Build Your Own Cheap VOIP Phone Connection

Some Background:

I have written on another hub that I’m not a big fan of VOIP and that is true. VOIP is however not totally bad, it does have its place. One great use I have found for a VOIP setup is that it can offer you a very low cost way to add another phone line to your home or business if you have a existing broadband internet connection.

So what’s the secret to constructing a cheap VOIP phone? First of all, do not link yourself with one of the popular services. I do not use Vonage or AT&T or for that matter any large vendor, I built it all myself.
I was curious as to how far the VOIP world had progressed from days long ago. I had my fingers in VOIP many years ago when just the VOIP boards were thousands of dollars. Back then it was definitely NOT a usable consumer product. I was quite pleased to see that many vendors now offered VOIP ATA’s (Analog Terminal Adapters, the box that turns a analog telephone to digital packets that can traverse the internet and get to whomever you are calling). I was even more surprised to find out that there are several great web sites on the matter and that the ATA’s are quite cheap, a wide selection under 100.00.

VOIP utilize something called SI. SIP’s formal non abbreviated name is the “Session Initiation Protocol”. SIP is what is known as a “signaling protocol” this enables things like instant messaging, SMS, conferencing and finally telephones to communicate on the internet. There are also other things that go along with it like “codec’s” to do most of the work. I’m not going to go into technical details here as the purpose of this hub page is to make a cheap IP phone setup, not understand voice protocols and analog to digital conversion schemes.

HERE IS HOW I BUILT MINE:

I'll give joins in the connections segment at the base of the center point as opposed to in the article to ideally make it less demanding to peruse. 

Purchase the right Analog Terminal Adapters (ATA): 

Since most ATA's are "bolted" to a particular bearer... Much like your AT&T phone is bolted to the AT&T system and it can't be utilized on Verizon's system. The ATA is the same, in the event that you have one and it's bolted to say "Vonage" then it's pointless unless you have the open secret key or they will give you the watchword , it's a futile gadget for the reasons here. 

You can however get an opened ATA effectively. Essentially go to Google and seek, I recommend the Linksys PAP2T it functions admirably for me and has the ability to have 2 telephones connected to it. I all that much like my Linksys ATAT yet pick your own particular ATA of decision. This is the gadget you will connect to your switch and after that you connect your telephone to the ATA. Voxilla.com is one choice.. I decided to purchase my ATA from the web and it lives up to expectations awesome. They transported it rapidly and it lives up to expectations incredible.