VoicePulse's "Connect" service, which allows subscribers to use any hardware or software device to make and receive phone calls, has the potential to make a big impact o­n the world of Voice over IP.

Many consider the service to be ideal in a setting where a PBX, such as the open source Asterisk, is installed. But with per-minute rates of $0.029 within the US and very attractive international rates, there are advantages to its use in other settings, and with basic VoIP hardware or software telephony programs.

The following step-by-step guides will show you how to use VoicePulse Connect with a Cisco ATA 186 telephone adaptor, and with two free software programs: XTen's X-Lite and SJ Lab's SJPhone.

CISCO ATA 186 Instructions

To successfully configure the Cisco ATA 186 for the Connect service you must know the unit's IP address. The phone connected to the ATA can tell you the IP address. Simply press the red button o­n top of the ATA, and dial '80#'. A voice in the ATA will tell you its IP address over the phone.

Most VoIP service providers, including VoicePulse, who package an ATA 186 with their service, "lock down" the unit so that it o­nly works with the provider's service. If your ATA is locked, then you will have to get your provider to unlock it because there is currently no failsafe unlocking method for end users.

To determine if your ATA 186 is locked, enter http://ipaddress/dev (where the ipaddress is your ATA's IP address) in your web browser. If you see a webpage similar to the image below, your ATA is unlocked and you are all set to configure the adapter.

The picture above represents the part of the configuration page for the ATA 186. Using the numbers above, enter the corresponding values below:

1. Username provided by VoicePulse (this is not the same as your sign-in name);
2. Password provided by VoicePulse (this is not the same as your VoicePulse web site password);
3. Host value, gw5.voicepulse.com;
4. Set this value to 1 (recommended);
5. Set this value to "1" for the ATA to use SIP;
6. The amount of time in seconds between registration attempts by the ATA;
7. Set this value to "1" for the ATA to register via SIP;
8. Port to use for outgoing communication, leave this at 5060 unless instructed otherwise by VoicePulse;
9. If you are behind a router and do not have any ports forwarded set this value to gw5.voicepulse.com;
10. Set these fields to 2 for it to use g.7.11 (note VoicePulse uses the G.7.11 codec for  its incoming calls change the value to anything else might disable incoming calls);

If the above steps are followed, the red light o­n the ATA should flicker for a few seconds and you should then have dial tone o­n your phone.

SJ Phone Configuration

SJPhone is a Windows-based softphone and can be downloaded from http://www.sjlabs.com/

To configure SJPhone:

1. Click o­n the icon show in following image marked as the numeral 1.

This will bring up the options screen:

2. Click o­n the tab that says "SIP."

3. Under proxy settings, make sure "Use local outbound proxy" is checked. Enter "Proxy IP address" value as 62.234.228.132 (this is the IP equivalent of gw5.voicepulse.com; SJPhone requires IP address for the proxy value). Enter 5060 after the colon o­n the same line. In the Caller ID field, enter "sip: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it " where username is the username provided to you by VoicePulse.

4. Check the "Register" box and enter your username provided by VoicePulse as the value for "Account," and the password provided in the "Password" field.

5. In the "Transport" area, select "UDP."

6. Click "OK" to return to the main screen.

If the values were entered correctly the main screen should show sip proxy registered with 62.234.228.132, as shown in the image below

X-Lite Configuration

X-Ten's X-Lite is o­ne of the more popular softphone programs available. It can be downloaded from http://www.x-ten.com/.

To set up X-Lite with VoicePulse Connect:

1. Click o­n the icon just to the right of the "CLEAR" button, as marked in the image below, to open the menu ;

2. o­n the main menu click o­n "System Settings;"

3. Select "SIP Proxy;"

4. Double-click o­n "Default;"

5. "Display name" can be set to anything you want. "Username" should be set to your username as provided by VoicePulse. "Authorization User" should be the same value as username. "Password" is the password provided by VoicePulse. "Domain/Realm" is voicepulse.com. "SIP Proxy" is gw5.voicepulse.com:5060;

6. Both "Use Outbound Proxy" and "Send Internal IP" should be set to Never;

7. Click o­n the "X" to close the menu and return to the main screen.

If the values were entered correctly, the main screen should look something like this: