Review on 📞 Enhanced Communication Flexibility with Grandstream HT813 Hybrid ATA: FXS and FXO Ports by Gary Ferguson

I'm from a country where calls from the US cost over $0.5 per minute. Local calling rates in this country are only a few US cents per minute when calling a cell phone from a landline (landline to landline is even cheaper). The Grandstream HT813's FXO port will save you a lot if you make frequent calls to this country from the US. This device is a good compromise between easy setup and lots of configuration options. You may spend a little more time setting up the device, but you have more control over its configuration. Notable features include support for encryption (secure TLS and SRTP connection) and support for the option to use phones in impulse mode on the FXS line (this is not possible with the Cisco SPA112 and SPA122). The only two alternatives to this device in this price range with an FXO port to watch out for are the Obi110 and the Obi212, but these devices don't offer as many lower-end configuration options as the Grandstream HT813, and the older Obi110 doesn't . Doesn't seem to support secure connection. There is also a Cisco SPA232D-G1 but it has echo issues so I wouldn't use it. The only feature of the HT813 that deserves a special mention is the 'Call Forward to VoIP Unconditional' option, which allows you to specify a SIP address to forward all incoming calls from the PSTN to VoIP via the FXO port. When this setting is configured, the SIP phone at the specified SIP address will start ringing after the specified number of rings on the PSTN line for an incoming call. The SIP phone rings as if it were just another phone on the PSTN line and the person calling the PSTN number cannot understand this because the beeps don't change etc. This feature comes in handy as my Relatives sometimes need to call me from their local cell phones in the US so they can simply call their landline number in another country to switch to VoIP. I configured the HT813 to start forwarding to my SIP address after 10 rings so that my relatives in another country can use their landline as usual without having to answer their local calls (because most people didn't have to wait). ). rings 10 times before hanging up). I don't know why but SIP forwarding is only active for 3-4 calls, after that the SIP call ends and the PSTN line keeps ringing as before until the caller hangs up etc. I couldn't understand where the limit of 3- 4 calls come, there may be some settings, but I see that as an advantage, since in most cases the call is accepted on 4 calls.