gbroiles
join:2001-03-02
San Jose, CA
| [Equipment] Linksys PAP2 first impressions
Ok, I picked up a Linksys PAP2 tonight to play with. Supposedly it's a Sipura 2000 in a Cisco/Linksys box. I dunno.
The box comes with a CD and some Vonage propaganda/setup instructions. It has a single-sheet folded Linksys installation guide which says, more or less, "connect to your LAN using the Ethernet port. plug some phones into the phone ports."
There's no discussion at all of configuration, etc - apparently that all takes place via Vonage's website.
After I plugged it in, I watched what it did with Ethereal. It (automatically - no config) grabbed a DHCP address, asked for the IP address of ls.tftp.vonage.net (a CNAME for tftp.vonage.net), and proceeded to tftp a firmware update (the filename is "/+000000000000/PAP2-bin-2-00-10-LSb_Test.bin", except the zeros are the device's MAC address), and then (apparently) rebooted - it didn't send/rcv any packets for ~ 30 seconds, and then re-upped its DHCP lease.
After rebooting, it reconnects to ls.tftp.vonage.net with tftp, except this time it asks for "/rF3opcIWgT/spa000000000000.xml", gets that file, then asks for "SJfMrdLacw/spa000000000000.xml", gets that file, and then reboots again, except this time it takes almost 2 minutes until it re-ups its DHCP lease. (again, the zeros had my MAC address in them.)
I scanned the box with nmap - the TCP ports it finds open are 25, 69, 110, 389, 1002, and 1720.
At the moment, I would advise against buying a PAP2 if you are hoping for a cheaper Sipura - out of the box, it doesn't seem to act like one.
Actually, out of the box, without talking to Vonage, it's apparently useless.
I'm not an Ethereal expert, so I haven't yet managed to extract the contents of the files that it downloaded from my packet capture file. The two ".xml" files sure don't look like XML to me - they look like gibberish, though I don't know if that's because they're compressed, or encrypted, or both. Within the first 512 bytes of each .xml file is the text string "Salted", which makes me lean towards thinking there's some crypto happening here, but it will take more work to figure that out.
I haven't been able to get anything interesting out of any of the open TCP ports yet - though I am travelling and don't have easy access to a Unix box right now, and don't have good exploring/development tools on my laptop.
I tried plugging a phone into the phone ports to see if I get dialtone. I didn't, but I'm not 100% sure that the hotel phone I borrowed for that task is an appropriate analog phone to be used for that experiment. |
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garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI | Very cool report, thanks, and TIA for any updates! |
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hwittenb
join:2003-12-20
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·callwithus
·Callcentric
| reply to gbroiles
I bought one too for eventual use with vonage. Staples retail store originally wanted to charge more, but they met their web page price after verification.
The box is about 4-in square and 1-1/8-in thick.
Everything I have about the Sepura 2000 says you need to access the web configuration page to make changes. When you try to access the web configuration page on this box by entering »[ipaddress]/admin/advanced you get a message "connection refused" (or any other input variations like that).
So, if it is a Sepura 2000 it is certainly locked to this extent. |
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SIPinator
| reply to gbroiles
The bin file is the 2.10 firmware. The XML is the config file. Vonage is locking the access to ipaddress/admin/. |
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The Chef
join:2003-12-09
| reply to gbroiles
said by gbroiles  :
Supposedly it's a Sipura 2000 in a Cisco/Linksys box. I dunno.
Can you tell from the MAC address prefix who makes the unit? |
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SIPinator
| Sipura made the guts. Linksys repackaged and added cool blue LEDS. |
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mrcowboy99
join:2004-08-07
Grapevine, TX
1 edit | I too got one from Staples today.
First, they wanted to charge me $69 for it. After discussions and told them about staples.com, (they verified) I got it for $49 and they printed the $40 rebate.
Secondly, I read the information and then took the plunge. Since I didn't have VoIP service, I subscribed and got the min. plan ($14 plan) to test with. I'm out of town but got a local number for me.
The subscription was painless. I then plugged the little box into port one of my WRT54G and plugged in the power. I saw the same thing as he stated earlier. AFter about 3-4 mins, the device settled down so I thought here goes my first VoIP call. AFter that I set the QoS on the Mac Address to High with everything else low. I didn't set the port or Ip address. My bandwidth is about 2m/350k and I'm on comcast cable at the remote location.
Wiping the sweat from my brow and hoping I just didn't waste my hard earned money, I placed a call to my local cell phone. I got a circuits busy message. (Now, I'm starting to get pissed and feeling ripped off.) Second call was to a local thearter to get movie listings. The call was clear and no clicks or echos. It sounded just like the cheap thearter recordings.
The next call was to my home. The call was again excellent. I even had them return the call and got the same good results.
Remember, I didn't port a number so I didn't go thru those headaches. I thought maybe if this works for me and some more positive results, I will cancel and get it reavtivated with the port. (if they let me do that.)
The verdict is still out, but first impressions were excellent and now I'm on board with VoIP... Maybe this might be the best money I spent in a few days escpecially if I'm going to save $30 per month.
