Phone with Free US Incoming number, I had to search around in forums and websites to find the exact information which I was looking for. I knew that one can setup a free VoIP phone using Gizmo5 and some free incoming DID number but everything was in theory and I had to actually do some Proof of Concept.
Last weekend I decided to work on setting up a free Landline (VoIP) number with Free incoming number. It worked and I was able to successfully make and receive calls for free. So I thought I will write up steps that I followed to get my VoIP working in just one hour.
Things you need for getting this Free VoIP phone
Broadband Internet Connection - Make sure you have some broadband internet connection which is available to you 24/7.
Gizmo5 Account - You can create Gizmo5 account free at Gizmo5.com. You need to download the software and create an account. After you create your Gizmo5 account, you will receive your SIP number, username and passowrd.
Free Incoming Number - Once you receive your Gizmo5 setup information, you need some free DID(Incoming) number that can route your phone calls to your VoIP phone. There used to be lot of sites that offered free DID numbers for US including StanPhone, FreeDigits.com - TalkDigits.com - CallDigits.com, SipNumber.com but now this sites doesn't offer any free incoming numbers for VoIP. So the only site that gives you free US Incoming number is IPKall.com.
Here is the list of all free DID number providers.
- 3Stars Net FREE Belgian DID Number in Brussels or Antwerpen. (The service is not free anymore)
- aql, Free Signup with PSTN 0870 UK number
- Coms.com Free UK geographical DID numbers.
- Convertec Free Testing with available DIDs in over 90% of ratecenters in the US and Canada with SAME DAY ACTIVATION. Major metro and rural area DID coverage. Toll-Free Service/Vanity TF numbers, DID portability, eFax. SIP origination and termination.Click Here for our coverage spreadsheet. We support G.729/G.711. Also 3rd party consultants/techs for Asterisk, FreePBX, Trixbox, PIAF. Origination rateas as low as $.007/minute. E911 compliant. 1-800-928-3109 or Info@convertecsolutions.com
- eSMS Free UK numbers which forward to SIP/IAX and landlines/mobiles
- EuteliaVoip Free DID and FAX to email numbers in Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom. Numbers in other countries are offered at 2.5 euros per month.
- FreeDigits - Free personilised US number that can also be redirected to any URI address like FreeWorldDialup.com . Voice mail to email, unlimited number of calls. DID in Iowa state.
- FaxDigits - Free personilised US FAX number in Iowa State. Fax to email attachment service in pdf format. Unlimited incoming number of faxes. VOIP T.38 codec enabled for internet faxing reception.
- Freenumber — Free geographical DID's in Italy - free service available only for Milan (02), Rome (06) and Turin (011) area codes. Site in Italian and English.
- FreeNumber Free Personal Number (in the Netherlands) forwarded to any SIP provider, for example fwd (also fax enabled!) (website reads (35 cent per minuut) - callers will pay 35 cpm to call you - sounds like a 1-900 type of service
- IP Communications Free US DIDs! TEST YOUR ASTERISK FOR FREE! That's right! 1 number + 2 lines = FREE no gimmicks! You will get one US phone number with 2 lines. No Committment, No Credit Cards! No Obligations! We are so sure that you will be 100% satisfied with our service, we are giving away one free number to show it. With our FREE DID offer you will receive one U.S. local number from one of our over 5000 service locations along with 2 free ports. If you are looking for Free DID VoIP Provider, look no further!IP Communications
- IP Star Free Personal Number from the UK forwarded to any SIP provider including sipphone, free world dialup or any other sip or iax2 provider.
- IPKall Personal Washington State (USA) number forwarded to your SIP phone!
- Libretel Access numbers to FWD — East Coast.
- Internet Phone
- Localphone offers free UK geographic DID numbers on all SIP accounts, with full A-Z termination and DIDs from over 40 countries.
- Messagenet.co.uk: Free VOIPin and Fax numbers in London.
- http://www.myphone.ge Free DID numbers in Georgia SIP unfortunately web site is only in Georgian but with live support you can get registered
- myTCOM.it Italian,British & USA access number to your myTCOM account
- NUM2IM.COM now offer French phone number for free, and provide the routing of calls for that number to your IM address : Google Talk, MSN Messenger Live or Yahoo messenger NUM2IM
- not avaliable anymore. You can have the same service on yes.digitrad.com
- OpenTelcom Free Personal Number for Voice & Fax from the UK forwarded to any SIP URI
- OrbTalk Free UK DID geographical numbers accessible also through SipBroker.com. Paid service to dial out.
