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ENGLISH VERSION Reprint from MikroDatorn nr 4 – 06 Published by IDG, the worlds largest publisher of computer related trade press. www.mikrodatorn.se 46 R E P R I NT MikroDatorn 4 | 2006 You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se Network and Security Reprint from MikroDatorn nr 4 – 06 Test: Six Gateways for IP telephony Published by IDG, the worlds largest publisher of computer related trade press. Tested SIP Adapters www.mikrodatorn.se Draytek Vigortalk Edge-core VG3306 tGrandstream Handytone 386 tIntertex Surfinbird IX67 FW Air GW2 Linksys PAP-2 Welltech Wellgate 1501-SIP t=Best in Test SIP Bridge Links Ordinary Phones and IP SIP is the protocol making it possible to integrate ordinary telephony with IP solutions, so businesses could get a wide variety of features as well as lower costs. The key to such a compound telephony solution are the adapters we’re testing here. text Peter Baeza PHoto carl löfgren illustration kjell eriksson I f nothing else, Skype’s popularity shows that it’s all the rage to make phone calls for free over the Internet. So far, most users are probably private persons, but today companies needing more advanced features could cut their costs with IP telephony as well. That’s where the SIP standard comes in. It makes it possible to connect products from different suppliers to a telephony system that works, both over the Internet and fixed telephony lines. SIP, Session Initiation Protocol, is an open and relatively simple standard which has grown fast during the last couple of years. Solutions based on this standard are the most interesting alternatives for setting up IP telephony at small or medium-sized businesses. Opportunity for Advanced Systems The great advantage, compared to Skype, for example, is that you get less dependent of the computer. For the user, a SIP system could seem to work just as an ordinary telephone, in spite of using Internet as a carrier. You could build fairly advanced systems with teleconferencing, video, instant messaging, switchboard systems, and much more. To tie the old phone numbers to Internet you have to have an Analog Telephony Adapter (ATA) or a Voice Over IP Adapter (VOIP). We’re testing five of those adapters and a firewall with a built-in SIP server and telephone adapter. Installation Several adapters for connecting analog phones to IP are pre-configured and sold with accounts. With a bit of luck, such an installation could be extremely simple, just to plug in the cords and enter a code on the handset. But that kind of installation could be problematic as well, especially when there are firewalls or address translation (NAT) from the local network to the Internet. We are making our test a tad more difficult, by starting with unconfigured adapters and installing them to a separate account. The installations of Draytek’s Vigortalk, Grandstream’s Handytone, and Linksys’ PAP2, follow the same pattern. The gateway is connected to the local network, if there is a DCHP server it will automatically be assigned an IP address which you will get through a voice mail menu on the phone. After that you just have to go to the current address and make the necessary settings from the web browser. If DCHP don’t work, a fixed IP address could be set via the voice mail menu. Intertex’s Surfinbird has a pre-configured private IP address and is the DCHP server on the local network, so you just have to connect a computer with a dynamic IP address to one of the network ports and enter the address to Surfinbird through the web browser to get to the settings. Settings via Web Browser Welltech’s Wellgate has a Windows-based configuration program, where you can connect t A lot of numbers I read somewhere that you know that it’s 2006 if you have 15 different phone numbers for a family of four. In theory, SIP could solve that problem, since a SIP address easily could be moved when you log in at different locations. When I’m travelling and have the software phone installed on the computer I’m reachable at my usual phone number as soon as the computer is connected to the Internet. In reality it feels, sadly enough, like it will be getting worse before it gets better. The traditional telephony will live on and SIP will only be more addresses to keep in mind. With several accounts with different area codes it could even be difficult to keep your own phone numbers in mind. Peter Baeza is a freelance journalist and has worked with IT for 20 years, among other things as a Technical Consultant for Nokia Data and Development Manager and CEO for Alfaskop. The best pure telephony adapter is Grandstream Handytone 386, with a good combination of features and user-friendliness. It shares the victory with Intertex Surfinbird IX 67 FW Air GW2, which isn’t just a telephony adapter, but an excellent SIP-conscious firewall and a wireless access point as well. You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se M i k ro Dat o r n 4 | 2 0 0 6 R E P R I N T 47 Network and Security Test: Six Gateways for IP telephony Draytek Vigortalk Draytek Vigortalk is easy to manage, mainly