New fibre VOIP provider - outgoing calls ok, but not incoming.

WIAWSNB

Hello!

Mil just changed from BT fibre to Vodafone - twice the speed, and 2/3rds the cost. 'One-touch switching' was mooted, but we were advised it could take a day - ie told to swap routers before 8am, and it'll be running by midnight. It wasn't.

After nearly 2 hours 'holding' and subsequent chat with Voda technical the next morning, the internet is now on, and is working super-fast. (On that point, no way could my 86-year old mil do the steps he was asking!) 

Currently, however, the VOIP phone is only making outgoing calls, although thankfully the number does appear to have been trnasferred successfully from BT - it appears correct on the receiver's display.

Incoming calls, however, don't work - it goes to 'voicemail'. I think, but I'm not sure, that the engineer guy did say that this could take 2-3 days to transfer, but I also think that he thought we were transferring from copper to fibre, and didn't realise we already had fibre/VOIP when he said that.

Obviously we are prepared to wait, but it would be reassuring if anyone on here could confirm that this is normal - outgoing calls ok, but incoming not? Could the 'outgoing' still be via BT, for example?

On a different note, the engineer was quite frank about his thoughts about how long a 'one-touch' service can take in reality, and said something like you'll find it deep in the T&Cs, but 'as a human, I don't read these either'. He reckoned Voda, and others, should be completely upfront about this, but hey.

Thank you.

iniltous

Unless the new Vodafone service is on City Fibre , then the exact same speeds you get from VF will be available from BT , that’s regardless of the service being FTTC or FTTP , you don’t state which it is , ‘fibre’ is used for both FTTC and FTTP .
As far as no incoming calls , but outgoing calls work and display the appropriate CLI ( calling line identification ) so for example if you called your mobile from your VF VoIP service it displays the correct number , its indicates an incomplete porting request….as BT have nothing at all to do with you as a customer anymore , there is no point you trying to contacting them , this is VF’s issue to sort , even if that requires them to speak to BT to check the status of the port.

400ixl

Unfortunately you have joined one of the most complained about ISP's out there. You need to raise a complaint to get them moving and be able to take it to the ombudsman as soon as possible if they don't get it sorted quickly.

Good luck, hopefully they will get it resolved quickly for your MIL.

Usually on the day of switch you leave the existing router plugged in until it no longer works, then swap over to the new one where that should become active. Telling you to swap it over first thing is poor customer service advice, just looked at from the ease of the supplier, not the customer.

DullGreyGuy

iniltous said:

Unless the new Vodafone service is on City Fibre , then the exact same speeds you get from VF will be available from BT , that’s regardless of the service being FTTC or FTTP , you don’t state which it is , ‘fibre’ is used for both FTTC and FTTP .
As far as no incoming calls , but outgoing calls work and display the appropriate CLI ( calling line identification ) so for example if you called your mobile from your VF VoIP service it displays the correct number , its indicates an incomplete porting request….as BT have nothing at all to do with you as a customer anymore , there is no point you trying to contacting them , this is VF’s issue to sort , even if that requires them to speak to BT to check the status of the port.

CLI is independent of porting... calling from VOIP on my computer or "land line" will appear as if I were calling from my mobile but my number is still will my mobile operator. Our VOIP provider will add any CLI you want as long as you can evidence you own the number and its typically completed instantly. 

I won't profess to know VFs process but it's perfectly possible for them to do the CLI before even starting the number porting process. 

WIAWSNB

iniltous said:

Unless the new Vodafone service is on City Fibre , then the exact same speeds you get from VF will be available from BT , that’s regardless of the service being FTTC or FTTP , you don’t state which it is , ‘fibre’ is used for both FTTC and FTTP .
As far as no incoming calls , but outgoing calls work and display the appropriate CLI ( calling line identification ) so for example if you called your mobile from your VF VoIP service it displays the correct number , its indicates an incomplete porting request….as BT have nothing at all to do with you as a customer anymore , there is no point you trying to contacting them , this is VF’s issue to sort , even if that requires them to speak to BT to check the status of the port.

Thank you.

It's FTTP as this was installed by OpenReach a couple of years back. Yes, BT can provide the same speeds, but their out-of-contract pricing was unreasonable, and 'they don't negotiate' - £50pm for 150Mbps and calls.

Yes, Vodafone have a bit of a reputation, but the same provision was £31.

Yes, Voda are the ones to sort any issue - I just wondered if what's happening is 'normal'?!

WIAWSNB

400ixl said:

Unfortunately you have joined one of the most complained about ISP's out there. You need to raise a complaint to get them moving and be able to take it to the ombudsman as soon as possible if they don't get it sorted quickly.
Good luck, hopefully they will get it resolved quickly for your MIL.
Usually on the day of switch you leave the existing router plugged in until it no longer works, then swap over to the new one where that should become active. Telling you to swap it over first thing is poor customer service advice, just looked at from the ease of the supplier, not the customer.

That was actually my intention, but need to do things 'by the book' when mil is concerned, or else it would obviously be my fault if it goes wrong

The supplied instructions were clear - so I followed them. Sigh.

I am confident it'll be ok, or at least will be sorted if any issues. Famous last words, and all that.

Pete99

I’m with A & A for VoIP, initially my phone wasn’t ringing for I/C calls either, I didn’t realise that I needed to configure it to do that in the control page, apparently with Vodafone they configure it all for their customers, so they’ve probably missed that bit, one thing you could try is to ring the number and see if you can answer it even if it isn’t ringing, that would prove if it’s your equipment that’s causing the problem, otherwise it’s up to Vodafone to sort out.

WIAWSNB

Pete99 said:

I’m with A & A for VoIP, initially my phone wasn’t ringing for I/C calls either, I didn’t realise that I needed to configure it to do that in the control page, apparently with Vodafone they configure it all for their customers, so they’ve probably missed that bit, one thing you could try is to ring the number and see if you can answer it even if it isn’t ringing, that would prove if it’s your equipment that’s causing the problem, otherwise it’s up to Vodafone to sort out.

That's very interesting - thank you.

I'll try that ringing and lifting the phone the next time I'm over and see what happens. It does, however, currently go immediately to 'welcome to voicemail', so there doesn't appear to be a gap when I could lift the phone fast enough! But, I'll try.

I'll be calling Voda about it tomorrow if it isn't sorted - that will have given them enough time.

Cheers.

WIAWSNB

All sorted - mil called up Voda and laid on the '86-year old' bit thickly. All working, and old number transferred too - phew.

Cheers.