I want to know if theres a way I can hook up the IP Phone directly to my laptop if I have VPN Software installed on my laptop. Does anyone know if this can be done? and how?

All responses is much appreciated!

where would you plug it in?
Actually the phone needs to be programmed to see the IP address of the NTCPU if you connect to a hub and the NTCPU and phone are configured properly for VOIP then it shouldn't matter about the VPN

Now you really confused me. The way I have it setup now is that I have a VPN Router at my office and a VPN Router at home, this way I can have my IP phone connect to the main system at my office.

Do I not need a VPN Router at each remote location?

The original question I want to know is say I am traveling and want to take the IP Phone with me, what is the easiest way to have it hooked up to my office system? And if VPN is required can I hook it up to my laptop somehow?

Thank you for your response.

I think you have to have a second ethernet connection on your computer then you have to use the share function on the connection and you will probably need a cross-over cable. In reality you will use the laptop as a software router. Whether this works or not I have never done it as software VPN's generally suck as opposed to hardware ones.

Good luck and let us know!

Coral,

Thanks for your response. Do I actually need a VPN Router at each location? or Can I program the remote ip phone to connect to the main location without a VPN Router at the remote location?

I know the Toshiba systems IP Phone is plug and play and you dont need any VPN Routers to accomplish this. I wonder if the same can be done with the Aspire system.

Thanks guys!

The Aspire VoIP phones do not support NAT. Therefore you must have a VPN tunnel so you can gain access to your local LAN without using NAT. It is possible to not use VPN if you exposed the Aspire KSU and IP telephone to the world with external static addresses. I would highly recommend you DO NOT attempt this because anyone could connect to the KSU, make phone calls and your voice packets would no longer be secure.

I would pay the 70 bux for the router. Just about ANY router support VPN and I suggestthe Linksys because it also supports QOS.

I already have 2 VPN routers. My issue is I want to know how I can hook my phone up to my laptop with VPN Software and wish someone knew how to do this.

At least if this is not possible I wish NEC made a soft phone like toshiba that just installs on your computer and hooks up to the main system.

Sure you can. You need 2 NIC cards on the laptop and VPN software to connect back to the KSU. I've even used dial-up and plugged the phone into my NIC card, then enabled Internet connection sharing built into Windows XP. Of course it doesn't have near enough bandwidth. But it can be done. Another option is to use NET Meeting. The Aspire can work with anything H.323 compliant. So simply initiate the software VPN connection and connect to the KSU with NET Meeting. With this option though, you can only make and receive calls.

Thanks! Now that makes sense. Do you think I would get a very decent connection on my laptop via a wireless router connection and the main connection being a cable modem?

Have you also tried this before?

Are their any softphones out there that are H.323 compliant? I want a softphone installed on my laptop to make this alot easier where I can page my office and visa versa.

Thanks again!

Just another quick question. Is the Aspire system also SIP Compliant?

They have stated that they are BUT, they haven't completed the full testing as of yet to make sure that they can support SIP 100%.

There is supposed to be a softphone released for the Aspire system sometime in the next couple of months.

My problem with IP on the Aspire is that it's not very redundant and the compressions/security is lacking. I like they are coming out with a softphone and becoming SIP compliant but, the IP needs some overhauling IMHO.