VoIP for beginners

I have a PlusNet ADSL connection which I share across ny LAN using a 3Com
3CRWE754G72-A wireless router.

I am interested in the possibility of using VoIP and am struggling to get my
head round the basics.

The main contenders seem to be Sipgate and Skype. Is there any difference in
the way in which they operate? What are the pros and cons?

There seems to be a lot of talk about headsets etc. which connect to a PC -
either using USB or plugged into the sound card. Are there any pros and cons
of the two connection methods?

Ideally, I would like to use a phone which connected directly to the
router - so it could be used without any PCs being switched on. Do either
Sipgate or Skype support this? If so, what kit would I need? Are there any
router config/security issues involved in doing it this way?

Maybe you can point me at a website which answers all these questions - but
I would also be interested in people's individual experiences of what works
and what doesn't.

TIA.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

In uk.telecom.broadband, Tiscali Tim wrote:

>Ideally, I would like to use a phone which connected directly to the
>router - so it could be used without any PCs being switched on.

You need a router which supports this, such as a Draytek. If you have
one, you may be interested in this item on eBay:

<http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5768553588>

It's nothing special, just a cheap way to buy a second base station so
you can use your cordless phone with VoIP.


--
Nigel M

"Time may be a great healer,
but he's a lousy beautician"

The best protocol to use IMO is SIP as this is a widely used standard
and you can get hardware phones etc.

Skype is a proprietary protocol that runs on PCs, 'nuff said.

SIPgate provide hardware phones and "ATA" or Analogue telephone adaptor
units to plug an existing conventional real phone into an ethernet
socket on a router. See http://www.sipgate.co.uk/ on the right of the
front page.

If you use a software phone you need a mic and headset or speakers,
these are usually plugged into the sound card.

There is a line of products called "VoIP phones" which are nothing of
the sort but are USB connected sound cards with a handset which
provides a mic and earpiece ie it looks like a phone. Do you need more
drivers and hardware connected to your PC ? thought not.

Real VoIP phones have ethernet plugs on them.

http://www.voipuser.org/

Phil

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Nigel M <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> In uk.telecom.broadband, Tiscali Tim wrote:
>
>> Ideally, I would like to use a phone which connected directly to the
>> router - so it could be used without any PCs being switched on.
>
> You need a router which supports this, such as a Draytek. If you have
> one, you may be interested in this item on eBay:
>
> <http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5768553588>
>
> It's nothing special, just a cheap way to buy a second base station so
> you can use your cordless phone with VoIP.

How do I know whether my router supports it. As far as I know, it doesn't
have a port specifically for VoIP - it just has etherrnet (RJ45) ports. Does
this *necessarily* rule it out?
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

"Tiscali Tim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> Nigel M <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> In uk.telecom.broadband, Tiscali Tim wrote:
>>
>>> Ideally, I would like to use a phone which connected directly to the
>>> router - so it could be used without any PCs being switched on.
>>
>> You need a router which supports this, such as a Draytek. If you have
>> one, you may be interested in this item on eBay:
>>
>> <http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5768553588>
>>
>> It's nothing special, just a cheap way to buy a second base station so
>> you can use your cordless phone with VoIP.
>
> How do I know whether my router supports it. As far as I know, it doesn't
> have a port specifically for VoIP - it just has etherrnet (RJ45) ports.
> Does
> this *necessarily* rule it out?
> --
> Cheers,
> Tim
> ______
> Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.
>

Any router will support VoIP with an ATA or PC service. Some routers like
the Draytek 2600V have the ATA built in.

For easy setup you could look at BT Broadband Voice, they offer a free Cisco
ATA, but have a 12 month contract. Price is 4.99 for free evening and
Weekend calls.
Sipgate is good for incoming calls, but outgoing can be a bit pricy + the
ATA costs you £60 upwards, or use a PC and headset.

Voice quality is better on BTBBV, which has 2 levels of bitrate, 46 or
110kb/s the latter technically offeres better quality than the PSTN. 46kb/s
is perfectly adequate but you can tell its comprtsed voice.

I am on BTBBV, and am happy with it, have been for the last 10 months or so.

>

"How do I know whether my router supports it. "

some routers have VoIP functions built in - you plug a phone into them
via an RJ11 socket.

You don't *need* this, but it may be convenient. An ATA plugged into
the ethernet port will also allow a phone to be plugged in, and may
need a bit of firewall fiddling in the router.

The "built in VoIP" routers presumably do all the firewalling
workarounds out of the box, and have the capability to manage the QoS
so that the VoIP reserves 100 kbits/s each way and leaves the rest to
other users.

Phil

"Tiscali Tim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a PlusNet ADSL connection which I share across ny LAN using a 3Com
> 3CRWE754G72-A wireless router.
>
> I am interested in the possibility of using VoIP and am struggling to get
my
> head round the basics.
>
> The main contenders seem to be Sipgate and Skype. Is there any difference
in
> the way in which they operate? What are the pros and cons?
>
Firstly these are not main contenders at all. Both get a lot of mention,
Skypee because its VERY simple, Sipgate because it has free geographic
numbers, But as of late has been unreliable. (They may sort this out).
Have a google and you will come up with many suppliers.
For the best selection of eqiupment and abiliy to call other Voip users pick
a SIP based supplier. Not Skypee as they have no peering agreements.




