[ltp] VOIP

[James Knott]

Dale Amon wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 29, 2004 at 09:25:20AM -0500, morpheus wrote:
> 
>>>>Has anyone here had experience with Vonage or Broadvoice?
>>>
>>>(snip)
>>
>>We use Vonage and the quality is so-so, though the price can't be beat.
>>You will occasionally have to reset the adapter because it randomly
>>loses the ability to send caller ID to the telephones.
>>They sent us a Motorola router with VoIP adapter built-in, so we use the
>>router as our router, and plug the phone port into one of our phone
>>jacks, then wire all the phone jacks together in the basement so we have
>>service to all the phone jacks in the house.
>>The voice quality of domestic calls is mostly good, though occasionally
>>you'll get dead air.  International calls are cheap but of very low
>>quality with high time lag and very often getting dead air.  Also, they
>>will sometimes lose their connection to certain countries for days
>>before they're able to restore it.
>>If you're willing to make compromises, you can save a lot of money.
> 
> 
> I'm not clear how this would work for me yet. I
> probably don't want to replace my service from NTL
> since I get my UK phone and broadband on the same
> cable.
> 
> What I'd like is to just use a hand set to appear as
> if I am a US local caller when I have to deal with
> my US clients. I beginning to think this won't work.
> When at home I'd need this:
> 
> handset -> box -> my firewall -> over the Atlantic -> Vonage
> and on to the phone system -> client
> 
> And how would it work when I am travelling in the US?
> 
> handset -> T22 -> box -> hotel firewall -> over the Atlantic the other
> direction -> my firewall -> switch box -> my firewall -> again over
> the Atlantic -> Vonage and on to the phone system -> client?
> 
> I'm not at all clear how this gets set up. I know I'm
> thinking like H323 here with my own switch inside my
> home LAN in Belfast and that doesn't quite sound like
> how this work.
> 
> My home Linux firewall is not something I'd think I
> could replicate with someone else's idea of a home
> user's router... I've got FreeSwan tunnels, local DNS,
> snort, etc, etc...
> 

Primus, one of the VoIP suppliers in North America, provides a box, 
which you can plug in anywhere that has high speed access.  This means 
your phone can follow you around the world.  Subscribers can get 
additional phone numbers at other locations, though I have no idea how 
you'd fit in, being on the wrong side of the pond.