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Budgetone

Created by: jht,Last modification on Fri 29 of Aug, 2008 [18:19 UTC] by mchong

Grandstream SIP Phones: BudgeTone and HandyTone

Grandstream makes several models of the Budgetone phone and Handytone ATA
All of them support SIP VOIP.

Grandstream lists several models of phones. The original group is the BT-101, BT-102 and the GXP-2000.

The prime difference between the BT-101 and BT-102 units is that the BT-102 has 2 ethernet ports. This lets you link your PC to the phone, which is linked to the network. Saves having to run another Cat5 cable to the desk. Please note that the BT-102 ports are only 10Mb/s, so a 100Mb/s link will be slowed down to 10Mb/s and that the ports are configured as a simple hub.
As of November 2005 Grandstream have released a MKII version of the BudgeTone. The only difference is the addition of a headset port.

In June 2006, Grandstream released the Grandstream Budgetone 200. In addition to BT102 features the BT200 has dual 10M/100M Ethernet ports that can be configured as either switched or routed ports, built-in NAT router/DHCP server (router mode only), high quality full duplex hands-free speakerphone with acoustic echo cancellation, 2.5mm headset jack, visual voice mail indicator, and more memory for future function growth. The Budgetone 200 shares the same firmware code with the GXP-2000.

Grandstream recommends a Retail Price of
  • BT-101 $75 USD
  • BT-102 $85 USD
most resellers sell for retail or slightly less.

Several "Free Service" providers also carry the BT-101 (single ethernet)

Configuration / Provision System

Grandstream Budgetone-Handytone Configuration Wizard by Voxilla - Web based configuration wizard

GSConfigure 1.0.38 (Windows): Stephen R. Besch created a general purpose configuration utility for GS phones to
  • Generates files from scratch (using MAC), from HTML config listing, or by directly downloading from the phone.
  • Does multiple simultaneous edits.
  • Can reboot as many or as few phones at a time as you like.
The zipped install package can be downloaded from http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~sbesch/ -or- http://linuxbio.med.buffalo.edu/php/GSConfigure.php

GSUtil 2.0 (Linux/Windows): Charles Howes has created a utility to dump, restore, and reboot GS phones (tested on BudgeTone-100).
  • Written in Perl, using only OS-provided modules (no strange dependencies), developed on Fedora Core 4
  • Reads and writes configuration information using the phone's built-in web server
  • Can dump, restore and/or reboot multiple phones simultaneously
  • Set up one phone the way you like it and clone its configuration onto all other phones
  • Command line driven, great for massive automation
  • Works with the latest firmware
  • May work with other Grandstream products, but needs testing!
The tarball and rpm files can be downloaded from here.

GStftpd gstftpd - A Grandstream Tftpd project ( Auto firmware upgrading & configuration downloading )




Daylight Savings Strings

Many Grandstream models support a 'daylight savings' string that defines when clock time should be automatically adjusted. The common strings to use are:

USA: 4,1,7,2,0;10,-1,7,2,0;60
UK: 3,-1,7,1,0;10,-1,7,1,0;60

Custom ringtones

It is a fact that there are two hardware revisions of the phone, which they call "Rev A" and "Rev B." Only "Rev B" phones are able to use ringtones, so those who have the older model are wasting their time trying to use them.
Apparently an upcoming firmware release will reveal which version is on a given phone. In general, I was told, the matte-finish ones are Rev B, and the shiny ones are Rev A.

Note that Grandstream support will sometimes suggest otherwise: Li Wang of Grandstream wrote "Customer [I assume he means custom and that "customer" is a typo] ring tone is a feature which can be supported in the latest firmware. It is not hardware issue." After much discussion he retracted his original statement and admitted that there are two hardware revisions out and that only the newer handles ringtones. We still have not been told how to tell the difference or what serial numbers are Rev A and what are Rev B.

