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Help – VoIP Minihowto


Besides the long speech, we will direct you to an outstanding forum www.voip-info.org, where you can find all necessary information.


Software & Hardware

To be able to play with PBX, you need to have SIP compliant phone. There are various different types:

  • Hardware VoIP phone – "box" looking almost identically as your normal PSTN phone, except its connection to the computer network.
  • ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) – device, connected between normal phone and computer network, converting your old PSTN phone into the new VoIP phone.
  • Software VoIP phone – application running on the computer and allows you to use the same sound card, phones (or speakers) and microphones.

HW VoIP phone and ATA prices start from about €35.
Choose one carefully and try out every device properly to be sure it corresponds with your needs.
Last but not least – an important advice: if you want to avoid problems, look at recommended devices.


Parameters needed for phone setup can be found here. Local specialities have to be resolved with a good friend Google and using your own brainpower.


SW versus HW phones

If you think about whether to use the SW or HW phone, we have for you a few notes:

  • SW phone is suitable for VoIP telephony evaluation, testing purposes and emergency use.
  • SW phones, although often offer more features, but in most cases these are easy to circumvent.
  • HW phones and ATAs are much more comfortable and better quality and for serious use they are irreplaceable.
  • If you need "free hands" during voice calls, use a HW phone and high-quality headset that can be attached to it.