Can the Linksys DSL/VoIP Router Work in Europe?

m_e_henry asks: "Linksys and Net2Phone have recently introduced a product that is a 4 port DSL router which also has an RJ-11 (phone) jack. You plug an ordinary phone into this box and it routes outgoing phone traffic over the Net2Phone IP network. Very cool. It is an easy way to use Net2Phone's service in a way that is very familiar. Unfortunately for those in Europe, there are currently no plans to release this product here. So my question is if anybody knows a way to make it look like I am in the US, even though I am in Europe. Can I set up some sort of VPN connection with the States so that the Linksys router thinks that I am on a machine in the US? Is there an easier way? I have not been able to find a consumer-oriented product similar to the Linksys/Net2Phone offering but available in Europe." Any clues as to what limits this device from working in Europe and if it's possible to work around such limitations until such a product is offered in these markets?

Re:Opposite problem ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Look for something called EtherLoop. I think it's made by Nortel Networks. It is exactly what you want. It is frequently used in hotels to provide Ethernet (DSL) over the existing telephone infrastructure.

Voltages.

[EasyTarget]

Not a big issue, most linksys/netgear/whoever addons these days use a seperate power supply, so you can simply find one thyat is appropriate (I love it when manuals tell you never to use any other power supply, 12vDC is 12vDC right.. sheesh, safety Nazi's to blame I think).

But last couple of products I brought while visiting US came with uiniversal power adaptors anyway, just needed a cheap converter plug and was off and going. Seems that cost of these universal adaptors is now so low that it is cheaper to use them then have two separate specifications for Europe/US.

Did once get caught out with a CD player that, even after I re-linked the PSU (had links on PCB to different transformer taps for 110/240) blew up (big smelly smoke). Turned out that the PSU was also frequency sensitive (60Hz vs 50Hz) and I should have replaced the capacitors too.

EZ

Silly question but where are you?

[matthew.thompson]

Europe is not a country. (America gasps)

No seriously it isn't. The telephone systems across Europe and the methods of Internet access across Europe are very different - we're still lumbered with monopolistic network providers to a large extent in some coutries and there are big differences in attitudes and technologies for broadband access.

So before I give you a Yes / No answer - how about fessing up to which country you're actually in?

Marketing troll?

[anticypher]

This linksys/net2phone SIP-in-a-box product was just announced yesterday. What great timing to get it published on /. :-) They haven't even updated their websites yet.

A slightly different version of this service was discussed recently [slashdot.org] on /.

We've been playing around with a SIP [ietf.org] gateway server [vovida.org] and a VoIP phone [cisco.com] on our DSL connection here in Europe. It works, but phone quality to the US sucks at best. The problem is QoS. Without spending US$10,000++ per month on a dedicated IP pipe from Europe to the US with a guaranteed QoS end-to-end, VoIP just doesn't replace regular phone service. But for IP connections within Europe, we get reasonable quality. Now, if only there were more than 3 people who could call us (and two of those are inside cisco TAC who only call to test their SIP setups)

This linksys/net2phone service requires you to pay them a subscription to use their SIP gateway, and the units probably are not configurable to use alternate SIP services. So if your account expires, your box becomes an expensive blinking light source.

It should work in Europe, I doubt they care which IP block you are coming from. But all the sessions will pass to north america for processing on their VoIP network. If you do buy one of these boxes, drop me a note. I'd love to see what kind of "virtual phone number" they assign you.

the AC

a possible problem

[toast0]

using various internet phone things here in the US theres often lag issues, i imagine routing the data through the ocean couldn't help that, but i'm sure you don't really care too much about that :)

Net2Phone works in Europe right?

[CvD]

I don't really see the problem. Net2Phone services work in Europe, don't they? Why should the servers in the US distinguish between a hardware Net2Phone implementation and a software implementation, like the one included with MSN Chat. Or am I make gross assumptions here?

Cheers!

Costyn.

---

Re:Voltages.

[cperciva]

(I love it when manuals tell you never to use any other power supply, 12vDC is 12vDC right.. sheesh, safety Nazi's to blame I think).

You're probably right in this case, but there is sometimes a technical justification. Some types of equipment have a tendancy to feed AC back up the power line (ie, they draw periodically varying current), and if you use an AC/DC converter which doesn't filter this out you could be in trouble. There was a discussion here a few weeks ago about what types of equipment could be run off of a UPS which centered mostly around this issue.

reply

[milgram]

I don't know, does it only use 110V?

Re:Opposite problem ...

[Lokinator]

Paradyne has a good product (in terms of DSLAMS) and you might well be able to find one on the market 2nd hand...

Opposite problem ...

[snowtigger]

How to set up a "do-it-yourself" DSL provider ?

I am a student in a European university where the student houses are connected to the university's telephone network (free internal phone, but without ethernet ;-). We are currently looking for cheap way to hook us up to the local network(+internet).

One solution would be to set up a local DSL provider on the campus network (the phone lines are private, so we could easily connect equipment to it).

I was looking for information a few days ago, but without real success. There were some routers on the Cisco website, but that's about it.
Does the Slashdot community have experience on setting up this kind of network ? Of course we are looking for the cheapest solution possible with a high bandwith.

Re:Net2Phone works in Europe right?

[m_e_henry]

Hi, Prior to posting my question on Slashdot, I asked the company (Linksys) if they had plans to release the product in Europe. They replied that they would like to, but that there were no plans to do so because of the regulatory environment. PC-based Net2Phone _does_ work in Europe, so I am at a loss as to why one would work and the other wouldn't. I know that there is a need to create a new account with Net2Phone explicitly for phone cals from the Linksys RJ11 port, which suggests that they (Net2Phone) distinguish between one and the other. I do kind of wonder how Linksys/Net2Phone would even _know_ where the user is coming into the net from, but on the other hand, just try to get the VoIP function in AOL IM to work in Europe. Impossible. So this does happen. Perhaps for the same reason.