I Recently got a chance to try two Linksys WIP 300 Internet Phones in conjunction with a reivew of the DeviceScape connection service. One of the phones supported the DeviceScape service and the other was just a standard WIP 300 phone. Getting the devices connected to the home WiFi wireless network was a snap, enter the ESSID and Security code and the phone immediately obtained an Internet address using DHCP. Getting the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) side of things setup was a little more complicated.
With some help from the SIPPhone service under the topic "Minimum Settings To Configure A SIP Device" I was able to get these devices up an running after creating an account. The primary problem was determining the values to put in for the SIP server and Domain. The above tip provided the correct entries these values and once they were entered the phone went off and registered with the SIPPhone.com service.
Once the configuration was complete and the phones were connected and registered, both with a unique number, I had no problem calling from one to the other using a Wireless 802.11g home network connection.
Next, I headed off on a road trip to the local library where I knew there was an open WiFi network. My hope was that given the DeviceScape software on one of the phones, it would automatically locate the open wireless network and connect/configure itself, but no such luck. I was able to get the phone to use the library network but had to configure a new profile to use it. Fortunately the profile setup supports a site survey option that makes locating and entering the open network ESSID just a few clicks. Once that is entered and enabled you can associate a SIP entry with that profile and the phone again obtains an IP address and registers with the SIPPhone service .
1 comment:
Dave, great to see that you're trying us out (and even better that you're doing the side-by-side comparison). We'd love to help you get set up, and also get your feedback on the overall experience.
Devicescape is designed to help you connect in hotspots that have web based sign-on pages. As you discovered, we don't currently do anything to select networks on any platforms, though we are looking into some ideas in that area. For now you will need to add the profile to the WIP300 manually. You might like to add one at the end of the list that has the ESSID set to '*' (no quotes) and open security - that will match any open network.
Your library sounds like it provides unrestricted access to internet, which should work with the original Linksys software as well as with the Devicescape version.
Where the Devicescape software comes into its own is when a hotspot requires you to login using a web form. The standard WIP300, like most Wi-Fi VoIP phones, does not include a browser, so this is normally impossible.
To use a hotspot though it has to be one in our list of supported services (something we're expanding daily at the moment), and you have to have stored your credentials on our server. You can add credentials for a service that we support by clicking 'Add a new service' on the My Services page.
If you don't see the hotspot network that you want to use listed, please tell us about it, and we'll try to get it added as quickly as possible. We've added several networks in the last few days, and will keep adding them as fast as our community members send us the information we need to get them in there.
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