- Sat 9th Nov 2013, 18:24
#37
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The Cisco SPA112 is the successor of the Cisco-Linksys PAP2T analogue telephone adapter (ATA). The SPA112 does have a few feature enhancements that weren't available in the PAP2T. Among those enhancements is the Quick Setup feature.
Quick Setup page A Good Idea...
The Quick Setup page (apparently) is intended for direct access to only the most pertinent configuration settings needed to connect to your favorite BYOD VoIP service provider (VSP), very quickly. It appears short and sweet, straight to the point, and only requires that you enter the login parameters absolutely necessary to connect to your VSP proxy servers (appearances can be deceiving). It also includes the ATA default Dial Plan, which will generally work with most VSP's (perhaps a little tweaking required).
But... It's Only Half-Baked...
It has the potential to save time and effort when setting up a new VoIP provider account on either Line 1, Line 2, or both. But, it's missing crucial settings that (in my mind) render it a waste of time for the BYOD VoIP enthusiast perspective.
So.... What's Missing ?
Well, just a few settings that make all the difference between being a useful feature vs. a useless feature:
I can only speculate that when Cisco came up with the Quick Setup page idea, they were catering to the enterprise users who connect to one of their Unified Communications systems located behind their firewall on the same LAN. Probably intended to be used with a locally administered IP-PBX on the local LAN vs. for connecting to a VSP, like I do.
The Bottom Line:
Don't Bother With The Quick Setup Page
Without those values (as mentioned in items 1-7 above) being available on the Quick Setup page, there is no point going there in the first place, because you will still have to visit Line 1 and Line 2 pages under the Voice menu to edit the other pertinent values.
Go Straight To the Voice Menu, Line 1 or Line 2 Page
Save yourself some time and go strait to the Line 1 and Line 2 pages and configure it all from there. After all, you'll be going there anyway...
If Cisco updates the SPA112/SPA122 firmware to include more relevant configuration settings on the Quick Setup page, then this article here will certainly become irrelevant.
Quick Setup page A Good Idea...
The Quick Setup page (apparently) is intended for direct access to only the most pertinent configuration settings needed to connect to your favorite BYOD VoIP service provider (VSP), very quickly. It appears short and sweet, straight to the point, and only requires that you enter the login parameters absolutely necessary to connect to your VSP proxy servers (appearances can be deceiving). It also includes the ATA default Dial Plan, which will generally work with most VSP's (perhaps a little tweaking required).
But... It's Only Half-Baked...
It has the potential to save time and effort when setting up a new VoIP provider account on either Line 1, Line 2, or both. But, it's missing crucial settings that (in my mind) render it a waste of time for the BYOD VoIP enthusiast perspective.
So.... What's Missing ?
Well, just a few settings that make all the difference between being a useful feature vs. a useless feature:
- NAT Mapping (Yes/No)
- NAT Keep Alive (Yes/No)
- Register Expires
- Outbound Proxy
- Use Outbound Proxy (Yes/No)
- Auth ID
- Use Auth ID (Yes/No)
- Most of the BYOD VSP's I've used require NAT Mapping and NAT Keep Alive to be Enabled. After all, most of us are behind NAT Routers and NAT traversal is an issue for successful VoIP implementation.
- Most of the BYOD VSP's I have used recommend changing the default Register Expires from it's default value 3600 to 60.
- Many VSP's require the Outbound Proxy values to be set to their outbound server name.
- Some services require Auth ID values to be entered and Use Auth ID enabled to Yes.
I can only speculate that when Cisco came up with the Quick Setup page idea, they were catering to the enterprise users who connect to one of their Unified Communications systems located behind their firewall on the same LAN. Probably intended to be used with a locally administered IP-PBX on the local LAN vs. for connecting to a VSP, like I do.
The Bottom Line:
Don't Bother With The Quick Setup Page
Without those values (as mentioned in items 1-7 above) being available on the Quick Setup page, there is no point going there in the first place, because you will still have to visit Line 1 and Line 2 pages under the Voice menu to edit the other pertinent values.
Go Straight To the Voice Menu, Line 1 or Line 2 Page
Save yourself some time and go strait to the Line 1 and Line 2 pages and configure it all from there. After all, you'll be going there anyway...
If Cisco updates the SPA112/SPA122 firmware to include more relevant configuration settings on the Quick Setup page, then this article here will certainly become irrelevant.
- Appreciate my support? Feel free to buy me a coffee.
- Voipfone are offering you the chance to trial their VoIP service for free for 30 days. Sign me up!
- Tired of shared hosting? You're not alone! Grab a high performance server and get $100 in free credit. Sign me up!
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