Use multiple Voice Gateways

In order to use analog phone lines to make phone calls, you will need a device to connect your computer to these analog phone lines. These devices are called voice gateways. Cisco SPA 3102 is a single port voice gateway, and Cisco SPA 400 is a 4 port voice gateway. Each port supports one analog phone line.

For Cisco SPA 3102, it is normally connected to your computer serially, i.e, your computer connects to the SPA, and the SPA connects to the network. However, in some situations, you may want to connect the SPA unit in parallel. For example, if you want to use 2 SPA units, or the analog phone line is in a far location from the computer. The rest of the article describes the steps to connect SPA 3102 in parallel.

Step 1. Connect and test SPA 3102 in serial

It is normally easier to configure and test SPA 3102 in serial first. Once it is set, you can test your analog lines and the connection from your computer to the SPA. For details, please see Connect Cisco SPA 3102 to Voicent Gateway.

Step 2. Connect SPA 3012 in parallel

Reconnect the physical wires as show below.

Step 3. Get the SPA 3102′s IP address

You have to login to your router to find the IP address the SPA unit is using. Once you login, check the DHCP host list. Take a note of the IP address of the SPA unit. It is also important to reserve the IP address for the SPA. Please check your router’s user manual to see how to reserve an IP address.

Step 4. Rerun the Phone Setup Wizard

Open Voicent Gateway, rerun the phone setup wizard. Enter the IP address you get from step 3 to finish the setup.

Step 5. Check Inbound Calls

Needed only if you are setting up Voicent to handle incoming calls, or you need to call in to record your message, you need to check your firewall program on the computer. To test, turn on telephone recording on Voicent gateway, call in to record. If you can not record, disable your firewall program, restart the gateway, and try to record again. Normally it will fix the problem.

Turn on firewall program, and add program exceptions to your firewall program. The Voicent programs are under C:/Program Files (x86)/Voicent/Gateway/bin folder.

Step 6. Repeat to setup more SPA unit