Still confused? I don't blame you. Let's take a couple of examples of how you might utilize the SPA-3000.



VoIP Service
You are using a service such as Vonage or Broadvoice to reduce your long distance costs. The SPA-3000 can be configured to sit on a land line which you can dial into, and using authentication, allow you to dial back out through your VoIP provider. Calls through the VoIP provider can also be made directly using an attached telephone. Should the connection to the VoIP provider not be available, the SPA-3000 will revert to sending calls out the land line.

VoIP PBX
For us serious Asterisk PBX geeks out there, the SPA-3000 provides a cost-effective means of bring a PSTN trunk into the PBX while still functioning as an ATA. Not only can you use the SPA-3000 as inbound and/or outbound trunk, you can also easily configure the SPA-3000 as a PSTN failover should the primary trunk into Asterisk fail. Considering what you can buy the SPA-3000 for right now, this is one of the best deals going.

Features

The SPA-3000 Supports Key Telephony Features:
* VolP to PSTN (USA) Service Call Origination and Termination
* PSTN (USA) to Val? Service Call Origination and Termination
* Single or Dual Stage Dialing
* Service Authentication via PIN, Digest, Caller ID (Bellcore Type I)
* Per Call Authentication and Associated Routing
* Least Cost Routing Support
* Telephone Impedance Agnostic - 8 Configurable Settings
* Call Waiting, Cancel Call Waiting
* Caller ID Detection (Bellcore Type I)
* Caller 10 with Name I Number (Multinational Variants) Display
* Caller ID Blocking
* Call Waiting call& ID with Name I Number
* Call Forwarding to PSTN or VolP Service: No Answer I Busy I All
* Do Not Disturb
* Call Transfer
* Three-Way Conference Calling with Local Mixing
* Message Waiting Indication - Visual and Tone Based
* Call Return and Call Back on Busy
* Call Blocking with Toll Restriction
* Distinctive Ringing
* Off-Hook Warning Tone
* Selective 1 Anonymous Call Rejection
* Hot Line and Warm Line Calling
* Speed Dialing of 8 Numbers I Addresses
* Music on Hold


The SPA-3000 supports one POTS FXS port for connection to existing analog phones and fax machines. The SPA-3000 also supports one PSTN FXO port for connection to a Telco or PBX circuit. The SPA-3000 includes an Ethernet interface for connection to a home or office LAN. The SPA-3000 FXS and FXO lines can be Independently configured via software controlled by the service provider and/or end user.

Setup
Configuring the SPA-3000 isn't actually difficult per-say, the problem is a lack of good, solid documentation. The well-written Quick Start Guide gets you through setting up the IP address or discovering the DHCP-assigned IP address so that you have access to the web interface that has hundreds of configuration settings. There probably isn't a phone system or VoIP provider in existence that you can't get the SPA-3000 to work with. It's figuring out what the settings are actually for is the hard part. There is no doubt that were the SPA-3000 is one of the most feature-rich devices of its kind, the documentation side really hurt our overall marks.

Some of the VoIP providers we checked with will have no problem helping you get your device up and running with their service so we will refrain from going through the motions of setting it up with a provider.

Using the SPA-3000 with Asterisk, on the other hand, is a highly requested topic and the current documentation available on the net ranges from instructions that simply don't work to 90 minute plus setup routines that serve only to get a call from the PSTN to go into the Asterisk PBX.

With that in mind, we set out to find out if we could actually get the SPA-3000 to really function with Asterisk the way it "should". It did take a good week of tinkering and some of the instructions on the net actually got fairly close. In the end we came up with a setup that should take anyone that is comfortable using the AMP interface about 5 minutes to get up and running.,

To begin with, go to Sipura's website and make sure you have the latest firmware installed on your device, there is a fair to good chance this will not work properly with earlier firmware versions. Next, we will setup the trunk within Asterisk. For the sake of simplicity we are going to demonstrate this using the AMP interface which is available separately or part of the Asterisk@Home install package. Advanced users should be able to figure out how to modify the config files based on our information.

Usage
Documentation aside, the Sipura SPA-3000 works like a charm. The audio quality on the ATA is as good or better than anything we have tried so far. The vast amount of settings in the web admin ensure that the device will probably be able to be made to work with systems that haven't even been created yet. As for the gateway function, it may be a little tricky to get setup the first time or get tweaked to fit your particular requirements, but once it is in place, it just works.

While preparing this review, problems with our VOIP service provider reached a critical state. A single outage lasted two days. This obviously was not good for business. We needed something a lot more reliable than what we had. The Sipura SPA-3000 was already in the test lap being configured for the Asterisk server. No sooner had we verified the settings with some outside testers than the SPA-3000 took up permanent residence as a PSTN <-> Asterisk gateway providing routing of the incoming PSTN line to a VoIP provider that hands off to the Asterisk server as well as outbound routing of 911/411 calls. On top of basic call routing, the SPA-3000 also functions as a failover outbound trunk in case the VoIP Provider is not available and while providing all of these functions, it still acts as a normal ATA.

Results
The Sipura SPA-3000 is really an incredible little box. Only slightly larger than two decks of cards and amazing amount of functionality into a tiny case. There are settings in there that should enable advanced users to get the SPA-3000 to work with virtually any SIP-Compatible VoIP service. It might not be as attractive as Sipura's other devices but it does feature mounting holes on the bottom so it will fit nicely on the wall next to your other phone equipment.

Whether you are an experimenter, hard core PBX user, or a VoIP service user, the SPA-3000 is a great value by adding only a few dollars to the cost of an ATA you get an entire gateway package. As we mentioned, it works so well it is now OUR Gateway device!

Features: 5/5
Setup: 2/5
Usage: 5/5
Results: 5/5
Value: 5/5

Overall Index: 4.40/5

Sipura
http://www.sipura.com

Asterisk PBX
http://www.asterisk.org

BroadVoice
http://www.broadvoice.com

Source: Geek Gazette