since only the most important features are included. Vigortalk is the size of a pack of cigarettes, which makes it easy to bring along on travels. Since you can save five different network profiles, it’s simple to do the settings for different places beforehand. “Vigortalk is the sole adapter which can keep track of five different network profiles” t to the adapter through the Mac address and make the basic network settings. After that, you’ll do the settings from the web browser. If you don’t have a Windows computer to run the configuration program from, you could log in with terminal emulation via a serial port. In Edge-core’s VG3306 the basic settings must be done through a terminal, connected to the serial port. It’s quite tricky and feels antiquated. The necessary settings are just about the same for all the adapters. Except the network configuration, it’s account and server information, plus a STUN server setting. (See page 51, “Telephony + Firewalls = Problems”.) Welltech Wellgate doesn’t support STUN. You have to redirect a number of ports in the firewall and inform the adapter of the firewall’s external IP address. It’s rather complicated, but you can get around it if you place Wellgate outside the firewall. In that case, you shouldn’t connect any Edge-core VG3306 An extra network connection makes it possible to connect VG3306 when all the network connections are used. It gives back the connection it uses. Edge-Core VG3306 has four configurable telephone ports and is different from the others. The port configuration is done through Channel and the SIP entity option. 48 R E P R I NT MikroDatorn 4 | 2006 You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se Network and Security Test: Six Gateways for IP telephony Grandstream Handytone 386 Handytone 386’s interface is easy to comprehend with its five folders; two identical for the telephone ports. When the red light on Handytone 386 blinks, the server registration has failed. On the back you’ll find the telephone connections, and on the side the fixed telephony connection, which can be used for emergency calls and during power failures. To use a separate telephone connection is smart, since it diminishes the chance of making the wrong connection. workstations to the network ports. Since Wellgate is a hub as well, it would be a security risk. means that calls can be made between all the units. Touch-tones require Swedish Standard Good Sound Quality To get the telephone ports to work properly with caller display and touch-tones, they have to be set up according to the Swedish standard. That’s most difficult with Linksys’ PAP-2 since ring tones, port impedance, touch-tone signalling, etc. are set manually. With no mention in any part of the documentation of which settings are valid in which country. It takes a lot of know-how to succeed. Linksys has more than 400 configurable parameters, and that might be overwhelming, but on the other hand it’s an advantage for those who want to control every setting in detail. The choice of sound codec affects both quality and bandwidth requirements. With the standard settings the sound quality usually is very good in all the tested combinations. The sound quality just went below the quality in analog telephones during a few calls. Features Since SIP is a standard, telephones should be able to communicate through the adapters without problems. Theoretically. It works fairly smooth in reality as well. Different phones can be connected to the same external account. Then they will all ring at the same time. Since they are connected through the Internet, it’s easy to connect several phones, in completely different locations all over the world, to the same account. The sound conversion between two telephones has to be digitalised and compressed in a sound codec. Before the call is connected, the different equipments negotiate and try to find a common codec. If no common codec could be found, there won’t be any communication at all. The number of supported sound codecs is different in different adapters. Linksys PAP-2 supports eight, while Draytek Vigortalk only supports three. The common denominator is G.729a, which everyone supports, and this All calls with bad sound quality were connected through Draytek Vigortalk, which in some cases had problems calling up as well. The phone kept on ringing after the called had hung up. The same thing occurred a couple of times with Edge-core VG3306. Apart from that, Vigortalk is the sole adapter which can keep track of five different network profiles. It simplifies things if you have to move the adapter between different locations. Inter- t Introduction to SIP Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a protocol defined by Engineering Task Force, intended for teleconferencing, telephony, and instant messaging over the Internet. SIP can create and manage sessions, but not the actual data transfer; in telephony, that’s usually managed by Real-Time Transport Protocol. (RTP) There are several rivalling protocols for IP telephony, for example H.323 and MGCP. SIP is different from the others since it’s got a simple and decentralised