Thats what I did.

Bought a Grandstream phone, plugged it into my router.

Signed up with Sipgate, ported my landline number across, cancelled the original number they gave me and job done.

And because I have installed Zoiper on my mobile, my landline calls also ring on my mobile.

And how does that relate to Zen (or you were with them and left - for whatever reason?)

sebus

In reply to a post by sebus:

And how does that relate to Zen (or you were with them and left - for whatever reason?)

sebus

Im still with Zen The ISP doesnt matter. I have a VOIP product with a digitial handset on my landline number that costs me nothing a month as I signed up over a year ago.

It costs nothing (to rent I assume)
Because outgoing calls cost something (no matter when you subscribed?)

Irrespective of VoIP provider (or any voice provider for that matter), you’ll pay for outbound calls either via the monthly sub charge for the account (if there is one), an add on calls package or ad hoc per call.

Whichever is the ‘best’ option is very much dependent on one’s personal situation.

Did you ever get this sorted? A lot of people here making claims like 'you need the fritzbox' are talking rubbish. I've been running Zen DV without a fritzbox since day 1 - Zen even provide their SIP server settings for exactly this purpose - they just won't hold your hand through setting it up.

I have been using a Grandstream ATA with Zen's Digital Voice for a while now (very complex but not impossible) and just swapped over to a Yealink VOIP Base + DECT phone combo which was a lot easier to set up.

All the chuff in this thread is nonsense. You can easily set up a third party phone to work with Zen's SIP service - Zen provide your password in the 'classic' account area so no need to go wiresharking anything.

Beyond that settings are very simple, the Yealink doesn't need config beyond user/pass for example.

Much like you I have the ONT connected by PPPoE to my home Router directly and don't use the Fritzbox. I also have a lot of internal networking and didn't want to add the Zen router as a middle useless step. The VOIP/SIP and DECT phone setup to add it on the 'other' side of the router wasn't too hard.

Let me know if you want some tips - obviously my familiarity is with the Yealink system but I think the Gigaset phones are very similar.

Edited by aod1985 (Sat 05-Aug-23 12:12:01)

Has anyone got Zen DV working with Acrobits Softphone or Groundwire? Have got it working on my Mac with Telephone app, but cannot get it working on IOS despite exact same settings.

Boy have I been banging my head against this one. I thought to myself "Digital Voice is just VOIP, right, how hard can it be"... Given there's a massive mandatory national switch you'd think there'd be tonnes of info online about it too, but no, everything's top secret, hush, hush, need to know.

After much back and forth with Zen I managed to get them to agree I *could* continue to use my own equipment, but that I really really shouldn't because then they can't support you. Ok great, that's wonderful, please can I have the connection details now - "oh, we can't do that" - sigh. I just need to know what they are so I can sort it myself, but what little information there is online is contradictory at best. And no Zen, I do not want to use your silly little Fritz!box that is worse in every single way then the rest of my kit, especially when I'd have to upend my entire network to do so. (I did end up having to plug it in for a bit, to make sure Digital Voice was working).

Anyway, what I've discovered is:
- it turns out the SIP password is in the Zen portal, but not in the new Portal. You can only find it if you click through "Return to old Portal" (the old portal being something they're getting rid of pretty soon by all accounts).
- The SIP settings here: https://www.zen.co.uk/help-support/general-sip-setti... do not work, at least not for me. I can make outgoing calls (or to be more precise I can dial out, I've not actually tried answering a call) but can't receive incoming calls.

I'm running OPNsense on my own hardware (in front of a BTOpenreach modem) with the ports open they specify and have tried setting up with Linphone and microSIP to no avail. That's both with the Zen specified settings and modified with a combination with the info AAISP publish: https://support.aa.net.uk/Category:VoIP_Phones.

I'm a bit stuck now, sorely tempted just to flip the number to AAISP just because they actually support you. But that's an extra monthly cost we could really do without.

Edited by drmegalomaniac (Mon 04-Sep-23 21:44:01)

In reply to a post by drmegalomaniac:

with the ports open they specify

With SIP you shouldn't need to open any ports.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by drmegalomaniac:

with the ports open they specify

With SIP you shouldn't need to open any ports.

It depends the details of how the SIP client registers with the server.

The Fritz!box when used as the ISP router is by its nature exposed on the incoming connection so it always has access to traffic that would be filtered by a default block inbound.

A SIP client often uses STUN/ICE/TURN and can ask the router to create (IPv4) port forwarding on demand for the signalling and media traffic flows but only if the corresponding service (e.g. UPnP/NAT-PMP/PCP) is enabled on the router.

A SIP client that registers with the provider's server as a NAT proxy (IPv4) can maintain a connection that supports incoming calls though it may need a keepalive to hold the connection open beyond default timeouts.

There are other variations of SIP-like protocols which provide the traversal and/or keepalive features.
Many providers will assume the home router is going to be a problem to be worked around including directions to disable SIP ALG features.

However in the original vanilla type of SIP the incoming calls would not reach a client behind NAT without the co-operation of the router/firewall, or a separate SIP gateway (such as a session border controller in an enterprise context).

Edited by prlzx (Mon 04-Sep-23 23:07:07)