Hareware Reviews

Want to join the Voice over IP (VoIP) revolution and make free phone calls via the Internet? Then you’ve a number of choices, including software to run on your PC and custom IP phones to plug into your network. Alternatively you can opt for an ADSL router with a VoIP adapter built in, which is what we’re looking at in this group test.

As well as the adapter to convert phone calls into IP packets and back again, the routers featured here all use a protocol called SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to register with an online VoIP service provider. Once registered you can then make and receive calls both to other SIP users and, via the service provider’s gateway, to subscribers on the ordinary public switched telephone network (PSTN). The SIP calls are free, with low rates for calls made to the PSTN, even those abroad.

SIP can also be used with softphones and IP phones but by building the technology into a router you end up with a much neater solution, better able to avoid problems caused by network address translation (NAT) and firewall settings. Plus you can use an ordinary analogue phone with one or more connectors on the router into which existing handsets can be attached. Added to which you can use the handset as an ordinary dial-up phone in the event of a power or hardware failure.

Of course you also get a range of standard router features such as firewall protection and, in some cases VPN support. Some even come with a bundled subscription to an online SIP service making them relatively easy to configure, with full details of just how easy they are in the reviews that follow.