I was recently encouraged to try out the service of VOIP.ms. First off, as this is a forum on security intelligence I'll get by the security benefits first and then will describe my experience with them.

So you get to choose any caller ID that you want, and it is configurable on your local ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) device, so that means you can change the caller ID feature on the fly. Imagine setting it to "THE MAN" or "THE COPS" or "THE PRESIDENT" or "TROUBLE" ... the list could go on and on.

To use VOIP.ms you need an ATA device. Personally my favorite out of all of them is a GrandStream HT802. It supports two lines at the same time, so one line could be for FAX and the other VOICE, or even have a MODEM line and a VOICE line. As this is a BBS forum you might be more interested in the modem option. And you might be saying, modems don't work on VOIP. Generally that is true, however the HT802 supports an uncompressed protocol so you've got a full 64kbps line to do whatever you feel like doing with it.

Cryptography is also on offer with the HT802. As the device is modern I expect that it would work well with VOIP.ms service.

Now for the really fun stuff: a Business plan costs about $2 USD and every month and a minute costs a little less than one cent: $0.009 to be exact. They also have a residential line option where you pay about $7 USD per month and get 1800 minutes or more. So after the initial cost of the ATA device and you sign up for VOIP/ms you're flying. The audio quality is fantastic and you have full control over special features such as call waiting, caller ID, call transfer, and a whole pile of other stuff that I'm not too familiar with. Into the ATA device you plug a standard land line phone in and it acts just like any other line with a very clear fidelity.

I hope that you have just as much fun as I am having with this landline phone replacement. $7 USD compared to the regular $35 USD is huge. Why waste money that you don't have to.

If this message has made you decide to get service from VOIP.ms please give me a message at society@phatstar.org and I can get you a significant discount. I give you a code and you get your balance topped up. It's a good deal so don't pass this offer up

I hope this message finds you well.
Cheers!
-warmfuzzy

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Re: VOIP.ms Cheap VOIP & CallerID
By: warmfuzzy to All on Sat Apr 15 2023 11:33 pm

I was recently encouraged to try out the service of VOIP.ms. First off, as this is a forum on security intelligence I'll get by the security benefits first and then will describe my experience with them.

Good to know - I'm starting out a consulting business (again) and was looking for options for dial-tone. Google Voice is one option, but with Google's propensity for shutting down options, I'd hate to rely on it and have it rolled into one of their chat tools and not work for, you know, calling land lines.

I'm also interested in SIP trunking, I'm tempted to set up an Asterisk or 3CX PBX for home.

...Can you hear me?
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Good to know - I'm starting out a consulting business (again) and was looking for options for dial-tone. Google Voice is one option, but with Google's propensity for shutting down options, I'd hate to rely on it
and have it rolled into one of their chat tools and not work for, you know, calling land lines.
I'm also interested in SIP trunking, I'm tempted to set up an Asterisk
or 3CX PBX for home.

Having a full-blown PBX at your home may be more than you need. Great if you'd actually use it but probably a waste of money. I would contact Flex from 2600.network (that is a web address, literally 2600.network). Flex was the guy who led me on the VOIP.ms. He runs an Asterisk server from which he has the 2600.network gateway. Whatever option you choose to go with, I'd seriously recommend the brand of GrandStream, they are spectacular. With the uncompressed data stream option it would even work for FAX or MODEM.

Cheers!
-warmfuzzy

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Re: Re: VOIP.ms Cheap VOIP & CallerID
By: warmfuzzy to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Apr 18 2023 00:55:11

Hi,
Voip.ms does offer virtual pbx services as part of their offering so they can have an ivr configured for your callers to call and time conditions.
For a small shop with minimal traffic voip.ms is not a bad place to start for a full featured solution on the meter.
To the best of my knowledge they do not charge for pbx functions only the pstn legs of the journey for your calls.

Tom
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warmfuzzy wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Having a full-blown PBX at your home may be more than you need. Great
if you'd actually use it but probably a waste of money.

Yeah, but I was a phone guy back in the day - ran big Northern
Telecom/Nortel Network switches. There's a nostalgic component to it.
:)



... Only a part, not the whole
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
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Tom Moore wrote to warmfuzzy <=-

Voip.ms does offer virtual pbx services as part of their offering so
they can have an ivr configured for your callers to call and time conditions. For a small shop with minimal traffic voip.ms is not a bad place to start for a full featured solution on the meter. To the best
of my knowledge they do not charge for pbx functions only the pstn legs
of the journey for your calls.

As a guy who used to set up turnkey systems for small businesses, VOIP
PBXes rock. I got to know Avaya, Norstar and a couple of other PBXes
that ran analog or TDM phones, and it was always a pain in the ass. It
did mean that I usually got to charge ad infinitum for moves, adds and
changes, though.

Now, with 8x8, ring central or a VOIP provider, you could buy a handful
of VOIP phones, define call groups and auto-attendants through a web
page, and you're done in a fraction of the time.



... Once the search has begun, something will be found
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Re: Re: VOIP.ms Cheap VOIP & CallerID
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Tom Moore on Tue Apr 18 2023 06:49:00

As a guy who used to set up turnkey systems for small businesses, VOIP
PBXes rock. I got to know Avaya, Norstar and a couple of other PBXes
that ran analog or TDM phones, and it was always a pain in the ass. It
did mean that I usually got to charge ad infinitum for moves, adds and changes, though.

