calling a SIP number or being called on a SIP number

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 02, 2007 Posts: 1

A friend in the UK tells me he has a SIP phone and that his number is like **746456789. Yes, he tells me his number starts with star star. I tried dialing his number on my Vonage phone but it just sits there. I also tried things like putting 01144 in front of this, no dice. Is there way to dial a SIP number like this on Vonage?

Conversely, is there some way he can call me over SIP?

I have an ancient Cisco ATA-186 Vonage adapter. I have a static ip address and can put this adapter in the dmz on my network, though perhaps I only need to forward a few specific ports to it for SIP to work?

The real question is, what would they dial to get to my adapter? Or can they dial something so the call goes via Vonage and somehow lands on my phone? Some posts indicate there may be a way to get straight to the ATA via SIP. Other posts imply one can connect to the Vonage SIP server and that will end up getting to my phone.

My friend in the UK has some sort of VOIP box with a regular phone plugged into it, so he has a dialtone and can dial numbers. It's supposed to be SIP compatible. I don't think it's an Asterisk box, at least, it's not labeled as one on the outside.

Michael Grant

Posts: 260 · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:55 pm Post subject:

Although the underlying protocol is SIP, Vonage can call and be called by PSTN numbers only.

Posts: 327 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 327

To call the numbers starting with **, you can sign up for a (free) Free World Dialup account (fwd.net) and configure it on a soft phone or another unlocked ATA. You would have ONLY a SIP number and no PSTN number. Alternately, you could sign up with the semi-free sipgate.co.uk and get a (free for you) UK PSTN number plus the ability to call SIP numbers.