Orchid Dialler Discount

Toxteth_OGrady

;Dclick604 ;D

Tenth line down :P

8)

TOG

technicaltaff

Hi can you tell me if this system works with other diallers. I've got a dialogue model SD002 which I got free when I subscribed to one tel many moons ago. It seems a bit silly buying another one if this one will work.

System

I see. Will PM U

qwer78

I have bought several of the orchid diallers and a couple of their Ranger 400 cordless phones which include the V4 dialler.

Some useful points:
Although Orchid are very helpful, the V4 versions do take a while to set up and I would recommend the V2 version to anybody who is prepared to just use https://www.call18866.co.uk as their phone provider and does not need more than one provider.

The £29.99 cordless phones are excellent value. They include a key guard facility so you can carry the phone in a pocket. They and have a headset socket, making them one of the cheapest ways of getting a headset phone. You just need a headset with a 2.5mm stereo style jack plug. Headsets are great as you can just continue typing! There are, I think, some twinpack phones available for £45 - what a bargain.

If you are on a line that witholds your number, you can either 1) take the dialler round to a friend's house or 2) use your fax line or 3) change the number the dialler calls for updates to 1470#... which reveals your area code to set it up and then "lock" the CLI to your local code. What this is about is converting you dialling the digits 472568 to 18866 01223 472568 when you are calling a number in your town.

To ease the process of updating our routing table, what I would like people to start doing is posting a full list of the cheapest providers for each type of call, and then other people can update it when a cheaper provider appears or one raises its costs. Note that with the diallers you can predial an 0800 or 0870 number so these can be included.

DestinationDaytimeEveningWeekend
UK landlines local or national188661886618866
Mobiles08719994141087199941411899
International189918991899
0845/0870BTBTBT

I know this can be improved by listing certain countries specifically.
Contacts
https://www.call18866.co.uk and https://www.1899.com
08719994141 is Telestunt that you don't need to sign up for

You could just screengrab and post your routing tables. Somebody could usefully programme one to use BT to call T-mobile and Vodafone in the evenings

1jacks64

"Optional power supply available (£4.99), we strongly recommend this option for Cable (NTL, Telewest) customers."
(Orchid Electronics WebSite)

Does anyone know why NTL customers need to do this? Why don't BT customers need to have an optional power supply?

Galstonian

My guess is that BT lines carry a stronger current than cable lines, if the dialler is drawing all the available power from the line then your phones won't work. If it is self powered (i.e. with an external power supply) then there should be no problem.
Orchid do not state that you have to have the power supply, you could always try it and see. Then again, the situation may change over time so it may be best to simply buy a transformer (or if you are like me you could look for a suitable one in the mountain of them for which you have long forgotten the original use)

psybear

Thinking of buying one of these routers. Can anyone tell me if their functionality extends to the selective blocking of mobile numbers?

I have a problem (common to many households I am sure) of excessive use of the phone by teenagers to ring their friends on mobiles. i would like to be able to block all mobile calls, except for those I allow.

Is this possible?


PB

Galstonian

You could do it with the touch tone interface but it would be a horrific task - you can also do it with routing codes and the online interface but since these are created and maintained by Orchid centrally it could potentially mean publishing the mobile numbers you want to allow to an unknown audience.

You could block all mobile calls but allow the calls you want to make by using a specific override code - unfortunately you would need to keep this to yourself, possibly having to clear phone memories after use. This could become tiresome. Why not just block all mobile calls except at evenings and weekends then use the router to select 1899 for all mobile numbers? At 2p a minute it will hurt a lot less than it currently does. Remember, the unit is very simple to bypass, you only have to unplug it an plug the phone directly into the socket so banning all calls could backfire on you.

stellagypsy

psybear -

I have extensively researched mobile call costs as I have a son with this costly disorder also - I use the following combination -

1899 for day time weekday calls - 3p connection charge + 10p per miute

Onetel for weekday evening calls (I pay the £1.00 per month to have a 20% discount for mobile call costs which makes them about 8p per minute)

1899 for weekend calls - 3p connection charge + 2p per minute - a rel bargain.

I have programmed this into the dialler and my costs have plummeted (when you think NTL were charging about 25p per minute, I can't go wrong).

HTH, Stella

qwer78

Blocking mobiles
Depending on how many mobile numbers you allow, you could just allow calls to numbers with that prefix. There are so many prefixes that you will not let that many others though, and there would be no danger of revealing the specific number you are allowing.

To be more precise but still secure, you could allow say all calls to 07976 612xxx instead of 07976 xxx xxx

As far as unplugging the device goes, instead of buying the white box you could for a similar cost just replace your telephone with the orchid telephones, which are £15 for an ordinary one or £30 for a cordless one (£45 for a twinpack).
http://www.orchid-electronics.com/vp3450.htm for the ordinary one.

That way, as long as you didn't leave your old phones lying around there would be no way around.

Sorry to be pedantic, but using telestunt as in my previous post above is very slightly cheaper for daytime mobile calls as it is 10p per minute with no connection charge. (1899 has a 3p connection charge). However it does take a moment longer to connect and this may actually cost as muc as 3p's worth of time. Telestunt does not need to be signed up for, however.