uConnect VOIP adapter

A while ago I bought a uConnect VOIP adapter on eBay. Almost pocket sized, a USB connection with a BT socket in the side to plug a phone in, no external power required. I thought it would be ideal for use as a SIP phone when we go out and about with a laptop using mobile broadband. Plus a normal phone in and off it should go.

All connects up OK, but it seems it is only for use on SKYPE? The instructions with it are minimal, I've printed off the manual from the CD and that tells me nothing either.

Can it be made to work as a VOIP device using SIP ?

We have SIP trunks, proper phone numbers and calls between devices on the same network are free, which is why we do not want SKYPE.

Skype is not VoIP as we know it so wait until Microsoft give it some publicity and put it bac on Ebay!

Meldrew

OK - in that case, are there some good, easy to use, VOIP adapters out there? I have a Comrivox Flextor UTA-151 at home (and one at the office) but it only allows incoming calls. No matter what I do, I cannot dial out. That's why I got the uConnect to try. It was cheap, but only seems to work with Skype, hence asking.

The other box I've used is a Grandstream HT286 on a hospital network where it connected a phone to the bedside entertainment network - not much of a clue how it was set up to be honest. It was provided, we just plugged it in and connected a phone.

What I need it the ability to have a box connected to the router, but not needing the PC to be on, that will handle VOIP calls using 'proper' phones. The Camrivox filled that role nicely but they no longer support it so finding out how to get outgoing calls isn't easy and I suspect the only logical route it to dump it for something else.

SIP VoIP doesn't work on mobile BB because the MBB providers block the necessary ports !
Apparently 3 does not, but I am not so sure.

For SIP VoIP adapter you may want Linksys PAPT2, though a Siemens DECT and Dual VoIP phone may be better.
Have look at the shop on sipgate.co.uk, who are also very good VoIP service provider.
Regards,
Martin

As for as I am aware there are no longer budget priced ATAs available, only units pitiched at a price almost the same as a dedicated VoIP wireless unit [which will also accept an analogue service as well]. A pity really because an ATA is useful if you have legacy analogue wireless units that are worth keeping.

Having VoIP functionality in the router is a particular bonus and doesn't cost a lot more over the basic price. What I do find particularly annoying are those units which lock you into a particular SIP provider by having hidden configuration pages requiring a hack to access. BT and Orange routers come to mind on that one.

I have a soft VoIP phone on my laptop which works just fine when connected to a wired network but voice quality is poor/unusable when using wireless.

Thanks Martin,
martinsq > SIP VoIP doesn't work on mobile BB because the MBB providers block the necessary ports !
We've had VOIP calls working fine on mobile, we're using Orange. We've made calls between the laptop on mobile back to the office, to my home, and to another SIP enabled laptop on someone else's network.We've also received calls from the office, different mobile phones and landlines, as well as from the other laptop.
It's just the quality that lets it down at present. I'm going to do a field test next week to see if my ideas work to 'broadcast live' using a more stable setup than walking round with a laptop.

martinsq> Linksys PAP2 ATA
I've looked at it, thanks for the link, seems to be what we need - despite the higher price compared to the other ATA's we've bought to date. I've looked at the shop pages of the site you suggest, price seems OK as long as they include delivery, otherwise a well known online auction site comes in cheaper

martinsq> Sipgate
We tried them. Our current provider has a lot more options but, as I've pointed out in another post, it's business only. You have to send proof. We're a Ltd company so passed that bit OK. No problems with what we had on Sipgate and I can see that's a good option for a lot of users.

trolleybus> As for as I am aware there are no longer budget priced ATAs available
Say thanks to Martin for the Cisco Linksys reference
Thinking back, we had a BT Voyager router that did VOIP, no idea if we could set that up again and adapt it for what we need - I take it that's what you mean by needing to hack the configuration?
You may have pointed me in the right direction as to why we get bad quality voice from the mobile/laptop - we've been using a soft phone on screen. If only the uConnect device had worked, that would have been good to use in that situation, and a 'proper' phone rather than a headset.
Having said that, the voice quality of the headset must be better than a telephone ?

