
>
> Hi Mike. I have the Tesco Internet phone and can recommend it. It's
> very easy to use with good call clarity following the lastest
> software update recently. It's ideal if you like to stay in control
> of your international calls as its payg. I like being able to use it
> via my laptop for portability.
> Fred.


But the call costs are too high.

{{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:
> Thus spaketh fred:
>> "Mike Scott" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
>> message news:GZoqg.83947$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Any good?
>>>
>>> But more to the point, am I going to have to blast holes through my
>>> nice secure freebsd-based firewall if I want to use it?
>>>
>>> And more generally, I think I saw somewhere that the h/ware they're
>>> selling will work on other systems such as skype; but what about
>>> software for non-windows users? Anyone know of any good offerings?
....
>> Hi Mike. I have the Tesco Internet phone and can recommend it. It's
>> very easy to use with good call clarity following the lastest
>> software update recently. It's ideal if you like to stay in control
>> of your international calls as its payg. I like being able to use it
>> via my laptop for portability.
>> Fred.
>
>
> But the call costs are too high.

Higher than skype; but you don't need an account to have an inbound
phone number. And they're still lower than ntl......

I've got a voucher that would let me get one for a tenner, so can't lose
too much. I even had a prompt reply from their tech people - they
/reckon/ I just need to open one tcp port (I forget which) on the
firewall and all will work. Hmmm :-)

But I'm still interested in running such a thing from a non win box -
and all I got from tesco was the "we don't support...." line. Unsurprising.

(Why hasn't M$ run foul of competition rules???)

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Please use the corrected version of the address below for replies.
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"Mike Scott" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in message
news:GZoqg.83947$(E-Mail Removed)
> Any good?
>
> But more to the point, am I going to have to blast holes
> through my nice secure freebsd-based firewall if I want
> to use it?
> And more generally, I think I saw somewhere that the
> h/ware they're selling will work on other systems such as
> skype; but what about software for non-windows users?
> Anyone know of any good offerings?

Forget it. Use a proper VoIP service with an ATA and plug an ordinary
phone in. Doesn't require a PC to be on all the time and is far more
reliable.

Ask in uk.telecom.voip for more info.

Ivor

On Tue, 04 Jul 2006 07:42:30 GMT, Mike Scott
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Any good?
>
>But more to the point, am I going to have to blast holes through my nice
>secure freebsd-based firewall if I want to use it?
>
>And more generally, I think I saw somewhere that the h/ware they're
>selling will work on other systems such as skype; but what about
>software for non-windows users? Anyone know of any good offerings?

I posted this message a short while ago to uk.telecom.voip. Hope it's
of use:


It's a Yamamoto USB phone which appears as an audio and HID in
windows. Drivers for common systems are here:

http://www.yamamoto-group.co.uk/index.php?page=download

FWIW the Tesco software appears to use a skinned version of Cubix
customised to their service. You can download the generic software
here:

https://www.virbiage.com/cubix.php

This works well with any SIP or IAX provider, but FWIW I prefer
SJphone. Both support the USB phones keypad and display without
problems. The only minor gripe with the phone is the display doesn't
show the incoming number, just the time/date and number dialed.

The Tesco service is IAX based and any IAX softphone or hardphone
should work with it. I've only tested Cubix, can anyone try an IAXy?
IAX settings are gateway.tescointernetphone.com and your username and
password.

I'm a bit mixed about the Tesco service. It's nice that they've used a
standards based solution, but SIP would appear to have given them more
flexibility. Their proxy doesn't appear to accept SIP connections and
there's no way to call or be called by other SIP networks. A SIPbroker
shortcode is what they really need.

The service setup is messy, giving you a choice of a few area codes
which are incorrectly formatted for display. Minor villages such as
Birmingham are not listed and London only has numbers beginning with
'3' available.

For £15 with £ 5 of calling thrown in it's interesting and a good way
to get a USB phone if you need one. I certainly wouldn't stick with
the service and if your planning on using VoIP seriously from a fixed
location then you need a hardphone or ATA.

Rgds
Jonathan
--
Free UK based SIP accounts at www.kcip.com

JC wrote:
....
> For £15 with £ 5 of calling thrown in it's interesting and a good way
> to get a USB phone if you need one. I certainly wouldn't stick with
> the service and if your planning on using VoIP seriously from a fixed
> location then you need a hardphone or ATA.

Thanks for the info.

I did buy one over the weekend - with clubcard voucher, I got it for
£4.97 incl £5 calltime voucher, so not too much lost :-)

Only trouble is, I can't get through the tesco registration procedure.
Which is a /Wierdo/ -- my machine connects to a .au server over https;
then said server attempts to connect back to me trying most of the
common web server ports (80, 8080, 3128, 1080...) and an odd very high
number which I forget offhand.

Even allowing this junk through, the registration stalls with "please
try later" (sound familiar?? Lines must be busy :-) ) I await tesco's
comments at present.

(Main use btw will be cheaper calls to russia over the hols for junior
to keep in touch with mate. Plus me seeing how these things tick.
Seemed a quick, dirty and cheap way of testing the waters.)

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Please use the corrected version of the address below for replies.
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Mike Scott wrote:
....
> Only trouble is, I can't get through the tesco registration procedure.
....
> Even allowing this junk through, the registration stalls with "please
> try later" (sound familiar?? Lines must be busy :-) ) I await tesco's
> comments at present.

Much as I hate following up my own posts, I've been looking at what's
going on. Tesco's support suggested I try the web-based registration.
Thuis has the same problem - aussie machine tries to connect to web
server on my PC.

However, this time, I redirected their request to the port on which I
actually do run apache. Seems they're trying a "GET
http://www.freshtel.net/proxytest.txt HTTP/1.0" request. Which isn't
exactly going to do much on most machines - even on freshtel the page
doesn't exist, although they do offer a sign-up for firefly: which iirc
is what tesco's ip phone is based around.

So what are they trying to achieve, apart from losing customers?

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