Free Service Providers

Free World Dialup (FWD)

Description

Free World Dialup is a free SIP Directory Service.

Services

  1. Voicemail

  2. Toll free access to the US, UK, Netherlands and France

  3. Conferencing

  4. Free subscription to a direct phoneno. in the US (Washington, IPKall) and UK (National rate, CallUK)

  5. PSTN access numbers in Germany, the Netherlands, UK and different states of the U.S. enables you to call any FWD subscriber from any regular phone.

This is only a limited list of what they provide you with. FWD also interconnects with a couple of other directory services like iConnectHere, IAXTEL, Intertex, IPTel and NIC.at

What to Expect

FWD is in general very stable and developing their services all the time, remember however that FWD not is a commercial service. Also they don't offer you any possibility to call PSTN no's beyond the access to toll free numbers.

Setup Examples

First the way, how you can connect Asterisk to FWD by using SIP. This is the common setup used, since the IAX gateway is fairly new and considered beta.

Example 1. sip.conf


							register => 12345:password@fwd.pulver.com
							
							[fwdnet]
								type=friend
								secret=password
								host=fwd.pulver.com
								dtmf=inband
								allow=ulaw
							

Example 2. extensions.conf


								exten => _**393.,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <12345>)
								exten => _**393.,2,Dial(SIP/${EXTEN:5}@fwdnet)
								exten => _**393.,3,Hangup
							
If you want to connect to FWD via IAX instead, you can subscribe for that in your profile. Your configuration should look like this:

Example 3. iax.conf


							register => 12345:password@iax2.fwdnet.net
							
							[iaxfwd]
								type=user
								allow=ulaw
								deny=0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0
								permit=65.39.205.0/255.255.255.0
							

Example 4. extensions.conf


								exten => _**393.,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <12345>)
								exten => _**393.,2,Dial(IAX2/12345:password@iax2.fwdnet.net/${EXTEN:5})
								exten => _**393.,3,Hangup
							
The reason why ulaw is enabled is, that FWD's own services (voicemail, gateway to toll free numbers etc. only support ulaw. FWD however passes all codecs through, if the subscriber you are calling supports these.

Technical Setup

Protocols

  1. SIP (fwd.pulver.com)

  2. IAX (iax2.fwdnet.org)

Help

There are various ways of obtaining help with FWD: 55555 is the volunteer welcome line, 514 is the Virtual Coffee House, 611 is the Technical Helpline (limited availability) or just use the user forums on their website, which also can provide you with a lot helpful information.

IAXTEL

Description

IAXTel is a free IAX directory service provided by Digium, the company behind Asterisk.

Services

  1. Toll free access to the US and Netherlands

  2. PSTN access number in U.S. enables you to call any IAXTel subscriber from any regular phone.

  3. Interconnect numbers to FWD and VoicePulse subscribers.

What to Expect

IAXTel is in general quite stable, but don't get confused, when you look at the web interface. It is quite outdated. Once you've subscribed to IAXTel you won't need the web interface anyway anymore.

Setup Examples

Example 5. iax.conf


							register => username:password@iaxtel.com
							
							[iaxtel]
								type=user
								auth=rsa
								inkeys=iaxtel
							
							[iaxtel2]
							;
							; Backwards compatible entry for IAXTel pre-RSA
							;
								type=user
								deny=0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0
								permit=216.207.245.47/255.255.255.255
							

Example 6. extensions.conf


								exten => _17XXNXXXXXX.,1,Dial(IAX2/username:password@iaxtel.com/${EXTEN}@iaxtel)
								exten => _17XXNXXXXXX.,2,Hangup
							

Technical Setup

Protocols

IAXTel only supports IAX.

Help

Normally you won't need any help if you follow the examples on the website (or here). It is straight forward.

IPTel

Description

IPTel is a free SIP Directory Service provided by the company that develops SER (SIP Express Router).

Services

  1. Forwarding to another SIP URI.

  2. Instant Messaging through SIP.

Setup Examples

Example 7. sip.conf


							register => username:password@iptel.org
							
							[iptel]
								type=friend
								username=username
								secret=password
								host=iptel.org
							

Example 8. extensions.conf


								exten => _**478.,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <3400001234>)
								exten => _**478.,2,Dial(SIP/${EXTEN:5}@iptel)
								exten => _**478.,3,Hangup
							

Technical Setup

Protocols

IPTel only supports SIP.