design, mainly because it began in the Internet world, not in the Telecom world. SIP is basically peer-to-peer, which means that two intelligent end points are communicating with each other through a network. It’s different from the traditional telephony systems, which are hierarchical with “stupid” phones and the intelligence in the switchboard. The traditional telephony systems are quite like mainframe computers with terminals while IP telephony is like a pc network. SIP is in many ways similar to HTTP, since it’s designed around messages in plain language in a request-order sequence. It’s also relatively simple for a network administrator to find eventual problems. SIP is an open standard, which means that there are is a wide and rapidly growing range of hardware and software and that you won’t get as dependent on certain suppliers. Compared to Skype, SIP has more to offer companies wanting to manage their telephony with voice mail, call diversion, interactive answering services, and three-way conferencing, but it could be attractive for private persons as well, mainly because the range of products which don’t require an online computer to work are much bigger than Skype. Even if it’s possible to connect two telephones directly, it requires that both know and can reach the other’s IP address. Since that’s quite rare, it’s more common that the connection is made through a proxy server intermediating the SIP messages between the parties. That kind of server could also have a registry function which keeps tabs on the users which are available and also offers other services like call diversion, number plan, etc. Note that when the negotiation over the connection of a call I finished, the most common is that the voice traffic is direct between the two phones. If you want to delve further into SIP and how the technology works, go to SIP Center, (www.sipcenter.com) SIP forum, (www.sipforum.org), and VOIP Info. (www.vio.info.org). You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se M i k ro Dat o r n 4 | 2 0 0 6 R E P R I N T 49 Network and Security Test: Six Gateways for IP telephony Intertex Surfinbird IX67 FW Air GW2 The firewall’s network settings are shown in Surfinbird’s interface. Note that the access point is set to letting the wireless users access the Internet only, not the local network. Surfinbird’s backside is full of connections. The screen informs us about the current security setting. The buttons can be used to make temporary changes of the configuration or to reset the unit to factory settings. ”It is certainly possible to connect several phones to one port with dual connectors, but then both will be busy at the same time” ttex Surfinbird and Grandstream Handytone has, except telephone ports, also a connection to the fixed telephony net, which means that you could make calls with the connected phones through a local telephone jack. It could be handy for calling the emergency number, for instance. In those cases it’s important for the emergency service centre to see where the call comes from. Handytone redirects at power failures With Surfinbird every user on the net could be connected to the outgoing line, but when you use Handytone it only works with phones, connected directly to the adapter. Handytone alone has a feature that redirects the telephone ports to the general phone jack at power failures. 50 R E P R I NT MikroDatorn 4 | 2006 Edge-core VG3306 has an extra network port which means it can be connected when there’s just one network connection, already in use. Just plug in the adapter and connect the available equipment to the additional network port. Welltech Wellgate is equipped with a four-port hub. Wrong Caller Display The caller display works well, except with Edge-Core VG3306 and Draytek Vigortalk. In the first case the numbers are wrong, possibly due to a lack of adaptation to the Swedish standard for touch-tones, and in the latter it doesn’t work at all. Grandstream Handytone, Intertex Surfinbird, and Linksys PAP-2 have built-in features for transfer of calls and three-part conference You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se Surfinbird has a log-in feature for users, where those who use the telephone ports could enter non-numeric addresses, among other things. calls. You could have a three-part conference without a dedicated conference server. Incoming calls Edge-core, Surfinbird, and Linksys can notify the user of incoming calls. This means that the caller won’t get a busy signal. Instead, you get a signal indicating another call on the line and you can switch over to that call if you want to. Handytone is supposed to have that feature as well, but we never got any signal, but it worked otherwise, so it might indicate some kind of problem with the tested adapter. With Edge-core, Handytone, and Linksys, you can divert incoming calls to another phone, even when the line is busy or no one answers. Surfinbird can be diverted as well, but requires an extra program called Sipswitch. Sipswitch can be used to divert every phone in the local network, whether their adapters support the feature or not. The address to a