Mobile call routing using VOIP phones

lomb

I have 2 grandstream VOIP phones, I am wondering how I would go about routing mobile calls over a sim card. I can get unlimited mobile calls for around 30 a month and it works out quite alot dearer via the VOIP provider. I think its called least cost routing. Im wondering what it would cost and if its dear to maintain in time and money. Im happy for outbound landline calls to travel via the voip provider.

I just had a look and can get a gsm box for 30 quid that can plug in a standard telephone set which is an option (more professional than using a mobile in an office anyway!) but is there a simple non technical option for connecting the VOIP grandstreams to a sim. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mr. G

You can get a sim gsm gateway and connect the phones by sip to it. The gateway could be connected to a pbx while abroad.

lomb

Thanks for replying, Im not too technical on VOIP. Could you provide a link to a suitable GSM gateway and how would I connect it by sip to the grandstreams. Can this be done while they are connected to the telephony provider (goldfish) and would landline calls be routed over goldfish and if so how? Would it not need to be slightly cleer knowing that 086, 087,089,083 etc go over mobile, or would I need to route everything over the mobile?

Mr. G

For least cost routing you would need a phone system.

You have two options:
-Get a gsm gateway and pbx
-or connect one line to goldfish and another to the gsm gateway

Gsm gateways:
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/VOIP+GSM+Gateways

If you have a spare computer lying around that's not being used you could install the freepbx distro or if you want to the experimental, you could get a raspberry pi and install asterisk.

Johnboy1951

..... or maybe a router with built in call management, QOS, dial plan etc including routing of different call types to different lines.
A number of routers can also accept SIM cards and have the possibility of registering multiple VOIP accounts from different providers thus providing great choice .....

lomb

Thanks guys, Johnboy could you suggest a suitable router, I only need one sim working, what sort of cost would I be looking at?

Johnboy1951

lomb wrote: »

Thanks guys, Johnboy could you suggest a suitable router, I only need one sim working, what sort of cost would I be looking at?

I am reluctant to recommend any manufacturer TBH.

I have had a Draytek Vigor for 8 or 9 years and it has served me well ...... 6 accounts; two WAN connections with failover or load sharing.
It was dear at the time ... being business class rather than home ... but it has served me well.

There are other very good makes out there to.
Some might be (probably are) even better .....

Mr. G

As JB said I would definately have a look at the draytek. Didn't come to mind when I posted. You get for what you pay for, and try and avoid the cheap chinese crap on ebay.

Johnny_Fontane

We are spending up to €250 per month on calls to mobiles (4 users) using magnet business voip. About 1800 minutes last month, but it can go as high as 2000 or as low as 800.

If we were to get three mobiles say with emobile, we would spend €120 a month and have unlimited minutes.

Is there any options for companies in our situation?

If anyone is a specialist, pm me and I would gladly meet up. We are based in D2.

Mylow

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

We are spending up to €250 per month on calls to mobiles (4 users) using magnet business voip. About 1800 minutes last month, but it can go as high as 2000 or as low as 800.

If we were to get three mobiles say with emobile, we would spend €120 a month and have unlimited minutes.

Is there any options for companies in our situation?

If anyone is a specialist, pm me and I would gladly meet up. We are based in D2.

You should be looking at https://www.freevoipdeal.com.
Buy €10 worth of credit set-up a dialplan for Irish Mobile calls to go through freevoip as a trial through a spare IP Phone or SoftPhone.

Prices listed on website as of today.

Ireland (Landline) FREE* FREE* FREE*
Ireland (Mobile) € 0.020 € 0.023 (2c Exc VAT) (2.3c Inc VAT).

I use 4 different providers and dialplan to get best deals.

I also have a VOIP GSM Gateway which takes 2 sim cards.
PORTech MV-372 Gateway.

Also take a look at SipSorcery.com

Mr. G

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

We are spending up to €250 per month on calls to mobiles (4 users) using magnet business voip. About 1800 minutes last month, but it can go as high as 2000 or as low as 800.

If we were to get three mobiles say with emobile, we would spend €120 a month and have unlimited minutes.

Is there any options for companies in our situation?

If anyone is a specialist, pm me and I would gladly meet up. We are based in D2.

I know lyca are the cheapest at €29. Remember either a private or a mobile number will show from the sim. You can use a voip mobile gateway to integrate to a pbx.

The other option is to get cheaper rates using voip. A few betamax providers do this, and can be around 2 cent a minute. Shop around for the best rates.

Johnny_Fontane

Thanks for your replies. There is no way in the world that I could do this myself....can anyone recommend someone who might be able to set this up for us?