Official Grandstream Ring-tone generator for Linux: http://grandstream.com/DOWNLOAD/Ring_Tone_Generator/Linux-Music-Ring-Tone-GEN.zip
Official Grandstream Ring-tone generator for Windows: http://grandstream.com/DOWNLOAD/Ring_Tone_Generator/MS_Music-Ring-Rone-GEN.zip

The Linux version above appears to be a binary-only package of SOX, compiled for Linux and Solaris. The sources can be obtained by sending an email to support@grandstream.com requesting them. The sources are licensed under the GPL

Firmware 1.0.4.68

I decided to write a perl program to read a uLaw stream on standard input and create a suitable header, writing the result to an output file.

It can be found at http://www.softins.co.uk/makering.pl.txt. Save and rename to makering.pl. Usage is described in the file, but here is an example:
 sox inputfile -r 8000 -c 1 -t ul - rate | makering.pl ring1.bin
(try using /usr/share/sounds/phone.wav for the inputfile). After putting the ringN.bin file into /tftpboot and rebooting my phone, amazingly enough it works! I now have a new ringtone.

Firmware 1.0.5.0 or later

  • When creating the audio file make sure that it is called ring.bin. Later on rename this to ring1.bin or ring2.bin or ring3.bin when preparing the TFTP upload.
  • Updated makering.pl script

Individual ring tones for each phone

I have just successfully got the TFTP file remapping to work such that I can have unique ringtone files for each and every extension. I added the following to my server_args line in the xinetd configuration for TFTP:

 -m /home/asterisk/grandstream/ringmap.cfg

Now the entire line reads:

 server_args = -v -s /home/asterisk/grandstream -u asterisk -m /home/asterisk/grandstream/ringmap.cfg

(There is no line break in the actual file!). When debugging, you can use more "v"'s in the verbosity option. Then, in the TFTP root, I add the file "ringmap.cfg", with access rights set to 660 (so that the TFTP server won't serve the file up). That file contains the following line:

 ri ring(.)\.bin ring\1_\i

This tells TFTP to replace any file requests that look like "ringx.bin" with ringx_yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy, where yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy is the phone's IP address. So, for example, if 192.168.10.100 requests ring1.bin, TFTP will get ring1_192.168.10.100 and serve it up as ring1.bin, effectively lying to the phone. Then you only have to generate your ring files and place them in the TFTP root folder with access rights 664. Works like a charm!
--Stephen R. Besch



Other web resources

Occassionly discussed on these mailing lists:

Firmware updates

As of 2006-Oct-18, the current firmware is 1.0.8.33. http://www.grandstream.com/firmware.html with release notes at http://www.grandstream.com/DOWNLOAD/FIRMWARE/BT100_HT286_HT486/Release_Note_BT100-HT486-HT286_1.0.8.33.pdf

Important Note from Grandstream:

This firmware has major changes compare with previous firmware (1.0.6.x or 1.0.7.x), so downloading time may take up to 8 minutes.

REMOVE ALL the files in the TFTP/HTTP server, including the configuration files. (Or use different directory for Firmware versus configuration/provisioning file)

Make sure all the files that come with Release_ BT100-HT486-
HT286_1.0.8.33.zip are unzipped into the TFTP or HTTP server.

It is strongly recommended that you are running at least 1.0.3.81 code, as of 18-Nov-03. Previous versions have
NAT and DHCP along with other issues.

Some firmware is available here, including version 1.0.5.0:

Or, you can get the firmware from Grandstream's TFTP server:
  • IP address: 4.3.153.50
As of 2004-Aug-10, it is supplying version 1.0.5.10.
2004-10-31, Grandstream's TFTP IP address: 168.75.215.189

If your phone does not retrieve the new firmware from a tftp-server, but you DO see requests at the tftp-server logs. Try the following:
  • Make a bogus cfg.txt with the firmware version number in it
  • Change your codec preferences
  • Reboot


Unoffical bug list

Unofficial Bug List as gathered from mailing list postings

Firmware: 1.0.3.81

  • Cannot load new firmware if configured for DHCP?

