VOIP SunRocket Internet Phone Service $199 for 15months = $13.27/month

[gibster]

OK, here is a weird question.

I still want to be able to FAX stuff from time to time to places like mortgage companies, etc.

Does anyone know if faxing over this line will work?

To be even more perverted, how about a modem connection over this? I know it's pointless, so please don't point it out, but I'm very curious what kind of speeds you would get...

 

[skadoo323]

i dont think there are any major security concerns for a home user with the setup you wish to have. i think in a corporate environment voip lines go through firewall connections and such just because of security issues.

 

[skadoo323]

sending and receiving faxes works just fine. i got this partially for that reason as well. now i don't have to worry about someone being on the phone when i expect a fax or having to wait for others in the house to get off the phone just to send a fax. lol

 

[KidViciou$]

i'll be running my VOIP gizmo through my firewall

 

[MrNutz]

Ok, I just got everything and set it up. Here's what they sent me:

• Gizmo (+ Cat5 cable)
  Uniden Cordless Phones
  20 Minute Prepaid Phone Card
  Very straight-forward, easy instructions. And a Thank You note.

I hooked the WAN port of the gizmo directly into an open port on my router. (I didn't worry about running the cable modem to gizmo to router.) Powered it up and reset cable modem. I had one minor glitch and that was completely my fault. (I forgot that I had locked down my router so it would only allow 1 DHCP IP... )

After I let it get an IP, it started working right away. (BTW, I'm using Linspire/Linux too.) I just made a call to FL and talked for about an hour. No problems, clear call on both ends. There seemed to be some minor noise at times, but we both thought that was his cordless phone. After that, I made a call to my friend in MS and got him to call me back. Incoming call came through great. He said that his voice would echo when he spoke. I didn't hear any echo, so I'm not sure if that was from his side or mine.

Overall, I'm happy. It's nice dialing LD calls w/o worring about minutes.

BTW, remember to initially charge the phones for 15-20hrs to condition the batteries.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
How does caller ID work with VOIP (stupid question I know)?

I'm assuming the Uniden cordless phones have caller ID display and all numbers are displayed?

Yup!

Also, someone asked about getting phones all over the house...
I would just buy two more of the Uniden wireless phones and install them wherever. No wory about wiring - wireless is nearly as good as free

 

[ElGuache]

I have this question:

If you get the gizmo box, and then you move, change your address, into a different area, would the box still work with DSL, eventhough it is a different area?
Let me put it in other words, if I give the box let's say to my sister who has DSL and hook the box in her DSL line, does the gizmo box brings the numbers and the service with it, as long as you have a DSL line?

That would be nice if you move and don't have to worry about changing your service with SunRocket.

 

[MikeMike]

i wish i had Cable internet at home, and not dsl, cuz that would make the deal so much better

MIKE

 

[GTFan]

Originally posted by: ElGuache
I have this question:

If you get the gizmo box, and then you move, change your address, into a different area, would the box still work with DSL, eventhough it is a different area?
Let me put it in other words, if I give the box let's say to my sister who has DSL and hook the box in her DSL line, does the gizmo box brings the numbers and the service with it, as long as you have a DSL line?

That would be nice if you move and don't have to worry about changing your service with SunRocket.

That's the nice thing about VOIP - you can take your phone adapter with you anywhere you can get broadband and your phone service (and numbers) go with you. She might want to get the number changed to her local area code if SunRocket has one in her area, but that's it.

 

[KidViciou$]

so what would happen if i took the gizmo to india and set it up there?

 

[ECartman]

it makes now difference where you are as long as you have broadband. I carry my Broadvoice box all over the world. It's like having my local phone system with me anywhere.

 

[Tiembo]

Originally posted by: KidViciou$
so what would happen if i took the gizmo to india and set it up there?

It's basically a computer of sorts, and doesn't care where you're connecting from. Think of it like your notebook - you can send email and surf anywhere you have an internet connection.

 

[MrNutz]

UPDATE:
Well, I'm getting a new gizmo next week... I talked to a couple of more ppl and found out that they would hear an echo on their side only when they were talking loud. So to diagnose this problem, I tried hooking up the gizmo btwn my modem and router like the instructions said. The voice light never would come on. (This light means that you can make calls.)

So I called up a CSR and found out that the gizmo takes on whatever IP address it gets and keeps that as it's static IP. Well, that's what I figured happened. He told me to completely erase the memory I would need to let the gizmo sit w/o any pwr or ethernet plugged in for about 45mins...

