[BUGA] VoIP connections (was: adsl2+ modems)

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Thursday, 25 August 2005 at  8:56:49 +0930, Mark Newton wrote:
> Romana Branden wrote:
>> no, we still cant get it in our area, dammit, but we are looking at a
>> new adsl modem with an eye to hopeful better times;)
>>
>> anyone got a recommendation?
>
> Billion 7402VGP.  It's an ADSL 2+ modem with a CPU fast enough to
> achieve decent speeds, has built in wireless, built-in switch (for
> connecting multiple computers) and a built-in voice gateway for
> accessing SIP-based VoIP services.  More or less everything you need
> in one box.

To dig out this old thread again: I find myself in the market for a
new ADSL modem rather sooner than I expected, and VoIP has now also
reared its ugly head.  From my particular point of view, I evaluate
ADSL modem features roughly like this:

  ADSL2/2+	    very important
  switch	    unimportant (what can you do with only 4 ports?)
  802.11	    unimportant (already have the infrastructure)
  Firewall	    unimportant (run a carefully tuned one myself)
  QoS		    unsure (haven't investigated)
  VoIP gateway	    unsure (in the process of investigating)

Looking at the price of the 7402 VGP, it's a lot higher (2.5 x) than
the Billion 5102 el cheapo modem that claims to do the one thing I
find very important.  In fact, they're so much more expensive that I
could pay for one, for Internode's SPA-3000 adaptor, and still have
money over.

So: what's the best way to do things?  After looking at the specs
(http://www.billion.com/product/voip/bipac7402vgl.htm), it seems that
I could get ADSL2+, VoIP gateway and QoS most cheaply in the 7402VL.
On the other hand, the 7402VGL also offers an FXO port.  Comparative
prices are:

Billion 5102	       $117
Billion 7400	       $135
Billion 7202G	       $146
Billion 7402VL	       $234
Billion 7402VGP	       $279
Sipura SPA-3000	       $170 (from Internode on signup)

I'm not 100% sure I have all details correct here, but it looks as if:

- All the modems support ADSL 2+, though the 5102 may run out of steam
  a bit at the higher end of the scale, something that I won't see
  here in the near future.

  On the other hand, there are reports that the 5102 also gets a worse
  S/N ratio.  I don't know how seriously to take this claim, but if it
  causes me too much worry, 

- You don't need a special adaptor to connect a VoIP phone, but both
  the Sipura and the high-end Billions are cheaper than a VoIP phone,
  and you can connect a normal analogue phone to them.

- The 7402VL and VGP can connect two phones (FXS port).  The Sipura
  can connect one.

- The 7402VGP and the Sipura can also connect a POTS line (FXO port).
  I'm not 100% sure about the exact function of the FXO port, so I
  might be misunderstanding this one: the diagrams on the Billion web
  site aren't quite clear.

- The Sipura (http://www.sipura.com/products/spa3000.htm) is currently
  the only device that Internode supports with the NodePhone service,
  though others may work.

- NodePhone isn't the only game in town, but using it with any of the
  VoIP enabled devices doesn't exclude other sources as well.

So, where does that leave me?  You (Mark) are possibly in a position
to clarify the suitability of the Billion devices for use with
NodePhone (I'm assuming your endorsement above means that it will at
least work well Internode's ADSL2+ offerings).  Are there other
gotchas that I haven't identified?

Greg
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