[c3r3br0]

Outbound calls to:
---------------------
VOIPers free via sipbroker
PG's free
PSTN low-cost via VOIP provider


Inbound calls from:
-----------------------
VOIPers free via FWD
PG's free
PSTN not free for caller but need to route to PG via ipkall

[yiannis]

Almost all the outbound providers (ITSPs) will be supported, when configured properly through the my.phonegnome.com portal.

For inbound calls you can count on the last two: other PG users, and PSTN callers. IPKall works also since it requires a SIP URI to which it sends all the calls, without requiring a registration.

For all other providers with inbound capabilities a working solution will be available at the end of next week. It will not be perfect until TelEvolution helps it along, but is in beta test now and looks promising.

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by c3r3br0

Inbound calls from:
-----------------------
VOIPers free via FWD
PG's free
PSTN not free for caller but need to route to PG via ipkall

While I don't personally own a PG, it is my understanding that your inbound options are greater than you think. This is because PG has provided the proxy address "sip.phonegnome.com" to accept free inbound SIP calls (from the rest of the VoIP community), and route them to your PG. This means that any service that allows you to forward to a SIP URI should (in theory at least) be able to ring your PG. And there are a LOT of services (including many DID/number providers) that can forward to a SIP URI). Here are just a couple useful possibilities that come to mind right away:

Free http://ipkall.com numbers should work, because you should be able to forward them to your "number" at the proxy "sip.phonegnome.com" (thereby allowing ipkall to ring your PhoneGnome).

Any users that can use the free "SIP Broker" ( http://www.sipbroker.com ) service (including any users of SIP Broker's free PSTN numbers, and users of services that "peer" with SIP Broker) should be able to call your PG by doing the SIP Broker "dialing": "*746 number" (i.e. if your PG number is 1-222-333-3333, than other VoIP users should be able to call you from the free SIP Broker service, including any free inbound SIP Broker PSTN numbers, by simply dialing you as: *74612223333333). This means that much of the VoIP community should be able to ring your PG FOR FREE, as long as they know (or you tell them) the "trick" to call you via the free SIP Broker service.

NOTE:
At the present time, users of SIP Broker still need to manually use the PhoneGnome SIP code (*746) to dial a PG from SIP Broker. This is in contrast to another PG user, which can call a PG by just dialing "normally" (and having PG auto-detect that it is a free PG to PG call). But SIP Broker has been looking into using PG's own (publicly available) phone number "ENUM" database, to automate the process of detecting a PG (and if so, make the call as "transparently" SIPbroker=>PG as it currently is PG=>PG). No ETA on if/when the free SIP Broker service will do this, because while our initial tests on doing this were positive (thanks PhoneBoy), the SIP Broker developer volunteers have recently gotten distracted/busy with other projects effecting a larger fraction of the SIP Broker user base (such as our recent upgrade to prevent running out of SIP dialing codes given all our growth). But FWIW making a call to PG users (from SIP Broker) more "transparent" (i.e. integrating PG with our ENUM tree) is still being considered by SIP Broker (and may actually end up to be a pretty simple change the next time we get a chance to get into that portion of SIP Broker's proxy code). And if/when that should occur, it would be even easier than it already is for other VoIP users to call a PG "for free".

[PhoneGnome]

PSTN callers can simply call your number as always, if they don't have VoIP. They do not have to dial an IPkall number.

VoIP inbound doesn't have to be FWD, as DracoFelis mentioned. Any provider that supports SIP calls directly, or can call via SIPbroker, can call a Gnome. We are also open to dialplan or ENUM based peering with any provider that is willing/interested in implementing (i.e. it is the other provider that is the limiting factor, not PhoneGnome), to anable callers on those foreign services to place free calls simply by dialing ordinary phone numbers, as PhoneGnome users can.

PhoneGnome owners can also call any SIP address directly via the on-line Phonebook and click-to-dial. They do not have to dial via SIPbroker (although SIPbroker works too).

A VoIP provider is optional. If you just want to use PhoneGnome for free VoIP calls, and use your landline for other calls, you can. But of course you have the option of activating VoIP PSTN termination services for LD and/or international (a separate plan/provider for each if you wish) as an added benefit, as you note. When you do so, the PSTN termination service is activated automatically and it is seamless (i.e. you dial the calls normally, the way you always have, and they are automatically routed to the ITSP service, as appropiate).

PhoneGnome further queries the enum.org and e164.arpa ENUM databases as another way to enable automatic free calling.