Ok, I did that and then the voice light came on but no dialtone. I tried reseting my modem, gizmo, etc... Still no dialtone. So I searched around and found out I had an older Firmware. Some ppl same they had got SunRocket to upgrade them to:
Application Code Version: SIP version 4.52 US (APP 36 )
Downloader Code Version: 4.52 US (LDR 35 )

I called SunRocket and got the guy to upgrade my Firmware. It takes about 20minutes and this seems to be the firmware they are now upgrading everyone to:
Application Code Version: SIP version 4.50 US (APP 27 )
Downloader Code Version: 4.50 US (LDR 27 )
CPU Hw Version: 7

Well, unfortunately that didn't fix the "no dialtone" problem, but from what I've read it probably would have fixed the "echo" problem that I was orginally having.

Anyway, here are some important points I picked up from the SunRocket Tech guys:

• The Line2 port does not work for now, it may be implemented in the future.
  The CAT5 cable that comes with the gizmo is a crossover cable. So make sure you always use this cable for the gizmo's WAN connections.
  The port forwarding capability of the gizmo hasn't worked for anyone, even SunRocket's techs never got it to work. So if you need to do port forwarding, then hook the gizmo into your router and just use your router's port forwarding.
  Don't try to change the gizmo's IP address. (The gizmo's settings gui has an option to do this.)

Also, here's an interesting bit of info I picked up...

I figured someone might be curious as to how to RESET their "gizmo", seems these things do not have RESET buttons on them. But if you want it to go back to the Factory Defaults, basically unplug the WAN and LAN cables, leaving a phone connected (Port 1) and then dialing ##333-2858... You should here a guy say "DOT" but sometimes it just comes out as some form of "modem scratch tones". Just keep dialing until you hear SOME form of sound (max 1 minute) and then the phone should hang up, you will see the lights all go crazy on the "gizmo"... Then plug it all back in and you will notice it is back to the defaults.

 

[KidViciou$]

HOLY CRAP!!! SO THEN YOU COULD POTENTIALL CALL ANY SINGLE LOCATION IN THE WORLD FOR FREE FOR $17 A MONTH!!!!!!

 

[jono8]

Originally posted by: MrNutz

The port forwarding capability of the gizmo hasn't worked for anyone, even SunRocket's techs never got it to work. So if you need to do port forwarding, then hook the gizmo into your router and just use your router's port forwarding.

So has anyone been able to foward ports sucessfully? this could be bad news for my torrents... I just got the gizmo and ha ven't tried it upstream of my router yet.

 

[MrNutz]

No successful port forwarding from my knowledge. The only reason I found out was b/c I couldn't get it to work and I asked one of the techs. Completely unplug the gizmo from everything for about 45mins, then rehook up the gizmo's WAN port to one of the open ports on your router. Then you can just use the port forwarding in your router.

 

[jono8]

Thanks Mr. Nutz, right now i have both the gizmo and my router connected to my vonage device, which is connected to the cable modem. With vonage, when i hooked it up to the router, the call quality qas pretty terrible when running any sort of downloads, which is why i'm hesitant to do it with the sunrocket.

What is suppose to happen before incoming calls work? I assumed that calls would just go to voicemail, but when I try calling my number, i just get a fast beeping sound.

Also, how do they/you keep track of the international calls you have used? I can't seem to find any reference to the $3/month international calling credit when I log into my account.

 

[MrNutz]

The reason they want you to hook up your cable modem to gizmo to router is b/c the gizmo will take bandwidth priority over the PCs connected to your router. It makes sure that it gives you the best quality even when you are downloading. It really doesn't matter for me since I've got 4Mbps d/l. But if you've got a DSL lite plan or budget cable plan, you're not allocated as much bandwidth so your voice quality may take a hit if it isn't hooked up before your router.

I don't know about the incoming call wait deal. I know it says you may have to wait 10 days before you get incoming calls, but they worked for me the same day I hooked everything up. That does sound like a problem that your calls don't go to your voicemail. I know that before I even got my equipment I could call my number and it would go straight to my voicemail. So possibly they may need a few days to secure your number in your area code.

Not sure about the international calling minutes. I think they are planning to put alot of stuff on their website, but for now they have the most important features and are mainly concerned about customer service. Give em a call and see what they say. I'd be interested in knowing as well.

 

[jono8]

some interesting information...

