Choosing an ATA to take up AAISP VoIP

Hi All. I have partly moved to a FTTP with Giganet (until Zen sort out a local FEX) but my landline is still with Zen. I'd like to move to the AAISP VoIP £1.44/mo package as I use my landline for incoming calls almost invariably and that's much cheaper than PSTN line rental with Zen, and their own Digital Voice package is £6/mo.

I've been looking at ATAs, but I'm not sure how to differentiate between them other than raw cost. I have a BT3710 cordless unit with 3 phones I inherited from my sister when she moved and they work well enough, so I think it makes sense to stick with them? I know A&A sell a phone system to use with their VoIP but it's £120!

I know someone using a Cisco SPA112, and someone else here on the fora had an ATA191 in their sig. However Cisco seems like expensive overkill for my use case? That being said, I see a boxed one on eBay for 30 quid. I also saw someone else recommend trying to pick up a cheap Fritzbox 7530 from eBay and use that, I assume it can be used simply as an ATA of sorts? (± maybe as an access point, but I don't really want it as my main router)

I'm normally reasonably well versed in tech but telephony is one of my blind spots, so advice would be appreciated Cheers!

Grandstream do some relatively cheap ATAs that work reasonably well.

If I were you though, I'd replace the BT DECT basestation with a Gigaset N300A basestation (approx. £60) instead. Using an ATA introduces the possibility of echoeing on your calls and this is avoided by using a DECT system that has SIP support.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have seen references to the N300[A] on here and since it seems well-regarded it is tempting, but 60 quid for a base station alone seems steep. But if it's "buy once, works forever" (where forever is a reasonably long time like 10+ years) that's slightly more palatable and possibly more sensible than going the ATA route?

Absolutely go for a new DECT base with SIP. I have used an ATA in the past and trying to deal with echo was not fun, the base audio quality was just nowhere near as good either.

I've used an N300A (and still do) at home, and before that a Linksys ATA, and it was a nightmare by comparison. I was able to link an old BT DECT handset to the N300 as a less regularly used phone out in the garage too.

I've also used Yealink W60B at work - and that's also worked fine, and I feel is a bit more configurable too. Though those extra options are probably not really needed for home use.

Main takeaway is absolutely buy another DECT base with SIP support - it'll be the better solution, and will last you a long time.

Optionally buy the handsets to match too - but if you can live with the limitations you may find your existing handsets will do the job for you, keeping total costs down. Can always buy first-party handsets later if you feek the need.

Another vote for the Gigaset N300A here. I've had one for about 5 years now with A&A voice over several different ISPs and it works fine

Mine's been running for 7 years without an issue. If it did go wrong, I'd definitely replace it with another.

In reply to a post by bertieb2:

Hi All. I have partly moved to a FTTP with Giganet (until Zen sort out a local FEX) but my landline is still with Zen. I'd like to move to the AAISP VoIP £1.44/mo package as I use my landline for incoming calls almost invariably and that's much cheaper than PSTN line rental with Zen, and their own Digital Voice package is £6/mo.

I've been looking at ATAs, but I'm not sure how to differentiate between them other than raw cost. I have a BT3710 cordless unit with 3 phones I inherited from my sister when she moved and they work well enough, so I think it makes sense to stick with them? I know A&A sell a phone system to use with their VoIP but it's £120!

I know someone using a Cisco SPA112, and someone else here on the fora had an ATA191 in their sig. However Cisco seems like expensive overkill for my use case? That being said, I see a boxed one on eBay for 30 quid. I also saw someone else recommend trying to pick up a cheap Fritzbox 7530 from eBay and use that, I assume it can be used simply as an ATA of sorts? (± maybe as an access point, but I don't really want it as my main router)

I'm normally reasonably well versed in tech but telephony is one of my blind spots, so advice would be appreciated Cheers!

I pretty much universally recommend avoiding ATAs. They're almost always a total nightmare. Just get a VOIP capable DECT base and be done with it - Gigaset perfectly OK.

Well you've all convinced me, I'll bite the bullet and get the N300A! Will switch over to AAISP's VoIP as soon as it arrives.

Thanks for all the input

You won't regret it. I've had mine for 12 years with voipcheap.com as my outbound call provider. Last year migrated the landline to a&a VoIP just prior to taking fttp

Had a couple of handsets die over 12 years but plenty of options to replace with newer versions, the box itself just keeps going.
If you don't want an answerphone, go with the n300 rather than the n300a.

Look up lioness2000 on ebay. Its were I bought a Gigaset GO-Box 100 (same thing different model name)