The ATA: The Essential VoIP Device

Ah, its my last blog for the month, and its Feb.29 a leap day!...a once every four years date! (coz it's a leap year!) Read about some interesting Leap Year figures,facts and fiction

Speaking of leaping....

ATS1100: VoIP Gateway/Router

ATA boy!: I was going to continue "harping" on how "wonderful" and easy our current T2Free softphone is to use. However, allow me to "leap-frog" a little bit on some of iCall products and introduce you to another basic but essential VoIP gadget: the ATA (analog telephone adapter), which like the USB Softphone allows users to set-up SIP configurations, thereby allowing them to make VoIP calls to either PSTN lines, Mobile phones or other VoIP users. The main difference between an ATA and Softphone however is that an ATA does NOT require a computer (or computer knowledge for that matter) while a softphone does. All one needs, are of course, the basics:

1. a landline telephone (POTS unit, to turn into a VoIP phone),




2. an RJ-11 wire/cable (to connect the telephone to the ATA unit),




3. a power supply outlet (to plug in the ATA's power adaptor),




4. and of course, broadband/high-speed or any DSL internet access.

FXO/FXS:Depending on the model, an ATA usually has an FXS, and FXO ports (the one pictured above, the ATS1100 has both). To get a more detailed explanation of these, just click the links. To simplify it, an FXS provides the VoIP line while the FXO is for the regular PSTN line (in the above model, the ATS1100, it can switch one to the other, such that a VoIP and PSTN lines can be used simultaneously to make and receive calls)

I'll try to give a more detailed explanation on how ATAs work next blog...