The Draytek Vigor 2500V (distributed by SEG Communications in the UK) is aimed at the same home and small business market as the Billion router. As such it offers much the same VoIP functionality with a single port for attachment of an analogue phone and support for emergency dial backup. However, it also comes with a bundled subscription to Draytek's own public SIP service - DrayTel - making for very quick deployment and the ability to make calls to the PSTN as well as other SIP users.

Another plus with the Vigor 2500V is a built-in 4-port Ethernet switch for LAN connectivity with a single patch lead in the box to get you started. Also in the box is a cable to connect the router to the ADSL service, another to connect to the dial-up side of the connection and an adapter to allow an ordinary BT cabled phone to be plugged into the RJ-11 format socket on the router.

SEG tests all its routers before shipping them out and also pre-configures them to work with BT's ADSL and the DrayTel SIP service. This makes for a quick and easy installation via the built-in Web server with a quick setup wizard to guide you through those important first few steps where you enter your ADSL username, password and so on.

It's just as easy on the voice side too, as although you can use the Vigor router with other SIP services, the DrayTel setup is done for you. So all that's needed is to register via the Web site.

As part of the service an 0870 or, optionally, 0845 number is allocated for incoming PSTN calls and you get £2 of calling credit to enable outbound calls to be made straight away. Of course calls to other SIP users are free (including those registered via other SIP services) while local and national UK calls are charged at 1.6p/minute*. Calls to mobiles cost around 12p/min while calls abroad vary depending on the destination. None, though, are particularly expensive with calls to the US, for example, costing just 1.4p/min.

There's no subscription charge, but VAT needs to be added to the rates quoted and full details of the charges can be found on the DrayTel Web site.

Call quality was excellent using the default codec (the software that encodes/decodes your voice for use with IP) and a built-in phone directory further simplifies call making. Plus, on the data side, you get a decent firewall, content filtering facilities and VPN pass-through support. The router can also be set to periodically check for incoming e-mail messages, an LED at the front lighting up when there's mail waiting in any of up to five POP3 accounts.

None of the routers was that difficult to get working but the Vigor 2500V was the easiest of the lot and, with its bundled DrayTel subscription, is a good choice for the VoIP newbie.