Do VoIP providers lock you in to using only their h/w?

Depends. If you buy a sip ATA from vonage, they lock it with a password so you cannot reconfigure it and use with another service.

However if you buy your own sip hardware from an electronics reseller, most providors will be more than happy to let you use it with their service.

Most providers want you to use their equipment with their service. Sometimes you can fake it, e.g., Vonagee offers an optional softphone as a second line and I've heard that it's not hard to get the parameters out of the softphone and configure them into other devices.

Broadvoice is the exception, with "bring your own device" plans that support just about anything you'd want to use it with, from IP phones to Asterisk PBXes.

Teliax is another exception. You can use a softphone, your own hardware, or you can get hardware for them. They sell the Linksys PAP2-NA (and the version with a router) that are not unlocked. They also will work with you in the configuration of you asterisk hardware and so on.

Does LiveVoIP support rfc2833 touch-tone delivery (outbound)?

miguel

I've used Broadvoice, Gafachi, VoicePulse, and LiveVoIP with my own equipment.

highly recommend using a provider who won't try to lock down your use. The flexibility is worthwhile.

--kyler

I ment to say that they sell "unlocked" equipment.

I use LiveVoIP for all of my outgoing calls from home these days and I do call services which require DTMF sometimes. This is all over IAX2.

I thought I learned that IAX only supports out-of-band signalling. That would be RFC2833, right?

I'll be happy to run some tests.

--kyler