Unlocked ATA

Just came across Johanne Torres' interesting article: DVG-1402S: The First Unlocked VoIP Router?

In case you weren't aware, SIPPhone sued Vonage for allegedly releasing misleading packaging and advertising on locked VoIP ATAs (analog telephony adaptors) from Cisco's Linksys.

In the suit, SIPphone demanded that Vonage properly label boxes and advertisements to list the mandatory fees and restrictions of their locked hardware, which I wrote about awhile back in this blog entry. I'm all for open standards, so I tended to side with SIPPhone from a moral standing, but that doesn't mean that Linksys and Vonage were doing anything illegal. Partnering is as much a part of capitalism as anything else.

Anyway, it appears that in her article, Johanne Torres mentions the D-Link DVG-1402S is now supported by SIPPhone, and the article also states that the D-Link DVG-1402S is the first "ATA firewall/router combo" from a major manufacturer - namely D-Link that is not tied to a specific VoIP service provider. (Most router/firewall ATA devices are locked to a specific VoIP service provider.)

I should mention that Zoom also has an "unlocked ATA" which I recently reviewed, but unlike most ATAs, their ATA is not only a firewall/router ATA device but it features an integrated DSL modem - but it does require DSL service to work - cable broadband users need not apply! Actually, I take that back. I just recalled that 2 out of the 3 Zoom products are DSL-based, but they do offer an "unlocked SIP-based ATA router/firewall combo" - the Zoomtel V3 Model 5567 that works with cable broadband, DSL (using your existing DSL modem), or other IP connectivity.

So I guess technically there are two manufacturers offering unlocked ATAs, but Zoom is certainly less well-known than D-Link, so maybe they don't fall under the "major manufacturer" category stated in Johanne's article.

The D-link DVG-1402S hasn't been out long, but it already has started to build a fan-base. For instance, there's an interesting 2-page thread in the VoIP Forum about the D-Link DVG-1402S titled "Need To Unlock D-Link DVG-1402S" you should go check out.

Updated: Hmmm, it appears Linksys was also offering an unlocked ATA but pulled it from the market.

Did I miss any others? Let me know...

| 2 Comments | 2 TrackBacks

Listed below are links to sites that reference Unlocked ATA:

Unlocked ATA TrackBack URL : http://blog.tmcnet.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1111

I've seen covered a couple of places, but the D-Link DVG-1402S is not the first unlocked VoIP router I believe that honor belongs to the Sipura SPA-2100, which has been out for a few weeks. The SPA-2100 has a fairly... Read More

PhoneGnome Enables BYOVP from VoIP Blog - VoIP News, Gadgets on July 18, 2005 10:12 AM

David Beckemeyer, former CTO and co-founder of Earthlink (who runs Mr. Blog) has an interesting new SIP-based ATA device that marries the traditional PSTN with VoIP. Essentially you plug in both your PSTN connection and your Ethernet connection to... Read More

2 Comments

Um, what about the Sipura SPA-2100?

Yeah, I was wondering to myself if Sipura had a ATA router/firewall combo device that wasn't locked down. I remembered I wrote about the Sipura 2100 when it came out here: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/voip-blog/sipura-spa2100-and-spa841-ata.asp And like you say it is unlocked.

Actually, didn't Linksys OEM the Sipura firmware?But Linksys "locks" the device to one VoIP service provider, so that negates Sipura's openness that they have in their own box.

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