CCNA Voice Lab... Need dial tone...

I dropped all the phone lines in my house about 2 years ago in leui of cell phones. We also finally got DSL - without a phone line - so I at least now have something better than satellite internet that I had been using for years.
I'm now, of course, studying for the CCNA-Voice and I've got most of the equipment (routers, switches, etc) and I'm going to pick up some fxo/fxs cards to play with... I wish I could afford some aim/cue stuff... -= sheesh =-
Okay, I know, I'm long-winded...
As of now, I don't have a phone line with dial tone to plug into the fxo ports to play with...
Q) Do I really need to have a phone line ordered through Verizon (my local carrier for $21/m) or can I get a dial-tone through someone such as Vonage for my fxo testing?
Assuming that Vonage is okay (they have a $10/m-200min plan), would I be able to use that to connect to remote routers at another location? I guess I'm a newbie so bear with me... it seems that if I did that, I would be doing compression with dialtone over top of voip on my dsl.
Something is telling me that it's why too much overhead...
Thanks for your time and feedback.
-paul
I'm now, of course, studying for the CCNA-Voice and I've got most of the equipment (routers, switches, etc) and I'm going to pick up some fxo/fxs cards to play with... I wish I could afford some aim/cue stuff... -= sheesh =-
Okay, I know, I'm long-winded...
As of now, I don't have a phone line with dial tone to plug into the fxo ports to play with...
Q) Do I really need to have a phone line ordered through Verizon (my local carrier for $21/m) or can I get a dial-tone through someone such as Vonage for my fxo testing?
Assuming that Vonage is okay (they have a $10/m-200min plan), would I be able to use that to connect to remote routers at another location? I guess I'm a newbie so bear with me... it seems that if I did that, I would be doing compression with dialtone over top of voip on my dsl.
Something is telling me that it's why too much overhead...
Thanks for your time and feedback.
-paul
Comments
-Peanut
-Mayor Cory Booker
This is pretty much exactly what I would suggest as well. Grab a cheap Voice Gateway off of ebay and some FXS and FXO ports and you can configure the gateway to simulate a PSTN, you could also get a T1 card to simulate that connection as well. If you find you really want access to the real PSTN, Sipgate offers some good services for cheap, and even a free package.
Now I wanted to try a VoIP solution and went to check out sipgate.com but they aren't accepting any new customers. It seems that they've temporarily ran out of numbers.
Any other suggestions/recommendations?
Thanks!
-paul
Whether you are using a normal POTS line, Vonage, or Digital Voice provided by a cable provider, the process of making calls, local, national or international is still the same.
I run two Magic Jacks (seperate PCs) to provide POTS connectivity and have been using them for over a year (I began running VoIP in my home/office January 2010). Because 98% of my incoming and outgoing calls are via cell, MJ is an excellent choice. I will probably add Vonage with their "Unlimited International Plan" because MJ changed their policy and now ALL international calls have to go directly through them and their rates are a bit pricy compared to the Pre-Paid plan my wife (Hungarian) has been using for the past 6 years. She averages ~ $30/mo with her calls to UK, Panama, Hungaria, Romania, Australia, etc. (She is known internationally for her art ...LOL)
To do this, you simply need an VIC-2FXO on the router to connect to the MJ and approiate dial peers.
Studying:
CCNA - 640-802 - 17 Jan 2011 -- CVOICE v6 - 642-436 - 28 Feb 2011
2011 Goals
CCNP/CCNP:Voice