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Most hotel internet service providers will prevent your Portable ATA device from accessing the internet when you first plug it in. The hotel typically requires that you visit a special web page and fill-in a form to activate the service in your hotel room. Sadly, your Portable ATA unit does not contain a web browser - but don't worry - there is a solution to the problem.
Your BNT Solutions Portable ATA device is actually a very sophisticated device. It contains much of a telephone company, a powerful server and a router with all the bells and whistles that you might possibly want.
Unfortunately, it does not contain a WiFi radio - so you must use a wired internet connection with your Portable ATA. Many hotels have ethernet in each room and can provide you with an ethernet cable if you forget to bring one with you.
To get the hotel to activate your internet service:
- Plug the hotels' ethernet cable to the INTERNET port on your Portable ATA.
- Plug your notebook computer into the ETHERNET port on your Portable ATA.
- Boot your notebook computer and open your browser.
- Attempt to access any page from your browser - try http://www.cnn.com/ or hit any button on your favorites bar. The hotels' internet service provider will redirect your browser to their sign-in page.
- Follow the instructions on the sign-in page.
At first, if you plug a small phone into your Portable ATA Telephone port you should hear a fast-busy signal. This indicates that the Portable ATA has not made contact with the VOIP servers in North America.
Once you have activated the internet connection in your hotel room, the Portable ATA device will establish a connection with the VOIP servers and register to use your VOIP service. Once that is done, you will hear a normal dial tone when you pick-up the receiver.
Note that most hotels have limits imposed on their internet connections - either because all the guests at the hotel are sharing one connection or because the one connection is not very fast to begin with. Therefore, your Portable ATA may be forced to switch to a lower speed codec when you make or receive a call - possibly resulting in lower call quality.
Sadly, as network performance might improve or degrade quickly in a hotel room, you may find that your call quality can change quite a bit during a call. If the call quality is not good, or if the call quality deteriorates frequently during calls, BNT Solutions recommends that you try using Skype instead. Skype service is often able to function reasonably over poor network connections.
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