Mr. G

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. There is no way in the world that I could do this myself....can anyone recommend someone who might be able to set this up for us?

Most phone system installers should be able to do this for you. I would recommend Innovate Voicegrid. Haven't heard any complaints anyway about them.

domeld

Mr_Grumpy wrote: »

Most phone system installers should be able to do this for you. I would recommend Innovate Voicegrid. Haven't heard any complaints anyway about them.

Hi, were did You hear about Innovate/Voicegrid?

Mr. G

domeld wrote: »

Hi, were did You hear about Innovate/Voicegrid?

They have been on RTE News and have won quite a lot of awards. I've been speaking to someone recently who has this voicegrid system and they've had no problems so far. I understand there is no up front cost and its a fully managed service.

lomb

Can anyone recommend the model of the better or best simplest devices preferably with onboard intelligence(rather than running software on a pc) needed to plug a single 3g sim card into a broadband router and route only mobile calls from 3 onsite voip phones over the sim card and if busy then through the voip provider.

I have been recommended everything from FCT(with and without intelligence) attached to a ATA terminal adaptor attached to the router . However Id like the lot combined in one with the intelligence managed through a login from any pc on network. Ie 192.168.1.x

Just want to cost up what it would be versus carrying on in status quo. Il add on for labour if I cant set it up, but I dont want a complex solution with mulitple devices that would be a nightmare to maintain in the long run.
Cheers

Mr. G

Do you have phone system or a spare computer lying around?

lomb

I have a spare computer yes thats always on, also I have a very simple set up.Mainly 2 grandstream voip phones at one location and broadband. The provider is goldfish.Ie

I just need a simple system that preferably takes 3g sim cards from Three. Ideally mobile calls 08xxx are intelligently routed over the sim and if thats engaged then through default goldfish. All others through goldfish.

I think there is some misinformation on this thread wrt to the portech router recommended seems to make you dial the number of the sim from the voip phone then receive a tone then dial out. That isnt the sort of intelligence Im looking for. Just a seamless solution would be good.

Cheers.

Mr. G

lomb wrote: »

I have a spare computer yes thats always on, also I have a very simple set up.Mainly 2 grandstream voip phones at one location and broadband. The provider is goldfish.Ie

I just need a simple system that preferably takes 3g sim cards from Three. Ideally mobile calls 08xxx are intelligently routed over the sim and if thats engaged then through default goldfish. All others through goldfish.

I think there is some misinformation on this thread wrt to the portech router recommended seems to make you dial the number of the sim from the voip phone then receive a tone then dial out. That isnt the sort of intelligence Im looking for. Just a seamless solution would be good.

Cheers.

Ok well going with what you have, I recommend you install the freepbx distro or 3CX on your spare computer. Setup the phones with that computer (which is essentially now a phone system) and connect it through the lan to a gsm gateway. Expect to pay at least €200 for one. This way you can configure LCR and routes.

lomb

Ok but what happens if that computer goes down? Do the VOIP phones default to goldfish on outbound ? and remain on on inbound?
Thats why I didnt want to complicate matters.

Does freepbx only run on linux? edit 3cx has a free eddition and works on Windows it seems. So the main question is say if the pc running it didnt boot what happens then? Is there a config in the grandstream voip phone menu that routes calls to the 3cx first?

Mr. G

lomb wrote: »

Ok but what happens if that computer goes down? Do the VOIP phones default to goldfish on outbound ? and remain on on inbound?
Thats why I didnt want to complicate matters.

If the sips go down, in any case, than they will be forwarded to the failover number, be that a mobile, landline etc. So if your pbx or broadband is offline, than the numbers can be set to be forwarded elsewhere.

Does freepbx only run on linux? edit 3cx has a free eddition and works on Windows it seems. So the main question is say if the pc running it didnt boot what happens then? Is there a config in the grandstream voip phone menu that routes calls to the 3cx first?

Linux is much better for a phone system than Windows. Windows often makes the box much slower. 3CX runs on Windows and has a free version and also a paid version.

On the other hand, Asterisk has a lot of features for nothing. If you want G729, etc. there are licenses for that from digium but it has more features than 3CX free version. Its used by hundreds of carriers and has been around for years.

I'm not sure about the Grandstream configuration, but you should be able to have Line 1 registered to the box, and Line 2 for a goldfish sip account. So if its down, press Line 2 and dial away but it will go out through Goldfish.

If you don't want to go messing around with the spare pc, maybe put it on a raspberry pi. Its working fine for me anyway.

lomb

Sorry meant if the pbx goes down and the broadband is still working. Do incoming calls still ring the Grandstream IP phones? I can understand setting it up so outbound calls are one line 2 to bypass the gsm sim box part.

