Wi Fi Handset

Posts: 185 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 18, 2005 Posts: 185

Unfortunately, the only way to get a wifi phone right now is to sign up for a new ACCOUNT, however once you get the wifi phone you can call CS and they can merge your accounts.

Posts: 103 · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:21 am Post subject: gimme the technical specifics

howiewifi wrote:

The F1000 phone can be used as a Vonage soft phone. This has been the case with all models of "unlocked" F1000's and is also true with the new F3000 and other WiFi phones. Soft phone accounts can also be used with unlocked PAP2's or any other device.

Wow! So, let's say I bought an unlocked F1000, how would I set it up to work with a Soft Phone account? What does it mean to have a locked or unlocked device? How can you unlock a PAP2?

So, if I wanted to have a working F1000, would I have to get a softphone account and then somehow associate the MAC number of my F1000 with my softphone account? How would I do that?

Thanks for yoru help!

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:57 am Post subject: Re: gimme the technical specifics

cargojack wrote:

So, let's say I bought an unlocked F1000, how would I set it up to work with a Soft Phone account?

You would configure it the same way you would configure the SoftPhone software by entering the SIP settings provided by Vonage.

cargojack wrote:

What does it mean to have a locked or unlocked device?

An unlocked device allows the user to alter the SIP settings.

cargojack wrote:

How can you unlock a PAP2?

You can buy unlocked SIP adapters, there were instructions for unlocking a Vonage adapter floating around on the forums a while back. Vonage at one point would unlock some of their older adapters for a fee.

cargojack wrote:

So, if I wanted to have a working F1000, would I have to get a softphone account and then somehow associate the MAC number of my F1000 with my softphone account?

No, MAC numbers have nothing to do with SoftPhone accounts. In your hardware adapter your SIP settings are managed by Vonage and, I believe, stored in their systems based on your MAC address. With a SoftPhone or any unlocked SIP hardware you manage your own SIP settings.

cargojack wrote:

How would I do that?

The instructions would be in the SIP phone manual and the settings would be provided by Vonage.

One other comment, an unlocked device costs more than a Vonage device because Vonage is giving a rebate and subsidizing the cost.

Posts: 328 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 328

To add a bit to this discussion:

The phone number is associated with the SIP user name and password. For soft phone accounts, Vonage gives these to you and you put them into the device (WiFI phone, PAP2, anything else) yourself. You can switch devices as often as you like - but Vonage does not subsidize them.

The MAC discussion refers to devices provided directly by Vonage. The MAC is used on combination with their servers to send the SIP configuration directly to your device - using only devices that they provide and support. In that case, you can't find the configuration and you can't change it.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 29, 2005 Posts: 5

scerruti wrote:

...No, MAC numbers have nothing to do with SoftPhone accounts. In your hardware adapter your SIP settings are managed by Vonage and, I believe, stored in their systems based on your MAC address. ...

Just curious, why do you think this?

The MAC address is simply an ethernet address designed to be unique for communicating immediately with other devices on the same LAN. It wasn't meant, nor should, ever be used for authentication.

Vonage uses SIP 2.0 MD5/TLS for authentication. Here's some details (although I hate the markup here, rather distracting):

http://rfc-ref.org/RFC-TEXTS/3665/chapter2.html

Phil

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:15 am Post subject:

Prior to establishment of a SIP session the adapter must know certain pieces of information unique to the account for which it will be registered (e.g. the SIP server and the SIP user).

It is obvious that Vonage maintains this information based on MAC address because that is the information they need when you call to let them know you have changed hardware devices.

Some time ago a member posted some of the events that occurred when an adapter was powered up. One of those events was the TFTP download of a configuration file named with the adapter's MAC address.

In this case Vonage/Linksys/Motorola are using the MAC address not for authentication but simply as a unique subscriber ID to allow service providers to remotely manage configurations. That is, it was a convenient unique number that the manufacturer forced into double duty. It is similar to the function of the SIM in GSM.In the past I have argued that it should not be done with the MAC address but should have been done with a SIM so that you could move between devices without interaction with Vonage. This would be especially useful in this case where it would be nice to pull a SIM from your adapter and put it in a WiFi phone.

Note that this is also born out in what happens when two MAC addresses are configured for the same account. Both devices are able to register with the account but not simultaneously.

From another post it also appears that you are unable to spoof the MAC addresses in the adapters. They simply reset themselves to their original settings. This may also indicate that the secrets are different in each adapter and that Vonage is linking the MAC/Secret information provided by the manufacturer into the SIP accounts. Failure to authenticate may result in restoration of certain factory settings including the MAC address.

Posts: 1123 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 1123

Damn, now I'm confused. I thought a MAC address was a Media Access Control address that identified a specific pieve of hardware, not an Ethernet address. Wink

Posts: 423 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Oct 03, 2005 Posts: 423

When your Vonage device powers up, and at regular intervals, it sends out its IP address (location) over the internet to Vonage. It checks in, telling us which MAC address (hardware device) it is and where (what IP address) to route calls meant for that unique device.

Posts: 103

From the last bunch of messages, it seems I need to learn more about what SIP is.

I love technology, but my use of Vonage is primarily business. I have the business plan with 1500 minutes and I rarely use all of it. I also use the included fax line. If the Wi-Fi phone had been available when I first got Vonage, I would have bought my PAP2 and gotten the cheapest plan, plus a fax line, and I would have gotten a Wi-Fi phone with a 1500 minute plan. I would would have used the Wi-Fi phone as my primary phone, and the adapter primarily for its fax connection. It would be nice if Vonage offered business plan where you could get 3 numbers, wuth an adapter and wi-fi phone and a combined number of minutes.

I read the stuff someone wrote about SIP. Instead of asking all my SIP questions here, could you recommend a site that would explain how SIP works? essentially, what I would like to understand is how a 10 digit phone number is assigned to a SIP account, and what a SIP identifier is, that is, how do two SIP devices find each other.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:58 am Post subject:

Basic Introduction

A Sip of SIP (IBM)