godot2012 wrote:Red89GT wrote:Make sure you have the correct ports forwarded to the ata. Giving the ata a static up can help aswell.
Sorry to be dumb here, but what do you mean by 'have the correct ports forwarded to the ATA'? And how do you do that? I have no info on the ATA. No access go its configuration files. It supposed to be plug-and-play, which it was originally. Also, I assume that 'giving the ATA static IP address' would require access to the configuration of the ATA. I guess I could configure my router to assign the same IP address to the MAC of the ATA, but to pair it properly the ATA would need to be set also. And why would you need to do this?
If this is the best VoIP can be well, I could make it work, but I would not recommend it to grandpa. Hence it is far from being a viable alternative to the simplicity of POTS.
I would not call FPL the "best VoIP can be" but it does a fair job of giving the best possible FREE service.
If you want help with the set-up feel free to PM/E-Mail me from my profile and I can use a remote-access software (preferably TeamViewer) to attempt some set-up configuration with you.
Since more ISPs have moved toward integrated routers the VoIP landscape has become more complicated as it used to be a company could just ship a VoIP ATA/Router combo and have you plug that directly to the modem. This avoided most of the nastiness of Port Forwarding, ICE/STUN/TURN, Nat-Traversal, and IP assignments.
VoIP's ideal environment would be to have the ATA as the first stop on your network, and when that is the set-up, it certainly is simple and reliable even for grandma/grandpa.
If you're curious, read through some of my past posts, I go into considerable detail on both computer networking and VoIP systems in some posts to explain the VoIP landscape and current IP-phone ecosystems.
P.S.
If your router supports a Static-IP assignment/DHCP Reservation/"Static-DHCP" (choose your preferred jargon.) Then it should not be necessary to make any "matching configuration" on the ATA. Just make the assignment on the router hit apply, and then unplug your ATA for a minute or two. When you plug it back in, it will ask the router for an address, and the router will provide the one you have reserved for it's MAC.