[TriLUG] looking for bridge mode cable modem for Spectrum

[John Franklin via TriLUG]

On Mon, Oct 26, 2020 at 10:13 AM, Joseph Mack NA3T via TriLUG 
<trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Oct 2020, Stephen Bryant via TriLUG wrote:
> 
>> Spectrum-supplied box for telephone
> 
> what sort of box is this? It seems most of the modems don't come with 
> phone, so I might have to get some sort of outboard device. I've 
> found an ATA (analog to something adapter) which is ethernet on one 
> side and RJ-11 on the other and behaves like a message machine, but I 
> haven't heard of your device.
> 


ATA = Analog Telephone Adapter, and there are two kinds, depending on 
which way it's converting.  A FXS (Foreign eXchange Subscriber) port 
allows you to use an analog telephone on a VoIP network.  If you order 
phone service from your ISP, they'll give you a cable modem with an FXS 
port on it, so you can use your old landline phone with their VoIP 
service.

An FXO (Foreign eXchange Office) port goes the other way.  If you have 
an office full of VoIP phones, but your phone service is a POTS line 
(Plain Old Telephone Service.  No, really.), you'd plug the FXO to the 
POTS line, and the digital VoIP phones could talk to it for inbound and 
outbound calls. (More likely, an Asterisk server would manage all the 
local VoIP phones, and route inbound/outbound calls to/from the FXO.)

Regardless, just having the adapter doesn't let you make phone calls.  
You need to have a service behind it to connect to the worldwide phone 
network.  There are a number of them out there, ranging from 
plug-and-forget (Vonage, MagicJack, Ooma) to 
low-level-you'd-better-know-the-SIP-protocol services (Skyetel, 
Vitelity, Nexmo).  The NerdVittles.com blog is a great place to read up 
on the latter and their support for Asterisk or PBX-in-a-Flash, an 
Asterisk-based PBX package that's has a nicer interface.  Asterisk is 
all command-line, no web interface or GUI.

The low-level ones tend to pay-as-you-go services, and charge 
$1-$2/month to have a phone number, and about a penny a minute for 
voice time.  The plug-and-forget give you one phone number, unlimited 
usage, and charge about $25-$60/month for the privilege.

I've been using Vitelity for years and have to top-up my accounts (one 
business, one personal) with another $20 every few months.  Sadly, VoIP 
services are fraud magnets, and Vitelity isn't offering new accounts 
anymore since Voyant bought them.  Voyant's not bad, but Vitelity was 
so much easier to use.

jf
-- 
John Franklin
franklin at elfie.org