Unsure about VoIP services.

Hey,

So I’ve recently had my street get enabled for FTTP and I’ve placed an order which is going to be installed within the next couple of weeks.

I’m currently with Virgin which gives me TV, Phone and Broadband as an all in one package deal and it’s the virgin telephone line I currently use for phone calls (Don’t have a smart phone).

However, I have found myself watching less and less TV over the last 5 or so years and only had Virgin broadband for the faster speed Openreach couldn’t match until now. So the only thing stopping me from saying goodbye to Virgin (and their horrible, horrible network latency) for good is the phone line.

This is why I’d like to sort out getting a VoIP service working on my new FTTP line and also before I’m forced to do so in a few years anyway.

This is where I start to get frustrated and confused and is why I’m here.

Is there currently a reliable service available from somewhere that can replace my existing virgin landline deal for an equivalent monthly price?

By this I mean a VoIP service that offers free calls to standard landline and mobile numbers at any time of day until 60 minutes has passed (Virgins Talk More Anytime) with emergency calls, caller ID and where I can still have say 3-4 handsets (not mobile phones and their apps) attached to an answering phone?

Trying to find a VoIP company/service that seems both reliable and offers the above has proved challenging where by it seems like some might do one part of what I want but I then can’t figure out for sure if they do the rest of it or worse I find that it’s meant for businesses.

I’m ok paying a reasonably large one off setup cost for new handsets and answer phone as I appreciate new phone standards might require investing in new phone hardware. But I would still want the monthly price (including calls) to be no more then what I’m paying virgin now.

As far as I can tell BT is not an option because my FTTP is not with them and it never will be. I’m looking for a service that will run no matter who the ISP is so if I end up switching in a year or two the phone will still work which to me seems to be the only major advantage of being forced to switch to a VoIP service.

Any advice appreciated.

Since you do not say what Virgin media costs you per month it impossible to say what the cost comparison would be or what is best but if you want a landline equivalent then VOIP is the way to go whichever ISP that you use and as you say when you change your ISP the phone service stays the same.

It needs to be noted that with VOIP if your internet if off your phone is off is off but that is the only potential downside.

A large number of VOIP providers are available and there are inclusive call packages available with a much higher monthly fee, low monthly fee packages with all calls chargeable and a few that have a small monthly fee that includes a limited number of free calls as part of the fee and other calls all other chargeable.

I considered these three:

(1). Voipfone who offer a choice of call packages including some with inclusive calls.

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/

(2). Andrew Arnold who offer a low base cost, no free calls and a reasonable, (but not a low) call cost per minute.

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/voip-informat...

(3). Voipify who have a monthly fee of £4.80 per month which includes 200 minutes of free 01/02 calls and all chargeable calls outside of the call package being very low cost. (From 0.6p per minute including VAT).


https://www.voipify.net/?mtm_cid=235201820&mtm_kwd=&...


https://www.voipify.net/call-charges/


Personally, I chose Voipify and I am happy with them. (I also have a Sipgate Starter Account but these are ending).

Regarding equipment: when I changed to VOIP I decided upon Gigaset and I used a Gigaset N300a base station and six Gigaset C575 Dect phones attached wirelessly to it. - It is really good equipment.

At the end of the day you will need to google yourself and make a choice.

Regards,
Fido

A comprehensive reply for the OP to consider.

Me, I use a variety of phones with different connection methods, but for someone new to VoIP the Gigaset products are a good choice. I am with Voipfone whose free to ring help desk is excellent. Never found their call packages economically advantageous considering their low PAYG rates and the ability to call other Voipfone customers for free,

Routers from the broadband supplier may allow a VoIP service from any hosted supplier to be configured into their hardware thus enabling perfectly good existing phones to be used.

Porting charges vary from company to company with the possibility of an exit charge from the looser.

With VOIP I have never bothered porting a landline number since your VOIP provider will allow you to choose a new local phone number, (from a list of available numbers), for free and if you do not port the old copper number you can run it in parallel while you change over to VOIP. - Also, with a new local VOIP number, (which looks the exactly the same as a copper line number), any nuisance calls that are associated with your old number disappear. - We have not had a nuisance call since changing to VOIP and choosing a new VOIP number.

A lot of VOIP providers tend to have a rolling one month contract period, (Voipify do), so if you do not like one VOIP Provider you can easilly change to another and if you use a Gigaset N300a as a base station you can control four separate VOIP providers/numbers at the same time for comparison purposes.

With a Gigaset Phone System there is something called Gigaset.net, (which is free to register to and is free to use but I have never used it), and this allows Gigaset to Gigaset calls to be made for free.

Personally, I would not bother with a large call package as per the old copper line system and would be more pay as you go. - eg. With Voipify: I am paying less than £6.00 per month, (including the line fee and all of the calls that I make), and if I was on the phone for an hour to an 01/02 number, (after the incluive 200 free minutes per month of free 01/02 calls are used up), it will only costs around 36 pence for the whole hour at 0.6 pence per minute include VAT.

Most of what you say is quite factual but it is down to the individual to decide whether to port a number over to DV for a fee or start afresh with a new number. The over riding advantage of keeping a number that you have had for decades, is that there isn't a need to advise contact of your new number. If you are bothered with nuisance calls, then VoIP has many tools to block rubbish calls.

