Gigaset N300A IP DECT/VoIP Base Station with Answering Machine

This is an excellent product by Siemens.

I've been using various VOIP solutions for the last few years in order to reduce my phone bill. Going the VOIP route really has worked and I much prefer using this for my phone calls than getting tied in to some phone/adsl/tv bundle. Compared to traditional landline calling - I've saved a bundle which means I can go out and buy fancy kit like this.

I recently got an N300A IP along with three very cheap A58H handsets. The N300A connects to an internal phone PBX (FusionPBX) using SIP. I've created a SIP connection for each of the handsets so they act like individual extensions. In a standard configuration you would just point the N300A directly to your VOIP provider (for which it has a lot of preset templates).

The N300A is a tiny unit but still looks quite smart. My package came with all the bits I needed to connect it up - phone line cable, ethernet cable (for a 10/100 connection), uk three pin power adapter.

Once, plugged in to the network, you can configure the unit via a web browser user interface which is quite nippy and well laid out. In here, you get to set up:
* Network (IP config / security)
* Telephony (connections / audio / number assignment / call divert / dialing plans / network mailboxes / advanced voip settings)
* Messaging (eMail / message waiting indicator)
* Info Services (this looks like it projects RSS feeds up to the handset for news and weather etc)
* Directories (online directory / directory transfer)
* Management (date & time / local settings / misc / reboot & reset / save & restore / firmware update).

I can't list off all the reasons I love this product but will say this -

The call quality is excellent - even with the cheap handsets I've gone for. You can optimise your config for high or low bandwidth or select your own configuration. Support is there for G.722 which allows for fantastic quality calls.

As previously mentioned - not all the features work with all the handsets and, as you would expect with the cheapest handset, the A58H does not support all the fancy features such as NTP time synchronisation - but they still support contact transfer. So you can use the N300A to select vCard contacts from your laptop (or network) and then upload them to the handset rather than mess about with manually entering the details on each. So they're not entirely devoid of useful functionality. Naturally, if you want to use all the features of the N300A - you can pick something fancier than the A58H.

If you're wondering how hard it is to configure - I would say that it's on par with configuring a router. I'm not going to comment on the PSTN integration as I'm not using it for converging the land line in - but it appears from the web config system that Siemens have given plenty of configurable control to the users over how phones react to inbound PSTN calls - and also allowing for dialplan rules to determine PSTN or VOIP call routing.

Also - to avoid doubt / confusion - the N300A (at least on my version after updating the firmware) does appear to support prefixing area codes for local calls. That way, there's no need to dial the full telephone number including area code if you're making a local call.

I hope this helps you with your decision making.

Upgraded from Siemens Gigaset A580 IP.

+ faster web configurator (note this product is not for novices!)
+ answer machine
+ various improvements (for example: you can turn off the blue light; tone selection)
+ C59H handset has many improvements, and retains same great audio quality

- Siemens A58H handset is not fully compatible and supports basic call functions only (you can not handle answer machine; you can not see VoIP connection info; time is not updated; etc etc); disappointing that Siemens Gigaset folks designed the product like this.
- removed the call "Suffix" feature (with A580 base station you can select which voip connection to dial using number suffix #1....#6, for example stored in the handset phonebook)

I needed to replace my Virgin Cable bundle (phone+internet+tv) BUT needed to keep my old house number. I already had a separate business line with a PlusNet fibre circuit. So, I transferred the house number to a SIP account (sipgate, but there are lots) and installed this with a set of 4 Gigaset phones. I now can take both numbers on one set of phones, which all talk to each other and can make fixed line or internet calls - you can configure how this works. It also has separate answering machine settings for each line. I would not recommend using phones from a different company since you cannot guarantee feature/compatibility.