is the time spent trying to configure own adaptor worth it?

[rfriel]

it seems there are alot of people on this forum who spend alot of time trying to configure their own adaptor for viatalk. is it really worth $40 to spend 5-20 hours trying to configure an adaptor that viatalk will provide for $40, $30 activation and $10 shipping. i have much better ways to spend my time for $40.

any opinions or rebuttals?

[Brian188]

it seems there are alot of people on this forum who spend alot of time trying to configure their own adaptor for viatalk. is it really worth $40 to spend 5-20 hours trying to configure an adaptor that viatalk will provide for $40, $30 activation and $10 shipping. i have much better ways to spend my time for $40.

any opinions or rebuttals?

Yes it is worth it because you'll most likely spend more time getting VT to make the changes for you to tweak your settings beyond what comes provisioned.

[rfriel]

For that reason I have hesitated to sign up immediately with viatalk. after reading about the issues people have with new viatalk service, trying to set up the viatalk provisioned adaptor, its almost turned me away from viatalk. BUT, viatalk has many of the features that sunrocket does not have, so for that reason i may take a big risk and try viatalk. yeah, i gues i am risking $40 and then i only have 2 weeks to try to service and see if it sucks in my area.

[gsquare]

Dont let the posts scare you. I think that many of the configuration changes are on the router side more than the adapter. In my case, I was VT provisioned for several months and needed only one change to my adapter, that being changing the ring wave form to Trap to get all my phones to ring. VT did that for me. I then sent that adapter to my son in law and purchased an all in one wireless router/adapter and went BYOD. I again had to change the ring to Trap, change the DTMF signaling to "inband", and installed an optional dialing plan. That was it - and havent made a change since. Additionally, on the network I have not changed a thing, No port forwarding, No DMZ, no QOS, No 2nd party firmware. Sometimes I think you can over think this stuff.

[DracoFelis]

it seems there are alot of people on this forum who spend alot of time trying to configure their own adaptor for viatalk.
And some of us doing that are "perfectionists" when it comes to our VoIP. ;)

Seriously, I suspect that the default (provisioned) adapter setup is OK for most users. However, if you like to tweak things to run exactly like YOU (not ViaTalk) wants them to run, then BYOD is the way to go (even if it takes a little more time initially). In my case, I already had a LOT of experience provisioning my adapter (with other VoIP providers) before coming to ViaTalk. So adding ViaTalk to the list of accounts on my adapter was pretty simple for me. And since I already owned my own VoIP adapter (which I was using with other VoIP services) before signing up for ViaTalk, going BYOD also save me a few $$$.

But more important to me, is that I'm a "power user" when it comes to VoIP, so I wanted much more than just "normal phone service" (which ViaTalk does a GOOD job of providing IMHO) out of my VoIP "phone line". And by doing my own custom BYOD setup, I was able to combine ViaTalk with several other services (several of them "free" services), to allow my VoIP to do much more than "basic phone".

Now, some of what I did with my VoIP would actually be possible with the ViaTalk supplied adapter (if you ask ViaTalk for the admin password), but even those things that the ViaTalk adapter can do would require you to spend some time customizing things. And some of my customizations aren't even possible with the ViaTalk supplied adapter (but are possible on the model VoIP adapter I use). And I also realize that many (most?) phone users might not get much benefit from some of my customizations, but they are of value to some of us "techy types" (such as myself).

FWIW here is a partial list of my VoIP customizations (below):

Customized my adapter's "dial plan" to speed up ViaTalk 7/10 digit dialing.

Added in several useful dialing "shortcuts" (dial plan translations) into my adapter's "dial plan".

Added in support for http://www.sipbroker.com outbound VoIP dialing, to let me call many other VoIP adapters (world-wide) "for free", without using any of my ViaTalk minutes up:
http://www.sipbroker.com/sipbroker/action/providerWhitePages

Added in support for inbound VoIP dialing (specifically a SIP Broker "alias"), so that other VoIP users (including other SIP Broker users) can call me "for free" (again, from anywhere in the world).

The SIP Broker alias (inbound VoIP "SIP" address") that reaches my VoIP adapter (i.e. rings my "phone"), also means that any of these (world-wide) dial-in numbers can be used to call me (for only the price of calling one of those access numbers):
http://www.sipbroker.com/sipbroker/action/pstnNumbers

I also have enabled support for outbound calling some "toll free" numbers WORLD WIDE "for free" (normally "toll free" numbers are only "free" when dialed from the country the number is in, but I can call some country's toll free numbers for no cost at all). While I don't use this feature much at all (since most of my toll free calls are still in the USA), it's nice to know its there...

I tweaked some advanced adapter settings to provide additional reliability.

I modified some settings on my (home) router, to move my VoIP to the front of the line for my internet access. This can help voice quality, especially when I'm doing other things on the internet while also talking on the phone.

