[Asterisk-Users] GSM Gateway / Terminal for sale

[Adrian Carter]

Is anyone aware of the details of this in Australia?

I'd love to be able to let tech's have calls route straight to their
mobiles when 'in-house'....

Steve Kennedy wrote:

>On Fri, Jan 06, 2006 at 01:23:26PM -0000, Chris Bagnall wrote:
>
>  
>
>>>I don't get it. What is the advantage of using a GSM gateway? 
>>>VOIP calls are pretty inexpensive as they are now.
>>>      
>>>
>>It largely depends on the country you're calling. Here in the UK, calls to
>>mobiles are maintained at an artificially high rate because the terminating
>>network (the mobile networks) get a cut of call revenue for calls *to* your
>>mobile. By contrast, in the US, the mobile customer often pays a small
>>charge per minute on incoming calls (as I understand the market over there).
>>You'll also find in the UK the mobile phone market is heavily subsidized by
>>the networks such that you can get phones for free if you sign up to 12
>>month contracts. I often find that it's cost-effective to get a new contract
>>every 12 months (with a free phone), even if I don't want the phone. Flog
>>the phone on ebay and you've got a spare SIM with lots of inclusive minutes
>>for almost nothing.
>>    
>>
>
>In the UK the wholesale rates are set by Ofcom (like the FCC), which
>works out about 7p'ish per minute.
>
>However the operators can offer retail bundles (including phones) and
>for a monthly contract they "throw" in various ammounts of cross network
>minutes (or free to their own network or whatever). With clever
>dial-plans and multiple terminals connected to multiple networks you can
>generally get "free" calls to mobile users (basically clever least cost
>routing, time of day sometimes needs to be taken into account as well).
>
>However there are some disadvantages, the main being you cant set CLI of
>the outgoing call as it will always be tied to the SIM of the mobile
>terminal.
>
>Another is that you can NOT run a GSM gateway (as they're known) for 3rd
>parties. So if you want to connect your office PBX to a gateway to make
>use of cheap mobile termination for your own company that's fine, but as
>an ITSP (or traditional telco) you can not allow 3rd party traffic to
>utilise a gateway. If networks find you are using a gateway (as a telco)
>they can cut it off, no questions asked. Gateways have been determined
>to be fixed infrastructure, therefore NOT mobile.
>
>There is (or maybe was by now) an Ofcom consultation asking whether this
>should be changed, the mobile operators will fight it, telcos and other
>users will be asking for it to be changed.
>
>Of course this is UK specific, other countries have more lenient
>policies (I think Belgium allow gateways, France doesn't allow any kind,
>and some allow them with the co-operation of the operators).
>
>
>Steve
>
>  
>

-- 
Adrian Carter
Technical Manager
Leading Edge Internet

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