Explanation almost free internet telephony|Voip|Internet calling

Through using an Analoge Telefoon Adapter and a Voipbuster account you can dial for 2 to 3 euro per month unlimited to fixed (normal) phone lines in the Nederlands and a number of other countries. The configuration and the troubleshooting is not really meant for computer/netwerk newbie's, but with a little perseverance and the help of the internet it will work. Also the quality is overall pretty good and barely different from a normal telephone call.

Introduction

At this page I explain how you can replace your telephony connection with an internet based telephony connection. Doing so you only play a small amount per month, around 2 to 3 euro/dollar. You can get a local phone number at which you are reachable. Calling to fixed phones in the Netherlands and a number of other countries is free.

Initial Thoughts

A couple of months ago I wanted to investigate whether or not I could replace the telephone connection with a Telephone connection, which sends its traffic via the internet. I used Skype for calling to other countries (the Skype-out service), but I was waiting for the Skype-in service, where you can get your own telephone number, for people who want to call you. I waited quite some time for the Skype-in service to arrive and it still does not seem to become a reality.

In the mean time I often read in blogs and fora about stories of free internet telephony. I could by a complete VoIP pakket from my local ADSL provider, but actually I do not want to depend of one provider for all my services and even when it can be more cheap, why not?

The First Step

After doing quite some research I found Voipbuster, a service of a German telecom company, Betamax, that could do the job. You can get account, with which you can call for a minute to a fixed phone number for free to try out the service. When this worked well I paid 5 euro (I believe that this is raised to 10 euro) and I had an account. You can download software just like with Skype. This software even looks like Skype and I would not be astonished if a part of the source code is the same...

So how does it work? The amount you paid (by means of Paypal or creditcard) is validly for a restricted time. The time however for which it is valid, is in the forums much discussed.

The contract says: Credit in your VoipBuster balance remains active for 120 days after your last purchase (unless stated otherwise). The question is what is "your last purchase"? Is that the amount what you have just put on their account or is it the last paid call you made? My last purchase is 4 month and 7 days ago and my last paid call to China is only 50 day ago. So which is it? In the first case I do not find 10 Euro in 4 months a lot. With KPN (the Dutch incumbent provider) you already pay 10 euro per month for the subscription fee only. In the second case I think it is even cheaper, because it means that you should just make 1 time in 4 months a 1 penny costing call to 'where-ever'. At www.voipproducts.eu you can compare tariffs of different operators (Voipbuster, Skype, Sipdiscount, etc., etc.) and the countries to which you can call for free.

Software on a PC with a headset

Now I had a piece of software on my PC with an ADSL connection and a headset (ear-phone with speaker for your mouth) in the PC and could I call with the PC indeed for free to fixed numbers in the Netherlands and some other countries (listed on the Voipbuster website). A pretty good service I would say! My wife uses it and sometimes makes calls of one hour and then the conversation is cut off, but that's ok ; -). Although, sometimes she calls the whole evening and when I want to call I have a problem... maybe I just create a new account... Quality is reasonable to good, I do not notice the fact that I call via the internet.

My own phone number

The next step was that I wanted to try to get a phone number for incoming calls. And of course as cheap as possible! In the first place I did not get a number from Voipbuster, but later I got a phone number in the wrong region (different as where I live). This was not really useful, because my local friends will have to pay extra to call me. So I was looking for a provider which could offer me a SIP based phone number. I found two (in The Netherlands) Pilmo and Budgetphone. Possibly there are more meanwhile. The cheapest was Budgetphone.

For 10 euro per year you get a phone number from a region which you can yourself choose... But I chose Gouda, not in the last place for my own accessibility. The nice option of the service is that it offers voicemail to e-mail conversion. If you do not answer the call you will receive an email with the voicemail in .wav format. Very nice! Budgetphone will also provide software called "Talkin2Ya" which is built on the basis of the softphone X-Lite of Xten. This worked good and the conversations where received by the PC.

Two applications?!

