userofdsl
join:2000-07-31
Brighton, MA
| [Other] Deploying VoIP
I recently experimented with VoIP for residential use, temporarily abandoned the effort, and am now reconsidering VoIP. In part this is due to a recent FCC ruling requiring shutdown notice that makes me a little more comfortable I will not be Sunrocketed, although as has been pointed out, it is not clear what punitive power the FCC would have over a bankrupt company that shuts down without the required notice.
Based on my limited experience and understanding, here is what I think I need to make VoIP work. If I am omitting anything, please let me know.
The pieces:
A Callcentric DID + outgoing plan, probably PAYG to start. During an initial trial period, I would get an assigned number and forward my land line to it using Verizon call forwarding. Later I would port my Verizon number to Callcentric and downgrade the Verizon line to cheap metered service as an emergency backup. My DSL phone number is not the one I would port, saving me from potential complications with Verizon.
A Linksys SPA3102, in order to (ultimately) integrate my landline and possibly a secondary outgoing provider such as Future Nine with Callcentric. For example, I can use a dial plan to automatically route 911, and toll-free calls, for which Callcentric charges, through Verizon, and possibly route some calls through FN. My experience is that there is a perceptible deterioration in voice quality when using PSTN through the SPA3102, but it is probably acceptable for light use, and apparently there are no other reasonably priced devices on the market that are any better. I like the SPA3102’s flexibility and programmability.
A Linksys WRT54GL + Tomato, in order to get QOS to remedy the deterioration in call quality I noticed when doing testing, saturating my upstream bandwidth by running Mozy unthrottled concurrently with saturating my downstream bandwidth with a large download. From what I have read, the router function on the SPA3102 is not very capable, and I was not previously able to get it to work. The WRT54GL would be used as a wired router, with the radio off, replacing a wired router that lacks QOS.
A 50 foot phone wire, so I can hook up my extension phone using a splitter I already have.
Other options: Ooma. The initial cost is only about $80 more than the above hardware, all from apparently-low-cost-supplier Amazon, and the ongoing cost is potentially zero. However, the business model raises sustainability issues. On the other hand, it would take only something like a year of service from them to reach the point where if they go under, and I have to go with plan A after all, I will have broken even (Ooma device cost = monthly CC costs avoided).
Suggestions/comments welcome. |
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Mango
toao.net
join:2008-12-25
Vancouver, BC
 ·Shaw
 ·voip.ms
·Callcentric
·LINGO
·Netfone
 ·Digital Voice
1 edit | Sounds like you've done your homework! I am sure VoIP will be a good choice for you.
The only thing that raised a red flag is that I was not aware that the SPA3102 could handle multiple SIP accounts. Is that the case?
m.
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Mango's recommended PAP2T settings: »www.toao.net/25/linksys-pap2t-vo···-review/
Linksys/Cisco dial plan tips and tricks: »www.toao.net/108/cisco-dial-plan···-tricks/ |
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userofdsl
join:2000-07-31
Brighton, MA
1 edit | In my testing a few weeks ago the SPA3102 worked fine with multiple SIP accounts after I figured out how to set it up. |
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Mango
toao.net
join:2008-12-25
Vancouver, BC | Neat. Is there a special technique to this, or do you just fill in the standard username/password/domain? How many SIP accounts can it support? |
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PX Eliezer
Premium
join:2008-08-09
New Jersey
·Callcentric
·Optimum Voice
·callwithus
·voip.ms
| reply to userofdsl
Sounds like a fine plan. Well thought out!
I wish that you were in charge of the economic recovery. 
-------------------------------------------------
One editorial comment: Down the road you may decide that with Voip service and also a Verizon DSL number, you don't need a backup Verizon copperwire POTS number.
I don't know Massachusetts but here in NJ even the cheapest Verizon POTS runs $ 20 after fees and taxes.
Ironically, the value of a POTS line as emergency backup will continue to decrease as Verizon lets those lines die a slow death. |
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userofdsl
join:2000-07-31
Brighton, MA
2 edits | reply to Mango
I'm not sure how many SIP accounts it can handle. It probably depends on what you want to do. At one point I had it programmed to do the following:
CC set as the default incoming and outgoing provider
Dial 9, get outside dial tone, route through FN. (I later changed the 9 to another number because it conflicted with 911.)
Dial 8, get outside dial tone, route through Verizon land line.
Automatically forward via the hardware incoming Verizon calls to Callcentric, which required a second free CC account, and which I never got to work consistently.
As I recall (I don't have the device any longer), both CC accounts showed up as registered. I don't recall whether the FN one showed up as registered, but it worked.
Acquiring the information needed to set up the SPA3102 is an exercise in Internet-scouring and experimentation... |
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userofdsl
join:2000-07-31
Brighton, MA | reply to PX Eliezer
I will be happy to handle the economic recovery. When do I start?
VZ still maintains POTS lines, but I suppose that if they ever become rare, that may change. In the city of Boston FIOS is not available; only in some suburbs. |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| reply to userofdsl
Just for clarity, Verizon's not letting POTS die -- they continue to deliver POTS over the new FiOS lines.
