VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (voip)

January 10, 2006

Simple setup for VoIP

DECEMBER 06, 2005

WIDESPREAD broadband internet use has opened the door to massive savings on ordinary telecoms.

As usual with a popular new technology there are many ways to skin a cat.
The softphone approach (with the phone just some software and a headset connected to a computer) is popular with travellers, while those who want a permanent connection at home or in the office may choose a hardware box - a device such as the Engin Voice Box Series 2, that sits on top of a landline and connects to both a typical home handset, and via ethernet directly to a broadband router.

The advantage of this setup is that you can use your ordinary landline handset or DECT cordless to make and receive calls locally or around the world.

Many providers such as GOtalk and Skype provide toll-free, untimed voice connections (Skype to Skype) for users anywhere in the world, but costs apply when you want to call someone’s landline or mobile.

Cleverly, this has been arranged so that in most cases the caller pays only for the connection from the out point (where the call materialises in the real world of telecommunications) usually for the cost of a local call.

Hardware configurations range from the straightforward to the seriously technical.

Here we look at two versions that were, with just a couple of hiccups, seriously easy to set up and use.

Engin Voice Box Series 2

WHILE it sounds like it might be some sort of computerised larynx, the Engin Voice Box 2 is in fact a voice over internet protocol application.

It follows on the heels of the company’s Voice Box 1, and adds some new features, most spectacularly something called Anywhere Connect.

Using this feature, you can make cheap voice calls over the internet from a mobile or landline.

You just dial into your Engin Voice Box from wherever you happen to be.

After keying in a password you are then free to route the call through your Engin box (for the price of your connection to the box) to anywhere in the world.

The Voice Box 2 was easy to set up, at least for making calls, although the box itself must be connected simultaneously to a standard wall phone line, to a power source, to a DECT cordless or landline phone, and via an ethernet cable, to a router with an active broadband connection.

If you happen to have all those things you can be making your first net phone call within minutes of opening the box.

My broadband-connected computer and router are in a room with no phone connection to the outside world, which meant stringing a whole lot of RJ11 cable down the stairs and around the corner.

Once that physical problem was solved, the documentation that came with the Voice Box 2 made light work of the rest of the connection process.

It prefers your router and the Voice Box to be turned off for set up.

Then it’s just a matter of connecting the router, the phone, the line and the power cable and turning everything on.

As always with a brand new technology, that’s the moment when you kind of cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Bingo, with no configuration or fiddly setup troubles, the Voice Box whirred a little, its green light flickered, I’d swear it emitted something like a digital cough, and before you could say, “Get me Memphis, Tennessee”, my trusty old DECT cordless phone had a dial tone like no other.

This otherworldy dial tone was a satisfying harbinger of cheap calls to follow, via the net, anywhere from here to Timbuktu.

There is nothing quite so satisfying as a brand-new technology that just works. Happily, for making outward calls, the Engin Voice Box 2 is in that category.

However, when it came to receiving calls (which is also the key to the famous Anywhere Connect feature), my luck didn’t hold.

Received calls were a no show — just a funny engaged signal was the best I could get.

A call to tech support, which was answered in the middle of a working day within about five minutes, revealed that the problem was my router, which apparently contains a firewall all its own (who knew?) that was blocking the incoming calls.

Helpful Phil at Engin tech support was prepared to walk me through the whole process of reconfiguring the firewall. I played along with the first few phases of this, which involved getting an automated read back of the numbers in the router’s internet protocol address, but we hit a snag when a password that I didn’t know existed (never mind what it was) was required to proceed.

I could have got this from my internet service provider, and friendly Phil was prepared to wait on the line while I called them and waited in their queue, but I chose to be satisfied with cheap calls from home.

If I were going to be a real customer, though, I’d make those calls - a small price to pay for dirt-cheap international calls for the foreseeable future.

SPECIFICATIONS
Price: $229
Features: Switchback keeps connection if power fails by switching back to landline. Landline Ring Through allows two incoming phone numbers on one handset.
Web: www.engin.com.au
Score: 4/5

NetComm V100

MYNETFONE’S NetComm V100 VoIP Telephone Adaptor package is aimed at people who want a minimum of messing about to set up themselves up for internet telephony.

The $129 package comes with a NetComm V100 voice over internet protocol adapter, an ethernet cable, RJ11 telephone cable, a comprehensive quick start guide, power pack and CD-ROM with a configuration utility.

To get into net phone calling you will need to add a broadband internet service (cable or ADSL), and a router with its DHCP server running, and any ordinary old analogue telephone handset or cordless phone.

Out of the box, the V100 is set up for the Mynetfone VoIP service. A basic Mynetfone account with an internet protocol telephone number and $5 worth of calls is included.

The V100 unit is about the size of a small, dial-up modem (96mm by 30mm by 115mm) and doesn’t chew up much desktop space. It features three blue LEDs on the front to indicate whether broadband link is working, whether the phone is active, and the power state.

The review unit was set up on a system with Optus cable broadband as the internet access provider, a D-Link wireless broadband four-port router and a basic analogue handset.

Installation is simple. Plug the phone into the RJ11 socket on the back of the V100, run the supplied ethernet cable from the port on the V100 to a spare port on the router, plug in the power and then wait a few seconds while the unit initialises.

Pick up the handset and you should be rewarded with a dial tone.

At this point, calls can be made for free to other internet protocol accounts or out to the public switched network, where charges apply. Local calls on the PSTN are 10c, untimed, while national calls are 10c per minute, capped at $1.50 for 100 minutes.

International calls start at 2c per minute.

One gotcha with the basic account supplied with the package is that while others can call you VoIP to VoIP, PSTN callers cannot reach you. Enabling calls from PSTN callers means shifting the Mynetfone account to the next plan up.

With the broadband network used for the review on idle, calls to the PSTN were clear and devoid of the echo effect than sometimes dogs net phone services.

The next test involved pumping some traffic through the broadband connection and then making a call.

The two PCs on the network were both put to work downloading a large file and playing some streaming video. With the broadband service under load, another call was placed to the same PSTN number and this time call quality was affected.

This call sounded muffled, with a hint of echo, but was still audible.

The V100 was also tested using a wireless network adapter, which allows the unit to be situated away from the router. Calls were clear under light network loads but were very muffled, with echo, under heavier loads.

SPECIFICATIONS
Price: $129
Features: Basic, easy set-up package for cheap calls on broadband. No quality of service smarts, so not suitable for businesses that need a professional image.
Web: www.mynetfone.com.au
Score: 4/5

- Ian Cuthbertson (Engin), Stuart Kennedy (V100)

The Australian