Firmware: 1.0.4.46

Fixes:
  • Phone crashes sometimes generating a loud tone until rebooted (in 1.0.4.40, should be fixed in 1.0.4.45)
  • Fix for voice echo problem during calls
  • Problem with dialing numbers
  • Speaker phone volume set to a higher volume
  • Possible DTMF problems fixed

Firmware: 1.0.4.55 - 1.0.4.81alpha

  • The phone sends some SIP traffic to port 0 at the destination, not to port 5060. See a more detailed explanation on the page Asterisk phone grandstream budgetone under the heading "Early dial".

Firmware: 1.0.5.0 (and probably earlier)

  • Early dial and challenge/MD5 authentication do not play nicely together. Specifically, the Grandstream device correctly handles the "407 Authentication Required" challenge for the first two digits, but (usually) once the third is reached, it decides that 407 is a failure code, produces a busy signal, and aborts the call. This can be worked around by specifying "auth=plaintext" in your sip.conf.

Firmware: 1.0.5.16

  • Message button is broken. It sends a malformed SIP INVITE message.

Possible problems and solutions:

Asterisk doesn't accept my DTMF tones!
  • try changing 'send audio' to 'send in SIP' Asterisk phone grandstream

After firmware upgrade of HT-486 web interface become not accessible
  • try to access web interface via LAN port. Web interface is disabled from WAN side by default.

I can't hang up the handset after putting the call on hold!
  • This is normal behavior for the phone under all firmware versions; if you hang up after pressing the "Hold" button, the call will be disconnected. (This issue has been brought to Grandstream's attention, but it is unknown if it will be changed.)

  • After upgrading to the 1.08.16 firmware I was able to hang up with a call on hold. It rang untill I picked it back up.

Where to Buy?










See also


Comments

Comments Filter
222

333tftp via dhcp

by vancbc, Thursday 06 of July, 2006 [18:24:29 UTC]
I've seen that the 10x can get its tftp upgrade information from the DHCP server, but it looks like it is only using that server for the upgrade and not for the configuration. Doing a tcpdump I'm only seeing the phone request the binary firmware images.

Can anyone confirm or deny what I'm seeing? Or have any thoughts/hints?

Thanks
222

333Quick Hack: Improving the Handset Mic Quality

by kraptv, Wednesday 23 of November, 2005 [01:59:08 UTC]
NOTE: THIS WILL PROBABLY VOID YOUR WARRANTY REGARDING HANDSET REPAIRS.

However, there's no need to return a defective base unit with a modified headset, just find a normal headset and it SHOULD be fine if you have troubles that way.

We have a mixture of BT102 and GXP-2000 phones and noticed that the people with the BT-102's sounded muddled/muffled. Swapping headsets with a nearby GXP-2000 solved the problem and the person sounded MUCH better. So, is there any way to fix the quality of the BudgeTone headset? The answer is yes.

It's a design flaw of the headset that there is very little outside exposure for the microphone. To fix it, you will need a drill with a small bit, a small cutting blade like an X-acto knife, a flathead and a phillips screwdriver.

Take your flathead screwdriver out and pry out the rubber plug covering the screw on the inside of the headset midpoint between the earpiece and the microphone. Unscrew the screw with the phillips screwdriver and use the flathead screwdriver to gently pry the two plastic pieces apart.

You will see that the microphone is sitting snugly in the microphone cylinder. There's a little bit of glue around the cylinder that you'll have to cut out or scrape off. It's not a hard glue, so once you've made a clear circle of cutting on the outer edge of the cylinder, get ready to pull. You can try to stick a flathead screwdriver on the top edge, or try to grab it with your fingers and slowly pull it out of its attachment area. Be sure not to pull on the wires too hard as I am not sure how strong the solder is. Once you have the microphone out and out of the way of the cylinder, use the drill and drill out some holes very near where the original hole is.

Depending on the drill bit size, you may want to start the drilling on the outside-facing side, just be careful to not drill out the contents of the microphone nearby! The smaller the drill bit, the more precision you can have, because once you've drilled something out, there's no way to undo what has been done.

I try to stay near the original hole so the curved plastic indentation still shows and gives an aesthetic quality to the phone. Use the small cutting blade to cut out any sharp edges in your new holes to give it a professionally clean look.

