Grandstream HandyTone HT801 ATA

Arrives in a simple box with absolutely no instructions, a PSU and a short Ethernet lead.A really annoying thing is that they don't tell you that the default password is admin.Easy to connect, but the setup is very complex, you need instructions from your supplier.To connect, you plug an Ethernet cable in to the port on the Grandstream, and the other end in to your router. You then need to find the Grandstream, so you can access the web configuration pages it has. Your router assigns an IP to the Grandstream, and there is no easy way to find what that is. Fortunately, my router displayed it. I then went to the Grandstream and changed the IP to a fixed address, so I could always find it. I believe there is a discovery tool you can download to find it.Your existing telephones plug in to the Grandstream, although you will probably need a UK to US adapter. These are cheap, costing as little as £2.You can plug in old phones in to the Grandstream, or modern phones. Old phones, that use pulse dialling, require a converter that is unfortunately expensive. You can find these on eBay. One will cover you for several phones. You can mix modern and old. I have two old phones and one dect unit on the same Grandstream.To replicate the old BT ring "dring, dring" you need to carefully set up the Grandstream. In advanced settings, you need to set the Ring Cadence to c=400/200-400/2000To get this all to work, you need to sign up with a SIP provider. There are plenty around. Most of them will detail the setup of the Grandstream you need to access their service. They will provide you with a telephone number.Bought this on recommendation because I was having problems with a Cisco 191. Not only is the Grandstream much cheaper, it works perfectly. Including DTMF, which is very dodgy with the Cisco.Would highly recommend.

Bought this when I moved broadband provider to Open Infra who do not offer a phone. Using Andrews & Arnold's VoIP service, its easy to set this up following the instructions on their support site. As for the comments about the US style plug in the box, it uses micro USB so any USB charger with appropriate cable will do.

The unit comes without instructions, but they are available online. To set it up, I needed to combine the procedures in the online manual with instructions from my VOIP provider specific to this unit. This met with limited success initially, but to be fair it was the instructions from my provider that were the problem and a support call from their helpline resolved the issues. The next problem was that my real vintage phone unit wasn't compatible and did not ring on incoming calls. Again, this is more likely an issue with the old handset and a new analogue model works fine. For UK customers, you will also need an adaptor plug for female UK to male US.Overall, this works well and I now have a low cost VOIP landline. Recommended, but be prepared for the setup.

Cheapest available but only by a couple of quid. Comes with cables but ignore the battery comments runs on micro USB and comes with a NON-UK plug so buy an adapter! You can however run this from a USB supply with a micro USB male connector. Basic SIP Configuration is straightforward IF you’re savvy but your VOIP provider will help out if not. Lots of info on the web for support issues, update the firmware immediately as it will be outdated.

Pugged in and all lights showed as working. Need to reset default USA values to UK ones. Change any, including the broadband details and unit goess 'offline'. Reset button no longer works. am returning item for refund.

Found the Grandstream very difficult to set up to allow land lines calls over the Inter net. However, once set up I now pay 1 tenth of land lines costs to make a UK call. The effort setting it up is well worth it and the clarity of voice heard is very good.

No instructions are provided in the box so configuration is dependent on third-party websites. The set-up screens (accessed via IP address) are long and require a large quantity of data to be entered manually. This makes it really difficult to know what’s wrong if it doesn’t work first time.There are numerous passwords required and it’s unclear which ones do what. The set-up tool does nothing to acknowledge password entry, leaving the fields blank for “security purposes”. So, you don’t know if a failure is due to an incorrect or missing password.Andrews & Arnold were helpful and responsive to help get me set-up in the end. But, their online instructions lacked clarity too.A redesign of the set-up screens withclear step by step instructions are required.Once set-up, the device works well and is OK value for money. So 3 stars from me overall.

The good news is that this device enabled me to use my own router with Vodafone Broadband and to be able to reconnect the telephone extension sockets around the house after the connection was switched over to FTTP (Fibreoptic).The bad news is that it is tricky to get it workingand requiresa reasonable amount of "IT know-how' to get it up and working. I found plenty of help readily available on the Vodafone forum, and after initial configuration the unit works faultlessly without further attention.NB. It DOES NOT require any battery, indeed there is nowhere to install one. The unit is powere by a mains adapter.