Now I had two pieces software, 1 from Voipbuster for the outgoing calls and 1 from Budgetphone for the incoming calls. I did not found that handy and searched for software, a soft phone, which manages, simply said, both configurations. I tried a number of soft phones, but I found out after searching the internet and some advice of my collegues that X-Lite the client of Xten is the best (other options are sjphone, sipxphone, SJPhone, Softphone and Ifon).

You have 3 lines (on which calls can be incoming or outgoing independently) on the free version, with which you can select the line you want to use with a click on the button. An incoming conversation is signaled by a blinking light. After many hours, calling and trying I got it eventually up and running. One proxy for registration at Budgetphone for my incoming calls and another proxy configuration for my outgoing calls to Voipbuster. A big step, because now I needed no longer all that other software. Here you can find the x-lite software configurati on.

VoIP without a PC!

After I tried calling with the PC for some time, I became impressed with the quality and the fact that it was so cheap, I started to think how I could get rid of the attachment to the PC. Because it is just not handy to have to start up the PC in case you want to make a call let alone the use of the headset. When I did not use a headset, so just speakers and a mic, this would result in terrible echo and noises coming from the speakers, so that was not an option.

When I could just use my normal phones in the house with this service that would be fantastic and really a better replacement of the PSTN line. Quite a challenge....

The ATA solution!

I did not want to buy relatively expensive VoIP phones, but found the idea of an ATA (Analogue Terminal Adapter) interesting. With an ATA you can re-use multiple standard phones. You just plug a normal phone at the FXS side of the ATA and an Ethernet cable to the other side of the ATA onto a free Ethernet port on your Multi-PC modem or Ethernet hub or switch. Yes indeed, this means that you need a Multi-PC modem with multiple Ethernet ports (for the simpel case). When you have a cable internet connection, I understood that this is a problem. In that case you would need to make an internal network (with a hub / switch), where you can plug the ATA in an Ethernet port.

Then came the big search for a good ATA. I wanted to buy an ATA with an FXO port, so I could (in case the VoIP connection would not work) fallback to using my PSTN line. It had to be an ATA where I could plug in my normal phone and calls from PSTN or VoIP should be routed to this phone. When the power supply would fail or internet would not work anymore I could still call via PSTN. There are some routers/modems with built-in ATA, but my modem worked fine and I already had a wifi access point, so a single ATA was just the box I was looking for.

I reviewed different models: the Hardphone AT-320 series, Wellgate 3502a VoIP SIP/H.323 ATA, Grandstream HandyTone 488, Sipura SPA-3000. The price should not be more than about 100 euro.

The only box which has an FXS/FXO function and was allways reviewed well (in working together with Voipbuster) in different forums was the Sipura SPA 3000. After speaking with a collegue and him coming to the same conclusion independently of me, I decided to go for the Sipura SPA 3000. I searched the internet for the cheapest option and found it for 109 Euro by Gistron (NL) (bu currently MediaMarkt offers them already for 49 euro!). Directly ordered it and after a few days it arrived. It is a small box of 12 by 10 cm, but there are really a lot of functions in it. Even an option with a digitalized voice reading the IP address of the ATA to you. Different webpages with a lot of different parameters make it pretty complex though. But in the end only a few parameters really matter.

Smart routing

By means of a line with specific code (called the dialplan) you can choose the destination VoIP provider (SIP proxy) on a per call basis. Calls to emergency or 06 (mobile) numbers can be routed to the PSTN. If for example calls to France are the least expensive with Voipbuster, the dialplan can be setup to route just like that.

Calling over the internet in practice

I currently use this setup for more than 4 months and I have to say that it is pretty stabel. Only very few times Voipbuster gives some problems in setting up a call. Then I can allways type ## on my phone and I will get my PSTN line. All in all a fine system and not expensive apart from the initial investment of the ATA, but it is also my hobby, so it may cost something. Nice thing is that we do not really look at the time anymore when calling national or even international. Here you can find the detailed Sipura SPA 3000 configuration.

* I also added a news page.

Learn more about VoIP service and where to find the best VoIP phone and software. Also find out about a VoIP reseller program so you can sell your own VoIP services and make money. VoIP is one of the cheapest ways to place an international phone call.