Sipgate... Hardware options or an alternative

Hi.. I have browsed through this forum from time to time and the one
before it.

I know sometimes Sipgate is used as a swear word on this forum but for
our particular use it is wonderful. The saving is considerable with no
monthly charge or joining fee. Having just changed electricity/gas
supplier I'm in the mood for checking out other household suppliers for
cheap/better alternatives. Prior to Sipate we were paying over £50 a
quarter in international calls. Our BT bills are now just line rental
and the occasional local/national call.

We took up a PC Format offer to join Sipgate and have used it for
longer than I can remember and set up two geographical telephone
numbers, both 01223 3. One is ours and the other we manage for my
partners parents in Spain. The numbers are used primarily for England
to Spain calls and allow both households to call each other at a very
cheap rates, particularly from my partner's parents point of view as it
enables them to call their friends and family in the UK and only pay
the Sipgate national rate, having a UK geographical number.

We do not do the Sipgate to Sipgate calls as it requires both computers
to be on and, although our Sipgate works on our cordless DECT phones
throughout the house, when our PC is on, theirs is only a mic/headset
arrangement and their office is a long way from the living area.

Is there any cheap hardware around that would enable a link into the
existing 'house' telephone system that doesn't require a PC to be
running somewhere. We both have multiple port routers and 3+ cordless
DECT phones each.

Thanks...

Justin

In article <1160053401.249168.102180@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>,
Justin <Gatecrasher@talk21.com> wrote:

>Is there any cheap hardware around that would enable a link into the
>existing 'house' telephone system that doesn't require a PC to be
>running somewhere. We both have multiple port routers and 3+ cordless
>DECT phones each.

An ATA.

Ethernet one side, analog phone socket on the other. (Which you can
plug a DECT phone into)

Examples at:

http://www.sipgate.co.uk/voipshop/adapters

or

http://www.voiptalk.org/products/Analogue+VoIP+Adaptors

Gordon

"Gordon Henderson" <gordon@lion.drogon.net> wrote in
message news:eg31s4$2k7$1@lion.drogon.net
> In article
> <1160053401.249168.102180@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>,
> Justin <Gatecrasher@talk21.com> wrote:
>
> > Is there any cheap hardware around that would enable a
> > link into the existing 'house' telephone system that
> > doesn't require a PC to be running somewhere. We both
> > have multiple port routers and 3+ cordless DECT phones
> > each.
>
> An ATA.
>
> Ethernet one side, analog phone socket on the other.
> (Which you can plug a DECT phone into)

Or you can do what I do and plug the ATA outputs into spare exchange line
ports on a PABX, but that's probably overkill for most people ;-)

Ivor

Justin wrote:

>[snip]

> Justin
>
I would consider voip.co.uk aswell if I were you.. No monthly charge and
option to join their £1.99 free UK phonecall option should you find you
need to make more phone calls. You also get a free local area number,
similar to sipgate.

Scope wrote:
> Justin wrote:
>
> >[snip]
>
> > Justin
> >
> I would consider voip.co.uk aswell if I were you.. No monthly charge and
> option to join their £1.99 free UK phonecall option should you find you
> need to make more phone calls. You also get a free local area number,
> similar to sipgate.

Have you seen the answers I have been given in a previous post to
yours?
looks like we are looking for the same solution.

Thanks for the interest everyone. Which is thread are you referring
too?

The ATA solution sounds expensive. I was kind of hoping that someone
had brought out a more realistically priced model. At £50 thats
equivalent to me running my PC for 800 hours of telephone calls.

Are there any routers will this facility built in as I might be in the
market for a new adsl modem/router?


On Oct 6, 7:25 am, "speckled hen" <david.hol...@talk21.com> wrote:
> Scope wrote:
> > Justin wrote:
>
> > >[snip]
>
> > > Justin
>
> > I would consider voip.co.uk aswell if I were you.. No monthly charge and
> > option to join their £1.99 free UK phonecall option should you find you
> > need to make more phone calls. You also get a free local area number,
> > similar to sipgate.Have you seen the answers I have been given in a previous post to
> yours?
> looks like we are looking for the same solution.