Mr. G

Configure it like this:
Two extensions. 200 on Grandstream A line 1 and 201 on Grandstream B line 1.

Goldfish sip account A configured as a sip trunk in freepbx and calls 200 and 201.

Set outbound route for 08XXXXXXXX for gsm gateway and then goldfish. Route 2 XX. for goldfish.

Goldfish sip account B configured on both Grandsteam A & B Line 2.

The box should never go down anyway unless its not turned on.

lomb

Hiya sorry to resurrect this thread but I wish to motor on with the original plan, can anyone recommend a reasonable good ie less than 300 euro GSM sim gateway that I can connect to a router and use a Linux box like Rasberry Pi running Freepbx?

Would this be any use?-Dinstar seem to be Tiawanise rather than Chinese and been around for 25 years
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dinstar-DWG2000-1GSM-SIP-GSM-VoIP-Gateway-Asterisk-Trixbox-/251178048682?pt=UK_Computing_MicrophonesPhones_RL&hash=item3a7b60dcaa

Mr. G

lomb wrote: »

Hiya sorry to resurrect this thread but I wish to motor on with the original plan, can anyone recommend a reasonable good ie less than 300 euro GSM sim gateway that I can connect to a router and use a Linux box like Rasberry Pi running Freepbx?

Would this be any use?-Dinstar seem to be Tiawanise rather than Chinese and been around for 25 years
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dinstar-DWG2000-1GSM-SIP-GSM-VoIP-Gateway-Asterisk-Trixbox-/251178048682?pt=UK_Computing_MicrophonesPhones_RL&hash=item3a7b60dcaa

This could be of help
http://www.raspberry-asterisk.org/calling-on-gsm3g-networks/

I would be careful buying on eBay from outside the EU, quality may not be great and it may not have a CE mark. Others might be able to help you in recommending a product. Keep in mind import duty etc obviously.

lomb

Mr. G wrote: »

This could be of help
http://www.raspberry-asterisk.org/calling-on-gsm3g-networks/

I would be careful buying on eBay from outside the EU, quality may not be great and it may not have a CE mark. Others might be able to help you in recommending a product. Keep in mind import duty etc obviously.

Sounds interesting , but I nearly prefer a commercial solution as I myself am running a business. Its one possibility and a cheap one at that! So seeing as Im buying Rasberrry I might as well give this a shot.

The Dinstar is via a UK agent Novavox and has CE and ROHS whatever all that means, Ive emailed them to ask them the level of support for the 30 days thats included.

Il buy a Rasberry now and then hold fire on which way to go either the Dinstar or the dongle route and let everyone know how Im getting on in a week.

Any other advice greatfully received.

Mr. G

They look reputable enough I think. You always have the 7 day EU distance selling return if you are buying it (does not apply to bidding).

lomb

Bought the Raspberry 512 setup on Ebay for around 70 euros. I think I have a GSM modem thats compatible. Hopefully Ill be ready to rock and roll after a year or two of wanting to do this!
I suppose common sense tells me to save the cash and go with the GSM modem.
Il post back shortly for help and advice and to tell how Im getting on.
Hopefully if I can get a working setup for me then I can post a simple step by step guide that could be of use to others.

Mr. G

lomb wrote: »

Il post back shortly for help and advice and to tell how Im getting on.
Hopefully if I can get a working setup for me then I can post a simple step by step guide that could be of use to others.

By all means do, that would be great. I'm thinking of setting up a how-to thread on all things VoIP so will copy it into that thread. Would be interested in seeing how you get on and what your experiences are with it.

lomb

No bother, I certainly will. I have some knowledge of computers ie windows networking, general maintenance etc but wrt Linux zero. My brother has some Linux experience.
We will see how we get on , this thread could be quite useful to others which is the spirit of forums in general.
The router suggestion above re the Draytek seemed to be a red herring also well after looking into it. It did have LCR set up but not designed to integrate with a GSM modem for call routing but for 3g fallback if the broadband goes down. So it would need a sim gateway. And why not use something thats been designed for the job like Freepbx etc? Ive been stalling doing anything for various reasons but I dont think its as complex as it seems at first , anyway well see:)

Mr. G

The FreePBX distro is a doddle to install once you have the image burned to a disk or usb. Raspbx is easy too.

The Ubuntu wiki has some very handy tutorials if you need help burning the .iso to the SD card or disk. It is fairly straight forward after that. The web gui goes through everything, and FreePBX is well documented through the wiki.