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simsin0
join:2008-01-06

1 edit

simsin0

Member

Another POTS to VOIP info thread. Specifics inside.

Hey guys!

Im planning to ditch my Bell POTS shortly I have 50/10 VDSL with Teksavvy will be switching to DRY loop.

I am using an Asus rt-ac66 router with the smart modem.

I have a few criteria for the VOIP service:

-Reliable
-Good call quality
-Calls are made to USA/CAN and Europe.
-I can set it up... im ok with technical stuff so thats not an issue.

Heres my questions:
Whats the best ATA for my needs? or should I choose that after I chose the VOIP provider?

Also what do you guys think of services such as OOMA?

Is there any advantage of using teksavvy for tektalk if I have Teksavvy internet. (from a technical standpoint would it facilitate things?)

What are the differences for all these:
freephoneline
voip.ms
future9
»www.anveo.com/
callcentric
»www.acrovoice.ca/

thanks!
yyzlhr
join:2012-09-03
Scarborough, ON

yyzlhr

Member

Ooma has a good reputation of being very easy to setup and being very reliable. With Ooma you must use their ATA, you don't have any other choice.

Most users use either Grandstream or Linksys ATAs. Both are very reliable and have similar feature sets. Grandstreams tend to be more readily available and cheaper, but their user interface is a bit dated which might be intimidating for some users.

Indicating your budget and approximate amount of minutes you call the US and Europe would help with the recommendations.
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere to simsin0

Member

to simsin0
Ooma is great if you want to get a reliable service that is easy to use (I got one for parents and they have had zero issues).

If you are the least bit teksavvy, you could get an Obi ATA and a service such as voip.ms. They are really reliable and cheap (but not the cheapest rates). The is how I started.

If you want to take it up a notch, you could setup your own PBX with an ATA (or IP phone) and a service like voip.ms or circlenet.us (new provider I've been using, super cheap and super reliable so far).

I would also recommend getting an UPS for whatever solution you pick.

Maxx2006
join:2013-02-02
Guelph, ON

Maxx2006 to simsin0

Member

to simsin0
Been using Tektalk for about 18 months with no issues. ATA ia a cisco 122 supplied by Teksavvy. We do not use the phone much to start with but it has been dependable.
simsin0
join:2008-01-06

simsin0

Member

i dont mind paying a bit more for better service.

After some searching I found a bunch of different VOIP providers, which ones would you guys recommend?

freephoneline
voip.ms
future9
»www.anveo.com/
callcentric
»www.acrovoice.ca/
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

From the provided list I can personally say I've had zero issues with voip.ms. Great UI, great website, top notch service and servers all over geographically.
simsin0
join:2008-01-06

simsin0

Member

Oh and I forgot to mention, its really important that I keep my number.

Is there any chance these companies screw up the port in and I lose my number?
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

So far I've ported a couple of numbers in with no issues.

Everything was quick and smooth with voip.ms and their web interface keeps you up to date. They will let you know right off if you can't port your number in - I'm sure you can ask before you fund your account and start the process.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

2 edits

bbbc to simsin0

Member

to simsin0
I have had porting in and porting out issues with VoIP.ms and I was a customer with them for years. Most of their customer service is based in Mexico, not Canada. I had to throw in the towel after my recent porting fiasco at the start of this year.

Callcentric has Telemarketer Block, which is worth its weight in gold. Obihai ATA + Callcentric = Winning Combo
simsin0
join:2008-01-06

simsin0 to iamhere

Member

to iamhere
is there any way for me to try it...without porting my number in the beginning?
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

Yes, I stared by getting a free iNUM DID from them and played around with that.

I then dropped $25 into my account to test making calls. If, for whatever reason, you want your money back they will refund the balance.

After using it for all my long distance calls for a few months, I then ported my number in.
trog
join:2001-03-25
Scarborough, ON

trog to simsin0

Member

to simsin0
What I did was the following:
- Signed up with voip.ms
- got an ATA (in my case an older PAP2)
- Got a NEW number from voip.ms
- Configured the ATA and hooked up a single phone to it.
- Once confident that it was working, call forwarded the Bell # to the new temporary number
- Disconnected the house phone wiring at the Demarc
- Plugged the ATA into the wall wiring
- Ran like that for a month or so (yes; had ensured that caller-id on outgoing calls was showing the Bell #)
- Initiated the porting to voip.ms
- Ensured that all settings were in place on voip.ms to handle the new # when the port happened
- When the port happened, cancelled the temporary number
resare
join:2012-11-07
Greenfield Park, QC

resare

Member

said by trog:

What I did was the following:
- Signed up with voip.ms
- got an ATA (in my case an older PAP2)
- Got a NEW number from voip.ms
- Configured the ATA and hooked up a single phone to it.
- Once confident that it was working, call forwarded the Bell # to the new temporary number
- Disconnected the house phone wiring at the Demarc
- Plugged the ATA into the wall wiring
- Ran like that for a month or so (yes; had ensured that caller-id on outgoing calls was showing the Bell #)
- Initiated the porting to voip.ms
- Ensured that all settings were in place on voip.ms to handle the new # when the port happened
- When the port happened, cancelled the temporary number

Im currently on step 4. Going for step 5. Great checklist . Using cisco spa122
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

I'd highly recommend an Obihai ATA... they 100 series is like $50 I think. Totally worth it.
simsin0
join:2008-01-06

simsin0 to trog

Member

to trog
Trog thats a great list!

Thanks so much.

I just need to decide on the ATA.

So far from the looks of things it seems that most are saying that obi200 is the most solid ATA out there.

Is there any difference between ATAs and the service I chose?

