Cisco Small Business SPA3102 Voice Gateway with Router

Pros: Does the job well. Nice build quality. Lots of manual customization options (though this could be a CON, depends how you look at it). Tons of resources online on getting this to work.

Cons: When placing calls from with line1 or SIP phone to PSTN, echo may be present for the local party (the remote party seems fine). Took quite a bit of fine tuning to get it to a reasonable level where it doesn't bother me.

Upgrading firmware without a PC could be tricky (though there are ways to do it). Wish there was an application for MAC, like there is one for Windows.

Other Thoughts: Has worked well so far, no reboots, no crashes. Does get a little warm, but should not be a problem. I'm running this with Asterisk setup.

Definitely requires a person either knowing what they're doing, or be open to do researching online for getting this to work as needed.

Pros: Easy configuration
Works very well until...

Cons: you call a cell phone or an automated machine
they can't hear anything from you.

Takes long before you can get the right information on how to configure it.

Tried to check support on website but couldnt find any help. You actually have to PAY to get some support

Avoid this and get yourself something where they give support!!

Pros: Works well (for ATA purpose) once you have upgraded the firmware.

Cons: Extremly poor router

Other Thoughts: Do not buy this item if you want to use it as a router. Extremly poor performances. My 20Mbps connection drop to 7 Mbps when i connect it to my computer, and the SPA keep rebooting as soon as it's stressed a bit (if you use Torrents client for example).

Had issues with stocks firmware (i was able to call & receive calls, i was able to ear people, but nobody was able to ear me). But once i've upgraded the firmware, it worked well.

Pros: Easy VOIP set-up, even for someone inexperienced.

Cons: Requires connection to a computer to set it up. However, after configuring it, it can be disconnected from the computer.

Pros: Small device, works perfectly with my 3cx IP PBX.

Cons: Doesn't always detect the other party hanging up, but not a big deal, as you can always set a timeout for when it doesn't detect any voices on the line.

Other Thoughts: Pretty straightforward to setup, just take it one setting at a time :).

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Mervin,

Thank you for the feedback. We appreciate your comments, and are happy to hear you are satisfied with the SPA3102!

Thanks,

Diana
Cisco Small Business Team

Pros: Excellent features. The fact that I could use my land line and route VOIP calls was the key factor when I considered buying the SPA 3102.
Plenty rules to "play" with.

Cons: When it arrived, I powered up my unit, http in, change the default IP so that it matches my network IP range, set it to static IP,disabled the DHCP server, applied changes and the unit power cycled. And that's it. That's where it ended for me.
What ever I tried... nothing brought it back to life.I could not use the http interface, I could not use the phone to reset it to factory defaults,I couldn't use the firmware upgrade application. I was hoping that I'll be able to flush the memory and rewrite the firmware.
Did a port scan and there was no acknowledgment nor a reply from any of the ports.

Other Thoughts: It was so sad when I had to request an RMA for this unit.
Just my kind of luck.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Lorin,
We’re sorry to hear about your experience. You did all the right things. There is one more thing you could have tried in resetting the SPA3102 to the factory default settings using the Interactive Voice Response (IVR):

- Plug a phone into the Phone 1 port
- Press “****”
- Enter “73738,” then “#”
- Press “1” to confirm

This sequence can be found in the documentation, which is available here: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/csbpvga/ata/administration/guide/ATA_AG_v3_NC-WEB.pdf. Small Business Support (http://www.cisco.com/go/smallbizhelp) and the Small Business Support Community (http://www.cisco.com/go/smallbizsupport) also are good resources for getting help when you need it.

Diana
Cisco Small Business Team

Pros: Very small and simple to wire up, and a huge amount of resources online for getting this to work with Asterisk, and simple to modify to use with other PBX systems. Good sound quality and reliable on the network. Helps me filter out annoyances even without a PBX.

Cons: The included documentation isn't detailed enough for any real use out of the box, but a little bit of googling helps with that. No mention in the documentation on how to reset the device if you lock yourself out.

Other Thoughts: The unit does get warm depending on the environment. This unit also is a re-branded Sipura device but outside of the name, online documentation matches for both devices and between the two brand names it creates a good documentation base. All in all, it is well worth the purchase.

Pros: Solid and reliable with tons of features. In fact, the feature set can be a bit bewildering.

Cons: The only con is the price if what you really want is something akin to the Linksys PAP2T. For a basic VOIP ATA adapter, this unit is a bit of an overkill.

Other Thoughts: I use this for connecting a fax machine to a VOIP service.

Pros: It has way way too many features

Cons: O existing documentation on all those features. There is like a minor getting started pdf document with it, but it in no way even starts to scratch the hundred or so settings, let alone the more advance stuff. There is nothing on linksys web site. You will have to google for bits and pieces of information on how to do things. Most I believe can be figured out however.

Pros: Works fine.

Cons: None. You will need some help to setting it up. Took me quite a while to be able to set up the first one. I have 2 of this unit now.

Other Thoughts: -