It's the copper connectivity they're letting die, which is unfortunate.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| said by B  :Just for clarity, Verizon's not letting POTS die -- they continue to deliver POTS over the new FiOS lines. Just a thought. If POTS is Plain Old Telephone System, then it uses copper. When Verizon delivers a telephone over FiOS connection, it should be a digital phone, shouldn't it? |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Nope. It's still analog in the end. It's only digital in the way that the rest of the PSTN is digital.
»ezinearticles.com/?All-About-Ver···=1897962
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_FiOS
»www.cedmagazine.com/Article-WDM-···ket.aspx
Others can explain this better than I can.
-- B
--
In a realm outside causality and function |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| said by B :Nope. It's still analog in the end. It's only digital in the way that the rest of the PSTN is digital. This also sounded like a VoIP system where the connection is digital and end points are analog phones. Thus, according to your explanation, VoIP is also POTS.  |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| I did say others could explain it better.
But no. You said earlier that it "should be a digital phone" and that's just not the case (unless you get something like VoiceWing or a similar VoIP service). It's not a digital phone (such as an IP phone or even traditional PBX digital set). The ONT provides standard analog POTS RJ-11 jacks, not different from the analog jack left by a copper NID.
Yes, I suppose you could say in a way the ONT is analogous to an ATA, but it's not using IP; according to nycdave at »www.broadbandreports.net/forum/r···16549859
FiOS POTS service is a standard class 5 CO switch, and the ONT acts as the RT. So your house's ONT is merely an extension of the central office switch, and is no more or less digital than the rest of the POTS/PSTN already is. No Internet, no IP, and no VoIP required.
See also »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_5_te···switches
-- B
--
In a realm outside causality and function |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| said by B :So your house's ONT is merely an extension of the central office switch, and is no more or less digital than the rest of the POTS/PSTN already is. No Internet, no IP, and no VoIP required. I reckon what you tried to say is FiOS is digitally transmitted between its CO and ONT(?) and is not based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) while a Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) is transmitted in an analog form between the two points. Thus, FiOS is not a VoIP. If that's true, then I don't suppose FiOS can be considered as POTS because it is not transmitted in an analog form as a POTS, or can it?
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Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ | FiOS is POTS. It just uses fiber instead of copper. |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| reply to mazilo
What you're missing is that ordinary POTS is already transmitted digitally all the way to your local CO; it's been that way for decades.
POTS is delivered over FiOS just as it's delivered over the rest of the PSTN. I think. The only difference is where the last digital to analog conversion takes place.
-- B
--
In a realm outside causality and function |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| said by B :What you're missing is that ordinary POTS is already transmitted digitally all the way to your local CO; it's been that way for decades. I don't think I missed that part because I am aware of it. Actually, I was going to add the above to make this discussion more interesting.
AFAIK, POTS is analog from CO to a customer end. When FiOS changes that, it is no longer valid to be considered as Plain Old Telephone System (POTS). AFAIK, a Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) is purely analog and is transmitted through a pair of copper wire, not a Fiber Optic, between the CO and a customer end. Perhaps, you and/or anyone out here can explain to me that it is possible to transmit a plain analog signal through a fiber optic. As of this writing, I just can't see how it is done unless through an AD/DA conversion. When an AD/DA conversion is involved, there is some sort of lost of signals even though the conversion satisfies the Nyquist theorem.
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Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| said by mazilo :AFAIK, POTS is analog from CO to a customer end. Not necessarily -- many customers are served by RTs.
Sure that would be splitting hairs, but so are you. Both the RTs and the FiOS ONTs are part of the digital back end PSTN that makes up POTS as we know it. That the ONT is located at the customer premises is quite interesting, but doesn't really change anything.
It's hard enough explaining to people that they're not necessarily using VoIP when they buy FiOS without these kind of semantic skirmishes...
And I don't think anybody in the telcom industry seriously considers POTS to be "purely analog.... between the CO and a customer end".
Why be hung up on "analog" when the phone system, as you say, isn't analog? I guess you're trying to draw a distinction between POTS and the PSTN, but I don't think it's a correct or useful distinction as you're drawing it...
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| said by B :Why be hung up on "analog" when the phone system, as you say, isn't analog? I guess you're trying to draw a distinction between POTS and the PSTN, but I don't think it's a correct or useful distinction as you're drawing it... I just tried to understand the whole meaning of POTS as in Plain Old Telephone System working in an analog world. The acronym of POTS doesn't look to fit into a FiOS connection between a CO and its ONT unit that uses a fiber optic as a medium to transport data by means of light. On a POTS, copper is used as a medium to transport electrical signals. To say FiOS is POTS is misleading.
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Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574
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PX Eliezer
Premium
join:2008-08-09
New Jersey
·Callcentric
·Optimum Voice
·callwithus
·voip.ms
| POTS and PANS.
This is somewhat redundant with mazilo but:
My view is that the salient characteristic of POTS is that the O stands for Old.
A phone call that comes into my house over the old twisted-pair copper wires is POTS.
A phone call that comes in on Fiber, Cable or ISP Broadband, or DSL/HSI is not POTS. It should be called PANS (Post-Analog Network Services). |
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dcm
join:2008-09-12
Pennsylvania
|  said by PX Eliezer :A phone call that comes in on Fiber, Cable or ISP Broadband, or DSL/HSI is not POTS. It should be called PANS (Post-Analog Network Services). LOL |
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