1) VM supposedly does not work until incoming calls work
2) You're suppose to keep track of the $3 of international calling credit on your own.

here's a transcript of the chat for those of you interested (btw, it took a loooong time to get through, and response time was very sporatic)

Melissa: How may I help you?
You: I got my gizmo yesterday and activated voicemail, but when I call the number, I get a fast beeping sound instead of voicemail. Is the voicemail suppose to work? or does it not work until incoming calls begin to work?
Melissa: It does not work until the incoming calls work.
You: ok
You: is there any way to track the international calls I have made? (so that I can keep track of teh $3 credit/month)
Melissa: Unfortunatly there is nothing like that yet.
You: Do you know if there are plans to implement such a feature?
Melissa: We do apologize for the inconvenience. I will make a ticket stating your request.
You: Thanks. Do you know how I will be billed if I go above the $3 of credit?
Melissa: May I have your name so that I can document this? It will be charged to the card that you provided when signing up.
You: ******* ******
You: Will there be some sort of itemized list of the calls detailing the length and amount of each call? If so, how can I access that statement?
Melissa: That, you must keep track of.
You: so there is no sort of statement if I go over the $3?
You: and there is no way to find out how much of the $3 is left? (ie like a calling card, which tells you how many minutes left you have before making a call)
Melissa: Not on our site.
You: and nothing mailed to me?
Melissa: It is just billed to your credit card.

I'm not too worried about it, since they seem to have a good ethos, but it seems like their lack of accounting could lead to unfettered international billing (I mean seriously, how many people will keep track of the length of each international call they make?).

 

[rm430]

I just got it and the outbound calls are great. I am a bit disappointed though in that it has been a week and still no inbound. For the price, I am willing to stick it out a while longer. With my old plan it cost me roughly $60.00 per month, this one is less than $16.00. Can't beat that. I did have a little problem when I changed routers though. I went from a D-Link to a Netgear and had to manually configure the WAN address for it because for some reason it would not pull an IP from the DHCP server on the Gizmo.

 

[gibster]

Do these gizmos have any kind of web management enabled? I.E. how do you upgrade the firmware?

 

[jono8]

I just got my firmware upgraded and basically the tech at sunrocket set everything up so that all i did was unplug the gizmo and replug it in. That being said, there is web management enabled.
I put it in front of my router (I didn't have to wait 45 minutes as the tech told MrNutz to do), and it seems like my connection speed has definately dropped off. I would consistantly get 4Mbs down before with my desktop and about 350 bits up. Now, I only get about 421 bits down and 328 up. It's a dramatic drop off for the down speed!

The drop in speed, plus the lack of port forwarding makes me reconsider how important voice quality is. Hopefully the up speed will be enough (I'm not too worried about the down speed since it's usually around 4Mbs).

Edit: Reconfigured the setup so that I have cable modem---> router---->gizmo. Did a speed test and got 4729 down, 249 up.

 

[gibster]

Originally posted by: jono8
I just got my firmware upgraded and basically the tech at sunrocket set everything up so that all i did was unplug the gizmo and replug it in. That being said, there is web management enabled.

Ok - so what is it? what port/page, etc? I connected mine up behind the firewall, I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to receive calls, but everything works great, voice quality seems even better than the regular land line (except for an occasional echo). Tried a LD call, worked perfectly on the first try. You can't even tell the difference between this setup and a regular phone line, since you get a dial tone. Neat!

Does anyone know which ports the gizmo is hitting? Since it works behind a firewall, how is it that it can receive a call so painlessly (i.e. without opening holes in the FW)? Anyone?

I want to beat up on this thing for a month before disconnecting my POTS line.
One thing I noticed on the web site, they tell you when calls happened, but not their duration! They better provide this info with their statements, otherwise they are kind of pointless...
I sure hope this works out fine, I can't believe how much money I am paying over the course of 1 year for local and LD service. By a rough estimate, this will save me $800/year, not even counting international calls.
Keeping my fingers crossed...

 

[jono8]

If you check out the Install guide, it tells you that you can access the web interface for the gizmo at 192.168.251.1 If you click on LAN, port forwarding, it says that certain ports are reserved for the gizmo and can't be forwarded. That being said, it seems like most people (me including) have been able to hook it up behind a router without forwarding any ports and it still works fine...


Also, gibster, you should check out my post about 3 posts up, and look at the chat transcript where the csr basically tells me that we won't receive any sort of accounting from them at all for international calls. She said that they will just be billed on our credit card.

 

[Robor]

Well I just signed up. I guess it will be a little while before I get my packet. I will post my results once I get up and running.