SIP user isn’t always numerical; sometimes it looks like an ordinary e-mail address. You can’t dial it from an ordinary phone, but Surfinbird’s elegant solution is to let the user enter the address from a web page. Network and Security Test: Six Gateways for IP telephony Linksys PAP-2 Linksys PAP-2 is elegantly designed, but the shiny surface, which looks like metal is made of plastic. Linksys has more than 400 settings, which means a high level of detailed management for the skilled technician. Unfortunately it has no simple guide, so every setting is done separately. Handytone and Linksys can call another IP address directly, but it’s not very practical and must be seen as an ad hoc solution. Draytek Vigortalk, Edge-core, Linksys, and Welltech Wellgate can call alphanumeric addresses through speed dialling, if the addresses are entered in the telephone book. Speed Dialling in Several Places Features can often be accessed in several places with a SIP-based telephony solution. Speed dialling is an example, since they can be stored in the phone, in the adapter, or at some server. Same thing goes for a couple of other features. Draytek Vigortalk is the most easy to use of the tested adapters, but in a solution where a lot of features are server based, it won’t necessarily be a disadvantage. Linksys and Grandstream Handytone have the most pre-installed features, which makes them suitable if you don’t want to be dependent on server programs. Edge-core’s Four Ports The number of telephony ports varies. Draytek Vigortalk and Welltech Wellgate have one each; Edge-core has four, and the rest two. In Edge-core the ports could be grouped as well, to ring at the same time or in a certain order if the line is busy. It is certainly possible to connect several phones to one port with dual connectors, but then both will be busy at the same time. With an adapter with several ports, the same account could be used, but you could still use the different phones at the same time, for different calls. The ports could also be used for separate accounts with different phone numbers. User-friendly An advantage with using an adapter to connect analog phones to the Internet is of course that the caller doesn’t have to learn anything new. It’s just calling as usual. Or nearly the same as usual. There are some differences. Calling services like three-way calls or switching between different calls is done through the R-button, just like in Telia’s Plus services. But call diversion, on the other hand, won’t work with *21*. You have to use the web interface. The web interface is good, but we miss the possibility to do it from the handset. t Telephony + Firewalls = Problems Most small companies with broadband access use some kind of broadband router with a built-in firewall. Commonly they are protecting the internal nets, as well as managing the address translation (NAT) since the internal net usually doesn’t have any official IP addresses. One of the purposes with NAT is that all communication must be initiated from the local network. No computer from the Internet is allowed to start communicating in the local network. Usually, that’s good, but when an IP telephone inside the firewall is going to accept calls, it’s a complication. A solution is to open a number of ports on the firewall and redirect them to the IP telephone, but that’s tricky since SIP use several ports for different calls. To open up for SIP like that isn’t just difficult, it’s a security risk. Instead there is the standardised protocol STUN (Simple Traversal of UDP through NATS) which makes it possible to communicate through a firewall with NAT. The principle is that the telephone should be able to detect which kind of NAT the firewall uses and which official IP address is used to communicate with a STUN server on the internet. By adapting the communication to the real IP address and send dummy traffic through the firewall to keep the communication open, the IP telephone could work, in spite of NAT. A disadvantage to STUN is that it doesn’t work with all kinds of NAT, but it works with most of the common broadband routers. If you wonder if it will work in your net, test with the Win Stun program. (mikrodatorn.se/a/355) Other problems with STUN are the security risks and that telephones and adapters must support the standard. Microsoft uses SIP in Windows Messenger, which consequently has problems with NAT. That’s why the company has suggested an expansion of the Universal Plug and Play standard (UPNP) to make Windows computers with Messenger able to change the setting in the firewall to let SIP traffic through. Even if it could work in smaller nets, to let Windows computers open holes in the firewall is not a very appetizing solution, from a security viewpoint. The best solution for small businesses is definitely a firewall which recognises SIP from start, but in very small nets or as ad hoc solutions, STUN might be an alternative. For larger businesses there are other solutions; a SIP server could, for example, be placed in an isolated zone. You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se M i k ro Dat o r n 4 | 2 0 0 