- Pimp My Number (PMN) - UK DDI/DID Provider offering FREE UK PSTN Telephone Numbers with instant activation and on-line control panel.
- www.skypho.net FREE Italian and Romanian numbers for your sip phone
- SPEEX.CO.IL Free cellular (057) Israeli DIDs to IAX. Site in Hebrew only (you dont get a dedicated number, you get a number with a extension)
- http://www.spikko.com Free Israeli DID with extension in IAX (site in hebrew) for each incoming minute you get credit for one outgoing minute, free softphone, I hooked it up to asterisk by using a network sniffer and getting the ip and user name
- Squillo Italian SIP <-> PSTN Gateway
- StanaPhone Free personal DID in New York City for your SIP phone. (They don't accept new customers.)
- Telesthetic Access numbers to FWD, SIPphone, and IAXTel — Michigan.
- TelFree Free 087 DID number in South Africa charged at the national call rate to the caller. SIP server: sip99.telfreesa.com:5060
- UKnumber4U Free UK DIDs, Call Forwarding Anywhere in the World Totally Free
- VoIPUser UK/British numbers (DID's) to forward to any SIP/IAX2, can also be forwarded to any landline in a number of countries (beta) (via: VoIP-Info)
I went with IPKall.com to get the USA number.
Go to IPKall.com and click on Sign UP. You can select from area codes 206, 253, 360 or 425( I always choose 360 as it worked for me). Now enter your Gizmo5 SIP Number (it should start with 174*), SIP Proxy (proxy01.sipphone.com), your password (this password is for your IPKall account and not the Gizmo5 password). Once you submit your information, you will receive an email (the one you provided to IPKall.com signup page) with the phone number.
So to check whether this number works or not, Sign into your Gizmo5 softphone(the one that you downloaded from Gizmo5.com). Now try calling the number that you received by IPKall. If everything goes right, you will receive a call on your computer. So that means your Free Incoming number and Gizmo5 is configured properly and you can receive calls on your Free Incoming number.
Now the whole point is to get out of the computer and set this up on your regular phone. So for that here is what you need.
VoIP Adapter - You can use any VoIP unlocked adapter. I am sure there are plenty of ATA/VoIP adapters available but when you want to start something, you don't want to spend too much money. I started with Linksys PAP2T which is only $47 on Amazon.
(...after you receive your Linksys PAP2T device...)
How To Setup Linksys PAP2T With Gizmo5?
Once you receive your Linksys PAP2T, Turn on your Linksys Device, connect your Linksys PAP2T device to your broadband router, plug the regular phone into Linksys PAP2T phone Line 1. Also make sure you have one computer connected to the same router.
To get the ip address of your Linksys ATA:
Pickup the phone and dial: ****
then dial: 110#
The device will read the ip address back to you..
Write this address down. (example: 192.168.0.50)
To configure the adapter for Gizmo Project:
Login via the Linksys\Sipura web interface.
In browser just type the ip address you retrieved by dialing **** and 110# above and press enter to connect.
If you're not already logged in as "admin" click on the "Admin Login" link in the upper right corner.
Also make sure you're in "Advanced View" which is also at the top of the page. This will allow you to see all the options that need to be set.
SIP Tab:
Substitute VIA Addr: YES
STUN Enable: YES
STUN Server: stun01.sipphone.com
NAT Keep Alive Intvl: 15
LineX Tab: (where X is the 1 or 2 depending on where you have Gizmo setup)
Line Enable: YES
NAT Mapping Enable: YES
NAT Keep Alive Enable: YES
SIP Port: 5060 (if Line1) or 5061 (if Line2)
Proxy: proxy01.sipphone.com
Use Outbound Proxy: NO
Outbound Proxy: keep blank
Use OB Proxy In Dialog: NO
Register: YES
Register Expires: 3600
Use DNS SRV: NO
DNS SRV Auto Prefix: NO
Display Name: 1747xxxxxxx (Your Gizmo sip number)
User ID: 1747xxxxxxx (Your Gizmo sip number)
Password: (Your Gizmo password)
Use Auth ID: NO
Preferred Codec: G711u
Use Pref Codec Only: NO
Once you follow the steps above, you should be hearing a dial tone in your phone. Now you can receive all the calls from around the world for FREE on the Free Number that you received. Also Gizmo5 has a backdoor dialing feature where you can find out if the number in USA is free or not. Check out Gizmo BackDoor.
So that was pretty basic PAP2T and Gizmo5 setting. You can do all kinds of things like setting up Line 2 with other SIP provider to get Cheap International calling rates and so much. Sky is the limit. But for now, just enjoy the basic incoming free calls.
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