[Dafron]

I am looking to get an account with Tesco Internet Phone but I don't want a phone that plugs into my computer (basically I use a Mac and they're not compatible). I've also used their USB phones with PC's before and the PC's see them as sound cards which then routes all music, etc, through the phone.

I have also tried their Internet Phone that plugs directly into the router but that wasn't successful either.

Anyway, I remember a while ago, Tesco made an Internet Phone Adapter where you could connect a normal landline phone into the adapter which then plugs into your router. However, they don't seem to sell it anymore.

Is there anything similar to this on the market?

Cheers.

[Fred Smith]

It's called an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter). I use a Netgear ATA with Sipgate.

This is not a recommendation just a suggestion so you know what to look for.

[Dafron]

Originally Posted by Fred Smith

It's called an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter). I use a Netgear ATA with Sipgate.

This is not a recommendation just a suggestion so you know what to look for.

How do you find the quality, etc? Whats the quality of Sipgates service like (in your opinion)?

Thanks

[Fred Smith]

Most of the time it's fine. Was away last week on a caravan site, used my laptop and a softphone via the site's Wi-Fi and it was perfect. Last night at home (ATA hardwired to my cable modem) my sister phoned and the call quality was a bit poor at times. But usually it's indistinguishable from a normal landline.

[Dafron]

Thanks for the comments on here. After looking round the forum, I decided to go with Sipgate and I'll be ordering the ATA at some point.

Is it better for a company to have an 0800 number or an 0845 number?

I was originally going to get a local number (0151 xxx xxxx) and then get an 0800 number forwarded to the local number, however, when going to register with Sipgate, it gives the option of having an 0845 number which obviously would be cheaper for me as I wouldn't have to pay for the incoming calls, but wondered how customers would feel about it.

[m.stephens]

A lot of customers (me included) don't like 0845 numbers at all - they are rarely included in call packages and despite being "lo-call" generally cost more than the standard rate - in my case twice as much !

Given that 0800 numbers aren't generally free to mobile users, the best all round would seem to be a normal geographical number - at least you look like a local company then .

[Mark Ward]

I set up a Linksys SPA3102 for my Dad who lives in Cyprus.

If you are prepared to put in a lot of research & trial & error they can be really useful devices. Along the way I had problems with drop-out, volume level and dialling rules but now everything is very stable and is invisible to my Dad.

He uses his old BT DECT phones and calls are routed via VOIP (VOIPFone in our case) or via his Cyprus Landline depending on dialling rules. These were not easy to set up, especially as the first 3 digits of Cyprus mobiles are often '999', I didn't want to be making any rules errors there.

Basically, they can work very well but are not easy to configure in my experience. Getting the volume level through the handset louder took a lot of research and wasn't obvious from the massive number of configurable fields.

I'd stick with a dual phone, like the Seimens S series, or a dedicated VOIP handset if I had to start again right now. It cost me far more time than the cost saving was worth to me.

Mark.