6 R E P R I N T 51 Network and Security Test: Six Gateways for IP telephony Welltech Wellgate 1501-SIP Under Voice Setting in Welltech Wellgate’s configuration menu it’s easy to set the priority for each of the sound codecs. Through the serial port on the front of Wellgate you can access the configuration with an asynchronous terminal. It’s not for the home user, but a good alternative for the professional installer. In the Voice Settings option in Welltech Wellgate’s configuration menu it’s easy to set the priority for the different sound codecs. ”If they are going to be sold to private customers and smaller businesses, better documentation is needed” t With Grandstream Handytone and Linksys PAP-2 you can access all the calling services from the handset, but instead of the R-button, you have to hang up, and quickly get a dial tone again, followed by entering the correct code. The codes for call diversion are predefined, by American standard, but with Linksys you can set them to the Swedish Plus codes instead. With Edge-core VG3306 it’s quite tricky to use call diversion from the handset, since you have to do it through a voice menu. Grandstream has a centrally placed light, which blinks in red when something is wrong, for example server registration. On Surfinbird there are some LED’s serving the same purpose. To get the same information from the others, you have to log in to the administrative interface. Folders with settings All of the tested adapters have web based administrative interfaces, which mainly consists of folders with the configurable parameters. Surfinbird is the only one with a comprehensive help system, and in spite of being the most advanced product, it’s the easiest to work with. Linksys has a huge number of settings, and is a bit complicated to use. Some form of guides would have been helpful. Documentation It’s clear that these products are mainly sold to operators and system integrators who know the technology. If they are going to be sold to private customers and smaller businesses, better documentation is needed. The only really good documentation is Intertex Surfinbird’s. A comprehensive guide for What Does a Call Cost? It’s free to make calls between two IP telephones, no matter where they are located. At least as long as they don’t have Internet access with traffic fees, but that’s unusual outside the mobile connections. The cost for outgoing calls to the regular telephone net varies, depending on the operator, but it’s usually cheaper than corresponding calls with a regular phone. The big gain is the costs for international calls. It’s possible to use different operators and making all the calls local. For companies with clients all over the world, it would be a great service, since the clients always could call a local phone number. Companies with several offices could also gain a lot, since the different locations could be connected over the Internet, with both data communication and telephony. 52 R E P R I NT MikroDatorn 4 | 2006 You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se quick-starting the system is included, the rest of the documentation can be found online. The documentation for Draytek and Grandstream is adequate, but the other products’ documentation is not up to par. No Linksys handbook Linksys PAP-2 is delivered with a quick-start guide, assuming that the net and adapter are pre-configured. A complete administrative handbook wasn’t included and could not be found at Linksys’ web site. After a lot of searching we found the documentation on one of the reseller’s web site. To our surprise, it was well-written and detailed. It should have been included from the beginning, along with a better quick-start guide. Edge-core’s and Welltech’s handbooks are insufficient, both in design and content-wise. The Welltech handbook was at least included on a CD, but Edge-cores had to be downloaded from the company web site. Firewall with everything Intertex Surfinbird is different from the rest of the test, since it’s not just a telephone adapter; it’s a firewall, a wireless access point, a hub, and a SIP server as well. The firewall is unique, since it recognises SIP traffic automatically, without having to open ports or use complicated solutions like STUN. The other adapters in the local network just has to be configured with account and server information, which makes the installation so much easier, and cheaper, compared to manage a separate SIP server. Another advantage with Surfinbird is that it can control Quality of Service, QoS; it’s an assurance that the IP telephony gets enough Network and Security Test: Six Gateways for IP telephony bandwidth, even if someone else in the network is playing online games or downloading large files. Build Your Own Company Switchboard All you need to get started and evaluate SIP at your company can be found in free test versions or free programs. For servers/switchboards there is Asterisk, (asterisk.org) SER (www.iptel.org/ser) for Linux, and Ondo (brekeke.com) for Windows. Useful software phones are, for example, SJ Phone, (sjlabs.com) SIP Xphone, (www.sipfoundry. org/sipXphone) and