[VoIP] Naive question

[Chad Perkins]

> Is there any practical mechanism by which people who subscribe to
> commercial Voip services could be called on a direct Voip basis by
> CNET users, without going out into the PSTN and NANP?
> Steph

To clarify:

Q: is there a way for CNET users to call Vonage-like subscribers on a strictly IP 
basis (without going through the PSTN per se)?

A1: As Ben said, the short answer is no.

A2: I know this isn't the answer you are looking for, but as others have mentioned 
there are some "roll your own" solutions.  For example John N. could call me on my 
commercial VoIP line if he knew my VoIP number (08130174).  Creating a CNET-to-
VoIP gateway for single user would be relatively easy; making a broader, scalable 
solution is a little more complex.

A3: The broader answer is that CNET does not "peer" with other VoIP networks.  
And to do this right this is what we would need to do.  There are dozens if not a 
hundred VoIP operations that peer with one another.  FWIW I'm told Vonage no 
longer participates in any peering arrangements (but then again chances are anyone 
looking to save money isn't going to be using the most expensive provider after 
maybe VeriZon and at&t [jab, jab]).

On 11 Dec 2006 at 15:19, Steph Kerman wrote:

> If the 2nd port of a 2-port ATA could be hosted by an existing CNET *, 
> that would be a step towards what I was asking about.  

Yes, if someone has an unlocked ATA that works.  Some of us are doing that now 
(unfortunately the ATA manufacturers don't seem to know what an RJ14 is) and a 
number of VoIP providers allow you to do that; so all you need is a two-line phone (if 
that's your pleasure).

> Ideally, there 
> would be some way to register the same ATA port with 2 hosts or 
> otherwise at least provide incoming service to it.  

Each host has so many configuration parameters that may not be capatable with 
other that this would be tricky and neither the manufacturers nor the providers are 
going to want to implement some thing that could really get ugly.  On the other hand I 
think there is a slightly geeky way of accomplishing this [see* below].

> Outgoing is less 
> important since the commercial Voip subscriber presumably has free/cheap 
> toll service and can call the CNET user through the PSTN.  

If outgoing were not a requirement*, it should be possible to "drive" SIP calls to a 
properly configured SIP device without it being "registered".  This is something I have 
not tried and there a number of issues (without registration, I think the CNET tandem 
is going to need to configured for a fixed IP of the device, and manual firewall 
configuration will most likely be necessary to let the SIP & RTP in).

> The CNET user 
> OTOH might not be a commercial Voip subscriber and being able to call 
> commercial Voip subscribers saves the CNET user toll charges.

True, but signing up with a commercial provider that will give you rates under 
$0.02/minute is so easy why wouldn't one... skip that.  CNET users have (access to) 
Asterisk which comes with FWD sample configs "built in".  FWD has excellent 
peering with other SIP providers (except at&t, VeriZon $ Vonage) and is free.

c.