Linksys Sipura SPA3102/SPA-3102 VOIP Telephone Adapter Review

Linksys Sipura SPA3102/SPA-3102 VOIP Telephone Adapter Major Features:

LAN and WAN ethernet ports
Built in single port router with DHCP, Bridge and PPOE support
Phone port
PSTN line port with failover abilities
Multiple outbound provider support
Web based configuration
Supports many codecs.
Upstream QOS support
SIP protocol
Comes with AC adapter
Small size
VOIP to PSTN gateway function - I have not tried this
PSTN to VOIP gateway function - I have not tried this

My experience:
I purchased my Linksys SPA-3102 NEW from an eBay reseller for $72.00 including shipping. (The best deal at the time) Installation was easy enough. Unpack and make the connections. Initially I just hooked it to a spare port on my router to get going quickly. I went to the Linksys website, downloaded and installed the latest firmware. I configured it for the SIP provider I had at the time. I logged into the interface, put in my provider settings and it was working. I had two way audio and good clear sound. After everything was working, I noticed that a large upload or email attachment could cause chopping to the other side. This forced me to look into the QOS settings. I discovered there were a couple of restrictions. The box had to be between the DSL modem and my switch. So I reconfigured everything - Switch --> SPA3102 --> Westell 6100 router/modem combo. The other restriction was that the SPA3102 can not be in bridge mode. Not a problem. I continued to let the Westell to handle the DSL 1.5/256 connection and let the SPA3102 hand out IP addresses to my local network. A result of this is that my local network is performing double NAT to the internet. So far this has not been a problem. I did some speed tests with dslreports.com and found no detectable difference in performance. I set the QOS up to be on only while the phone is in use and it definitly limits my upstream traffic. I also have some echo issues with the PSTN line. I already tried Linksys's echo fix document and it did not help that much.
I'm not done yet. The reason I purchased this device was two fold. The first was after hurricane Wilma causing me to be without internet service for 4 months, I decided I needed a PSTN line for the future - at least for incoming and local calls. The second, I wanted the flexibility of being able to use multiple providers for international calls.

Setting up multiple providers:
The Linksys SPA3102 has four methods for making outbound calls from the plugged in telephone. A registered SIP provider, the PSTN line, four gateway slots configurable directly in the web interface or a dial plan configured provider. The dial plan decides which of the four to dial through. Consider this dial plan - each piece is separated by a | symbol:

([4569]11S0<:@gw0>|1800xxxxxxxS0<:@gw0>|1595xxxxxxx.<:@gw1> |1843xxxxx.<:@someprovider.com:5060;usr=userid;pwd=password>|1xxxxxxxxxx)

The first piece routes 411,511,611 and 911 to the PSTN line with no delay.
The second piece routes numbers preceeded with 1800 to the PSTN line with no delay.
The third piece routes numbers preceeded with 1595 to the gateway defined in the first gateway slot.
The forth piece routes numbers preceeed with 1843 to the provider defined in this piece.
The last piece routes any previously unmatched 11 digit number starting with a 1 to the registered SIP provider.
By doing this, you can control which provider to use for specific number sequences.

Linksys SPA3102 Pros:

Very flexible and powerful device
Worked with every SIP provider I have tried
Outbound gateway feature is very cool allowing multiple providers without a PBX
Reliable - Two years and still going strong

Linksys SPA3102 Cons:

Overwhelming for the VOIP beginner
Has a lot of settings that are not documented or poorly documented
The documentation that comes with it is almost non existant - can you say internet search?
Has some echo issues with the PSTN line
Resets occassionaly for no reason - I have never had this happen while on a call though
Will not allow incoming calls to the connected telephone from a 2nd SIP provider

Linksys SPA3102 Spot Rating: 4 spots
Overall, the Linksys SPA3102 is a good flexible device. I would have given it 5 spots if it didn't have the echo issue. Would I buy it again? Absolutely, it has paid for itself many times over from the international savings of using multiple providers.