[Asterisk-Users] Re: Linksys PAP2-NA

[Jay Hennigan]

Brandon Patterson (peering) wrote:

>Ok guys here is the deal. Someone decided that the boxes were shipped to
>soon. Alright, whatever. Now we are told that Linksys will have a program
>where you must be certifed as an ISP or VOIP company in order to purchase
>the box. Call as many dist. as you like but, selling the box after being
>told not to; will only get the dist. in trouble. So Linksys / Cisco now
>decides who is an Internet Service Provider? Speaking for myself this is
>real bullshit. As to why its being down? Power & Control. Cisco seems to
>forget just who the hell made them as big as they are. Our company has made
>it clear to Cisco, not Linksys that there will always be other suppliers.
>Many of you will remember when SCO wanted you to get certified on Unix just
>because they needed extra cash. Or when Compaq wanted people approved and so
>on..... the market demands this type of item. Others besides Linksys will
>build it. Leadtek offers a unit we use and the support is excellent. Its
>more money but I doubt that Leadtek or others will just sit by. The cash is
>there, the boom is on... Let the band play!

Well, yes and no.  To buy from a distributor such as Ingram, Tech Data,
etc. you need to show Linksys that you have a moderate amount of clue
regarding VoIP.  It is about a five minute phone call to Linksys to get
qualified.  Many manufacturers have similar programs.  I qualified our
company, it was quite painless.

To buy from a dealer or reseller who has done that, no problem.   Any Joe
Six-pack can buy one.  Of course you'll pay the reseller's markup, so it
will cost a tad over $50 instead of a tad under $50.

There is some method to their madness.  After-sale support can be a fairly
large part of the cost of a product, especially a $50 product whith a huge
configurable feature set.  Linksys doesn't want thousands of end-users to
flood them with stupid questions after they've rendered their boxes useless.

This is part of the Vonage deal.  Vonage gets to deal with the unwashed
hordes and has a financial incentive for helping them to get the ATA
going.  The reduced support costs are worth something to Linksys.  They
want to do the same thing with the unlocked version.  If the reseller has
an incentive (and the know-how) to provide first-level support, the box
costs less.

By the way, look for the RT31P2 to also be available in a month or two
de-Vonage-ized.  It'll be renumbered as an RT41P2-NA (probably with another
LAN port if they follow their numbering scheme) and will have T.38 fax
support.

--
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Administration - jay at west.net
WestNet:  Connecting you to the planet.  805 884-6323      WB6RDV
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