Help

A lot tutorials etc., mostly concerning the products of iptel (SER).

Gossiptel

Description

Gossiptel is a commercial SIP Directory provider based in the UK, that gives you a free national phoneno.

Services

  1. Direct phone number that can be called at national rate (0870).

  2. Online Call details of any incoming, outgoing or missed calls.

  3. Prepaid purchase of outgoing calls to any PSTN number.

  4. Advanced Voicemail.

Setup Examples

Example 9. sip.conf


							register => 1234567:password@sip.gossiptel.com
							
							[gossiptel]
								type=peer
								secret=password
								username=1234567
								host=sip.gossiptel.com
							

Example 10. extensions.conf


								;
								; 0 is needed in front of the area code 
								;
								exten => _44ZX.,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <1234567>)
								exten => _44ZX.,2,Dial(SIP/0${EXTEN:2}@gossiptel)
								exten => _44ZX.,3,Hangup

								;
								; 00 is the international dial code used in Europe.
								;
								exten => _XXXX.,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <1234567>)
								exten => _XXXX.,2,Dial(SIP/00${EXTEN}@gossiptel)
								exten => _XXXX.,3,Hangup
							

Technical Setup

Protocols

Gossiptel only supports SIP.

Help

Telephone support available from 9am to 9pm UK time.

SipGate

Description

SIPGate is a German commercial SIP Directory Service, that gives you a free direct phone number in Germany or the UK and access to toll free numbers in these countries.

Services

  1. Direct phone number in any of the cities in Germany or the UK, where SIPGate has a Gateway.

  2. Toll free access to Germany and the UK.

  3. Call forwarding to an IPTel SIP account, if you have one.

  4. Online Call details of any incoming, outgoing or missed calls.

  5. Prepaid purchase of outgoing calls to any PSTN number, at quite competitive rates.

  6. Free calls to other directory services like FWD, IPTel, SipPhone, IAXTel and Telio.no.

What to Expect

SIPGate is a German commercial provider, so their website is completely in German. If you can live with that, you get a great service. They have been rated as one of the best VoIP providers available in Germany by most magazines.

Setup Examples

Example 11. sip.conf


							register => 1234567:password@sipgate.de
							
							[sipgate]
								type=peer
								secret=password
								username=1234567
								host=sipgate.de
							

Example 12. extensions.conf


								;
								; 0 is needed in front of the area code for German phoneno.'s
								;
								exten => _49ZX.,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <1234567>)
								exten => _49ZX.,2,Dial(SIP/0${EXTEN:2}@sipgate)
								exten => _49ZX.,3,Hangup

								;
								; 00 is the international dial code used in Europe.
								;
								exten => _XXXX.,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <1234567>)
								exten => _XXXX.,2,Dial(SIP/00${EXTEN}@sipgate)
								exten => _XXXX.,3,Hangup
							

Technical Setup

Protocols

SIPGate only supports SIP.

Help

SIPGate has a great deal of online documentation in their "Help-Center". Basically everything you need, however German only.

SIPPhone.com

Description

SIPPhone.com is a free SIP Directory Service that originally only wanted to support hardphones, now they also offer access with Xten.

Services

  1. Voicemail.

  2. Conferencing.

  3. 5 calls of 1 minute each every day for free to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan, UK and the U.S.

  4. For an additional fee you can get a U.S. direct phoneno.

Setup Examples

Example 13. sip.conf


							register => 17471234567:password@proxy01.sipphone.com
							
							[sipphone]
								type=friend
								secret=password
								username=17471234567
								host=proxy01.sipphone.com
							

Example 14. extensions.conf


								exten => _1747XXXXXXX,1,SetCallerID(Your Name <17471234567>)
								exten => _1747XXXXXXX,2,Dial(SIP/${EXTEN}@sipphone)
								exten => _1747XXXXXXX,3,Hangup
							

Technical Setup

Protocols

SIPPhone.com only supports SIP.

Help

Support is mainly done through the forum on SIPPhone.com's website.

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