Knowledge base SIP2SIM Mobile phone as SIP extension
SIP2SIM Having a mobile as an extension on office phone system
A&A mobiles can be set up as a direct extensions on your office phone system using SIP (VoIP) allowing integration in to your phone system and complete control over the use of the phone.
This service is ideal for many types of business, but particularly for financial services where FSA rules mean calls and texts and emails all need to be recorded.
The service can just as easily be used with a small office or home asterisk box or connected to one of many third party SIP services around the world.
SIP extension
The voice side is perhaps the simplest - you buy a SIM, and activate it. The SIM does not need a number of any sort from us. You set up the username, hostname and password to which you want the phone connected. That's it!
We automatically register as a SIP user on the specified SIP call server, just like any other SIP phone. Calls made from the phone go to the server just like calls from any other SIP phone, and your server decides how to route the calls. Calls you send to the registered SIP connection go to the phone.
You have control over calls and calling line identity as you wish.
Note: Asterisk users, set the SIP account with nat=no, host=dynamic, and trustrpid=yes for correct operation.
Texts
Texts are slightly more complex. You can use our normal text sending interface using the iccid and a password you have set for the SIM on the control pages. This sends a text direct to the SIM and allows any sending number including text and numbers (within some length/character set limits).
Sending texts from a phone can be set on the control pages to HTTP POST to a web page of your choice with iccid, destination and message set.
Data access
Eventually, data access will be sent to a specified L2TP handover for your control. This is not yet available.
Costs
Calls each way are charged at MO/MT rate (see call prices).
Texts each way are charged at a text relay rate which is lower than our normal text charges (see call prices).
Data is charged at our normal mobile data rate.
Restrictions during beta testing
The mobile service is not yet fully launched and so some of the features described here are not yet available.
- Data via L2TP not yet available - this is not expected until much later in 2010
- Texts from handsets that end up to a number of less than 5 digits do not come through.
- We do not yet have any details of roaming.
Technical notes
- Calls from handsets to 999 or 112 (or in some cases any number starting 999 or 112) will go to emergency services, so avoid internal extension numbers or dialling plans that use these.
- Calls from handsets to one or two digit numbers do not work on most phones
- Calls from handsets to numbers including * and # can be made in some cases, but many cannot be used and this will partly depend on the make of phone. We recommend sticking to numbers.
- CLI can include * and #.
- Calls from handsets have the dialled number normalised, replacing + with 00, +44 with 0, etc.
- Texts from handsets have the target number normalised, removing 00 or + and replacing 0 with 44.
