Monday, July 04, 2005
Linksys PAP2 - out and about.
I thought I would try to see how little configuration I could get away with. A couple of posts by others suggested port forwarding to the PAP2 wasn't necessary and indeed after turning it off in my router (Belkin wireless ADSL jobbie) I can confirm this. Equally I don't have any ports for RTP streams open, and no STUN server settings.
I rebooted the beast this morning and it still worked, then rebooted the router too and that didn't affect it. Then I took it to the office and hooked it up behind an Intertex IX66 router without doing any port openings or forwarding - and it worked there too ! Granted some ports may have been open from previous VoIP efforts. So pretty robust and portable really.
All in all a success. The office DECT phone (BT Diverse 5310 - Siemens) would ring on incoming calls without the microfilter, it also showed the caller identity so CLID works fine too both in and out.
One thing that can catch you out is the lack of refresh on the Info page of the web interface - clicking on Info doesn't refresh it, it needs a browser refresh F5 to bring it up to date and show the current time and call / line status.
Its a bit clunky having a local 01780 incoming number as you can dial the VoIP number from BT locally without the 01780 code but to dial out over VoIP always needs the full dial code and number. I think a tweaking of the Dial Plan could fix this - insert 01780 in front of any number dialled that starts with a 7. Something else to learn how to do.
For VoIP to work in consumer land I think the ATA needs to be pre-configured to the account and tested before shipping. NAT routers could cause enough headaches without the poor user having to learn to setup the ATA.
I can see why people are shipping ADSL modem/routers with VoIP functions built in - better Quality of Service and no NAT workaround issues. Sipgate are selling a router / ATA from AVM for £120 that provides two analogue phone VoIP ports as well as the usual ADSL modem/router functions. Appears to have some integration of the analogue PSTN phone line too.
I rebooted the beast this morning and it still worked, then rebooted the router too and that didn't affect it. Then I took it to the office and hooked it up behind an Intertex IX66 router without doing any port openings or forwarding - and it worked there too ! Granted some ports may have been open from previous VoIP efforts. So pretty robust and portable really.
All in all a success. The office DECT phone (BT Diverse 5310 - Siemens) would ring on incoming calls without the microfilter, it also showed the caller identity so CLID works fine too both in and out.
One thing that can catch you out is the lack of refresh on the Info page of the web interface - clicking on Info doesn't refresh it, it needs a browser refresh F5 to bring it up to date and show the current time and call / line status.
Its a bit clunky having a local 01780 incoming number as you can dial the VoIP number from BT locally without the 01780 code but to dial out over VoIP always needs the full dial code and number. I think a tweaking of the Dial Plan could fix this - insert 01780 in front of any number dialled that starts with a 7. Something else to learn how to do.
For VoIP to work in consumer land I think the ATA needs to be pre-configured to the account and tested before shipping. NAT routers could cause enough headaches without the poor user having to learn to setup the ATA.
I can see why people are shipping ADSL modem/routers with VoIP functions built in - better Quality of Service and no NAT workaround issues. Sipgate are selling a router / ATA from AVM for £120 that provides two analogue phone VoIP ports as well as the usual ADSL modem/router functions. Appears to have some integration of the analogue PSTN phone line too.
# posted by PhilT @ 4:47 PM 
