ATA unit

Once again I am looking at changing my broadband to a wireless system, so getting rid of my landline, I more or less made up my mind about what Voip provider I will use, that is sipgate, but not sure about the ATA unit.

i seen linksys and zoom around, i was looking for something a little cheaper, than £40 as it will not be used to often, but don't want to go cheap if the unit is no good.

any ideas?

thanks

You might wish to consider looking at some of the Siemens cordless phones with VoIP built in. I've got an a580 and its perfect. With the ata (analog telephone adaptors) you're often at the mercy of echo or similar. No such troubles here!

Sadly though they're over your budget; mine was £50. Well worth it though!

I used a Grandstream Handytone 386 for a few years until it failed, it was a good unit and if it had not become obsolete I would have got another. However the 286 is still available and I think I have seen it under £30.

The Linksys PAP2 is supposed to be good and can be found for a good price on Ebay.

I tried to find Siemens cordless voip phones, but not many around. i would go to £50 if need be. the a580 don't seem to exist now and have been replaced by one that cost over £100, certainly not going for that price.

it will only be used once a week if that.

thanks anyway

In reply to a post by TheHorseman:

I used a Grandstream Handytone 386 for a few years until it failed, it was a good unit and if it had not become obsolete I would have got another. However the 286 is still available and I think I have seen it under £30.

The Linksys PAP2 is supposed to be good and can be found for a good price on Ebay.

i had a look at a couple of grandstream products, they look pretty good to be honest, I also seen the Linksys PAP2 on ebay, about £20 and the description is in broken English, i think they are from China.

too cheap and sounds a bit iffy to be honest., but could be wrong.

Looks like I got lucky! WellI do have a spare linksys spa3102 which I could loan you for testing, would that be of any use?

I would definitely recommend using a SIP phone rather than an ATA. SIP phones offer a lot more features than using an analogue phone with an ATA (including HD-voice between 2 end points using SIP phones over a pure VoIP connection).

Yealink are an inexpensive provider and the one i currently use. The cheapest Yealink phone is around £45 but i'd recommend stepping up to at least the T20, but it may be out of your price range.

If you really want to go the ATA route then the OBi110 is probably the best choice. It allows you to use standard SIP providers with your analogue phone, but it also integrates with Google Talk so you can receive calls from Google Talk users on your phone and make free calls to the US (you can also create a free Google Voice account to get yourself a free US number that'll take calls via the OBi110).

In reply to a post by blueacid:

Looks like I got lucky! WellI do have a spare linksys spa3102 which I could loan you for testing, would that be of any use?

Thanks for the offer, that is kind of you since you don't know me, but I will decline.
for a couple of reasons, the main one being that I don't like borrowing stuff , the second is that as the moment i don't require it.
i still got a while to make up my mind tomorrow I am having a visit from the rep of the ISp I am looking at going to, if I decide to go for it, I t will take a couple of weeks for it to be put into place and then I got to sort out phone and old ISP.

TBH, i prefer not to bother, just get rid of phone line, and have no phone at home, but some people I know still phone my home phone and TBH, i don't want my work to know my mobile number.

That is why I don't want to spend a fortune as it is only for a few people including my Dad, but saying that he don't phone that often I phone him and he is thinking of getting a mobile and getting rid of his home phone.

In reply to a post by rhetherington:

I would definitely recommend using a SIP phone rather than an ATA. SIP phones offer a lot more features than using an analogue phone with an ATA (including HD-voice between 2 end points using SIP phones over a pure VoIP connection).

Yealink are an inexpensive provider and the one i currently use. The cheapest Yealink phone is around £45 but i'd recommend stepping up to at least the T20, but it may be out of your price range.

If you really want to go the ATA route then the OBi110 is probably the best choice. It allows you to use standard SIP providers with your analogue phone, but it also integrates with Google Talk so you can receive calls from Google Talk users on your phone and make free calls to the US (you can also create a free Google Voice account to get yourself a free US number that'll take calls via the OBi110).

thanks for the advice, I will have a look at the phones in more detail, but they seems to be corded, i prefer cordless so I can roam around the house will chatting. but saying that they will not be used that much.

the main reason i want a ATA unit is that I already got phones that cost me a fair bit and putting them in a box not to be used again seems a waste of money, not worth selling as they are getting on now.


The obi looks good to be honest,

You say about features, but what sort of features would I lose by useing a ATA?


Not sure about the Google thing to be honest, I got more than enough of my info stored with google, i only phone one person in the US and most of the time we use skype to skype anyway. But again thanks for the advice.


the one thing I need to do is decide if I am going for wireless broadband or wait until fibre come here.

Then another option is to go into an auction site or to the high street and get the cheapest simple phone there is. Chuck a cheap pay as you go sim card in: presto. A phone number you can give to work / similar without any concern.

You'll have plenty of change from £40, too.

Yeah, the Yealink phones are corded. There aren't too many VoIP DECT phones around; Gigaset, Snom and Panasonic are pretty much it i think.

Check to see if your existing DECT phones support the GAP standard (most do). If they do, you should be able to pair them with a Gigaset base station for at least basic calling, although some advanced features of the Gigaset may not be available. I used to have a Gigaset about 5 years ago and paired a cheap, generic £10 handset without problems.

With the OBi devices you don't have to use the Google Talk integration if you don't want, it's just the unique selling point of the OBi since no other ATA does it. I believe up to 2 SIP accounts can be set up on them. I think they also have some smartphone apps that let you dial into the OBi from your mobile and then make outgoing calls through it thus taking advantage of VoIP providers lower international rates, but i haven't really looked into it too deeply.

As for advantages of IP phones over ATAs there are quite a few, but i tend to use my IP phone as just a basic phone so i don't use them much. I do have 4 different SIP accounts set up and it's nice to see at a glance what line a call is coming in on. And as i mentioned before, you can get HD-voice (similar audio quality as a Skype to Skype call) on IP phones when the call is purely IP.

@blueacid, your idea is pretty good to be honest, I got a small unlocked Motorola phone that would do that job, just get a sim, but the problem is my Dad unless he gets a mobile.


@rhetherington

Again thanks for the info, yes my phones support gap as I got one of my old dect phones connected to it.

i had a chat with a person from the ISp I am looking at going to today and it sounds good to be honest, 24 month contract is the only downer and the £100 install fee as a unit needs to be put up onto the roof.

Because i will be going with the lower priced service to start with I will keep my home phone for a few months, so it will give me time to sort out a Voip system.

Hi peeps.

Ok, I have gone for the wireless broadband service, being installed a week Thursday and I have decided to go for a PAP2T-NA from ebay for £20, if it works then fine, if it don't then I wasted £20, but nothing major.

so we will see what it is like when it gets here.

Post deleted by billford

Advertising is not permitted.

I saw that in my email and did not think it was advert, but may have thought differently if i seen it on the forum


how can you have Virtual Voip, surly you still need a adaptor of some sort to connect the phone?

Had a bit of a problem with the adaptor cutting out after a couple of rings incoming, but sorted now, thanks to some new settings I found.

Roll on a week today and get the new broadband.