"Justin" <Gatecrasher@talk21.com> wrote in message
news:1160125852.431825.327090@m7g2000cwm.googlegro ups.com...
Thanks for the interest everyone. Which is thread are you referring
too?

The ATA solution sounds expensive. I was kind of hoping that someone
had brought out a more realistically priced model. At £50 thats
equivalent to me running my PC for 800 hours of telephone calls.

Are there any routers will this facility built in as I might be in the
market for a new adsl modem/router?


£40 is the absolute cheapest with non-adsl router. Some at that price can
be a bit challenging to set up though (avoid Grandstream for example)

If you want an adsl router, you will need something like
http://www.sipgate.co.uk/voipshop/av...ox_fon_for_dsl.

If you also want wifi try
http://www.sipgate.co.uk/voipshop/avm/fritzbox_fon_wlan. I have the one up
from this but they operate on the same principles.

"Tony Blare" <µçÓ°@ÊÖúÁæ»åÉù?.invalid> wrote in message
news:n9qdi2l6t7f3nk36ajcq8e0ojqmm0shtnm@4ax.com
> On 5 Oct 2006 06:03:21 -0700, Justin wrote:
>
> > I know sometimes Sipgate is used as a swear word on
> > this forum but for our particular use it is wonderful.
> > The saving is considerable with no monthly charge or
> > joining fee.
>
> I've never understood sipgate charging. Looking at their
> website suggests you need to sign up to sipgate 1000 @
> £5.99 / month. Minutes can't be rolled over to another
> month. If you make a small number of calls, it doesn't
> sound like a good deal at all.

You don't *have* to use the 1000 minutes option, it's just that, an
option. It's of use if you make that many minutes of calls in a month,
otherwise it isn't..! Just pay as you go -
https://secure.sipgate.co.uk/user/tarife.php

If most of your calls are to other Sipgate users, or to users of networks
with a peering agreement, as mine are, then the calls will be free.

Ivor

"Tony Blare" <µçÓ°@ÊÖúÁæ»åÉù?.invalid> wrote in message
news:u4jei2lgj6ibcqdn62ogbq5j27jf9h94q9@4ax.com
> On Sat, 7 Oct 2006 02:13:09 +0100, Ivor Jones wrote:
>
> > You don't *have* to use the 1000 minutes option, it's
> > just that, an option. It's of use if you make that many
> > minutes of calls in a month, otherwise it isn't..! Just
> > pay as you go -
> > https://secure.sipgate.co.uk/user/tarife.php
>
> Ah, they don't make the non-sipgate1000 option terribly
> clear. So are you saying I can load my account with
> credit and then use up the credit on a pay as you go
> basis? If so, what's the minimum amount of credit I can
> add. Also will remaining credit run on indefinitely till
> it runs out (without the end of the month loss like
> sipgate1000)?

£10 and it lasts indefinitely, it will not run out. I still have credit on
my accounts that was added when I opened them almost 2 years ago..!

Note that on the *first* occasion that you credit an account, you'll have
to call the sipgate number 10200 from your sipgate account and enter the
provided security code. This only applies if using a credit/debit card.

> I wish they would make the website clearer for those of
> us who might sign up but don't want the sipgate1000
> option.

Hmm, can you explain why you thought it was required to use the 1000
option..? I can't see anything that implies it's not merely an option. It
says quite clearly on the tariff page on the left hand side "Tariff
options: Sipgate 1000".


Ivor

The Sipgate 1000 is actually pretty good if you think you will be home a
lot. You can turn the 1000 on and off on a monthly basis so if I know I am
going to be making an unusually large number of calls I activate it, then
turn it off again next month for normal family usage. I mean anyway six quid
is not like you have to make a big financial forecast.

"Joe Harrison" <newscontrol@crylo.com> wrote in message
news:4gMVg.2805$pa.157@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net
> The Sipgate 1000 is actually pretty good if you think you
> will be home a lot. You can turn the 1000 on and off on a
> monthly basis so if I know I am going to be making an
> unusually large number of calls I activate it, then turn
> it off again next month for normal family usage. I mean
> anyway six quid is not like you have to make a big
> financial forecast.

