
SIP Trunking to Replace My Landline Phone Using Plivo - dhfromkorea
http://plivo.com/blog/sip-trunking-to-replace-my-landline-phone-using-plivo/
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windexh8er
Ugh, this is nothing new and the author is relatively uninformed on VoIP in
general. SIP trunks got hot in the consumer space around 2005-2006 and there
are much better alternatives than the author describes as well as far superior
hardware (IMHO that Cisco ATA is junk for the price).

Do your research. Use something like the PBXIAF forums and software if you
want a good place to start. If you don't need 911, which all providers have to
offer (paid is the Q), leverage GVoice with an Obi (someone already mentioned)
if you want to get it on the cheap but have hardware you can grow into an
actual PBX.

$0.02.

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fusiongyro
You clearly know this stuff. You should expand this into a step-by-step
article, with what to use rather than just what not to use. Denouncing the
article we have without providing clear alternatives may give you and some in-
the-know friends a good time, but it's useless to me. You might consider
hooking the rest of us up with some actual knowledge, rather than a vague
incitement to "do research" on "forums."

~~~
secabeen
There are plenty of step-by-step articles out there. Personally, I use FreePBX
to manage an Asterisk system with Grandstream, Cisco and Siemens endpoints.
Any google search for FreePBX will find lots of guides.

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thesis
One thing to be wary of as with most voip providers is E911. I'm not sure if
Plivo offers it but it's worth looking into before venturing down this path.

From their terms of service it doesn't appear that they do offer it.

"You also acknowledge and understand that Plivo does not currently allow you
to access any 911 or similar emergency services (no traditional 911, E911, or
similar access to emergency services). The Services are not intended to
replace any primary phone service, such as a traditional landline or mobile
phone, that may be used to contact emergency services."

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JimmaDaRustla
I use voip.ms. E911 is $1.50/month, but I'd be an idiot not to pay it.

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_JamesA_
I also use voip.ms. Unfortunately their API and features have stagnated for
quite a while. Even a basic feature like the ability to upload a voicemail
greeting has not been implemented yet.

That being said the features they do have implemented work well and the
pricing is attractive.

I can't really tell what Plivo offers other than an API to build custom
solutions.

~~~
dedward
I use it as well. It does seem to have slowed in terms of new features.. but
it's the absolutely no-hassle, reliable, functional service that I just love.
It's cheap, it does what it does properly, you don't get spammed or tricked
into anything whatsoever, and if you do happen to have a billing issue or
something, their support has always come through over email with no problems
at all for me. They have their act together.

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js2
_Custom voicemail system with per-contact messages._

I just ported my home VoIP service from Time Warner, with their Motorola ATA,
to an OBi202 with Anveo. (The OBi202 is also connected to my Google Voice
account, so when I'm home where I have terrible cell service, I can still
receive/make calls from my "cell" #.)

Anveo's Visual Call Flow Builder is pretty neat and can do what the OP
mentions. I have a white list of #'s that will ring through to my home, a
black list of #'s that have to press 1 to leave a message, and everything else
just goes straight to voice mail. It looks like this -
[http://i.imgur.com/lEe8Nbv.png](http://i.imgur.com/lEe8Nbv.png)

It was all pretty straight-forward to set up and works great so far. Call
quality is excellent.

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masnick
OP here. That looks awesome -- exactly the kind of thing I want to set up one
way or another.

I also want to have a Google Voice-style online interface for voicemail,
starting conference calls, etc. I think there's a lot of potential in an open-
source web app that has these features and makes the SIP setup stuff a little
bit easier than having to go through the general Plivo dashboard.

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josh2600
This is cool. It's nice that you can register an ATA.

This is not really new functionality though, I mean any service can do this
from voip.ms to flowroute.

I think it would be cooler if the article showed how you can use the
scriptability of Plivo in tandem with their SIP registration to really make a
professional supplemental phone. In addition, demoing how to provision your
cellphone to call forward to your landline on no-answer would be useful.

Not a bad blog post, just missing that extra sauce that would really make it
pop for me.

Source: I'm a big telecom nerd.

~~~
sologoub
Funny enough, I did this last month using the Telephone Mac application (just
as the author initially did). The real story that the article doesn't quite do
justice to is how easy it was. From zero to a functioning phone (making and
receiving calls) in less than 30 mins.

If you were to recreate this via FreeSWITCH/Flowroute, it's more like an hour
and change from scratch. (Register for VPS, install everything, etc.)

~~~
josh2600
That's exactly my point. In the article they highlight the end result, which
is frankly boring, instead of the setup, which is where they shine.

There's always a market for well done abstraction.

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sologoub
Agreed.

Also, got to give them props on support. I've stepped away from doing this for
a living, but wanted an easy way to call my relatives overseas. The first
attempt resulted in poor quality to the foreign landline. Cell was crystal
clear. I notified Plivo team via the built-in chat and they had it fixed
promptly.

This was a request from an extremely low-volume user calling European country
Plivo doesn't support for anything other than dialing to. In other words, not
a lot of $$$ to be made, but service was top notch!

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maikhoepfel
For easier setups and ludicrous pricing, I can recommend DIDlogic. Supports
call groups, has incoming phone numbers in many many countries and is dirt
cheap. Haven't had any issues with them either.

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rdl
While I love VoIP, for terrible _cellphone_ coverage you might want to look at
getting a femtocell for your house. They're carrier specific, though.

~~~
js2
If you can get your cellular provider to give you one (typically you have to
be on a post-paid plan), great. Otherwise they are a few hundred dollars last
time I looked, and still require you to have at least one bar somewhere in
your home. I do not consistently have that from anywhere in mine, although
maybe a femtocell's better antenna would.

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JimmaDaRustla
Isn't this just a voip setup? I use a Cisco SP112 with voip.ms

Yes, it can be quite techy, but nothing new.

Edit: Phone bill is approx $10/month with $1.50/month for E911

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nimish79
Nice. Makes you wonder why no one did this so far.

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Rubinous
Haven't used landline for a long time but the more I've used Skype, the more
frustrated I've got with it. Really really frustrated on some days. Even plain
old-fashion analog telephony was better experience I recall. Maybe there's
something in this Plivo SIP thing that could take us to the next level on
telephony.

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linker3000
2/10