> There seems to be a lot of talk about headsets etc. which connect to a
PC -
> either using USB or plugged into the sound card. Are there any pros and
cons
> of the two connection methods?
>
USB is the best solution if using a softphone, Soundcards seem to have echo
and duplex problems, Saying that cheap USB devices also can have duplex
problems


> Ideally, I would like to use a phone which connected directly to the
> router - so it could be used without any PCs being switched on. Do either
> Sipgate or Skype support this? If so, what kit would I need? Are there any
> router config/security issues involved in doing it this way?

With Skypee you will need to use your PC. Sipgate uses SIP so you can use
any SIP ATA or Hardphone. No real issues at the moment on security but thats
no promise that there wont be. Combined router ATA I personaly think are not
the way to go, Yes they are simple but once you start combining many
seperate units you start yo get Firmware problems.

>
> Maybe you can point me at a website which answers all these questions -
but
> I would also be interested in people's individual experiences of what
works
> and what doesn't.
>
www.voipuser.org for a good forum and reliable Voip service
www.voip-info.org for more more technical info
http://www.voip.org.uk/

Ian

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Tiscali Tim
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>I have a PlusNet ADSL connection which I share across ny LAN using a 3Com
>3CRWE754G72-A wireless router.
>
>I am interested in the possibility of using VoIP and am struggling to get my
>head round the basics.
>
>The main contenders seem to be Sipgate and Skype. Is there any difference in
>the way in which they operate? What are the pros and cons?

I have exactly the same setup, and Skype works well provided the other
party is also on broadband. I wouldn't recommend Skype with dial-up.

>
>There seems to be a lot of talk about headsets etc. which connect to a PC -
>either using USB or plugged into the sound card. Are there any pros and cons
>of the two connection methods?
>
I use a headset on a splitter plugged into the line out socket of my
sound card. Both speaker and headset work well. If I want to listen to
the headphones without the slight echo from the speakers, I turn down
the speakers' volume control; the only snag is that I sometimes forget
to turn the volume back up when I finish.



--
Thoss

Tiscali Tim wrote:
> I have a PlusNet ADSL connection which I share across ny LAN using
> a 3Com 3CRWE754G72-A wireless router.
>
> I am interested in the possibility of using VoIP and am struggling
> to get my head round the basics.
>
> The main contenders seem to be Sipgate and Skype. Is there any
> difference in the way in which they operate? What are the pros and
> cons?

Skype is a PC to PC system *only* and uses a proprietary protocol not
compatible with anything else AFAIK. You can buy credit to call landlines
(Skype-Out) but the system doesn't accept incoming calls, although I
believe this is in beta test.

Sipgate uses the well known SIP protocol which is supported and used by
many other systems and is probably the best protocol for compatibility.
The company have had more than their fair share of problems of late which
has put many people off them, but they are working hard to rectify them
and at the moment are relatively stable, although the voicemail system has
a habit of lapsing into German every now and then, but hey I'm learning a
new language ;-)

> There seems to be a lot of talk about headsets etc. which connect
> to a PC - either using USB or plugged into the sound card. Are
> there any pros and cons of the two connection methods?

Not really. If you're using a PC based system they're pretty much
identical IMHO.

> Ideally, I would like to use a phone which connected directly to the
> router - so it could be used without any PCs being switched on. Do
> either Sipgate or Skype support this? If so, what kit would I need?
> Are there any router config/security issues involved in doing it
> this way?

As I said before, Skype requires a PC, so the answer to this question is
no. Sipgate (www.sipgate.co.uk) can use X-Lite on a PC if you want, or you
can use an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adaptor) to plug an ordinary phone in.
Or you can use a dedicated IP phone which has an ethernet connection
instead of an analogue line. Sipgate sell a range of these but IMHO they
are not the best, I prefer the Sipura range. The SPA-2000
(www.sipura.com/products/spa2000.htm) has two phone ports, which are
separately configurable and can even be on two different providers if you
want, I am very impressed with mine.

> Maybe you can point me at a website which answers all these
> questions - but I would also be interested in people's individual
> experiences of what works and what doesn't.

You might want to look at http://voxilla.com which has a lot of useful
info.

Ivor

Tiscali Tim wrote:
>
> How do I know whether my router supports it. As far as I know, it
> doesn't have a port specifically for VoIP - it just has etherrnet
> (RJ45) ports. Does this *necessarily* rule it out?

If your router doesn't have a phone socket.....

I use a Zoom X5V and it's great for VOIP calls.. and no, it doesn't need the
pc to be switched on to make calls..
--
huLLy
VOIP SIP Phone Number 4823176 on Global Village
Or mobile 07976 123278