[tomblandford]

The new Nokia 6136 UMA (VoIP and GSM) phone is intriguing me! If I were to buy an unlocked phone so that I can use my UK Virgin PAYG sim card in it, and then set it up with Sipgate or another free SIP service, would it still switch from VoIP to GSM when I leave the house? Or does the provider of both services have to be the same (ie Orange and Wanadoo for example). There is talk of having phone numbers that are generic to GSM and VoIP 'landlines' but what if I just stick with my two numbers that I already have - one mobile and one landline?

What I would really like to do is have a single phone that I can use wirelessly as a VoIP phone in the house and also outside as a mobile. As far as incoming calls are concerned I would still have two numbers of course, but both would ring the same phone. At home it would default to placing calls via the internet when I dial out.

Can this work?!

[md_27514]

The idea behind UMA is that ONE GSM provider provides you with both mobile and VOIP service. This is to lock people into a billing model that might not be the most optimal for you but serves well to the phone company (US T-mobile is running trial service in Seattle area). UMA would still give you cheaper calls when home or in range of a wifi point, but probably not the best price available. UMA has also advantage that it should be capable of seamless handover between GSM and VOIP call.

From your description my guess is that you would be better served by combo Nokia E 60/61/70 or N80ie with asterisk (see my article Voxilla - Using the Nokia E-Series Phones with Asterisk ). This setup give you exactly what you want - a SIP handset at home and GSM on the road. In addition you can also have additional bonus - a single landline number that reaches you everywhere. I have this setup working in the UK, as a GSM provider I use a prepaid T-mobile SIM card.

The good news is that even if you don't have asterisk, with these phones you can still use Truphone as your VOIP provider - it gives you free landline calls until the end of March. It doesn't give you the second benefit - a single phone number (Well it actually does, but you have to pay Truphone 15p for calls forwarding.)

[tomblandford]

Seems UMA is not what I thought it could be. Thanks, a very interesting article about Nokia E60. I don't have an Asterix server though and have been put off by the amount of work needed to get it really. At the moment I'm just using a Grandstream GXP-2000 plugged into my wireless router. Maybe I'll pluck up the courage, time and money in the near future. With your setup you must have to pay for incoming calls to your mobile?

[md_27514]

Yes, in my current setup I forward calls to GSM using voipcheap.com (at about 4.5p) per minute. I don't mind this too much, it's fairly inexpensive and only around 20% of calls come this way (have wifi both at home and at work where I'm most of my time). To a real stranger (happens rarely) I only give mobile number.

[tomblandford]

Sounds like a neat setup you have there!

What about if I don't have an Asterix server but just get the E60 to connect to sipgate or voipcheap whenever it is in range of wifi? Can it be set to default outgoing calls on VoIP when at home and GSM when out? Will it still ring on both numbers when I'm at home?

Obviously it won't switch between the two like the 6136 but it would at least let me use the same phone for both and have cordless VoIP at home too for the cost of one new phone.

How many SIP lines can the E60 have? Does it have good echo cancellation and give good call quality? Does it ever switch to GSM when it shouldn't (i.e. in range of wifi)?

Thanks for your tips.

[md_27514]

The voice quality of E60 is very good, in my opinion VOIP actually sounds better than GSM. There is not echo. As far as the ringing goes, GSM will always ring whether or not SIP is available. Additionally, if there phone is registered with SIP provider, if call comes via it, it will ring the phone as well. So at home, both numbers will ring it.
A small warning though... As I wrote in my paper E60 has some issues with NAT transversal - that's why I use asterisk instead of directly registering with voip provider. Asterisk is capable of keeping port open to communicate with the phone. So, in your setup if you register with say sipgate, I'm not sure sipgate will do that for you. You might however open 5060 port on your home router for E60 and it should work fine.
This should be a irrelevant in 1-2 weeks as next E60 firmware update is due soon (E61 already has it released) which supports STUN. This should make any port forwarding unnecessary.
Finally, number of SIP lines.... Theoretically as many as you wish, but I have mixed experience with more than one.... There is however way around it, if you don't have asterisk, use freepbxes or easypbx and that way you can configure as many lines as you wish.

[tomblandford]

freepbx looks good but surely you have to have a computer on at home to make it work? I have no server at home. Only a router with a bit of built in NAS.

[md_27514]

Sorry for the confusion. Look at https://www2.pbxes.com/index_e.php and create a free account. That should give you your own virtual PBX.

[tomblandford]

What a great service that is. I'll be using it even if I don't get the Nokia. I can use it to route outgoing calls from my phone depending on destination (0800, international, mobile, local etc). And I can get it to add 0044(0) to all voipdiscount calls to avoid my girlfriend pulling her hair out. Is this the correct dialplan : 0044+0|ZX. ? If I'd known about this before I could have bought a single line phone instaed of the the GXP2000 4-line phone that I got. Such is life!

[md_27514]

Originally Posted by tomblandford

Is this the correct dialplan : 0044+0|ZX. ?

I believe it should be 0|0044+ZX.