Does Sipgate Basic Have Incoming / Outgoing Call Logs?

Does anyone know if Sipgate Basic has a history of incoming and outgoing call logs so you know when and who has called you and what calls to which numbers you have made?

Thanks

Yes it most certainly does.

Thanks.

So if you do not use the landline often you can get a list of numbers who have called even if you may not even have the "phone" connected?

That is correct Sipgate will log the calls even if you don’t have an endpoint registered at the time the call was attempted.

I would recommend you trial the service to see if it suits your needs. It’s one of the lowest cost VoIP services available and in my opinion delivers great bang for the buck. Even if you just put a fiver on the account to test outbound calling to your contacts. You can always port in another landline to your account at any time.

When you sign-up I assume you are given an incoming phone number with an STD of your choice.

What happens when you port a number in?

Does your account have both the free number you got when you signed up and the number you ported.

Do both the numbers point to the same account or are they setup separately?

So if I wanted to check incoming calls work I could just use the free number given at sign-up and if that works there is no reason why calls to the ported number shouldn't work once ported?

Thanks

Yes number with area code of your choice. When you port in, both the existing Sipgate number and the ported number will point / route to the same account. You can select the outbound calls CID from the Sipgate portal, set to either of these numbers or another number of your choosing.

Do you happen to know if Sipgate have any features to help with reducing spam calls?

Can you block numbers?

Can you add a prompt to press a number if the caller has no caller id / international before your phone rings?

Thanks

Only a block list for basic Sipgate. If you are porting over an existing number you will likely get the same amount of SPAM calls, if getting a new local code number you probably will not get any SPAM calls as they seem out of the range that auto diallers will try. In 10 years or more never received an unsolicited call on a Sipgate supplied number.

As I will be porting in eventually are there any other solutions as I do get quite a few spam calls so a call blocker voice prompt for no caller id presented is high up on the list of requirements?

It would be great if the VOIP provider could provide this functionality instead of relying on myself.

Even BT has a basic 1572 service where you can control withheld / international callers?

Thanks

Unfortunately they don't really provide such features, at least not with the Basic service. Sipgate Basic is quite a stripped down service - it does what says on the tin has a good level of functionality in my opinion for what it costs (basically free), but if you want bells and whistles like voice prompted call blocking, you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

I use Flextel myself. Where possible, with a lot of withheld numbers that have called me anyway, it will tell you the number that called except for the last three digits. For example, 01234 567xxx. It will also offer the option to block this number as they know the last three digits. That's the primary reason I use it, it can come in handy.

Flextel also have an IVR facility, record your own message and configure it as you want. I use the IVR for managing automated/spam calls so they don't easily get through to me.

However, that said while there's typically no monthly fee it might not be as cheap as Sipgate Basic depending on the call volume. There are monthly plans which give you bundled minutes though. Outside of the monthly plans, call rates are higher than Sipgate basic, unless you have a monthly plan with Flextel then I believe it's 5p/min + 10p setup - at least to local numbers. You will get charged for incoming calls that you answer if they go to a SIP/VoIP destination instead of to an actual phone number, same per minute charge applies as if it were an outgoing call just no setup I believe.

There's no line rental as such, but I recall somewhere I'm sure they said they may charge a small fee if the number has had no activity for quite some time (possibly 180 days or more), effectively as some kind of 'renewal'. Not sure if that's still the case.

As for porting numbers, that should be fine too. You need to complete an 'importing' form. Buying numbers can be cheap (as low as £1 one-time fee for local), you can choose the number you want from a list of them.

Voipfone have a call blocking option. I don't use. I am registered with the Telephone Preference Service. I only get a few spam calls on the Voipfone line as the number is one I ported from BT. I also have two Sipgate and one A&A Voip lines which never get spam calls.