Readers who recall our epic encounter with the complex programming required to set up dial plans using the Linksys SPA3102 analogue telephone adapter (ATA) — a device which manages a standard analogue telephone and digital IP phone — will know one of the major reasons relatively few people have so far switched to VoIP: complexity.
The other is the widespread belief that the quality of VoIP calls is grossly inferior to PSTN calls. While that may have been true in the early years of VoIP technology, these days high-speed ADSL services and carrier-grade equipment and services make it virtually impossible to detect the difference.
The C470 is, and behaves like a particularly good DECT (Digitally Enhanced Cordless Technology) handset — the sort of device that has become ubiquitous in homes and small businesses around the world —but it also serves as a simple but powerful gateway to IP telephony, via your cable or ADSL broadband connection.
It allows you to make calls either via the PSTN line, or VoIP, without using a PC. The base station, which is much easier to program than an ATA — while lacking some of the advanced functionality — can handle up to six handsets, and can simultaneously handle two VoIP calls and one fixed-line call.
You plug your PSTN line into the base station, connect it to your router with an Ethernet cable, then register your handsets. You then set up various features either via the handset, or through a browser interface.
Because you can have up to six VoIP accounts with different providers, your phone can be reached by up to seven different phone numbers, which can, if you like, be in different cities. In Bleeding Edge's case, for instance, one of our numbers is a Sydney number which allows friends and business contacts in that city to ring us for the cost of a local call. That's one of the great things about VoIP: you can spread your savings around.
It's much easier to set up a dial plan with the C470. While we use Melbourne-based Freshtel — which is the Australian importer of the phone — for most of our calls, we've used the simple Web interface to the phone to instruct it that whenever we dial a number beginning with "04", it connects via our $14.95 monthly GoTalk package which gives us 100 free mobile calls each month.
There are some useful advantages in having one's phone system connected to the internet. Firmware updates, for instance, can be done automatically. If you enter your time zone details via the Web interface, it will keep your time and date details accurate via an internet time server.
You can download the full manual (choose "full version en AUS" ) to get an idea of what's possible.
One development which could make it easier for Victorian users to take advantage of VoIP is the likely move by the not-for-profit Melbourne PC User Group (phone 03 9567 8000) into VoIP. It's negotiating to offer the C470 to members and friends at a reduced price. While Freshtel does offer excellent support, the group's free online help service would mean people who still find the topic too complex would have another source of information. That might cause a bit of grief at Telstra.