More coming later... |
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montee4
Premium
join:2004-02-15
Chicago, IL
| It will be interesting to see if Vonage starts offering a richer feature set for users of the Linksys PAP2. Since Sipura had a hand in this, there are some features currently offered by other providers using the sipura such as anonymous call blocking.
I guess time will tell the fate of the Motorola adapter. |
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schalliol
join:2003-07-10
Bloomington, IN | I guess I don't know what this product has over the motorola adapter. Can someone elaborate? It seems like even less functionality. You can get the motorola device from Vonage for the cost of $9.99 shipping, is there a similar deal for this one? |
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mrcowboy99
join:2004-08-07
Grapevine, TX | I went down to Staples and got my PAP2 for $49 minus a $40 rebate (Plus tax). Price wise, looks like about the same deal. |
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chriskay
Premium
join:2004-03-09
Toronto, ON | I wonder if Vonage will discontinue issuing the Moto adapter? |
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voiplover
Premium
join:2004-05-28
Portsmouth, NH
·callwithus
|  reply to gbroiles
gbroiles Thanks for the heads up.
This may be a good move for Vonage. I imagine that they are eating the cost of the Linksys rebate to boost sales. They have been taking some big hits lately. It looks like you own it.
Is there a disconnect fee if you dump the service after getting your rebate? |
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mrcowboy99
join:2004-08-07
Grapevine, TX | Just for information... the Mac addresses, based on IEEE OUI database, is assigned to Cisco-Linksys and not to Sipura. (Not that it isn't a Sipura engine.) |
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schalliol
join:2003-07-10
Bloomington, IN | reply to gbroiles
So again, how is this better than the Motorola unit? Do you have to sign up for a NEW Vonage account to get the rebate? If you use the PAP2, are you not doing QoS with your VoIP data? |
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craigg
join:2001-06-04
Princeville, HI | One thought on this new adapter is if the guts are the same, perhaps one could reflash it with the standard Sipura firmware. I ordered a couple of the Linksys adapters from Staples and will know more once I receive them. |
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RockinRay
join:2004-08-18
Lakeville, MN
 ·Charter Pipeline
| reply to gbroiles
Since Linksys now has information on their website - I would like to setup a static IP. This can be done through voice promt with the unit.
If this is setup first, will the Vonage .bin download kill it? Has anyone tried this yet? I will report back - my unit should be here today and I will get it hooked up this evening. |
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mrcowboy99
join:2004-08-07
Grapevine, TX
4 edits | What version of SIP does the Motorola have? I was looking at the diffences and noticed on the Moto web site they didn't mention this. The PAP2 have SIP v2. The PAP2 is smaller and can be vertically stood up. Don't know about the Moto box since I don't have one.
Price wise, someone posted that they were charged $9.95 for s&h from Vonage on the Moto box. The PAP2 was same after rebate. No difference there.
Everything else looks the same IMHO.
As for the QoS, I'm running mine thru a WRT54G with the Linksys firmware 2.04.4. I enabled QoS on the MAC address only and have gotten excellent results. ( but this is only two days old so the jury is still out.)
I run a DHCP address with an expiration time of 9999 minutes. (Almost 7 days) so I dont' have to worry about the IP changing. (I'd like to set it longer but the firmware only allows four digits.) I haven't looked into static addressing. |
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gbroiles
join:2001-03-02
San Jose, CA
| reply to schalliol
The rebate slip I received says that, to be eligible for the rebate, the purchaser must maintain Vonage service for 90 days. However, they say they'll send the rebate in 4-6 weeks, so I'm not sure how that works out.
For someone who intends to sign up for new Vonage service, the potential advantages I see are: smaller size, perhaps better router compatibility (from other messages I've seen, I gather that sometimes the Motorola unit doesn't work well when behind a NAT router). Ideally, someone with both units will be able to comment on voice quality, reliability, etc. I have a Cisco ATA-186 and will post comparisons if I decide to set up Vonage service on the PAP2.
For someone who doesn't care about Vonage service, the advantage would be the opportunity to buy a device that's normally priced at $90 or so for only $10 after rebate, or for $60-70 ignoring the rebate. Of course, that only works if/when people figure out a way to turn the PAP2 into a Sipura 2000. |
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schalliol
join:2003-07-10
Bloomington, IN
| reply to gbroiles
Thanks for the comment. Does the rebate note you have to be a new customer? I didn't see that, but usually I would think it's implied. Since the PAP2 doesn't offer routing capability, basically it seems that people need to have a router with QoS to make this work with their system properly. |
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gbroiles
join:2001-03-02
San Jose, CA
| There's nothing on the rebate form that says it's only for new customers. Actually, reading carefully, there's nothing on the rebate form that says I have to sign up for additional Vonage service - it just says "Must subscribe to a Vonage monthly service plan and be a customer in good standing for a minimum of 90 days . . . Service must be ordered through Vonage."
I've already been a Vonage customer for almost a year now. Seems to me like I've already met the 90 day test, no need for new service. 
But I'm pretty confident that trick doesn't work, and that it's not worth the trouble to fight with them over $40. I wonder if they're smart enough to notice if I write the MAC address of my ATA-186 on the rebate form instead of the MAC address of the PAP2 . . . |
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