I've probably not spent much more than 6 quid on PSTN calls since I
started on Sipgate two years ago, and that's spread over 4 accounts..!

Ivor

Justin <Gatecrasher@talk21.com> wrote:
>
>The ATA solution sounds expensive. I was kind of hoping that someone
>had brought out a more realistically priced model. At £50 thats
>equivalent to me running my PC for 800 hours of telephone calls.

If you don't mind being tied to Sipgate, Staples have the Netgear ATA on
clearance (which unfortunately is locked to Sipgate) for under 30
pounds. It does come with bundled minutes.

<M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4bjli21a9d7ovk4fptm771tcfm042qkk4p@4ax.com
> On Mon, 9 Oct 2006 22:18:03 +0100,
> markinglenospam@nospamfastmail.fm (Mark Ingle) wrote:
>
> > Justin <Gatecrasher@talk21.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > The ATA solution sounds expensive. I was kind of
> > > hoping that someone had brought out a more
> > > realistically priced model. At £50 thats equivalent
> > > to me running my PC for 800 hours of telephone calls.
> >
> > If you don't mind being tied to Sipgate, Staples have
> > the Netgear ATA on clearance (which unfortunately is
> > locked to Sipgate) for under 30 pounds. It does come
> > with bundled minutes.
> You sure about this Mark I only ask because I have just
> trawled through the clearance pages and others besides on
> the staples site and found no mention of this item . This
> did not surprise me actually I never thought a UK
> supplier would stock any equipment that even mentioned
> the name of Sipgate, Staples don't even stock Vonage
> ATA's anymore .

They do, I have seen it in my local Staples. Being locked isn't a problem
any more as Sipgate do now provide an unlocking option on their website.
However doing this does mean you will not be eligible to tech support if
you use it on Sipgate.

Ivor

<M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:66sli2dasdminp9bfuth7lr5t7bs77th55@4ax.com
> On Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:43:49 +0100, "Ivor Jones"
> <ivor@despammed.invalid> wrote:
>
>
> > They do, I have seen it in my local Staples.
> No ATA's of any description mentioned on their web site
> Ivor .
> and our local store doesn't have them anymore and now
> Vonage do not list any UK stockist's like they used to do


The website doesn't list everything. The Netgear boxes were on clearance
so were probably taken out of the catalogue.

Ivor

<M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> You sure about this Mark I only ask because I have just trawled
> through the clearance pages and others besides on the staples site
> and found no mention of this item . This did not surprise me actually
> I never thought a UK supplier would stock any equipment that even
> mentioned the name of Sipgate, Staples don't even stock Vonage ATA's
> anymore .

There are two Staples shops in my town (Leicester) and both had the
Netgear Sipgate one (I actually bought one but didn't realise it was
locked so had to return it).

One of them also had a Vonage Linksys on clearance for 25 pounds. I did
consider buying this and getting it unlocked, but decided against it in
case the unlocking attempt was unsuccessful.

If you have other Staples shops in your area, it may be worth phoning
them up, especially if apparently you can now unlock them.

"Mark Ingle" <markinglenospam@nospamfastmail.fm> wrote in
message
news:1hn0lf6.bjd8ktnpd0ivN%markinglenospam@nospamf astmail.fm

[snip]

> There are two Staples shops in my town (Leicester) and
> both had the Netgear Sipgate one (I actually bought one
> but didn't realise it was locked so had to return it).
>
> One of them also had a Vonage Linksys on clearance for 25
> pounds. I did consider buying this and getting it
> unlocked, but decided against it in case the unlocking
> attempt was unsuccessful.
>
> If you have other Staples shops in your area, it may be
> worth phoning them up, especially if apparently you can
> now unlock them.

You can certainly unlock them via the Sipgate website, the only downside
is that you will lose any entitlement to Sipgate tech support, but of
course that isn't a problem if you use another provider, that being the
whole point of unlocking..!

Ivor