I currently use Sipgate with a softphone (SJPhone - which seems to be MUCH
better than x-lite) and a standard £20 headset.  The quality seems to be
pretty good.  After using the service for a while (but not so keen on the
reliability - see below post !) I quite fancy the idea of going one step
further and moving away from the PC headset.

Whats the quality of an ATA or IP phone (ie Budgetone 102) compared to a PC
headset (which I assume to be the best quality) ?

I assume that the ATA and DECT phone setup will be noticably worse than the
PC headset ?

The great thing about a seperate IP phone is that I dont 'disturb' the
missus when she is on the BT landline ! and we get another phone.  With the
ATA, we are then limited to one phone (which is great if the ATA has a
passthrough, but again I could potentially miss an important business call
while the missus is chatting on the BT landline).  Perhaps the ATA with PSTN
passthough is a perfect choice for making free/cheap calls from one single
phone.

The ultimate setup would be a Wifi Phone, but I cant find any on the net.
Are there any tried/tested ones available in the UK that are known to work
with Sipgate ?

Thanks

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Just to add to my post, I also have an Ipaq (and bluetooth) with SJphone
Although the range isnt great I could potentially get a wireless card for
this and use this instead (cheapest option !).  However, the standard
earpiece/mic is rubbish.  Would a good headset + wireless SD card be a cheap
alternative ? I could even take this round to friends houses and roam to
their wireless networks and still get calls (mega bonus !).  Just thinking
out loud really.

Ta.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 15:30:20 GMT, "NewsAcc" <drfelch@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>I assume that the ATA and DECT phone setup will be noticably worse than the
>PC headset ?

why ?

BTBBV into DECT sounded just like a BT line to my ears and nobody on
the other end ever commented.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Comments below...

> Whats the quality of an ATA or IP phone (ie Budgetone 102) compared to a
PC
> headset (which I assume to be the best quality) ?

ATA plus phone or IP phone is normally better than the PC.

>
> I assume that the ATA and DECT phone setup will be noticably worse than
the
> PC headset ?
>

> The great thing about a seperate IP phone is that I dont 'disturb' the
> missus when she is on the BT landline ! and we get another phone.  With
the
> ATA, we are then limited to one phone (which is great if the ATA has a
> passthrough, but again I could potentially miss an important business call
> while the missus is chatting on the BT landline).  Perhaps the ATA with
PSTN
> passthough is a perfect choice for making free/cheap calls from one single
> phone.
>

Not sure about what you want here.  A cisco ATA (pricey) supports 2 VOIP
phones.  Most support only a single VOIP phone (but see below).  And surely,
if the missus is on the landline, you can't take a second landline call -
period.  But you can take an IP call via the ATA.

You may be thinking of some of the "auto-switch between PSTN & VOIP" boxes
that are around.  I've not had any experience of these - some other posters
may be able to help.

> The ultimate setup would be a Wifi Phone, but I cant find any on the net.
> Are there any tried/tested ones available in the UK that are known to work
> with Sipgate ?

Usual thing to do is connect a DECT phone to an ATA.  Almost wireless phone!

>
> Thanks
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

>
> why ?
>

Any DECT phone I ever tried always seemed to be worse quality than a normal
landline.  Put that on top of the standard VOIP call conversion and then I
assume it would be worse.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"NewsAcc" <drfelch@hotmail.com> writed in
news:lyWue.151714$yp5.34936@fe03.news.easynews.com:
 
>
> Any DECT phone I ever tried always seemed to be worse quality than a
> normal landline.  Put that on top of the standard VOIP call conversion
> and then I assume it would be worse.
>
My DECT set-up (Sipgate > Grandstream ATA486 > Binatone DECT) is
indistinguishable from my BT landline.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 16:30:10 GMT, "NewsAcc" <drfelch@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Any DECT phone I ever tried always seemed to be worse quality than a normal
>landline.

I see.

The DECT was a common factor in my case. I used a PC headset once and
the other guy asked about crakcle twice - I couldn't hear any.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"NewsAcc" <drfelch@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:gGVue.2066$2g2.1770@fe09.news.easynews.com...
>I currently use Sipgate with a softphone (SJPhone - which seems to be
>MUCH better than x-lite) and a standard £20 headset.  The quality seems
>to be pretty good.  After using the service for a while (but not so keen
>on the reliability - see below post !) I quite fancy the idea of going
>one step further and moving away from the PC headset.
>
> Whats the quality of an ATA or IP phone (ie Budgetone 102) compared to a
> PC headset (which I assume to be the best quality) ?
>
> I assume that the ATA and DECT phone setup will be noticably worse than
> the PC headset ?

Not at all. Although I prefer wired phones I do occasionally use a DECT
phone on Sipgate with my Sipura SPA-2000 ATA and the call quality is
excellent. I was speaking to a friend in the US the other day for 30
minutes and you would never have known it wasn't a normal PSTN call.

> The great thing about a seperate IP phone is that I dont 'disturb' the
> missus when she is on the BT landline ! and we get another phone.  With
> the ATA, we are then limited to one phone (which is great if the ATA has
> a passthrough, but again I could potentially miss an important business
> call while the missus is chatting on the BT landline).  Perhaps the ATA
> with PSTN passthough is a perfect choice for making free/cheap calls
> from one single phone.

I don't know about PSTN passthrough, I have no requirement for it.  Why
can't you have two phones..?

> The ultimate setup would be a Wifi Phone, but I cant find any on the
> net. Are there any tried/tested ones available in the UK that are known
> to work with Sipgate ?

Don't like Wi-Fi. Too expensive and no better than a DECT with an ATA.

Ivor

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

>The ultimate setup would be a Wifi Phone, but I cant find any on the net.

The Zyxel 2000W is readily available, but the price is ~£145 (was ~£185 few
months ago).
Apparently it works well, but does not like Wifi encryption.
There are others, see: http://www.square7.com/
but their prices aren't so good either.

You may want to consider Zyxel 2602HWL WiFi router with two VoIP ports,
different registrar and landline pass.
Mine works fine with Sipgate (free in) , Voipbuster (free out).
(broadbandbuyer.co.uk was selling them at a wrong price ;-)
Regards,
Martin

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Using a cheap Binatone cordless dect phone with a Linksys ATA (PAP2 £35 from
http://tinyurl.com/862nd) and the quality is excellent. A couple of mates
have the same and are pretty pleased.

Mav

"Martin²" <never@give.one> wrote in message
news:42bcbace$0$2390$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net... 
>
> The Zyxel 2000W is readily available, but the price is ~£145 (was ~£185
few
> months ago).
> Apparently it works well, but does not like Wifi encryption.
> There are others, see: http://www.square7.com/
> but their prices aren't so good either.
>
> You may want to consider Zyxel 2602HWL WiFi router with two VoIP ports,
> different registrar and landline pass.
> Mine works fine with Sipgate (free in) , Voipbuster (free out).
> (broadbandbuyer.co.uk was selling them at a wrong price ;-)
> Regards,
> Martin
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]