WiFi Hacks and Mods

Routers, Repeaters, Antennas

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STEP 1 - Download a Softphone

A softphone is not necessary but it will simplify testing procedure quite a bit. One of the best out there is X-Lite. Follow the installation instructions.

STEP 2 - Open a SIP Account

This is like signing up with a cell phone carrier except that there aren't crazy contract commitments. There are many SIP providers out there. If there are setup fees I'd look the other way. Usually they'll let you get started with a small balance transfer from a PayPal account or a credit card. I'm talking about just a few bucks. Some will even allow you to make free calls for testing purposes.

One thing that's very different from signing up with a cell phone company is that when you open a SIP account you get the ability to call and receive calls from other SIP users (similar to Skype to Skype) and the ability to call regular phones (termination). If you want to be able to receive calls from regular phones you need DID which is billed separately and can be actuated through another provider. More about this later.

Check out the rates for the places you will be calling. Remember that switching providers later is very easy.

I ended up testing several providers. Cheapskates may want to consider www.voipcheap.com They offer "free" calls to select countries and overall cheap rates. The way the "free" calls work is somewhat complicated. You make an initial payment of €10. After that you can call for free for 90 days. After 90 days they start applying standard rates to your calls and depleting your balance. At that point you can sink in another €10 and start a new 90 day period.

The thing that bugs me about voipcheap is that you have to download and install their Skype-like softphone in order to create a SIP account. Their softphone is absolutely non-essential. It's just a hassle. I downloaded it, installed it, wrote down my SIP account information and uninstalled the software.

Another provider worth mentioning is www.callwithus.com They have a nonsense-free setup and a very functional web interface used to configure your account settings. The rates are pretty low too. You can setup multiple numbers (SIP user names) under one account for no extra charge.

Explore other options your provider may offer such as voice mail, conference calling, etc.

STEP 3 - Setup Softphone and Make a Test Call

Whichever service you sign up with they'll provide you with standard information used to setup your softphone/hardphone. For example voipcheap SIP information is as follows:

In most cases it comes down to just the parameters in bold text.

Let's setup X-Lite for use with callwithus. Assuming that you have already opened an account and have your user name and password available start the X-Lite and click on the triangular icon button top left [Fig 2].

Fig. 2 X-Lite Menu Button

Choose "SIP Account Settings" and click on "Add." Use this information from callwithus to complete your settings. Substitute your user name and password. "Display Name" is like a caller ID for SIP-to-SIP calls. "Authorization User Name" should be the same as your "User Name." Note that user name is different from your callwithus account number. The user name is like your telephone number and callwithus allows you to have more than one user name under a single account.

When done click on "OK" and "Close" to get back to your X-Lite panel. The phone will connect to the server and say "Ready." Test it by calling yourself. Because the SIP server doesn't necessarily know where you are you always have to dial the country code first. To call a U.S. number (202) 555-1212 you'd have to dial this sequence: 12025551212.

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