Stick the microphone back in, snap the plastic pieces back together, and screw the piece in. Put the little rubber nub back in if you want to.
However, it proves useful to leave it out so if a user calls about "sounding like blankets" you can ask them if they can see a phillips screwhead on their headset. If so, you've got other issues to worry about.

If you have multiple BudgeTone phones, try it out on one, call someone, and unplug and plug in the other non-modified headset. You will get a reaction for the better on the modified ones!

Perhaps this should go into the body of the Wiki? I can make some pictures if someone wants them.
222

333Re: Budget 101; no internet connection after a while

by jarpaz, Saturday 05 of November, 2005 [13:12:03 UTC]
I have the same problem - I lost the connection to my SIP provider after 6-8 hours and I must swich off my router and Budgetone for a while. Have you solved this problem? Jarda (d.jr@seznam.cz)
222

333PHP cfg txt->bin Script

by ipaq3870, Tuesday 12 of July, 2005 [20:31:31 UTC]
For the simple action of converting the text format of the cfg to binary one used by GS, there is a php script out there:

http://troja.ath.cx/~zond/fwtftpd/gs_config.tar.gz
222

333Re: I normally would not do this, but...

by sjobeck, Wednesday 25 of May, 2005 [20:36:04 UTC]
yeah, they are pretty cheap, arent they.

I guess what do we expect for $8 worth of extruded petroleum probably made in a sweatshop probably in China.
222

333Budget 101; no internet connection after a while

by bficht, Saturday 21 of May, 2005 [09:40:51 UTC]
Hello,

i have the problem that the budget 101 always loose the connection to the router after I shuted down the computer. The connection stays for different time (sometimes several hours) but then get lost. After I started the computer again i have to restart the router and reset the phone to get connection again. Is there anybody who can help me with the settings, cause I think that there is the problem, isn´t it. I use SIPGATE as voip provider and Arcor as DSL Internet provider. Thanks. Bernd (:redface:)
222

333I normally would not do this, but...

by sumrallba, Monday 25 of April, 2005 [19:03:56 UTC]
(:evil:)
You really do not want one of these phones.
We put in a very large order for these phones (over 100 phones to be exact), and that is where our nightmare began.
Grand Stream begins by requesting us to fill out all kinds of paperwork for these phones (these people have no concept of who the customer is and who is holding the cash). There response is always "we don't like to do business that way".
Ok, the phones arrive!
Once we plug them in, we notice that there is a horrible echo. Not in one of them, but all of them. Further diagnostics conclude that the defect is in the hand set (not to mention the super nasty echo in the speaker phone which is much worse).
This defect is in all of phones!
The order was placed in two parts and we quickly returned the second batch for fear of losing our money on those. Normal implementation delays put the diagnostics after the 30 day make and we were told that we could not return the first batch (even though they were all defective).
Now, they will not say they are defective, they will only say "It's a cheap phone, what do you expect!"
I could go way deep into this story, but the end result is half the phones were returned, we had to suck up the rest of the phones, we put Polycom IP300s in thier place (They work great) and we have a letter from Grand Stream that they will either fix or replace the remaining Budgetones in three months...
We will see if they hold up thier end of the deal in time......

Issue discovered with Budgetone:

echo in handset
echo on speakerphone
DHCP works sometimes
NTP won't work
poor audio quality
poor amplification
poor customer service
poor support

Do yourself a favor and avoid these phones at all cost!
222

3331.0.5.18 - alarm clock

by snitt, Sunday 27 of March, 2005 [22:29:57 UTC]
specifications and the manual mention that the BT101 has a build-in alarm clock, which has a dedicated indicator (as a clock icon) on the lcd too.
does anybody know how to schedule an alarm?
(:frown:)
222

333Firmware: 1.0.5.18

by , Tuesday 18 of January, 2005 [03:45:38 UTC]
Its on the Grandstream BETATEST site, the voicemail button seems to work with this version when I have it dial a simple extension. (i.e. 94). Haven't tried anything more complex.
222

333Firmware: 1.0.4.40

by , Thursday 11 of March, 2004 [22:18:30 UTC]
Doesn't work with STUN which seems to be fixed in 1.0.4.50