You can carry the DVG ATA with you and connect it into almost any High Speed BROADBAND connection in the world (Hotel, relative's or friend's home).
Regardless of where you and your ATA are located on the planet, you can receive and make calls like you would at home. Calls to your TBB Primary Number's local calling area are not charged Long Distance.
For example, although you may be in Tokyo, with the ATA, a call to a Tokyo number is still International Long Distance and has to be dialed as such - and will be billed as such. However, if you are in Miami, making a call to a local Miami number (you still need to dial Long Distance), charges will apply depending on your TBB plan.
•You can take the ATA to your neighbour's home, just as simply as taking it with you on vacation in Hawaii. You might have to modify the DVG ATA's settings depending on the Internet connection.
•It is also recommended to take along a small telephone dialpad/headset combo (Practica T50 or the like - cost $30-$50 - from TheSource or FutureShop) which simply plugs into the ATA. No separate power supply is usually required for a dialpad telephone. This is applicable regardless of where you are travelling, since even within North America, you may be staying in a hotel, or with family/friends, and there is no extra phone for you to use.
•Travelling with the ATA through airport security customs is not usually a problem, even in carry-on (cabin) luggage. If you do carry a small phone to use with the ATA, it is preferable to have a newer model, as older models may be suspect to certain custom's agents - as a user has pointed out !
•There is a growing user-submitted list of Hotels with a Broadband connection for your ATA (portable TBB service) at which TBB subscribers have successfully used their ATA.
Some other points to consider:
Phones and the phone jack
It’s better to carry a phone with you, since a phone that you know works with the ATA, is better than one that has never been used before.
•Does the foreign phone system have an RJ11 jack/plug such that you could plug those telephones directly into the ATA? In the worst case, you should at least carry a plug adapter to convert between the RJ-11 on the ATA and the host country telephone cable/plug. See this site or other such sites for more info.
•The standards for the telephones themselves are different in various countries (Touch tone signals for a country`s telephone may not work with the ATA).
The Foreign Power System & Plugs
See Electricity around the world for a list of Voltages and Plugs in various countries.
•If the foreign power grid is 120VAC, you need to consider if a power socket adapter is required to plug your ATA power supply into a foreign power socket - N.A. uses 3 prongs (2 flat + 1 round for ground), other 120VAC countries have "L" shaped prongs etc.
•If the foreign power grid is not 120VAC, you need to consider not only a power socket adapter, but a transformer to convert the foreign system (220VAC etc) supply to the ATA's 120VAC power supply input. Sometimes, the adapter is built into the transformer, and sometimes they are two pieces.
•If you travel often to a country without 120VAC power, you may want to consider purchasing, in that country, a 220-240VAC power supply suitable for the ATA. Please refer to ATA's website (DLINK's) - it needs to provide the same output voltage (12V DC) and output current (1 amp = 1000 milliAmps) as the 120VAC power supply that is packaged with the ATA. Using a power supply with less amperes WILL cause problems with your TBB service. If you do find one, please post the model # to this FAQ such that it can be added here. Alain LaBonté recently travelled to Vietnam with his ATA and reported back as follows:
The idea was to replace the D-Link-provided transformer by a universal one, not to complete it with another transformer (as small as it could be) which generally needs an adapter itself (it begins to be much actual horizontal weight [actual Newtonian weight, not electric load] and length beyond the wall electric outlet.
What I found is the almost perfect solution, small weight, small size, direct electric adaptation although it still needs an adapter except in some countries (Japan, for example).
Btw Vietnam (like Thailand, Korea and China, if I remember well from recent trips) uses 230-240 V, and used to have outlets with just old French plugs (pre-European standardization) but nowadays, most outlets are almost universal themselves (the flat North American plugs fit as well as the old French round plugs). So here my universal transformers (with flat plugs like in North America) work very well on 230 V. The only problem here is to find a hot spot worth the service [I am currently in an open-air 7th-floor-corridor at my hotel because the hots spot does not reach my room]. Air-conditioning would be more comfortable!
I was to forget to say that the second-transformer solution is humanly bad. I do not count the number of friends (that also happened to me) who burned devices (like battery chargers) in 30 seconds in Europe because they had just forgotten to put the transformer in front (without counting those who do not make a difference between a plug adapter and a voltage transformer, my girl-friend being part of that set). That is not a good solution. The last time it happened to me (and I knew very well that it could happen, I simply forgot!), the plastic of my AA battery charger took fire in about 10 seconds and the device was good for trash or for a modern-art sculpture 5 seconds later. It smelled like hell. It is not a light disaster, you can put fire easily, and I can say by experience that it is not exaggerated.
List of Adapters
•Kensington 33117: $30cdn Future Shop - $20us Dell, Amazon, Radioshack
•Go Forward Enterprise Corp 12V,1A: available in Asia (see Alain LaBonté's quote above)
 feedback form
 feedback form
by canoe  edited by Styvas
last modified: 2006-10-24 23:01:55 |
