[mpp]

Originally Posted by asethi

Hi mpp,
My PSTN line is plugged into PhoneGnome line port. So all incoming calls ringing on my local phone also ring the PhoneGnome. I can answer the calls using my PhoneGnome or my local phone. I am currently subscribing to CID on my local phone. I am not sure if I would get callerid on my PhoneGnome, if I did not subscribe to CID on my PSTN line. This question will have to be asked from PhoneGnome support team and I can then say goodbye to callerid on my land line.

I also have an incoming DID number from IPKALL for my PhoneGnome VOIP line. When users dial this number, it only rings my PhoneGnome and I get CallerId on my PhoneGnome. This proves that PhoneGnome supports callerid directly.

Hi asethi,

I'm pretty sure that you can forward your PSTN calls to VoIP on a SPA3000. This being the case you will get Caller ID through your local box rather than the phone company. Whether you can do this on the PhoneGnome is another question.

You raise another good option. If you could forward your PSTN calls to IPKall number and then have it routed to your PhoneGnome you will have found another way around paying for Caller ID.

With a little imagination and a lot of tinkering major alterations and great savings can be had with this technology.

[a.d]

mpp:
DI-604 should work in "gaming mode" with any ATA that can use STUN
Tried with SPA1001, PAP2, Spa3000. No need to forward any ports for normal use

[mpp]

Originally Posted by a.d

mpp:
DI-604 should work in "gaming mode" with any ATA that can use STUN
Tried with SPA1001, PAP2, Spa3000. No need to forward any ports for normal use

Hi a.d. Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is STUN and how does it work?
Can you please explain what you mean by "no need to forward any ports for normal use"?

Also, if I may ask again, I would be curious to find out what happens when you are on a VoIP call and downloading or uploading a large file? Does you VoIP quality downgrade at that point?

Look forward to your response.

[a.d]

mpp:

1)The short story: STUN is a mechanism that allow voice packets (RTP) to go through NAT routers. It doesn't work on simmetrical routers and on multiple chained NAT routers.
2) By "normal use" I mean "standard" as opposed to "special" ways of using it
(See DracoFelis posts about "sipura tricks" in this forum and in BBR forum)
3) If you have a heavy usage of internet while talking on a voip phone the conversation may sound like "underwater" or worse. To fix this you need to stop uploading-downloading during the call, or use a router with quality_of_service (QoS) that can prioritize traffic. No D-Link router I know about can do that. SPA2100 and some Linksys routers can. My favorite is WRT54G(S) (not version 5 ! )

READ this forum carefuly. Most of your questions are already answered

[mpp]

Originally Posted by a.d

mpp:

1)The short story: STUN is a mechanism that allow voice packets (RTP) to go through NAT routers. It doesn't work on simmetrical routers and on multiple chained NAT routers.
2) By "normal use" I mean "standard" as opposed to "special" ways of using it
(See DracoFelis posts about "sipura tricks" in this forum and in BBR forum)
3) If you have a heavy usage of internet while talking on a voip phone the conversation may sound like "underwater" or worse. To fix this you need to stop uploading-downloading during the call, or use a router with quality_of_service (QoS) that can prioritize traffic. No D-Link router I know about can do that. SPA2100 and some Linksys routers can. My favorite is WRT54G(S) (not version 5 ! )

READ this forum carefuly. Most of your questions are already answered

Thanks for this a.d. You are probably right ... I should go back and review the entire post from the beginning. My intent is not to ask redundant questions. I won't post any more questions if that is the case.

Thank you all for responding.

[PhoneGnome]

Overalll, this has been a tremendously reasonable and ratiional discussion. I have a few nits here and there, but for the most part, very accurate and balanced (a far cry from what one often sees on the Skype forums, where things often turn quickly into personal attacks).

A couple of the main points I'd like to clear up, or add information to are below.

Right now with PhoneGnome there is no 'automatic' switching to select different ITSPs for outbound international calls by country code, but a caller can override the default International ITSP and select a different one by dialing a prefix, **877n where 'n' is the ITSP number for the desired ITSP in the My PhoneGnome setup.

In addition to click-to-dial, voice messaging, on-line call logs, and some other features provided through the My PhoneGnome dashboard that have been discussed here, some additional PhoneGnome capabilities that are not available with a generic SPA3000 that I didn't see mentioned in this thread (I might have missed them) are listed below:

1) Voicemail to email. PhoneGnome owners get free basic voicemail to email, in which when you're not home, PhoneGnome will answer the call, take a message, and send it to you in an email WAV attachment.
Premium voicemail is also available with many additional features (extra cost, $20/year).

2) Telemarketer screening. PhoneGnome owners can enable a free service that will answer calls that do not offer Caller ID, play a 'legal message' to hang-up on telemarketers, but allow real people to press '1' to ring thru. Your phone won't even ring on telemarketer calls anymore.

3) Find-Me/Follow-Me with mutli-ring. PhoneGnome owners can enable simultaneous ringing on inbound calls, so that when someone calls, whether via VoIP or on your normal POTS line, the call will ring to up to 5 destinations (your home phone, SoftGnome, and 3 phone numbers). All these numbers ring at the same time, and whatever one ansers the call, takes the call, and the other numbers stop ringing. It's transparent to the caller. They don't know you're not home. Find-me/Follow-Me is available as beta service at the moment, and is free.

All the above apply to calls to your plain POTS line, from PSTN callers, to your existing number, the same number you have always had, without having to change the service on that line, or contact the phone company for anything.

There is also SoftGnome of course, which was mentioned in this forum, that let's you answer calls and place calls using your home phone line and use all services the same as your phone at home plugged into your PhoneGnome, from a PC or any SIP device/software anywhere there is an Internet connection. SoftGnome seamlessly acts just like the PHONE port of the PhoneGnome, only instead of being plugged in via a physical wire, it's connected over a 'virtual' wire over the Internet.

I agree that there are places for an SPA3000. In fact, PhoneGnome was never meant to be a replacement for an SPA-3000. The SPA-3000 is a wonderful product. I don't agree that characterizing PhoneGnome as less powerful is correct. They both serve somewhat different, and only sometimes overlapping, purposes. For me, I use SPA-3000 in some specific bridging and 'hacking' modes, such as opening up a closed service (as PhoneBoy describes) but when it comes to wanting a phone, to act like a phone, to use as a phone, it's tough to beat the ease of use, power, and practical features of PhoneGnome. I have even converted my desk phone in my office to a plain landline with PhoneGnome so I could get the reliability and easy to use practical features of PhoneGnome, plus SoftGnome, and the My PhoneGnome website.