I mean for instance does voip.ms work better with obi200 vs cisco 122?

Thanks
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

No, ATA is a ATA.

I tried 2 diff ATA models before landing on the Obi. Third time was the charm.

Configuration was so much easier and call quality was by far the best. The only thing to beat it quality wise is my native VoIP phone.

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
Premium Member
join:2006-08-30
Somewhere in

elwoodblues to iamhere

Premium Member

to iamhere
said by iamhere:

From the provided list I can personally say I've had zero issues with voip.ms. Great UI, great website, top notch service and servers all over geographically.

Same here, though my needs have lessened since, they're on top of things and get emails if there is any kind of outage/mtce going on that might affect service.
fparker
join:2008-04-28
Scarborough, ON

fparker to bbbc

Member

to bbbc
I have ported 3 (Canadian) numbers with voip.ms. No issues whatsoever, ports completed within the predicted 7 days. Very pleased with voip.ms service--have been using it for home phone for 18 months, excellent quality, excellent call filtering to weed out the junk calls we used to get with PSTN

MacGyver

join:2001-10-14
Vancouver, BC
·TELUS
Actiontec T3200M
Arcadyan WE410443-TS
Sipura SPA-2102

MacGyver to simsin0

to simsin0
I use voip.ms and have been very pleased with them. They have a support presence on the site. MartinM See Profile is very helpful.

Here is the process I went through:

- had an existing 6/1 DSL line with TekSavvy POTS and unlimited long distance
- signed up with voip.ms
- grabbed a new local number for $0.99/month to test
- got a SPA2102 ATA. It took a while to set up and tweak dozens of setting so everything worked correctly. Who knew POTS had so many variables to play with?!
- once I was sure I was satisfied with the service, I put an order in to TekSavvy for a new 6/1 DSL line. This cost $50+1 month of service.
- once the new DSL line was activated, and I was sure the line stats were good, put in my port request for my existing number, which my wife insisted we keep. When the line was ported, the existing POTS line and associated DSL service was cancelled without having to notify anyone.
- I've kept the original test number. It's handy having two lines in the house because I work from home. I have set the first number to roll over to the second if the line is busy.

Before voip.ms, my TekSavvy bill was $82 a month. Now it's $36 a month. In 11 months of being with voip.ms, I've spent about $90 including $10 for porting. Because of having to pay for an extra month of service and activation cost me $90, my payback was only a few months.

You can read my review of voip.ms here: »Review of voip.ms by MacGyver

Expect that your bills with TekSavvy will be messed up for the first month or two, as I've always experienced that when making a service change. Fortunately they're happy to cancel, correct, and reissue bills so please call them if you have any issues.

Alittlegreen
join:2008-07-24
Montreal, QC

1 edit

Alittlegreen to simsin0

Member

to simsin0
Couple of things....
1-Do you have a home alarm system that's currently being monitored by your POTS?
2-And you may wan to ask a mod to move this thread to »VOIP Tech Chat I had quite a bit of help when we did the switch from POTS to VoIP aswell.
3-do you regularly send and/or receive faxes?
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

Great point about the alarm.

Finding a solution that worked for me without requiring a POTS line took the longest of all. My alarm station needed to add IP monitoring and I was then able to get an adapter at home that converts the alarm board call into IP.
fparker
join:2008-04-28
Scarborough, ON

fparker

Member

how much did that adapter cost? Our solution was to switch to cell monitoring (hardware cost was one time cost of $300, plus generally $10 more per month for cell monitoring of alarm). Is there a price difference for IP monitoring?
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

It is a PCS300 Universal IP Reporting Module and I paid ~$100 if memory serves. This was roughly my dealer's cost. Sadly, I'm not sure that you can still get them.

There is no extra cost for me to use IP instead of POTS for my alarm monitoring. My cost (including taxes) has been $16.89 monthly since we got the system installed almost 8 years ago. I own all the h/w outright and have since day one.
NefCanuck
join:2007-06-26
Mississauga, ON

NefCanuck to simsin0

Member

to simsin0
Another trick, if you're comfortable with it, is using an iOS / Android cell phone with VOIP software and eliminating the ATA altogether. Now this may not work well for everyone, but as I live alone and am reasonably tech savvy I went this route.

The advantage is one less electronic device to worry about, the disadvantage is that if I'm off wifi the VOIP software is keeping the connection alive over LTE which eats into battery life like a starving man at an all you can eat buffet.

NefCanuck
simsin0
join:2008-01-06

simsin0

Member

Thats a good idea.

However this setup will be for many people. Therefor need the ATA connected to panasonic phone station with 3-4 wireless handsets.
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

Then you should be aware that if your panasonic phone station only has one line, only one of those people will be able to make or receive a call at a given time.
simsin0
join:2008-01-06

simsin0

Member

hmm. its a multi headset system for the same line.
like this: »www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/ ··· 8737en02

I understand that if I connect the ATA to the main Panasonic Base all the handsets will work on the same line.
I will have 1 main line as I had before with POTS but all the handsets will be able to use it as they get their signal from the Panasonic Base

Is that not correct?
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

Yup, you are correct... they will all use the one line.

I like the fact that if one of my handsets is being uses the others will ring or I will be able to make a call from the others.
simsin0
join:2008-01-06

simsin0

Member

aah i see what you mean like 1 APA 2 Vritual lines.

So essentially someone is talking on 1 handset, and someone calls virtual line 2 then other handset rings and I can pick up handset2 while handset 1 is in the midst of a different call.
iamhere
join:2013-01-26
canada

iamhere

Member

Correct but your phone needs to support that. I have 4 handsets tied to one base which supports 1 call through my ATA and 2 VoIP calls... simultaneously.