DenMark
| [General] VOIP basic question
Hello! I want to get a solution if possible for the cheapest voip. I live in US and my family is in Denmark. We have lots of extended family members in US. Currently we all call using skype. but I want to have a hardware on to which I can connect a normal telephone and pick the phone to dial a number to talk to my denmark home. is this possible? if yes, what device should I buy? Also, I want to see if I can call my denmark device and instruct it using some number command to call a local number. is this possible? if yes, can I implement this functionality on both sides so that my friends call call in to any end and connect to a landphone number on each country using the box...like a bypass to the local number? |
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Test99
Premium
join:2003-04-24
San Jose, CA
 ·DSL EXTREME
 ·InPhonex
| If I understand you correctly, this device will do what you want. But it will take quite a bit of time and effort to get it set up and working correctly.
You can get a VOIP telephone number in most places for a reasonable monthly fee. When someone calls that number, the call is routed over the Internet to wherever in the world your VOIP adapter and phone happen to be. You do need to have a broadband Internet connection that you can plug the adapter in to. This is a lot easier to set up.
If your friends all have broadband Internet connections, you can call each other and talk as long as you want for free. Each person would need to have either 1. a VOIP adapter and a phone or 2. a soft phone running on a computer.
Which way would you like to go? |
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EarloftheWes
join:2008-08-25
·Future Nine Corpor..
| reply to DenMark
I'm not sure I understand exactly what you want to do but...
You could purchase an ATA.
Sign up with a provider that is local in Denmark.
Have your friends in Denmark call that provider. When you call Denmark, use your provider to do so.
Is this what you are thinking?
I believe that Test99's device recommendation is the way you would want to go. |
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DenMark
| reply to DenMark
Thanks for the help.
I Don't want to signup with any provider. I want to buy two different boxes(ATAs?) at two ends, connect a normal telephone unit to it, so that if I pick the telephone and dial a number, it goes to the other end. Also, if this box can take an analog phone line, I can route the calls through this box. example, if I want to call a number in denmark, I pick up nthe phone unit connected to this voip box, call the denmark voip unit and instruct it to dial out the local denmark number, so that I don't have to pay international calls from US.
sorry, I am a noob in this  |
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Test99
Premium
join:2003-04-24
San Jose, CA
·DSL EXTREME
·InPhonex
| said by DenMark :sorry, I am a noob in this That's why I proposed alternatives. Setting up the 3102 to do what you want is not for the faint-hearted. If you do decide to go that route, read everything you can find about the device so you understand what you are getting into. |
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gsar
join:2008-09-10
Canada
·voip.ms
| reply to DenMark
There are a few different options based on what you've mentioned as your requirements.
• Totally free calls between friends and family - Buy an ATA like the linksys PAP2T for every friend/family member you want to be able to make free calls. Sign each of them up to a free service like Gizmo Project or Callcentric IP Freedom Plan and configure the ATA to point to their account. Ship them the ATA as your xmas gift  and ask them to hook it up to their internet router and turn it on. If you've preconfigured all their user information, they shouldn't have to do anything other than hook it up to get going. In-network calls on these services are free, and if your friends wish to do so, they can call regular telephone numbers from these services by paying a per-minute fee that should be lower than what they'd pay with a traditional phone company. Any of your friends can also use a SIP-compatible softphone if they are comfortable with using a computer to make calls and don't need to use a traditional phone. The only significant downside to this setup is that everyone needs a separate phone to talk to your network of people, versus other people who they may reach using a different, traditional phone connection with the local phone company. (You can combine this with the last option below to eliminate the "two phones" issue.)
• Cheap calls for you in one direction and free calls for people calling you in the other direction - If your friends and family cannot install/cope with a device like an ATA on their end since it may require a little bit of setup, you can still do that just at your end, sign up with a voip service provider (you can find reviews for several here) and call any regular phone number for cheap. You'd still typically pay a lower rate than what it would cost you with a traditional long distance provider, and the people you're calling won't have to do anything different. In addition, you can set up your friends and family with speeddial numbers that will allow them to call you (typically for free) by dialing a sipbroker.com local access number in their neighborhood.
If you feel up to it, where there are no sipbroker.com access numbers, you can even set up your own phone numbers in select locations where your friends and family live, so that you are just a local call away from them (but this requires a small ongoing cost to maintain such phone numbers).
• Free calls by bridging voip and the phone company at a remote location - An ATA like the linksys SPA3102 can connect ("bridge") a traditional phone line to a voip network. What this means is that you'd be able to dial a remote location via voip, and route a call to a number local to the remote location through the traditional phone line connection on the ATA. You can also set up the ATA to send *and* receive calls from both the local telephone service and one or more voip providers. For example, if you detect a local number is being called, you can have it route through the PSTN line, and if an international number is dialled you can have it go through one of the configured outbound voip providers. Another example: when you dial a Denmark number from the US, you can have it go through the (free for you) Gizmo account, and route through the local PSTN connection on the ATA set up in Denmark. Needless to say, you need both an internet connection as well as a traditional phone line (which could also be a digital/voip phone line that provides an RJ11 phone port) to do this. This option can get rather technical and therefore complex to get right, but it offers the most flexible possibilities to combine VoIP with a traditional phone line.
You might want to read these links to get started with VoIP:
So You Wanna Try VoIP?
VoIP FAQ
A Complete Plan for DIY VOIP (provider recommendations may be a bit outdated)
Searching this forum with some keywords in the above description should yield plenty of pointers to further ideas.
Good luck with your quest! |
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DenMark
| reply to DenMark
Test99 & EOW & GSAR! Thank you so much!
I am going to buy the Grandstream ATA as per your suggestion. I am planning to signup for gizmo to use these devices. could you please tell me if SIP numbers are free of cost? can I get a SIP number from gizmo for free? if not, how will two ATAs configured with GIZMO communicate / dial out? also, can a normal phone dial the sip number to call me? |
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DenMark
|  reply to DenMark
OKAY! I signed up on Gizmo and found out my SIP number. so that question is answered!
instead of the normal phone, is there a way to purchase and connect video phones so that I can see and talk to the other person? what is the hardware I should buy? do we have an ATA that takes video phone? |
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Test99
Premium
join:2003-04-24
San Jose, CA
·DSL EXTREME
·InPhonex
| Instead of an ATA and a regular phone, you could buy an IP phone, which combines the functions of an ATA and a phone. Grandstream, for example, makes an IP phone that is also a video phone, the GXV-3000.
With video phones, compatibility between different models is still a work in progress. You can avoid compatibility issues if you use the same model at each end. |
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EarloftheWes
join:2008-08-25
·Future Nine Corpor..
| reply to DenMark
Let me know if you decide to get the video phone and how it goes.
If you're going to go the video phone route, why not just stick with skype and a webcam? You have to sit in front of a device either way?
Here's my ideas on video phones:
»Ideas on the SIP Phone and SIP Video Phone |
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Test99
Premium
join:2003-04-24
San Jose, CA | reply to DenMark
Mechano gave a good report on his GXV-3000s. See: »Re: [General] Video / IP *** UPDATED |
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