PlusNet Broadband & Phone contract renewal options

[Deleted User]

That is reassuring, thanks very much, iniltous.

Forthay2

I am a new forum member and have found this subject interesting. I am with PlusNet and my contract is due for renewal. There is no question of removing my landline calls. The quote still includes a fixed fee for unlimited calls. The provision of VOIP is quite opaque. I assume this is deliberate because billions of pounds are at stake. Various VOIP services use different protocols even though standards exist. Is this because BT et al don't want us to make free VOIP calls. Many of us are familiar with VOIP services such as Skype, Zoom, Whatsapp, none of which are interoperable. presumably BT and other major phone companies will want to preserve their revenue by using proprietary protocols and keeping us in the dark. I have a poor quality OpenReach FTTC connection. OpenReach didn't want to install fibre to our village at all until we raised a stink with the CEO and through our MP. Openreach installed the fibre cabinet as far from the centre of the village (as near the exchange) as they could get away with. So most houses still have lots of short pairs of copper (and some aluminium) wires to their homes. I get a reasonable download speed but an upload speed that barely registers on speed tests. Gigaclear is coming but who knows when. That then gets us into the discussion of a good deal for the new contract and then vastly increased prices after that (see other threads).

littleboo

I think you are conflating VOIP with "free". Sometimes VOIP is free ( app based, peer to peer), but if you want a full PSTN replacement service which allows you to make and receive calls to anyone in the world without using the same app as each other, then its not the same thing at all. Whilst VOIP is a standard, there are many different implementations of it globally. .And whilst the UK has a very liberal telecoms market, many countries of the word do not and operate protectionist regimes designed to safeguard revenues of their incumbents. Interconnecting with them is heavily restricted, very difficult and costly.

Forthay2

No, I am not conflating VOIP with free. I am just stating that there are standards and calls could be free (after payment for your broadband). I am talking about UK only calls. What other countries do is their affair. My point is that it is not in telecom companies interests to allow us to do this and they are keeping the customers in the dark to protect their income. Only the Government can do something about it since the telephone system was privatised.

littleboo

Would  you like to explain more about the standards and how this means VOIP providers can offer PSTN replacement services including calls at zero cost?

Forthay2

The technology is there but it is not in the interests of the phone companies to use a single standard. When you say VOIP providers, what do you mean. VOIP is a collection of protocols over the Internet, some of which are covered by standards and some are proprietary. There is no need to call a PSTN phone from a VOIP client if all the POTS phones are to be replaced. Most mobile phones are Android (Linux) or iPhones and are capable of using a standard providing the mobile phone companies allow it. Again I don't see this as a technology problem. Am I being naive here. I am not a telecoms expert, merely a programmer with 45 year experience.

JSmithy45AD

Forthay2 said:

The technology is there but it is not in the interests of the phone companies to use a single standard. When you say VOIP providers, what do you mean. VOIP is a collection of protocols over the Internet, some of which are covered by standards and some are proprietary. There is no need to call a PSTN phone from a VOIP client if all the POTS phones are to be replaced. Most mobile phones are Android (Linux) or iPhones and are capable of using a standard providing the mobile phone companies allow it. Again I don't see this as a technology problem. Am I being naive here. I am not a telecoms expert, merely a programmer with 45 year experience.

Perhaps it's just me but you seem to be mixing up peer to peer services such as Zoom or Whatsapp to VoIP phone calls?

Forthay2

A phone call is peer to peer over a network. VOIP is only a way of achieving this.

Detail_Merchant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer