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If jumping into a SIP VoIP project with both feet gives you jitters, a company called Vonage can help. Vonage provides SIP-based local phone service to residences and small businesses that have broadband Internet access. We figured this would be a good way to test the SIP waters, so we tried the service behind a RoadRunner cable connection. Vonage offers local phone numbers nearly nationwide. We signed on, used the service for a number of conference calls, and found the quality surprisingly good considering all audio traffic had to travel from behind a cable modem across the Internet to Vonage's gateway and the PSTN.

Vonage accomplishes this using SIP in a multivendor environment that includes Cisco's ATA186. We were able to plug a standard analog phone into the ATA186,which also included a jack for an optional second phone. The ATA connects to the local network via an Ethernet port. We must admit we were skeptical that this was a true SIP-based service, so we examined the packets using Network Associates' Sniffer Voice. We found that Vonage was indeed using SIP for all signaling, but we weren't couldn't do any interoperability testing because Vonage maintains control over the ATA186. This is wise on its part, though, to control support issues.

Vonage provides unlimited local and long distance to the United States and Canada for about $40 per month, along with dirt-cheap international calling rates. SIP makes it possible for Vonage to pull together a cost-effective, functional service from the best products available, thus becoming a player in a very difficult, competitive market.

Another easy way to get some experience with SIP is through a free IP-based service, Free World Dialup (www.fwdnet.net). You won't be able to access the PSTN, but you will be able to take SIP for a test run and call an increasing number of Internet-accessible members.