Hi!
I’m looking to replace my family’s landline phone with a VoIP based hardphone. From my research it seems that I’d need a SIP server and a SIP Trunk provider. But I also happened to find Jami that has a SIP account feature.
- Could I make and recieve calls with Jami over the hardphone similar to a landline phone (minus the ability to call and recieve calls from normal phone numbers) with this setup (SIP server + Jami + hardphone)?
- Does anyone have experience setting up a similar system?
- Am I overcomplicating things and a used smartphone turned into a softphone would be a better choice?
I’ve just recently begun my selfhosting journey so I’m not very well versed in networking, but I am willing to put in the time and effort to learn. So any (constructive) feedback/guidance is greatly appreciated!
EDIT: The solution for me it seems is to just buy a used Android smartphone and connect it to a bluetooth handset. Thanks everyone :)
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Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t notice anyone elaborate on what I think is the simplest way to handle this.
You can port your existing number to a VOIP provider (I’ve had good experience with voip.ms and Flowroute). Then you get an ATA (analog telephone adapter), connect to the VOIP service and plug your existing landline phone into it. Secure hand ATAs are pretty reasonable priced. I like the Grandstream HT802.
I’ve just recently begun my selfhosting journey so I’m not very well versed in networking
Welcome to the club dude! It will be the most frustratingly rewarding journey you undertake. LOL
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I’ve had trouble getting Jami to work at all, I think because of incompatibilities between versions and whatever. You might have better luck with something like Linphone.
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I haven’t tried a VOIP hardphone but I use Linphone on Android sometimes. I would say call quality is worse than normal cellular voice calls even those are certainly VOIP at some level too.
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VOIP is more crap to fool around with and periodically troubleshoot, but you can get it to work if you have to. I don’t find landlines to be worth it any more (I just use mobile voice) but they’re probably still the most reliable of the approaches, and I guess it depends somewhat on your family’s discomfort level with technology.
VOIP hardphones are nicer to use than mobiles, but I guess unlike traditional landlines, they don’t work in power outages. All the ones I’ve seen rely on a power cube.
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I did the Vonage thing back when it first came out, then eventually landed on Ooma. Have had their service for -years- now. Basic service is “free”, as in $99 for the box initially and monthly fees amounting to about $4.
Just want to throw out another option. They make Bluetooth phones. I got my parents a set years ago so that they would hear the phone ringing no matter where they left their cell (in the house). These are wireless handsets, and they even announce the contact name or phone number.
If you want it completely separate from your cell, connect an old/cheap device with either a low-priced SIM plan, a google voice account or jmp.chat. Pair that with the Bluetooth home phone for the aesthetic.
This is it! Why didnt’t I think of that… Thank you!
What are your goals here? What are you trying to accomplish?
Trying to replace an overpriced legacy service for my family, because my ISP charges an arm and a leg for a landline subscription which gets used at most once a day (oftentimes even less). So ideally a handset device capable of recieving and making calls to a limited number of devices.
So ideally a handset device capable of recieving and making calls to a limited number of devices.
When you say a “limited number of devices” do you mean a closed system when you have provisioned all the devices or do you mean you also need to be able to receive calls from standard phones?
To replace a landline you can just use a service like Vonage Home for about $10/month. If you want to setup your own PBX (phone system) for calling your own managed set of devices, then you need more. In any case, you always need a SIP service if you want to make and receive calls with regular phone numbers.