Since my VoIP adapter supports multiple providers (i.e. multiple VoIP accounts), I also added in a couple of other "pay by the minute" (but with no monthly fee) VoIP accounts I previously had, so that I can call out on those alternate accounts (by dialing a special "prefix" before the call, to force the alternate account to be used). I don't use these PAYGO (BYOD) accounts very often, but I like having them in case I either want to make a clearly "business call" (remember my ViaTalk account is "residential", not "business", but the PAYGO accounts have no such restriction), or as a "backup" in case my ViaTalk account is down for any reason (the latter doesn't happen very often, as ViaTalk seems to be very reliable). And this feature also lets me "pick and choose" which account has the best rates for an international call (should I find I need to call overseas), vs having all international calls automatically go via ViaTalk.

I also added in support for free VoIP to VoIP "teleconferencing". And this can be combined with the free VoIP to VoIP calling (already mentioned). I have in fact had some aprox 3 hour long teleconferences with people in Australia. And due to how I had set things up, and the fact that everyone involved in those teleconferences used VoIP, the call was "free" to everyone involved!

Again, I realize that many people might not have much use for such "customizations". However, it does go to illustrate the point that a "power user" (such as myself) would find BYOD intrinsically a lot more powerful and flexible in what you can do. And remember, all of those above "features" work from any phone in my house, and are in addition to my normal/full ViaTalk service (for both inbound and outbound calls), that continues to also function on that "line".

[rfriel]

Hey, the customization list is great. i didnt know you could tweak all that options on an SIP adaptor. I have an extra SIP 2102 adapter that i will be configuring after i get the VT service setup. first i will get the VT basic service set up then i will take the extra SIP adaptor start tweaking it for additional customized options. the list you have provided is a good place to start.

Once i start the tweaking my extra adaptor, i will probably get back to you if i have questions about some of the extra options that can be added into the service. i didnt know all these extra options were possible.

Thanks

[rfriel]

Is it possbile to have 2 adaptors configured for VT to be active at the same time since there are 2 phone lines that come with the service right now. the two phone lines have the same calling number but are really separate lines, so can i have 2 active adaptors?

what i want to do is have the two adaptors in different parts of the house or take one with me on a business trip and leave the other home.

[DracoFelis]

Hey, the customization list is great. i didnt know you could tweak all that options on an SIP adaptor. I have an extra SIP 2102 adapter that i will be configuring after i get the VT service setup.Just keep in mind that the SPA-2102 is a 1 account per VoIP jack device, just like the PAP2 (that ViaTalk supplies) is. So (while many of my customizations will still work) on that particular device, you will be unable to do any of the customizations (such as using BYOD accounts as "backup accounts") that require multiple VoIP accounts to be installed on a single VoIP adapter "line".

[DracoFelis]

Is it possbile to have 2 adaptors configured for VT to be active at the same time since there are 2 phone lines that come with the service right now. the two phone lines have the same calling number but are really separate lines, so can i have 2 active adaptors?
No idea if that would work or not. It would depend upon what restrictions ViaTalk's servers have about "multiple registrations".

Personally though, I think (at least for "around the house" that it's simpler to just get a decent multi-handset wireless phone system. That's what I did, and it makes it really easy to have a "phone" wherever you want one.

BTW: In my case I got a Uniden TRU-8866 multi-handset system, and each handset (up to 10 allowed in my setup, although so far I've only hooked up 8 ) has access to either of 2 "phone line", along with complete "phone book", "conference", "speaker phone", and "intercom" abilities. While a quality (multi-handset) wireless phone system may not be the solution with the cheapest initial cost, it is a solution that works well around the house.

NOTE:
If you do decide to go with one of the Uniden 5.8ghz phone systems, be sure to get a model that does NOT have an "answering machine" built into the base station. The reason for this, is that the Uniden phones have a "message waiting" light on all the phones, and if you have an answering machine (in the base station) that light is tied to the answering machine. However, if you get a base station without an answering machine, you can program your VoIP adapter to have that light be tied to your ViaTalk (or other VoIP) "voice mail". It's really nice to have the phone lines "blink" to let you know you have a VM waiting...

or take one with me on a business trip and leave the other home.
Well, if you are just "calling home" (like for example, saying "hi" to the wife), you really don't even need to worry about this at all. In that case, just make a very short (and therefore "cheap") call home, and tell the answering party to call you back (on the ViaTalk line) at a specific number (i.e. at your hotel room). Doing it that way, you just pay for the initial call home, and then wait to be called back (and the call back will be "free", as the person at home will be using the unlimited ViaTalk line).

And for other (reasonably short) calls while traveling, I find pre-paid phone cards work wonderfully. If you hunt around, you can get some pretty competitive rates on pre-paid phone cards (under 3 cents/minute is often quite possible with the right "phone card"). You then just dial the toll free number to use those phone cards (for example, from your hotel room) when you need to make an outbound call somewhere. In my experience, this is still pretty cheap (unless you are very "chatty" while traveling), and nicely side-steps all the hassles of dealing with "taking VoIP with you"...