Step by step we're getting there. Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

Seems to me that the VoIP softphone (which one, uConnect or other ?) you are using is getting around the MBB port blocking, which would is of interest to me as I also use Orange MBB.
The harwired VoIP equipment can't do that, which is possibly why you only get one way calls ?

If you still looking for cheap hardware I would recommend Draytek 2800VG router(s),
which sell on eBay for £25 (often even less or the NON WiFi 2800V).
Someone is even trying to sell 10 of them for ever decreasing price.
They can also take MBB dongle,
(you would need the expensive 2820V / VG for the latest dongles).
Regards,
Martin

In reply to a post by martinsq:

Seems to me that the VoIP softphone (which one, uConnect or other ?) you are using is getting around the MBB port blocking, which would is of interest to me as I also use Orange MBB.

The soft phone in use on the laptops is Qutecom, two way calls, no problems so far. No ATA attached at all, just bare Qutecom and use the laptop soundcard with a headset attached.

Qutecom has a habit of falling over now and again, but restarts fine. Mainly the issues are if you mis-dial and have to abort a call, it may abort if you retry the call. Just load the software up again and we've been fine for days on end on a PC we've got configured at the studio end to take the incoming calls.

I didn't have to set any special ports up either, our SIP trunk allows for connections behind a NAT when we're connected at the studio on a LAN.

In reply to a post by martinsq:

The harwired VoIP equipment can't do that, which is possibly why you only get one way calls ?

That figures. We really wanted to do hard wired, so we don't need a PC on all the time. The Comrivox boxes are fine for incoming though. Would have been better for mobile work as we would rather have a proper phone in use than a headset. OK, so you can get USB phones, I know, but more expense at this stage.

In reply to a post by martinsq:

Draytek 2800VG router(s)

This would be for back at the office, not mobile. But that would knock us back to G standard for the wi-fi? I take it we would have to put this in as the main router for it to work, experience tells me that using a router as a hub is not a good idea.

The non wi-fi version are more expensive it seems. Then again, no room (or cash) for 10 of the others at £300 quid when the same guy is selling them individually at £24.95

TBH the Linksys seems a better option for us. Prefer to use the ATA separate to being a router, I seem to remember moving away from the BT voyager for that reason. We dropped the BT 05 line a couple of years back as it hardly ever worked for outgoing calls, and we were paying for the option.

One of the nice features we have now is the ability to dial an extension number as all the SIP ports are their own number, so I can use the laptop to call 1000, which is the main studio, or 2000, which is my home port, and so on. Each trunk has a proper number, if not more than one.

Better still, I have a Nokia E5 and with Orange it give me UMA (now called signal boost). My office is inside a building with walls 7 bricks thick, no mobile signal. It's not that good outside come to that. I get full mobile operation PLUS it does SIP too.

Yes, I have a SIP trunk and number assigned to my mobile but have made sure it only connects when on signal boost connection, not on regular Orange. Again, incoming calls only, I cannot dial out via the Nokia. Well, I can, but it does not connect to anything. The call shows on the account logfile but the remote phone does not ring. Pity, would have been a laugh to make a call from my mobile to the studio that came up on CLID with Birmingham or something.

Such a pity that the uConnect gadget is skype only, I read the description as being VOIP as well but cannot find any further info on how to do that.

If I wanted our callers to know we're using VOIP I'd give out a skype address and restrict it to PC users - the option we have allows people to use a normal phone, or mobile, to call us on a local number. That's the image we need to give out. I wonder if It is worth re-listing the uConnect to sell it? Hardly worth the hassle.

Some Zoom routers have a Voip port which works just as well as an ordinary phone. I got a non wireless one off Ebay and added an equally cheap Home Hub as a wireless access point.

With voipcheap.com I even had my own phone number but for no apparent reason it disappeared and I was reluctant to pay one euro for another one!!

Meldrew