Hi there,

I was wondering if anybody had got a Tesco phone account running with an ATA VoIP adaptor that plugs straight into the router so that you don't have to have the PC switched on?

I was wondering if it would be possible to do this with the Sipura SPA-1001 ATA phone adaptor ?

Just that we have the USB phone that came with the package at the moment, but wanted to use up the free £5 worth of mins we got with it 1st without having to have the PC switched on all the time (also it has free area code, free voicemail etc).

Cheers, Mark.
Last edited by Mark in Essex : 07-09-2006 at 12:19

The simple answer is NO im afraid. The Tesco VoIP system doesn't use SIP, and therefore requires a computer to be online and connected to the internet. Tesco have no plans on changing this.

It's useless! You can't remotely pick up voicemail, you can't send SMS through it, and as of the last update... you can no longer use any usb device other then certain USB VoIP Phones. I have previously used a USB ATA, but this no longer works with the Tesco software, and the helper software doesn't see Tesco Internet Phone as a valid provider.

Technical support is next to useless. You STILL can't buy top-up in Tesco stores (which was the original idea).

For the time being, Tesco Internet Phone should be avoided, unless you want a FREE incoming landline number, but remember, unlike other providers you can only access voicemail from the software, and it won't send an email reminder to let you know you have voicemail.

They got it wrong from day one, had this system have been SIP based, and therefore compatible with most VoIP hardware such as ATAs that plug into the ADSL Router/Modem, then i'm sure they would have acquired a lot more customers. Tesco wanted to enforce a plug and play system which requires no technical knowledge.

Ok - thanks for the reply.

Guess I will be going totally Sipgate and just using up the Tesco's mins on the laptop until they are gone and then get rid of it totally.

Thanks for the reply, Mark.

Good response Mark, that's exactly what I did.