A few general comments about setting up VOIP: maybe a bit late for you, but might help others:
1) VOIP setup does NOT need any changing making to your router. It works by the "ATA" (= the phone interface box) calling out to the VOIP provider, and keeping that connection open long term. "Incoming calls" simply use the existing connection.
2) (unless there is some sort of special "filtering protection" set up bu your VOIP provider) You can test the ATA from ANYWHERE: this means that if you are setting it up for a relative, you can get it working on your OWN broadband.... then just take it and move it to the new location. (It also allows you to have a VOIP phone on your mobile device, but that's covered on the "advanced course"!!)
3) The status pages of both the ATA and the VOIP provider are your friend: they will tell you if the ATA has successfully "connected and logged in" to the VOIP service. Until you can see that the ATA has connected to the VOIP provider, you aren't going to be able to make any calls.
4) With the ATA now connected to the service provider, picking up the handset should give you a dialtone. You can now try making a call. (depending on the provider, and the service you are using, you may have to "dial 9 for an outside line")
5) Many ATAs run a "2-wire interface" to the phone: what this means is that if the phone requires the extra bell wire, it's not going to ring when you get an incoming call. There are ways around this. So try a newer phone, it may work. Another option is to get / make a special cable with a Master Socket, to create the needed bell wire for your phone.
6) VOIP systems generally do NOT like double-NAT: what this means is that if you have a router behind a router (not to be confused with if you put your own router mehind the plusnet one set up as a MODEM), it won't work: you'll need to plug the VOIP devices into the external router directly. (I say this from experience)
7) We bought pre-configured phones / ATAs from Nimvelo: our account and the devices were preconfigured, and we just needed to plug them in, and wait a few minutes.
There are a LOT of technical settings in the ATA, that let you customise the bell ringing frequency, the "on-off cadences", the tones you hear at different times: different countries tend to have different "standards", but it doesn't REALLY matter if you get a "ring-ring-ring" rather than a "ring-ring"!! So just leave that allalone.
My second story: in preparation for a VOIP switchover at home at SOME point in the next year or so, I bought a second hand ATA. Being a technical person, I spent a lot of time understanding more than I really needed to! The problem is that many ATAs do not have a simple to use interface, like we have now got used to on so many devices.
Having "learned what I wanted", I factory defaulted the unit, then added the name of the service (kinda like the URL), and the name / password to log in: it connected and worked! However, on the Cisco SAP122 (a great technical device, but not for the faint-hearted!) my initial issue was working WHERE to enter the information, and what details it wanted!
However, if it's been pre-configured, that becomes a non-issue!
Hope the above notes help someone!
