View Full Version : VOIP Options
Well, it seems life is getting expensive so i have to cut back on the basics.
I never use the phone so paying the line rental every month is silly.
So im currently looking at VOIP options. I call (if ever) Local numbers and i have a 4mb (when working) virgin connection.
my experience so far with VOIP is that call quality is useless, i have used various hardware/internet connections and found them all lacking :(
Anyone offer some advice? :)
the only bad thing is i lose my phone number :( it ends in 666!
Vonage are ok call quality wise, but its a 12 month contract and they are complete jockeys if you want to leave them.
SKy talk is cheaper ( if you have a bt line and are a sky customer )
if you dont plan to use your phone much look at sipgate.
Used then for over a year and had no problems.
No monthly fees and no setup cost!
Highly Recommended!
ferretuk
23-07-2007, 16:13
I use voip.co.uk and the call quality is excellent. Hardware wise I use a Sipura SPA-3000 but voip.co.uk sell a reasonably price ATA that might be worth looking at.
Peter
Callumpy
23-07-2007, 17:28
even if you do get VoIP, wont you still need the phone line for the internet to go through?
I use Sipgate and Voipcheap. In the early days the quality was not that good, but recently I have not had any problems with quality.
---------- Post added at 17:31 ---------- Previous post was at 17:30 ----------
even if you do get VoIP, wont you still need the phone line for the internet to go through?
Not if you have a broadband connection, it goes over the ethernet cable either via the PC or using an ATA box.
chickendippers
23-07-2007, 17:34
I'm surprised noone's suggested this already; Skype (http://www.skype.com)!
Calls to landlines are the same quality as a regular telephone conversation (and really cheap) but Skype - Skype calls are perfect quality, free, and there are always 8 million people (!) online when I'm signed in.
You can buy a little box that you connect to your router which allows you to use a normal-style handset to make/receive calls without needing to turn your computer on.
zachysat
23-07-2007, 17:47
why not get a pay as you go phone that way you are able to controll better your finance
zachysat
Are you looking to get rid of the land line is the first question.
Is it the cost of calls that bothers you or the line rental.
Are you on ADSL or Cable
How many calls a month do you make and where to (as a guess).
VOIP may be an option but remember if you have no land line and only VOIP if your BB goes down you're stuffed (0906 number from a mobile - ouch)
You need to know where you want to save before you commit to VOIP.
If it's call sot and line rental then Skype may be for you - if you only make a small number of calls. If you want normal phone functionality and make a fair few nation/local calls then Vonage are great. :)
There's a lot of info in this thread although some of it is out of date:
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/26/29748-the-future-of-the-telephone.html
I use Gradwell for work. It's generally okay but their support sometimes loses the plot. Sound quality is excellent, but then we use G.711 a-law so that's not surprising. No noticable delay even though the connection to the PSTN is way down in London.
http://www.gradwell.net/
I use tesco internet phone, 2p a min to landlines in about 50 countries, its cheaper than VM's international package! 10p a min to mobiles, thats cheaper than my o2 pay&go mobile! and free to other tesco internet users. i purchased a usb phone from them for £14.99, came with £5 free voucher.
alferret
23-07-2007, 19:30
Vonage are ok call quality wise, but its a 12 month contract and they are complete jockeys if you want to leave them.
Jockeys is not a harsh enough word for them if you want to leave, but the service is ok as stated by anduin.
Jockeys is not a harsh enough word for them if you want to leave, but the service is ok as stated by anduin.
Not had the need to leave them, what problems have you guys had?
I can vouch for skype.
I was talking to one of our engineers who was in Brno (Check republic)
SMHarman
23-07-2007, 21:40
Thought the 12 month was to cover the cost of the router they provide you with. If you cancel before 12 months they want to penalise you the cost of the router, or maybe you can return it.
I have a vonage box on an account in the UK here in the US. That way anyone in the UK can call me for the price of a local call and I can call anyone in the UK on an 01/02 number for free. Call quality is excellent. I have set QoS to high on the router port it is plugged into, though that did not make much/any difference.
It also has an additional US virtual phone number attached to it so anyone here can call it on their inclusive minutes or free domestic call package.
Pretty cool solution really. My cable provider keeps trying to sell me a phone line. I keep trying to tell them their package is overpriced. Oh well.
Not had the need to leave them, what problems have you guys had?
I originally purchased a voip solution from 'Freetalk' and was with them for about 4 months, along came Vonage and a purchase of the entire customer base ( myself included )
Price stayed the same for the remainder of my 12 month freetalk contract...
So maybe a month ago i decided that sky talk was a cheaper option, £5 for sky talk instead of £7.99 for Vonage, the added bonus being that i dont have to hope the internet works to make calls....
