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01 Mar, 2000 |
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DSG Technology's(Walnut, CA -- 909-595-8908, www.dsgtechnology.com)
InterStar is another take on the idea of a VoIP
appliance for SOHO users. Its most notable quality
is that it doesn't need a PC to operate, just an
analog phone and a network connection -- making
Internet calling that much closer to regular calling.
InterStar is the Ethernet-compatible sister to IPStar,
a similar product made for dial-up users that DSG
released last year.
Setting it up is simple. Connect the box to a DSL,
cable modem, or LAN port, and plug an analog phone
into one of two RJ-11 jacks (the other is a line
jack that lets you configure InterStar as an analog
extension off your PBX or key system). We plugged
the box directly into an Ethernet port on our LAN
using the included CAT 5 cable. The device needs
to be given a static IP address, as well as a subnet
mask and gateway address. All of this information
is displayed on the InterStar's backlit LCD, and
can be entered using either the arrow keys on the
box itself or, more conveniently, the keypad of
the attached telephone. You can also use the phone
to enter names and numbers into InterStar's 100-number,
on-screen phone directory.
It took us about fifteen minutes to get two boxes
set up and operational, placing calls from the handset
of one Interstar to that of another. To call from
device to device, you can dial the static IP address
directly, or dial a two-digit speed dial number
from your own personal directory, or a six-digit
product ID number pre-programmed into each box.
In the latter case, the product IDs are stored in
a centralized database, with which the box registers
itself once the user has given it an IP address.
When the six-digit number of another device is dialed,
a query is sent to the database server and the associated
IP address is found for routing. (Hint to ambitious
service providers: DSG also had the bright idea
to use this updated, centralized repository of registered
users to periodically push advertising and promotional
information to the boxes' LCD displays -- a clever
way of branding an "enhanced services" device.)
DSG also offers InterStar-to-phone calling services,
through which calls sent out over the Internet are
routed through a network of VoIP gateways and locally
passed off to the destination phone number. DSG
not only maintains the global network, but develops
and manufactures the gateway itself -- the ITSP
IP2000 -- which it also offers to third-party providers.
To use the DSG network, you need to set up a prepaid
account, which can be done online. You're given
a ten-digit account number, which you can then program
into the InterStar box, and credit is automatically
deducted from your account based on usage. InterStar-to-phone
calls are dialed just like a regular phone call
-- 1+ or 011+ and the destination phone number.
InterStar scores major points for ease of use: Pick
up the phone, get "dial tone," and dial. Voice quality,
however, was somewhat erratic -- at times clear
and uncompressed sounding, at others garbled, with
long delays. A large part of the problem could undoubtedly
be blamed on Internet traffic, rather than the device
itself, but we were somewhat disappointed to find
some of the same problems on InterStar-to-phone,
where the minutes were not free. DSG is by no means
alone in this respect, but one should simply be
warned that voice quality on the public Internet
still has a long, long way to go. The InterStar
is currently shipping, at an SRP of $299 per unit.
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