DracoFelis
Premium
join:2003-06-15
| reply to anonymous user
Re: prevent user from locking ATA device
said by anonymous user :
I read from these forums that some vendors will lock an ATA device upon registering it with their service. How is that possible? In general it's not possible for some provider to "lock" your own (unlocked from the factory) VoIP device just by "registering". However:
If you foolishly let the provider "provision" the device for you, they can use their provisioning ability to "lock" your device. That's why I always turn off "provisioning", and never follow VoIP provider "setup advice" that suggests I put in any "provisioning" settings. Instead I just setup the VoIP settings manually in the web interface.
And if you give the provider your admin password (or foolishly fail to set an admin password), their web site could "lock" your adapter for you. That's why my personally owned VoIP adapters have strong admin and user passwords installed, and I don't tell the VoIP providers I use what those passwords are.
And if you bought one of those so-called "unlocked" adapters which were originally "locked", the "unlocking" may very well not be complete. If so, the least little thing MIGHT allow the adapter to reconnect to the place that supposedly "locked" it the first time (for example, if it was originally a "Vonage" adapter, something might cause it to connect to Vonage again). If/when that happens, the company with the "right" to "lock" the adapter, might again have the means to do so, and "poof" you no longer have an adapter you can use. That's the primary reason I would rather spend a few extra $$$ for an adapter that can "unlocked" FROM THE FACTORY, vs trying to save a little by buying a used so-called "unlocked" adapter. |
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DogFace05
join:2005-12-09
Cary, NC
| said by DracoFelis  :In general it's not possible for some provider to "lock" your own (unlocked from the factory) VoIP device just by "registering". Well, actually it very much is possible with Linksys ATAs, provided that provisioning is enabled. I'm not going to describe how it works, because of the potential for abuse and extensive security implications, but suffice it to say that Linksys did build that capability into their VoIP adapters for the benefit of providers. |
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DracoFelis
Premium
join:2003-06-15
| said by DogFace05 :said by DracoFelis :In general it's not possible for some provider to "lock" your own (unlocked from the factory) VoIP device just by "registering". Well, actually it very much is possible with Linksys ATAs, provided that provisioning is enabled. I think I already mentioned that. i.e.:
If you foolishly let the provider "provision" the device for you, they can use their provisioning ability to "lock" your device. That's why I always turn off "provisioning", and never follow VoIP provider "setup advice" that suggests I put in any "provisioning" settings. |
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DogFace05
join:2005-12-09
Cary, NC
| said by DracoFelis :said by DogFace05 :said by DracoFelis :In general it's not possible for some provider to "lock" your own (unlocked from the factory) VoIP device just by "registering". Well, actually it very much is possible with Linksys ATAs, provided that provisioning is enabled. I think I already mentioned that. i.e.: If you foolishly let the provider "provision" the device for you, they can use their provisioning ability to "lock" your device. That's why I always turn off "provisioning", and never follow VoIP provider "setup advice" that suggests I put in any "provisioning" settings. It's not done through the normal provisioning mechanism. In fact, your profile rules can all be blank, yet the provider, and in many cases just about anyone else for that matter, can still essentially push any arbitrary profile to the device. However, even this mechanism is disabled when setting "Provisioning" to No. But that's all I'm going to say about it. |
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