This is where the trouble began, although i had been a voip customer for around 14 months, vonage system shows i had only been with them for 10, therefore still in contract.... where they wanted to charge some disconnection fee etc etc - customer retentions were very aggressive and pushy to try and keep you with them, as the moment they feel they have lost you they got very argumentative and quite rude.
I vowed to them, there and then, that i would never recommend their service to anybody ever again.
( call me petty but it was the best i could do at the time to vent )
edit::
Vonage router was a pain in the bottom, it wanted to be the main router but its throughput is pants
prince_zeepress
23-07-2007, 23:22
I have been using SipGate for several months, and have generally been very happy with the call quality and reliability. A big plus with SipGate is that you get a normal UK geographical number, with area code of your choice completely free of charge:). This makes it cheap (or even free) for other people to 'phone you.
I use a Grandstream 486 adapter in conjunction with a standard DECT 'phone. This adapter is ideal for people like myself who don't have a router, since it has a built in router, and connects straight to the Ethernet port of the cable modem. It also has a PSTN pass-through, so if you are retaining your existing 'phone line you can continue to receive calls on your old number, and make outgoing calls in the event of failure of the broadband conection (and also make 999 calls which can't currently be made via VoIP).
I also have experience with Gradwell at a School I provide IT support for. I have always found their support very responsive, and they were very helpful in resolving problems with setting up a Centrex virtual PBX. They provide more services than SipGate, such as call forwarding and diversion. Also (unlike SipGate at present) you can transfer your existing BT number (but not cable 'phone numbers). For this you pay £4 pm +VAT, but again get a geographical number thrown in.
Hope this is helpful.
I originally purchased a voip solution from 'Freetalk' and was with them for about 4 months, along came Vonage and a purchase of the entire customer base ( myself included )
Price stayed the same for the remainder of my 12 month freetalk contract...
So maybe a month ago i decided that sky talk was a cheaper option, £5 for sky talk instead of £7.99 for Vonage, the added bonus being that i dont have to hope the internet works to make calls....
This is where the trouble began, although i had been a voip customer for around 14 months, vonage system shows i had only been with them for 10, therefore still in contract.... where they wanted to charge some disconnection fee etc etc - customer retentions were very aggressive and pushy to try and keep you with them, as the moment they feel they have lost you they got very argumentative and quite rude.
I vowed to them, there and then, that i would never recommend their service to anybody ever again.
( call me petty but it was the best i could do at the time to vent )
Was with Freetalk before and I jumped to Voange before they went tits up - best thing I ever did. the features are great, the online accounts section is brill compared to other providers I've used (NTL, BT etc) and I'd recommend them to anyone.
Kinda worth the extra 2.99 for the free international calls and the other features.
SMHarman
24-07-2007, 00:00
edit::
Vonage router was a pain in the bottom, it wanted to be the main router but its throughput is pantsAs long as you plug the main router into the internet port of the Vonage one this is not an insurmountable problem.
The other way is to get the dlink VOIP adapter and plug that into a router of your choosing.
Does anyone know a voip provider that does free UK landline calls for possibly minimal credit? I read about www.voipcheap.co.uk (http://www.voipcheap.co.uk) where you can get away with a £1 credit then unlimited free UK landline calls without affecting the credit of course but this no longer applies to the UK.
I've been using www.internetcalls.com (http://www.internetcalls.com) to make free calls to landlines but my 'trial calls' have run out now. I'd have to credit my account with 10 euros (about £7?) to get more 'freedays'. I don't really understand it.
I think like with Skype Pro, you pay an amount for credit or line rental or however it's named by the company and get unlimited free landline calls to a list of countries for 90 days or 120 days etc...
I've been using my data package on my mobile phone to make voip calls with Fring. I tried Truphone but despite them claiming it works on 3G it never seems to work. Using Fring with the internetcalls account seemed to work great but now I have to apply credit after making about 10 free calls...
I tried creating a new account and calling my laptop from my phone using voip but although it rang it never connected and the laptop said my phone (contact) was always offline...?!
Voip to landline is my preferred option although if I can find one service that successfully works using a mobile with 3G to a laptop on Wifi I'd go with that...
Are you looking to get rid of the land line is the first question.
Is it the cost of calls that bothers you or the line rental.
Line rental :(
Are you on ADSL or Cable
cable 4mb
How many calls a month do you make and where to (as a guess).
i make about "0" my young lady 5-10 all local
Im looking at a hardware voip phone to set on my network (i have ports all over the house + u can get dect/wifi phones)
I am looking for a month by month contract i avoid 12month contracts in most things.
i dont wish to use a usb/skype phone as one of my pc's is not always on and i have found sound quality lacking.
I have used sipgate @ work for a cheap call to OZ, i will investigate some more but having had a good look i didnt read anything that made me say "oh i will go with them".. :)
Originally Posted by Shaun
Are you looking to get rid of the land line is the first question.