Eyebeam Softphone. (www.xten.com) To connect to the regular telephone net you can get an account from Woize (www.woize.se) were you only pay for outgoing calls. There are several international operators as well, for example Free Word Dialup (www.freeworddialup.com) in the US, and Gossiptel (www.gossiptel.com) in Great Britain. Buying extra licences The SIP server in Surfinbird includes licenses for five users, but you can buy extra licences if you need. Then there is the additional program Sipswitch, which is an extended switchboard version with call diversion, speed dialling, number plan for using different operators depending on destination, and other finesses. Sipswitch has five user licenses as well, and you could buy more if needed. MikroDatorn’s Conclusions The different adapters seem very alike at first sight, but the differences where in fact quite big. From reading product descriptions and brochures we would never have guessed that Draytek Vigortalk and Linksys PAP-2 were fundamentally different. Vigortalk is super simple, both when it comes to features and administration, while PAP-2 is extremely adaptable with lots of features. That several products are completely different but look very much alike on the surface makes it hard for the customer. And there are of course lots of other models on the market as well. Maybe that’s why these products often are sold pre-configured and with accounts. To increase the direct sales to customers most of the suppliers have to get their act together when it comes to localisation and comprehensive instructions to get started. Surfinbird is a great example of an advanced product, made in a comprehensive manner. Since the products are quite different it’s hard to appoint a single winner. We can at least say that Welltech Wellgate and Edge-core VG3306 might work better in larger installations, with other products from the same suppliers. And they should also be installed and configured by specially trained people. The price differences between Draytek Vigortalk, Grandstream Handytone, and Linksys PAP-2 are quite negligible, but the latter two have the double amount of telephone connections. Vigortalk is a good choice, but only if you want the easiest administration possible. When choosing between Handytone and Linksys, we believe that the extra outgoing connection and the easier administration make Handytone the better choice. If a company wants control over the small details, and still want to do all the settings centrally, Linksys is a better choice. The most obvious conclusion of the test is that an installation of Internet Surfinbird as a firewall and SIP server is a great first step for home users or a small businesses, wanting to start with IP telephony, a step that will make the later work so much easier. l How the Test was Done The adapters were tested with support for STUN (see page 51) and were configured for passing through a regular gateway with NAT (address translation) and connecting to the public SIP server at Woize (www.woize.se). After that we called back and forth, both between the phones on each adapter, and between IP telephones and the regular phone net. Then we replaced the firewall with Intertex Surfinbird and tested it both Manufacturer Product Contact Web address Price, ex VAT Connections Phone/Net LAN/WAN RTH WO RICE P ITS TH OR E TW NO PRIC ITS Draytek Vigortalk Migrax www.draytek.se 59 EUR 1/0 RTH WO RICE P ITS TH OR E TW NO PRIC ITS with direct connection from the adapters to Woize and with Surfinbird as SIP server with call diversion to Telavox and Woize. We also went through the documentation for each adapter and tested the most interesting features. The broadband connection we used was an 8 Mbit business connection from Telia. Edge-core VG3306 Direktronik www.edge-core.com 391 EUR BEST IN TEST Grandstream Handytone-386 Migrax www.grandstream.com RTH 79 EUR WO ICE BEST IN TEST Intertex Surfinbird IX67 FW Air GW2 Intertex www.intertex.se RTH 297 EUR WO ICE Linksys PAP-2 Cisco www.linksys.com 78 EUR Welltech Wellgate 1501-SIP Direktronik www.welltech.com 141 EUR 4/0 2/1 2/1 2/0 1/0 1/1 3/1 No No No No ITS PR TH OR E TW NO PRIC ITS 0/1 1/1 0/1 No No No No No No Pros Easy to get started Four telephone ports, can be grouped Emergency connection to the telephony net, easy to use Cons Only basic features Swedish caller ID not working, Non-adaptable codes for tricky installation, bad docu- service activation mentation Grade Good Sufficient Very Good Good 46% Grade Sufficient Good Sufficient Inadequate 32% WLAN Firewall Installation Features User-friendliness Documentation Total Weight 1 3 2 1 Grade Good Excellent Good Good 71% ITS 4/1 801.11b/g Yes PR TH OR E TW NO PRIC ITS Switch, several users, VPN, Extremely adaptable Good help, online handbook, lots of features None Complicated configuration, bad quick start guide Built-in hub Grade Very Good Excellent Excellent Very Good 93% Grade Good Good Sufficient Inadequate 36% You’ll find more tests at: tester.mikrodatorn.se Grade Sufficient Excellent Good Sufficient 64% Bad documentation, tricky installation M i k ro Dat o r n 4 | 2 0 0 6 R E P R I N T 53