Voip To Pstn

[sajal]

for the past one hour ive been searchin for a solution but cant get one...

the thing is, i want to use my phone line in bangkok from anywhere in the world.

i need a box[\b] which can connect to my router(connected with adsl) and also have a port for the regular phone line.

now i wanna use PC to access the phone line when i am on travel, make local calls to bangkok from anywhere in the world....send faxes to bangkok.

i know this is pretty easy to do thru a computer, but i dont want to set up a desktop computer for only this reason and i would require someone to manage the computer also....

i wanna install one such setup in my home country also.

pls dont recomend any VOIP service providers as calls made to my home country r really noisy and its too expensive also...

i would be saving a lot if i can get a solution as its a one time cose + monthly broadband charges....and the fact that currently my bill for only calls made to my home country is around 30,000 to 50,000 baht/month...

[sajal]

after countless hours of googling i have founf the stipura SPA 3000 ( http://sipura.com/products/spa3000.htm )

maybe will order from ebay $95.99.

any one has any experience with this product?

any know any similar products for me to compare?

no mention of wether itll b compatible in thailand....if it would then its a gr8 deal....i may get few or em...

PS: a lil off topic here but will the customs charge me duty if its mentioned as "sample of no commercial value" on the waybill?

[jonboy]

Not a reply just a marker(sorry)to see what the response is to this(very interesting).

[klrsmith]

Hi devil_dog,

Sorry for the delay, I've been working some of those 80 hour weeks lately...

Let me see if I understand what you are asking...

As you roam the planet, you'd like to be able to use the phone line back home in BKK to call outbound (Just like you do when your at home)?

Well, there are plenty of ATA's like the sipura's, linksys PAP2's, Grandstream, Cisco ATA-186/188, etc around that might fit your needs, and most likely in the range of $45-$100. You would only need ONE of those if you just want to connect back home for dialing... that's what you would take with you on the road. You simply plug the ethernet cable from a high speed connection into the LAN port and a standard $3 Radio Shack phone into the "Line 1" or "phone" port.

Now, your PC back home in BKK would need some software and a card (similar to an internal modem card) that plugs into the phone line at home. Said software (your IP PBX) would allow your device to register to it, and when calls are placed, the software sends the request out the analog port (FXO port) on that card. It's the configuration of that software that maybe sticky - but let me make a suggestion:

Download Asterisk PBX software (OpenSource, runs on Linux, and it's free and widely supported via forums) read more about it at asterisk.org - one company that makes an "out of the box" solution is Xorcom (I actually have their software installed in my lab in Virginia and use it for testing voicemail waiting indications on the commercial software that I support).

You can download an .ISO image from here:

http://www.xorcom.com/download.html

Burn that to a cd, and then you can boot it up in an intel based PC which will start the install - this also includes Debian Linux as part of the install, and it will WIPE OUT existing data - so it should be a spare PC that you don't have important apps installed on. Once installed, you can start messing around with it. As I said, it would require a PC and a card for the pstn connection, but FXO cards for ASTERISK are also pretty cheap ($39 - http://www.digitnetworks.com/store/product...products_id=28)

This is about the cheapest and easiest way I can think of for you to do this yourself, if you must have the ability to dial out from your home phone from abroad.

Otherwise that same ATA could be setup to use a provider that say bills you cheap voip rates in a prepaid type of setup... something like stanaphone.com or gossiptel.com - they don't have monthly fees - just pay as you go...

There would be a few issues with the machine at home - like some port forwarding on your cable/dsl router/firewall so the SIP and RTP packets could flow though, but those are minor details that can be configured in minutes.

Now this gets me thinking about how I can come back for a long term stay in the LOS and make a little cash on the side

Regards,

Kevin

Edited March 4, 2005 by klrsmith

[sajal]

hello klrsmith.

thanks a lot for your reply. its grreately appreciated...

what i am looking for is exactly the FXO service.

i need two installations...

what my main intention is not to call up home when i am abroad, but rather

1) call anywhere in thailand when i am abroad(being charged at only local call charges. i guess to get the FXO port is the only option.

