VIOP Virtual phone numbers, ad and dis vantages pls

s.c.

I'm interested in the possibilities of ditching the phone company totally and using v.o.i.p.
It seems that the best way proposed is to use Voipbuster or Voipcheap for outgoing calls, on grounds of cost. And Sipgate for incoming calls because you get a phone number allocated by them. ( Voipcheap are also promising this facility in future).

You seem to be able to choose a geographical number anywhere ( in the world? or just UK?) you want to make people think you live there. Plus a dreaded non- geographical number.

I would like to find out opinions on what is considered the best option.

Hometown

---

ok for local friends and family

Awaytown----maybe you live away from home and want to cheat BT by allowing F&F to have local calls to reach you.

Out of country----????


0845----?????

0870

---

def nono, against the priclples of this site and gives funds to your sevice provider.

All these reasons seem to reduce costs for others, so which is BEST for you?

sc

Steve_xx

You would still need to retain a landline for your broadband connection presumably, so why not use it for calls when it's economical to do that?

Also, if you went VOIP for all calls route then to receive calls you would have to remember to leave your pc switched on, wouldn't you?

As yet VOIP quality is not as good or as reliable as the PSTN (public switched telephone network), you might consider waiting awhile until things are improved.

Also to be considered is what you would do in an emergency. The PSTN powers your telephone from a battery at the local exchange. Therefore if at your house you suffer a power losss, your phone would not be affected. If you went VOIP then then you would lose the ability to make calls if your pc was not battery powered. You could, of course, solve this by acquiring a mobile phone.

s.c.

In true moneysaving tradition I ditched BT at the height of their monopolistic greed, around 10yrs ago, and it has taken them 10 years to nearly catch up on pricing. I'm on cable, so no phone line required for the net.

They (BT) will cling to one of their last moneyspinners like glue, because they control the local ends
"and what is that?" I hear you say................................ 0870 numbers.
If it wasnt for competition we ALL would be paying 0870 rates for all non-local calls, ie 10 miles up the road..... 9p a min.

As for 999 a PAYG phone like the one o2 had today for £15/del will do when it arrives.

CIS

Skype is good value, I ditched telewest for it. And you can get an incoming number quite cheap, not much more than the cost of a normal line rental, its a one off yearly fee.

Only problem is you cant dial 999 calls at all from VOIP.

http:\\https://www.skype.com

pricefighter

s.c. wrote:

maybe you live away from home and want to cheat BT by allowing F&F to have local calls to reach you.

Their are no such things as local or national calls.They were abolished in July 2004.
EG.So if your F&F lived in Greater Manchester and you lived in London,and you had a 020 number Or if most of you lived in Greater Manchester,and you had a 0161 no, the cost of calling your geo(VOIP) number from a pots would be exactly the same! wherever they are in the UK and NI.

However if you are in business you may find it better to have a hometown dialling code.

I guess you dont want to cost your f&f money so that rules out 0845,0870,and intl.

Another thing to bear in mind when using voip ,if you have capped broadband it does use up your allowance.

gizmoleeds

I have a free sipgate number, and while it is very useful, Iam weary that, as it is free, they could take it away at anytime.

Giving people free numbers is hardly the most profitable business activity, and I would be weary that this could one day change. My parents have had the same BT phone number since the early 80s, despite several house moves.

bunking_off

There are big differences in 999 performance between conventional phones and VoIP lines.

First thing is, as above, a conventional line works without mains power, while a VoIP setup without backup power supply will not. (Of course, if you only have DECT phones, you put yourself in that situation with a conventional telephony line).

Second thing, broadband connections are an order of magnitude less reliable than voice lines. Ask yourself the question : when was the last time your DSL exhibited connection problems, versus when was your BT voice line last not working? (NB on this issue I have a technical job in the industry, and the two services are designed to differing reliability levels).

Third thing, where 999 is provided on VoIP services, it's on a "best efforts" basis. Calls are routed are per any other service. On a normal telephony line, there are special measures put on 999 calls. The calls are given higher priority (dedicated trunks which overflow onto the normal voice circuits). The CLI is assured and automatically brings up your address details, allowing the emergency services to be dispatched even if you make a call then collapse before saying anything. Measures are put in place to ensure the caller can't clear the call, only the emergency services (useful if you're being robbed and the intruder puts the phone down or forces you to). These measures aren't available on VoIP services.

Of course, it is possible to use a VoIP service, with a mobile as a backup for if you need to call the emergency services. However, you need to ensure that you know where it is (I'm always mislaying mine!), and that its battery isn't dead. Mobile calls to the emergency services do have a certain amount of location information conveyed - the cell ID is passed to the authorities and this pulls up a map - but ultimately that's not as accurate as them having your address if things go pear shaped.

I'm not for one moment suggesting that all of this is reason enough to motivate you to retain your voice line just for 999 purposes. All I'm saying is go into what your doing with your eyes open - it'd be terrible to be left with a charred mess of a home for the sake of saving a couple of quid on your phone bill.

gizmoleeds

Also, as a voip account can be used from anywhere in the world, how would the VIOP provider know which emergency call centre to route you to?

paul_h

You could use an ATA (analogue telephone adapter) connecting your 'phone directly to an ADSL router, you wouldn't need a PC on then for VOIP...

I can still see VOIP only as a useful addition to an existing PSTN service.

Interesting fact time - in many countries you can dial emergency services on 112 from a mobile with no sim card, and all mobiles will attempt to make the call - unfortunately in the UK, it was never made a condition of licence and there is no legal requirement on the network to accept the call. None of the UK networks will accept the call.

pricefighter

CIS wrote:

Skype is good value

?

Skype charge outbound at all times 24/7 no peak, offpeak,or weekend rates

To UK Mobiles approx 24p a minute. :eek:
To 0871 approx 23p a minute :eek:
TO 0870 approx 17p a minute. :eek:
To 0845 approx 12p a minute. :eek:
To 01/02 approx 2p a minute.

All these figures include Vat.

Does this represent good value?

BexTech

Not for me it don't.

As I now have Telewest for broadband and have bought myself a PAP2 VoIP adaptor using VoIP Buster and Sipgate, I will soon be dumping my BT landline.