SIP Carriers and ISP's still suck in 2010!

I've been in the voip/pbx business now for over three years and the SIP carriers and ISP's are providing the same crap service they were three years ago.

I blame both the ISP's and SIP carriers - but mostly the ISP's!

Here is Ontario we have two key players providing internet. Bell and Rogers - they both provide crap service in their own special ways.

1. Rogers cable likes to mess around with traffic shaping screwing with SIP/voip and p2p programs.

2. Bell has such old copper cabling for DSL they don't even have to try. When it rains major parts of the city impacted with degraded DSL services. Bell is not interested in repairing anything unless they have to.

SIP carriers have to rely on ISP's for good service so they can deliver their product. Unfortunately many of them do not invest in the proper equipment and good upper tier carriers to provide that good product.

Combine that with bad ISP service and you have a recipe for lousy SIP service!

I never have trusted SIP carriers and for the few clients that I regretfully setup with SIP crriers I will be removing in 2010!

Until we have excellent internet service and excellent SIP carriers i won't be going setting up anyone with SIP carriers. Good is not good enough for SIP carrier service.

Please note that I believe the future is SIP and VOIP protocols and I will these technologies in phones and gateways. I just won't be using over the internet. voip does not equal internet. it's voice over "internet protocol" - we are using the this in phones and gateways over standard analog/pri lines. We do not need to use the internet - its just the protocol!

Linksys/Cisco SPA962 with SPA932 Sidecar

Here is a little video of the Cisco/Linksys SPA962 with SPA932 sidecar all lid up. Also with a Panasonic 3.5mm headphone. The sidecar left buttons have been programmed for speed dial, BLF, and call pickup. The right side buttons have been programmed for intercom for each extension.

VoIP Caller ID Settings

One of the biggest headaches with VoIP is caller ID. There is some confusion on what you can do with caller id. For the most part its very simple.

For outgoing caller id (the person you are calling gets to see)

1. If you are using a gateway SIP to PSTN - Your PSTN carrier controls this - you cannot overwrite. It doesn't matter what you put in any caller id settings for your phone or gateway.

2. If you are using a VoIP Carrier (SIP trunk) - You may be able to change your caller id from either the SIP PBX or through a control panel interface provided by the carrier. Or in some cases the Carrier will need to change this manually for you.

It all depends how the carrier wants to do this. Some carriers are very strict about this because they don't want you spoofing your caller id which could result illegal activity and leave them liable for damages. eg. you could impersonate a popular charity and start calling for donations

For incoming caller id (what you see)

1. Generally any caller provided by PSTN is sent between first and second ring. If you are not seeing the caller id it may be due to:

a) You do not have Caller ID service - check with your carrier - i spent an hour once trying to get caller id working on a PBX because the client insisted he had caller id
b) Your PSTN TO SIP gateway or your FXO Analog card is answering the call too quickly. Increase the delay before the call is answered
c) You are using the wrong Caller ID detection method for your region - make sure you specify what part of the world you are trying to detect caller id

2. Caller ID provided by a SIP carrier should show up instantly if connected to a phone. if it is going through a gateway you may need to verify the caller id is passed as it is received. Gateways or PBX's allow you to manipulate the caller id before being passed to another gateway or end point.

Linksys VOIP Product Quality

One of my favorite voip brands has turned out be Linksys (now under Cisco). First small PBX I used was the LVS9000. It didn't turn out to be a great PBX but a lot of the associated products turned out very well.

The SPA942 is great general purpose phone. Can be used with many SIP phone systems including Asterisk. Also great for companies offering hosted PBX services.

The SPA962 with sidecar - great receptionist phone. The sidecar buttons can be configured for BLF, speed dial, and call pickup.

The SPA400 turned out be a very reliable 4 port analog gateway - although not advertised to work with Asterisk.

The PAP2T ATA's are great quality when used with a good analog phone - try the Aastra 9116 - MWI indicating light works, call waiting, hook flash, transfer button, and speaker phone.

The SPA8000 & SPA8800 are also great new products under the Small Business Pro line up.

And the legendary SPA3000 and SPA3101. Great combination of FXO,FXS, and router (SPA3102)

The SPA3000 lets you test a variety of PSTN / VOIP setups - truly one of the best hack devices!