2) call anywhere in a third country when i am abroad(being charged at only local call charges. i guess to get the FXO port is the only option.

i had some accross the asterix stuff, but i am not interested to get a PC runing only for this purpose. not a bad opion though.

1) no experience in linux

2) nobody at home smart enough for troubleshooting on my behalf in my absense.

3) is the debian iso u mention without much configuration? i guess debian has asterix bundled with it.

i came accross a stipura SPA 3000 ( http://sipura.com/products/spa3000.htm ), have to order thru ebay frm us :-(

any some questions i have may sound to obvious, but is coming from a VOIP newbie.....networking n port forwardin n stuf is ok for me.

1) will i be able to access the stipura from my pc by a soft phone?

2) i know that the product supports asterix PBX but is it absolutely necessary?

ill be meeting the ppl of Multi-Tech Computers on monday....ill keep u all posted of their comments....

PS: Are the FXO cards/devices compatible with the PSTN system on thailand?

[klrsmith]

See inline...

1) call anywhere in thailand when i am abroad(being charged at only local call charges. i guess to get the FXO port is the only option.

Yes, if you want to call from your local line. You could also find a provider in Thailand

that you can point your ATA to, which allows very low cost VOIP calling locally as well as internationally (a thai version of a Vonage like service) - You could try googling for VOIP providers in Thailand. I know we were working with these guys a while back: http://www.thaicard.com/index.php - May have a local VOIP service now, if not sounds like a good oportunity

2) call anywhere in a third country when i am abroad(being charged at only local call charges. i guess to get the FXO port is the only option.

I assume by local call charges you mean local Bangkok charges?

i had some accross the asterix stuff, but i am not interested to get a PC runing only for this purpose. not a bad opion though.

1) no experience in linux

2) nobody at home smart enough for troubleshooting on my behalf in my absense.

3) is the debian iso u mention without much configuration? i guess debian has asterix bundled with it.

This version of asterisk is bundled with Debian, but Asterisk works with other linux flavors too (slackware, Red Hat/Fedora, etc).

I looked around, and I did find another SIP PBX software, for Windows, and looks pretty simple to install and config, and has some pretty good documentation, it's here:

http://www.brekeke.com/en/download/idx_pbxtrial_en.html - it's a functioning trial

that limits you to three hours of calls then requires a restart... something to play around with and you don't need another PC.

i came accross a stipura SPA 3000 have to order thru ebay frm us :-(

any some questions i have may sound to obvious, but is coming from a VOIP newbie.....networking n port forwardin n stuf is ok for me.

No problem.

1) will i be able to access the stipura from my pc by a soft phone?

The ATA actually doesn't connect to your PC, but to a regular phone and an internet connection (ethernet cable).

2) i know that the product supports asterix PBX but is it absolutely necessary?

Not necessary - that sipura can point to any providers server - depending on the device, you can use either touchtone pad to program the necessary info into the unit or a web based config tool to configure it. But it DOES need to point to a SIP server (either your own, or a provider). Otherwise you'll get no dialtone

ill be meeting the ppl of Multi-Tech Computers on monday....ill keep u all posted of their comments....

Please do - am interested in the outcome.

PS: Are the FXO cards/devices compatible with the PSTN system on thailand?

Should be no problem - those cards? They are basically (slight differences) standard pc modem cards - the end of the cable might need an adapter, otherwise should work ok.

Regards,

Kevin

[sajal]

2) call anywhere in a third country when i am abroad(being charged at only local call charges. i guess to get the FXO port is the only option.

I assume by local call charges you mean local Bangkok charges?

no i ment local charges at the third country.

Hi kevin,

So far this is what my mind could dig up.

One Stipura 3000 (or other standalone FXO) device at my home in thailand[\b]. one end connected to my router other to pstn line.

One Stipura 3000 (or other standalone FXO) device at my friends home in India[\b]. one end connected to my router other to pstn line.

both the places will have broadband internet using routers.

