Ditching landline for VOIP

Quickblood

I've realised fairly recently that I don't really watch live TV anymore and barely use the landline so I've contacted Virgin and got a fair quote on just keeping the broadband but ditching everything else.

The thing is we've had our landline forever and would pretty much like to keep the number especially if there's a way of doing it that doesn't really cost much. I'm just now researching porting the number over to a VOIP service and was wondering if anyone has any experience or recommendations?

Cheers.

kwikbreaks

I took up Vonage when I was on VM as it was far cheaper than their telephony. I've kept it despite going back on BT infrastructure. I have the bottom package which costs £8.50 - a sharp increase on the £7 it cost for a long time but you get features such as callerid and optional withheld number blocking built in. The most useful bonus for me is https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vonage.MobileExtension (possibly on Apple too) which rings your mobile too and lets you take landline calls via mobile data or WiFi when you are not at home which for me is most of the summer.

Owain_Moneysaver

I ported to Sipgate.

You MUST arrange porting with the receiving provider in advance, and when your number is ported it will be treated as a cease, or a cease-and-reprovide with your current provider, so you need to check minimum contract terms etc.

If you're currently with Virgin, not all providers will be able to accept a port from Virgin.

kwikbreaks

Not sure if it makes any difference to the ability to port but my number was initially ported from BT to VM and then over to Vonage.

Inner_Zone

I have not ported but have used Sipgate for thirteen years with both a ATA and DECT phones and via a Smart phone app.

Quickblood

Thanks folks.

We don't really use the landline at all so paying £7 quid a month still seems a bit too much. Sipgate basic might be ideal if they can port my number so I'll get into contact with them.

What phone do you chaps use with VOIP? I don't really want to spend any money on adapters and what not. I have several old Android phones which I assume could be used.

Inner_Zone

Motorola G5 with built in VoIP, previously G3 with CSipSimple and / or Sipdroid and several Huawei's Y300 / Y330, Motorola Defy+ and Defy Mini. And PhonerLite for PC.

iniltous

Quickblood wrote: »

I've realised fairly recently that I don't really watch live TV anymore and barely use the landline so I've contacted Virgin and got a fair quote on just keeping the broadband but ditching everything else.

The thing is we've had our landline forever and would pretty much like to keep the number especially if there's a way of doing it that doesn't really cost much. I'm just now researching porting the number over to a VOIP service and was wondering if anyone has any experience or recommendations?

Cheers.

I have VM standalone broadband, when I joined VM there was hardly and difference in price between VM broadband and VM line and broadband , but as my home phone is subsidised by my employer , and they don't deal with VM, I didn't consider both line & broadband with VM
A quick search today found a 'deal' where VM line and 50Mb broadband including calls was actually £4/month cheaper than standalone VM 50Mb broadband, so if porting to a VOIP provider isnt very cheap or free, it may be cheaper to keep your VM phoneline.
FWIW, I currently pay about £36/month for 50Mb standalone VM broadband, there may be a better deal available ,and they have offered free speed upgrades in the past that I haven't accepted (TBH, it rarely hits 50Mb anyway) but as 3Mb ADSL is the alternative in my area, I've not much choice to stick with VM, but I don't want to commit to a new minimum term with VM so I begrudgingly pay this, but I recon better deals are available .

In your case I would ask what VM will do phoneline & broadband for , as it may be cheaper than standalone broadband and VOIP , and no chance of losing the landline number in the porting process
Finally, you may have negotiated a good price with VM for standalone broadband ,maybe much less than the £36 I pay, but what happens after the offer period expires ?

Quickblood

iniltous wrote: »

I have VM standalone broadband, when I joined VM there was hardly and difference in price between VM broadband and VM line and broadband , but as my home phone is subsidised by my employer , and they don't deal with VM, I didn't consider both line & broadband with VM
A quick search today found a 'deal' where VM line and 50Mb broadband including calls was actually £4/month cheaper than standalone VM 50Mb broadband, so if porting to a VOIP provider isnt very cheap or free, it may be cheaper to keep your VM phoneline.
FWIW, I currently pay about £36/month for 50Mb standalone VM broadband, there may be a better deal available ,and they have offered free speed upgrades in the past that I haven't accepted (TBH, it rarely hits 50Mb anyway) but as 3Mb ADSL is the alternative in my area, I've not much choice to stick with VM, but I don't want to commit to a new minimum term with VM so I begrudgingly pay this, but I recon better deals are available .

In your case I would ask what VM will do phoneline & broadband for , as it may be cheaper than standalone broadband and VOIP , and no chance of losing the landline number in the porting process
Finally, you may have negotiated a good price with VM for standalone broadband ,maybe much less than the £36 I pay, but what happens after the offer period expires ?

Yeah initially when I joined had a very good deal with Virgin for TV, their top Broadband and basic phone, it was cheaper than a standalone broadband account but as the new customer grace period ended it rose up to £66 a month.
So as I'm recently out of contract I asked them what they could do and they offered me a deal for £58, which is insane imho. I asked them to match the broadband only deal on their site and when I finally got through to I guess the last stage before termination they agreed.
It's still quite expensive for just broadband but given that it's actually been really speedy & reliable plus I do pretty much everything online I don't mind too much paying for that alone.

dave_dph

Another recommendation for SIpgate Basic, and yes, they can port Virgin numbers. They ported mom's Virgin number, which at the time had been ported to BT. From the 3 providers involved in the port, guess who messed up? Yeah, BT!

iniltous

dave_dph wrote: »

Another recommendation for SIpgate Basic, and yes, they can port Virgin numbers. They ported mom's Virgin number, which at the time had been ported to BT. From the 3 providers involved in the port, guess who messed up? Yeah, BT!

And you know this how ?, presumably because the others involved blamed BT, perhaps it was BT , but equally it may have been the one or both of the others and you would have absolutely no way of knowing for sure, unless BT told you themselves that they were to blame, and given you ported from VM to a VOIP I'm pretty sure you had zero contact with BT.