Alternatives to IP phones

There are a couple of alternatives to using an IP phone to access a VoIP service: VoIP adapters (ATA or Analogue Telephone Adapters); and VoIP gateway/router devices.

Both these options allow you to use a standard telephone or Dect (Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telephone) as a VoIP phone.

An ATA adapter has just an Ethernet port and an RJ-11 phone port (some also have a fallback port for a normal landline).

A VoIP gateway/router may have several phone ports, support multiple Sip accounts as well as a broadband modem and local network switching and routing functions.

For example, the Linksys PAP2 Phone Adaptor (£44.05) provides two RJ-11 analogue phone connections and has one 10/100BaseT Ethernet connection.

Or there’s the Grandstream Handy Tone 286 Analog Telephone Adaptor (£45) with a single phone connector and Ethernet port.

Draytek’s Vigor 2800VG (£173.94) is an ADSL gateway/router with two internal VoIP adapters. USB adapters are also available that allow the use of a standard phone with a computer running VoIP software.

However, this is rather an inelegant solution and the adapters are often expensive, for example the VoIP Box from Pakatak costs £79.99.

VoIP adapters and VoIP routers include their own web servers and must be programmed with the details provided by your VoIP service provider to obtain a service connection, just like IP phones.

Analogue phones
If you already have a lot of analogue phones, these devices can be a sensible solution for your VoIP setup. They also allow the use of a Dect phone for a cordless IP phone connection.

To some extent the solution choice comes down to cabling – if you are in an environment that’s already network cabled, then either IP phones or VoIP adapters are a good choice.

With a VoIP router the analogue phones either have to be within a metre or so of the router/gateway, or you will need extension cable runs to each phone.