Which Harware To Use For Free Telephone Calls

Clarisys i750 USB Internet Phone
This USB phone offers a built in speakerphone, connection by USB, and a touch tone dialer. It’s not a fully independent IP phone - it needs a connection to a PC and is designed to be used with Softphone applications rather than plugging directly into an ethernet port on your router or hub.

However, its smallness, lightness and ease of use are likely to win it fans.

We thought the supplier’s emphasis on mobility was a bit strange though - you still need an internet connection, preferably broadband - and who goes on the road with an IP phone in their bag but no mobile?



Let’s Chat Handset
A cunning idea this from a French company - it’s a hand-set that plugs into your soundcard, and automatically mutes your pc speakers when you pick it up. So, you hear the ‘phone ring through your ordinary speakers, without having to sit there like a muffin with your headphones on.

But when you pick up the phone, it switches sound from the desktop speakers to the handset, so you don’t get that awful feedback noise that results from a microphone sitting too near a speaker. It’s nice to know that the speaker in the handset is shielded, too.

The price is considerably lower than that of a ‘real’ IP telephone or VoIP adaptor, as it doesn’t have to handle making the call, codecs, protocols and providers: it’s just a clever speaker/microphone combi. But if you were looking for a hardware phone to sit on your desk at home, this does look like an affordable alternative.

Handytone ATA-286
The HandyTone ATA-286 from Grandstream is a direct competitor for the Cisco ATA-186. Like the Cisco product, it’s an analog phone adaptor. Plug your analog phone into one end and your router in the other, and away you go.

Grandstream make a point of the support for a number of popular codecs, including G.723.1 (5.3k/6.3k), G.729A/B, G.711 (a-law and u-law), G.726 and G.728, and the dynamic negotiation of codec and voice payload length. This codec flexibility will appeal to dialup and ISDN users, but of course the main market for these products is the home and small office broadband user.

For home office use, the acoustic echo cancellation and voice mail features are likely to appeal, as will the price - Telappliant is currently offering the ATA-286 at just under £65, including VAT.



Cisco ATA-186 VoIP adapter
This 2-port VoIP analog telephone adaptor from Cisco is the adaptor that BT is currently giving away with their BT Broadband Voice service.

It allows any analog telephone to be plugged into your router or ADSL modem to make it into an IP telephone. It is specifically designed for the emerging market of “second-line” residential voice-over-IP (VoIP) services.

Cisco offers considerable on-line documentation, and the hardware is configurable, and designed to be managed through a web browser interface.

However, we have heard of some people who have had problems getting hold of firmware for Cisco systems that were bought preconfigured, through a VoIP provider. The thinking seems to be that if you bought an adaptor to access a particular VoIP provider you’ll never want to change. If in doubt, talk to your new provider first.



Grandstream BudgeTone Phones
The 100 series BudgeTone phones are SIP compatible and won the best of Expo award at the Internet Telephony Conference and Expo in Miami in 2003.

These are designed as affordable IP phone, and though they aren’t the world’s most beautiful phones, they do offer all the functionality you’d expect, including caller ID, cCall waiting, hold, call transfer, three way conferencing, and to enfuriate everyone else in the office, speakerphone.