At this time, the only ATA/Gateways accepted by TBB are ones that are provided by Primus: the DLINK DVG-1120M and the LINKSYS SPA2100.
In addition, Primus has made the statement that their system is only setup to handle a certain range of MAC addresses for those Gateways provided by Primus.
There is no mechanism whereby another ATA can replace the Primus supplied ATAs, as the firmware supplied with these ATAs is specific to them; and will not execute on another device successfully. Unless you have the original source code and can 100% replicate the Primus ATA functionality, no other ATA can replace it.
Below is some technical detail that explains some factors for not supporting BYOD/BTOG.
NOTE: For anyone interested in hooking up Asterisk with TBB, this can be done simply with FXO/FXS cards to either TBB ATA.
Why can't we BYOD?
Some of this is a question of understanding what BYOD really means - and being careful not to compare apples (router, OS) and oranges (a VoIP service/ATA).
Technically speaking these are two different things given these services deal with different layers in the OSI stack: »www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/OSI_Layers.asp.
•An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is solely concerned with layers 2-3-4 in getting IP packets routed to your modem/pc. They do not care about the applications (except perhaps SHAW). NOTE: Physical Layer 1 is the actual cable (maintained by the Telco/Cable "wire" division - not necessarily the ISP).
Using Linux, Windows, or Unix (or various flavours of Modems/Routers...) makes no difference at all - except that from a customer point of view, they want to minimize the support costs of the different flavours of setups. Actually, before modems had the PPPoE/DHCP layer built in, ISPs had to provide software for this - and they started out by first supporting the most common platform... PCs... remember those "PPPoE Connection" icons which are no longer needed... Layers 2-3-4 are pretty well standard (i.e. ATM, DOCSIS, TCP/IP, UDP..).
•An Application Service Provider (ASP) like TBB Voip, is concerned with OSI layers 5-6-7. The protocols here are very general(i.e SIP or MGCP). However, each company implements a distinct flavour and hence need particular Clients (software/hardware = ATA and softphone) to communicate with their particular Servers.
It is not simple to create "generic" clients to handle a variety of servers. There are too many possible combinations for any company to support other than their own. There are also security, proprietary, billing, and other technical and strategic data which are built into each protocol flavour. There is also the much bigger question of maintenance and upgrades (new releases).
In conclusion, we need to be careful when comparing "technical" issues. Opening the device for multiple clients is certainly technically feasible, only if you know all the parameters above. Realistically, the support and maintenance costs outweigh the benefits (at $20/mth).
If you really want an open device platform, there are services provided with "open SIP", but these are much more costly; and Primus does provide an OpenSIP platform (i.e. it is not TBB.. and it costs more).
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by Styvas  edited by canoe
last modified: 2006-04-13 20:11:37 |