PBX server(dynamic ip but my router had a dyndns address) having asterix or idx based PBX software at my home in bangkok.

my intententions to be made more clear - I want to call to any local PSTN line india and thailand when i am on travel paying the local charges to the country i am calling to (india or thailand), totally eliminating all expensive and noisy service providers. My current phone bills r so huge i dun mind one time investment totaling half my one months bill.

now i understand thet the stipura supports no connection to the PC, but i wanna know that:-

1) when both the Stipura devices r connected to the PBX, can i use my notebook(via some soft phone) to access the pbx and make calls? the PBX will route the calls to the stipura.

2) i have a true 1024/512 or 1024/256 connection at my home. will that sufice for the asterix server?

3) what bandwidth should be required for 1 line FXO at india?

4) whats the bitrate for the telephone call.

5) if i ping from my home in thailand to to my friends home in india, what should be the latency for an *acceptable* voice conversation?

PS: You seem quite knowledgable abt VOIP, is your job related to it or you too found it all when looking for a service for yourself? if you do offer some products/services you can PM me abt them.

Edited March 5, 2005 by devil_dog

[sajal]

on a more legal point, is using the VOIP features mentioned above legal in Thailand?

CAT will definately be pissed of as they would be able to get a slice of my hard earned money...

[San_Belgium]

I see a lot of usefull posts to your question, but let me add my own experience :

I purchased an fxo + fxs gateway from accel :

http://www.accel.com.tw/frame/frame_itg400r.htm

was shipped in one week

this is the 4 port model with router built in, they also have the 2 port model without router and with FXO like you need. My 400R was around 100 euro's.

its good quality material, I got it advised via a telecom company that uses this brand. I use it on my cslox adsl (128/256)

its not difficult to configure. you just need to read the manual.

you can dial in to it via any pc connected to internet with direct connection (modem, adsl ...) using a program like netmeeting (included on every xp pc), or directly via another gateway box same style with you install back home. That way you dont even need any pc running to make your calls.

configuration : you need to set the ip adress in the box and set up your own dialing plan. this means to set what number should "open" your local phoneline so that you can dial out.

I use a draytek router (yeah I dont use the routerfunction of the fxo gw), with ipposter built in so you always know the ip adress to call from abroad, together with the fxo box (needs to be in "dmz" on the router).

great results, can use the thai phoneline via netmeeting from anywhere in the world !

legal : as long as you dont turn it in a commercial service I guess you are ok.

its your own phoneline and your own adsl, having a voicechat or a skype session isnt' illegal either.

[sajal]

4:  One SPA-(1/2/3)000 in loc.A & one SPA-3000 in loc.B, how to call to SPA-3000's PSTN?

A: Call from SPA FXS, for example in Germany, to call US PSTN number (SPA-3000 FXO)

Analog Phone - [FXS(spa1)  ]  ---> [internet] ---> [    FXO(spa2)] ---> US PSTN

Example above is you want to pickup your phone in Germany and dial a US PSTN number.

Configuration for spa1 Line1:

1. set "Enable IP dialing" to yes

2. set "Make call w/o reg" to yes

You can now pickup handset in Germany and dial NumericalUserid*spa2_WAN_EXTERNAL_IP*5061.

You will hear a 2nd dialtone after spa2 picks up your PSTN call, you can now dial a US number.

this is from http://sipura.com/support/spa3000faq/Section_2.html#4

not exactly what i want but i can manage with this one also.

nebody have any idea ant the following questions, their support didnt help much.

1) in the case mentioned above do i need to have a PBX?

2) in no then, can i use a softphone to access the sipura?

tx.

[sajal]

landed up ordering a Wellgate 3802, 2 port FXO gateway...for $140 + courier $80..Plus wire transfer fees....totaling almost 10,000 baht..

http://www.welltech.com.tw/products_ea03.htm

now it has been shipped as sample...lets hope the customs dont have a good time with it.

hopefully it will reach b4 i reach bangkok (maybe late next week...) will keep posted how it works out...

Edited March 18, 2005 by devil_dog