BT broadband Talk vs. Skype

sarah1980

Forgive me for being a complete novice on all things techie ;-)

I used to have an office but for various reasons have had to give this up and work from home. At home we have a Sky phoneline which we are tied into until Jan 2011.

The thing is, I would like to be able to received calls at home from my customers on my old number (I was with Opal at my office) and Opal have confirmed my home is in the same exchange and they could do this. Howevere it will incur the BT standard new line charge of £127.99.

I spoke to BT about this and they suggested BT Broadband Talk, which looks like a very viable option but of course I can't do it as I don't have a BT line.

My question is, is this similar to Skype? In which case I could obviously use Skype instead. Does anyone use Skype for business? What happens if you're PC is not online (again - apologies for being such an amateur!)? Can you divert the calls (I have an answering service I use when travelling)? Is the line quality good? Can I choose my own number?

Any advice gratefully received - thanks.

benjus

BT Broadband Talk and Skype are both VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) systems. I can't find any documentation on the technical details of BT Broadband Talk, but it probably uses the SIP protocol which is industry standard. There are many other providers offering SIP lines, notably SIPGate.co.uk which does not charge for an incoming number. Skype does not use SIP - it has its own proprietry system.

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a system:

1. Will it be possible to transfer (port) your old telephone number into the VoIP provider?
2. How will you receive the calls? Generally the options are:

• Have the calls forwarded to your home landline or your mobile (at a cost per minute)
• Receive the calls on your computer (using Skype or a Softphone application)
• Use a special telephone (or a normal telephone with an adapter) that connects directly to your broadband router or wireless connection and does not require your PC to be switched on. If you use BT Broadband Talk and have a BT Hub, the hub provides a suitable connection. Otherwise you'd have to buy an adapter or internet phone.

Personally I'm not a big fan of Skype - they are expensive compared with other VoIP providers and less flexible because of their proprietry technology.

I have no experience with BT Broadband Talk, and I'd be wary of tying myself to BT in case I wanted to change my broadband provider in the future.

So I'd probably use SIPGate...