Now, with 8x8, ring central or a VOIP provider, you could buy a handful
of VOIP phones, define call groups and auto-attendants through a web
page, and you're done in a fraction of the time.

When I started out in voip we started by doing line services over sip for these local phone systems by using 8 port gateways to replace 1fb lines in the systems and piping them over customer's dsl lines.
We also used a custom pri box to do the same thing for customers who had t1 interfaces before hosted phones took off!
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (700:100/16)

Tom Moore wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

When I started out in voip we started by doing line services over sip
for these local phone systems by using 8 port gateways to replace 1fb lines in the systems and piping them over customer's dsl lines. We also used a custom pri box to do the same thing for customers who had t1 interfaces before hosted phones took off!

My experience recently has been somewhat limited to inheriting Asterisk
PBXes and running 8x8 recently. Way back when, I managed big Nortel
switches, and we started running our own SIP trunks over their
proprietary boxes. It was nice, instead of having to buy more trunk
cards, it was a licensing thing. Get a new keycode, set up another 8 SIP trunks.

I had a call center in San Francisco and another in Connecticut, and
were able to network the two PBXes and route calls over SIP using an
MPLS circuit, and it just worked.

Nortel has been gone for years, but a Nortel PBX "cheat sheet" (https://kataan.org/nortel-pbx-cheat-sheet/) made of notes I've
collected over the years still gets a handful of hits daily.




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Re: Re: VOIP.ms Cheap VOIP & CallerID
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Tom Moore on Thu Apr 20 2023 06:52:00

My experience recently has been somewhat limited to inheriting Asterisk PBXes and running 8x8 recently. Way back when, I managed big Nortel switches, and we started running our own SIP trunks over their
proprietary boxes. It was nice, instead of having to buy more trunk
cards, it was a licensing thing. Get a new keycode, set up another 8 SIP trunks.

Nice!! Most of the analog phone systems I worked on were Samsungs.
Those things did have some features that are hard to duplicate in today's world such as 20 phones in a ring group, shared line appearance for small customers, etc.

I had a call center in San Francisco and another in Connecticut, and
were able to network the two PBXes and route calls over SIP using an
MPLS circuit, and it just worked.

I also did a few of those systems over mpls.
Technically those have the tightest connectivity, but are expensive to keep in place month to month.
We did eventually replace them with vpns over cable connections, but this isn't nearly as reliable.
Cost wise they liked it though.

Nortel has been gone for years, but a Nortel PBX "cheat sheet" (https://kataan.org/nortel-pbx-cheat-sheet/) made of notes I've
collected over the years still gets a handful of hits daily.

Nice!!
All my phone systems I had in place at individual locations have probably been replaced except for those in Asia as voip isn't liked much in those parts.
I had voip on the inside of the phone systems and pstn trunks on the outside to connect them to their in country phone network.
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Having a full-blown PBX at your home may be more than you need. Grea if you'd actually use it but probably a waste of money.

Yeah, but I was a phone guy back in the day - ran big Northern
Telecom/Nortel Network switches. There's a nostalgic component to it.
:)

Sounds very good then. We could always use more systems like Flex's 2600.network, that is "https://2600.network/ Good job!

Cheers!
-warmfuzzy

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (700:100/37)

Tom Moore wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

All my phone systems I had in place at individual locations have
probably been replaced except for those in Asia as voip isn't liked
much in those parts. I had voip on the inside of the phone systems and pstn trunks on the outside to connect them to their in country phone network.

It's nice talking to someone who can appreciate how important voice was
to companies back then - desk phones, call centers, fax and voicemail
were king when I first started out, and I loved being able to be part
of the hacker scene on the BBSes and understand the back-end tech at
work.



... What's behind this door? What door?
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Re: Re: VOIP.ms Cheap VOIP & CallerID
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Tom Moore on Fri Apr 21 2023 07:28:00

It's nice talking to someone who can appreciate how important voice was
to companies back then - desk phones, call centers, fax and voicemail
were king when I first started out, and I loved being able to be part
of the hacker scene on the BBSes and understand the back-end tech at
work.

I agree.
Everything is moving away from desk phones into either headphones plugged into pcs or mobile apps.
I mainly work from a stationary standpoint so a desk phone is just fine by me. It does one thing and one thing well.
I like the idea that people can make money anywhere hey are, but that just isn't me.
I feel better when I have a desk to sit at to do my work and people won't bother me.
I go outside my office room and it can be family time for me and when I want to work I just go shut my doorand do my thing....
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Re: Re: VOIP.ms Cheap VOIP & CallerID
By: Tom Moore to poindexter FORTRAN on Fri Apr 21 2023 11:51 am

Everything is moving away from desk phones into either headphones plugged into pcs or mobile apps.
I mainly work from a stationary standpoint so a desk phone is just fine by me. It does one thing and one thing well.

I work from home now, and just bought a desk phone with speakerphone for my office. I miss the desk space it takes up, but it just feels right.

...Abandon normal instruments
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