reliability and support issues

Update 2007 (August): I am glad to see this review continues to get Helpful (even Very Helpful) ratings after more than a year, so it seems time to update with the latest information. Grandstream has updated the firmware for this device, and produced a new instruction manual, so the device mostly works better now than it did. However, the LAN port does not work at all anymore; it failed gradually over time and is now useless. The new firmware and instructions make it easier to configure the device via the WAN port, which does work. (I guess some bigger customers reported the same issues I was reporting, so they simplified the WAN-side access in order to work around the LAN-side failures.) I also got a second VOIP line, so I use both lines now and am happy to have the 496 instead of the one-line 286. However, since the LAN port doesn't work, I can't plug the computer into it for pass-through access. I have a separate router anyway, so I plug the computer and the ATA (and a printer) into the router's LAN ports.

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This device is a VOIP Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA). (The Epinions caption incorrectly calls it a "Phone.") If you have VOIP service and an analog phone (i.e. one that uses an ordinary telephone line), an ATA enables you to use your phone over the Internet.

I have used four VOIP ATAs and had good experience with all of them, no trouble with any until Grandstream. However, the others were all locked to specific VOIP providers. That is alas the most common marketing model in VOIP, like "free" cellular phones that only work with the provider's service. I wanted an ATA that was unlocked, so I bought a Grandstream.

I chose the 496 because it offered more features than the cheaper 286 model; unfortunately, the extra features don't work well enough to be useful, and they complicate configuration. The LAN port is too slow and sometimes stops altogether. I have not used the second phone line output, but the instructions note limitations that suggest diminished utility. So, the cheaper 286 is probably a better choice.

Shortly after I bought the 496, the HTML configuration utility stopped working. Other users have reported the same experience with Grandstream products. The device still works, but optimizing the configuration requires using the utility. Unplugging the device for a while resolves the issue temporarily, so probably the internal heat dissipation is inadequate.

Unfortunately, before discovering that, I made the mistake of contacting Grandstream tech support. Grandstream told me to "upgrade" the firmware, which caused the device to stop working entirely. The "upgrade" firmware has different configuration screens and settings, and no instructions. Efforts to revert the firmware to the original all failed. Rather than figure out what was wrong, tech support said the device must be "damaged" and would "need to be replaced through the reseller." The device had not been damaged, so I spent hours changing settings by trial and error, and eventually succeeded. Thus, tech support was a massive waste of time, resulting only in wrong answers and an "upgrade" to firmware that has no instructions.

Initially I had been happy with the device and recommended it to others. I've got it working again, but I can no longer recommend it to others because of the reliability and support issues.