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.

The following step-by-step guide will show you how to use VoicePulse Connect with a Cisco ATA 186 telephone adaptor.

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.

ataconfig.jpg

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.