Is it the cost of calls that bothers you or the line rental.
Line rental
Are you on ADSL or Cable
cable 4mb
How many calls a month do you make and where to (as a guess).
i make about "0" my young lady 5-10 all local
Im looking at a hardware voip phone to set on my network (i have ports all over the house + u can get dect/wifi phones)
I am looking for a month by month contract i avoid 12month contracts in most things.
i dont wish to use a usb/skype phone as one of my pc's is not always on and i have found sound quality lacking.
I have used sipgate @ work for a cheap call to OZ, i will investigate some more but having had a good look i didnt read anything that made me say "oh i will go with them".. :)
Well it looks like there's no BT landline tied to you becasue you're on cable.
You're not really making enough calls to warrant something like Vonage with free landline calls for a fixed monthly amount.
You want to use you home phone so Skype is out (I can't see an ATA for Skype anywhere).
You're realistically looking at something like Sipgate as there's no contract and you can dump it when you like. :tu:
My only caution would be that if your BB goes it's going to be an expensive call to VM to get it fixed :(
get Skype, subscribe to skypein and skypeout and then get the pro upgrade which gives you free calls to UK landlines.
been like this 12 months now, total cost under 60quid for the year todate (calling mobiles and the usa a lot) and over 10k hrs to skype buddies for free world wide. I addopted skype on the first release and was a beta tester. boy I wish i bought stock when it was 50p a share !!!
get Skype, subscribe to skypein and skypeout and then get the pro upgrade which gives you free calls to UK landlines.
been like this 12 months now, total cost under 60quid for the year todate (calling mobiles and the usa a lot) and over 10k hrs to skype buddies for free world wide. I addopted skype on the first release and was a beta tester. boy I wish i bought stock when it was 50p a share !!!
All well and good but it doesn't meet his needs :)
ToGoogle
25-07-2007, 23:16
I supply my own brand of VOIP, 1.4p per min, day, 1.2p mind eve, and 0.82p min on weekends. No call connection charges and you choose your local number. Free Voice mail and a fantastic call control facility. oh and free calls calls to ppl using same service.
I took this on for many of my customers who tried the various supermarket services with no luck and also get lumbered with skype, which is good for novice users. But not so good for your bills :(
Sry for the shamless add, but i could'nt resist.
alferret
25-07-2007, 23:28
Not had the need to leave them, what problems have you guys had?
I tried to cancel within 30 days as per their T&C, got extremly hard sell from their retentions, took a month to get my money back, they took £54 from my account without my permission.
Does what it says on the tin, pain in the butt to cancel
---------- Post added at 23:28 ---------- Previous post was at 23:20 ----------
I supply my own brand of VOIP, 1.4p per min, day, 1.2p mind eve, and 0.82p min on weekends. No call connection charges and you choose your local number. Free Voice mail and a fantastic call control facility. oh and free calls calls to ppl using same service.
I took this on for many of my customers who tried the various supermarket services with no luck and also get lumbered with skype, which is good for novice users. But not so good for your bills :(
Sry for the shamless add, but i could'nt resist.
Plug away m8 AFAIC if it saves punters money and there is no monthly rental then your "service" is a good price :tu:
prince_zeepress
26-07-2007, 00:03
Having said how reliable Sipgate are, I had two calls drop on me this morning. One was particularly unfortunate: I had been queuing for several minutes on a VAT help line, finally got through to a real person, then the connection went :(. Didn't take any chances so called back on my Virgin line. Curiously the actual quality of this call was significantly worse than the previous VoIP call.
captainpp
26-07-2007, 12:11
It also has a PSTN pass-through, so if you are retaining your existing 'phone line you can continue to receive calls on your old number, and make outgoing calls in the event of failure of the broadband conection (and also make 999 calls which can't currently be made via VoIP).
There is nothing inherent in VoIP that preculdes allowing 999 calls. Sipgate simply choose not to provide this service. Voip.co.uk do (although claim it is a best-effort service).
I have both Sipgate and voip.co.uk and no landline (I have cable).
Related to this, Ofcom just announced a consultation on their proposal to require* VoIP providers in this country to provide 999 access, so, assuming they move forward with this, sipgate and others will have to step up to providing 999 over VoIP.
* The requirement is likely to be if the service is a PATS (Publicly Available Telephony Service). The requirements for a service to be a PATS is
- available to the public
- provides a real PSTN phone number
- provides ability to call normal national and internal PSTN numbers
- provides 999 access (although for VoIP services this is not currently a requirement to be a PATS IYSWIM).
scoobydoo[uk]
26-07-2007, 14:45
http://www.vonage.co.uk/services_premium.php
£8 a month for unlimited uk calls.
SHUTTERED ROOM
07-09-2007, 19:56
I use voip.co.uk & voicehost.co.uk both are very good.
:angel:
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