No High Speed Internet? Use A Dialup VoIP Phone

A dialup VoIP phone is a basic device that comes with an embedded 56kbps modems and two ports. One port where you plug your phone handset. The second one where you plug telephone line that comes from your phone company. 

These ports are known as FXS, FXO and the line that you get from phone company is called PSTN.

• FXS stands for Foreign Exchange Station 
• FXO stands for Foreign Exchange Office and..
  
• PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

You can look up for more VoIP definitions and/or abbreviations in VoIP glossary link. [opens in a new window]

We used to depend on dialup VoIP phone almost a decade ago (early 2000s). You know there are still places where you can't find broadband Internet access. You may immediately be thinking about third world countries? Yes, but you can even find some areas in the first world countries where broadband Internet isn't easy to get.

How Dial-up IP Device Looks Like

Below are two types of basic dial-up IP phone...

They are same, the difference is just the look as you can see:

->  YapJack - the one on the left will require you to attach a corded or cordless phone and a telephone line.

-> Duv-1000 -  the second one on the right comes as all-in-one standalone device. You just plug your phone line to it and make your calls.

What you require for dialup VoIP phone

• PSTN - analog telephone line

• ISP a company that provides dial-up Internet access 

• VoIP phone service provider

Once you are set and ready to make a call - simply enter the destination number. It takes about 10-45 seconds until you reach your desired number. This is because the device's fax modem first dials your ISP for Internet access to global network then the call will travel and be routed via your VoIP provider's server. 

How it works

It's simple and straight forward. For complete information and guide, refer to InfoTalk7 device quick start guide (user manual). That will show you how set up and make a phone call using dial-up device. Here's the link InfoTalk7 User Manual [PDF opens in a new window]

Benefits

• You do not require a computer

• Better than using VoIP soft-phone and VoIP USB phone

• It works with analog PSTN lines where broadband Internet is not available

• compatible with any type of corded or cordless phones

• Easy to install

Disadvantages

• Unless the price for dial-up Internet is flat you may incur additional per minute charge for keeping your phone-line busy - of course it depends on where you live

• Unlike VoIP phone adapter which allows you to make simultaneous calls; dialup phones come with only 1 FXS port. That means you only can make one call at a time

Consider a dialup VoIP phone if:

->> you can't get high speed Internet access such as cable Internet and DSL 

->> you can not afford the monthly cost of high speed Internet. I know it is expensive in some countries.

Here are among the top dial-up VoIP phones that we used..

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By the way, there are dial-up VoIP devices that work with broadband Internet at the same time. In other words, they can work with dial-up and high speed Internet. These types of hardware are called combo VoIP devices. Following are the two kinds that so far I know..

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That's it! Now you know that it's possible to make VoIP phone calls with your dial-up Internet access.

You may be interested in the following related articles:

VoIP Gateway

IP Phone

dial-up Internet access (Wikipedia)

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