[asterisk-users] Log and forward calls to cellphone?

[Sebastian]

Hi,

On 01/04/2011 10:50 AM, Gilles wrote:
> On Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:32:15 +0000, Sebastian<shop at open-t.co.uk>
> wrote:
>> Anyway - there is a third option - which I have been using with some
>> success. I connected my softphone on my laptop to my Asterisk server at
>> home (through OpenVPN for extra security - but this is not compulsory). [...]
>> As a last alternative - a slight improvement on the above. If you can
>> get a smartphone with Android - which would let you run SIP over 3G -
>> you should have true free voice divert.
>
> Thanks Sebastian for the tip. The goal is to 1) have clients call the
> usual landline number instead of asking them to try a cellphone in
> case no one's home, 2) get Asterisk to handle the call, 3) have the
> cellphone ring with the CID of the original caller instead of
> Asterisk's.
>
> It looks like getting a 3G smartphone with SIP + OpenVPN + unlimited
> Internet plan would solve the issue.
>
> Does someone know...
> 1. how reliable 3G Internet access is in Europe in cities?

I can only speak for the UK. In the UK - Three seems to be one of the 
best providers (in my experience). However, coverage quality varies 
throughout the country, and I have clients on O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone 
- with varying results. It is, by its very nature, a connection which 
will vary continually in bandwidth and reliability with the time and 
location.

> 2. what smartphone supports installing an SIP + OpenVPN clients?

Looking around, it seems to me that any Android phone should be able to 
have SIP clients installed. If anybody knows of any manufacturer or 
operator imposed blocks - I would love to know. One of the more popular 
SIP clients (www.sipdroid.org) doesn't seem to mention any possible 
impediments to installing it on any Android phone (1.5 and above)

> 3. how much juice those things need to keep those applications + 3G
> connection running for hours each day?

Again, at least according to www.sipdroid.org FAQ - it seems that it 
shouldn't make any extra difference. I suppose it depends on the battery 
size. They claim a 3 days standby - but don't say which phone did they 
test it on. They also claim that a stock Asterisk talking to a SIP 
client on Android is not ideal in terms of battery life for the Android 
phone - but I really can't think why. If anybody here has some ideas - 
would be great.

One other thing to watch out for is operator imposed contractual 
restrictions. Many mobile/3G operators expressly forbid running any type 
of VoIP through their network in the contract (you can still use the 
phone + SIP over wifi, though). However, I believe that if you run it 
through OpenVPN - they shouldn't be able to tell. Again, if anybody has 
any info on this, or knows otherwise - I would love to know.

One of the openvpn implementations for Android is TunnelDroid 
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/tunneldroid/). This one needs the phone 
to be rooted - so when searching for a phone - make sure it has a 
(hopefully easy) rooting procedure. I don't know if there is an openvpn 
implementation for Android which doesn't need the phone to be rooted - 
but considering you need extra kernel modules (the tun device) I would 
have thought rooting is essential.

Sorry to keep on butting in. I've been interested in SIP on Android for 
a while now - so this just gave me more incentives to actually do the 
research :-)

Sebastian


>
> Thank you.
>
>
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