As good as the Gigaset range of phones are, it is an option that doesn't suit everyone. A desktop phone suits me much better to be able to handle more efficiently the advance features of VoIP particularly multiple calls and conferencing.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought Voipify has a connection charge which rather skews statements in your last paragraph. Also of note is that calls to 01 numbers are not all at the same rate (eg IoM). A serious omission is that you don't mention the cost of calls to 03 numbers. Also beyond the 200 free minutes, call rates are quite expensive.

Do your sums again and tell me who is cheaper if you have 300 minutes of call time where no individual call duration is greater than a minute. Add into the equation half a dozen calls terminating in the IoM and 10 calls to different 03 numbers. And the lowest priced service provider is ..................

Ok, so first of all thanks for the replies.

Second, allow me to correct the cost I’m currently paying Virgin.

Unfortunately my Virgin bill does not seem to split the cost of each service to separate amounts so all it tells me is that I’m currently paying around £120 a month but that is for TV, Broadband and Landline Phone. If it did tell me what I was paying just for the phone I would have mentioned it in my first post.

So since that is still a non-answer I’ll simply say that I am/was looking for something around £30 a month and was willing to go as high as £40, if everything was as I needed it to be.

However, https://www.voipfone.co.uk seems like a good prospect as I see they offer an “Unlimited” package which seems to include landline and mobile numbers all for £20 a month.

This would be perfectly acceptable to me as I also see they offer caller ID as standard along with emergency services access. All I would ask in addition to that is do they allow you to register your address so emergency services know whose calling them?

What I’m still a bit unsure about is compatibility and service provider support when buying new hardware or being able to use current hardware.

It’s all well and good them saying they give you 30 day free trial but presumably I can’t connect up my: Panasonic KX-TGDA31E and KX-TG8521EB to a magic device that suddenly appears when I start the trial as well. I’d need to invest in buying some hardware to go along with that free trial.

If I buy a “Gigaset N300a” for example can I use it for any VoIP service? Do some companies only allow set hardware they provide or only allow customers to pick from a small list of devices for example?

Because I then fear buying something to try voipfone out with, find I don’t like them in the end, go to bestvoipservice.com or somewhere else instead only to find they only work with the “QuantumVoIP 5000” or something.

Or are there standard protocols for VoIP that makes sure it works with any company I go with and if a company limits hardware used then it’s probably not a good company to go with In the first place?

Additionally, would a “Gigaset N300a” allow me to connect my current non-VoIP phones to it? Is the “Gigaset N300a” a device that lets any phone work over the internet or would it still require me to buy new compatible handsets to go with it?

And if it doesn’t is there a device I could buy instead that would let me keep using my current handsets and answering machine? This would be a preferred solution.

Does what router I have matter in regards to phone/base device compatibility? In my mind it shouldn’t other then maybe needing to open a port on it. Other than that whatever device I buy to enable the service to work should just use the router like any other device to access the internet, right?

I plan to setup a basic PFSense configuration on an old PC as my FTTP router with two network cards in it for WAN and LAN. Will this work ok for VoIP services or does the router need to have some kind of special support/physical port for VoIP?

Also, I tried putting “Gigaset N300a” into Amazon UK and it doesn’t seem to be there, least not on the first 5 or so pages. Found a N300 but it had buying options which suggest it’s a discontinued product now and presumably the N300a is better. Typing in “VoIP Answering Machine” didn’t come up with any valid results that would fit those criteria either, unless I’m searching for the wrong thing?

I need a minimum of 3 handsets, with intercom and an answering machine, not voice mail. How would I go about getting this? As a one off setup cost I could go as high as £300-400, preferably closer to the £300 or less of course.

And while I appreciate that cheap, low monthly costs that charge @ 1p/m might still work out cheaper for most customers now they don’t have to pay line rental costs I think I will still save more by paying £20 a month as it’s not just me that uses the phone line and we make quite of lot of calls in a day, rough guess of maybe 5-6 hours a day, not limited to off-peak times either. Paying 0.6p/m would feel like we’re going back a couple of decades. I don’t like it. I much prefer a set monthly fee for unlimited use of the main numbers called.

As for keeping my number or getting a new one. I’m not that bothered either way about it. If I can keep it then great, if not then I’ll just change the answering machine message for a couple of months to let everyone know what the new number is and then end the virgin line.

To port or not to port that is the question; of course it is a personal choice to port or not and I was simply pointing out how easy a new VOIP number is to set up and that it could be beneficial not to port and start with a fresh number.

The reason why I mentioned the Gigaset N300a is that it can cope with at least 4 separate VOIP providers and multiple calls which is useful to compare different providers at first I considered an ATA but that was a lot of faff.

As I recall Voipify does not have any set up costs to join them and the ball park costs per month including are as just as I listed.

Regarding 03 numbers: - Yes, (as I was the one who originally pointed it out on another thread), Voipify 03 numbers do cost a bit more than extremely low cost Voipify 01/02 numbers (which is only 0.5 pence per minute plus VAT) but it is certainly not expensive when compared to other VOIP Providers since it is still a low call cost of around 1.5 pence per minute, (with is lower than most others and is broadly in line with AAISP), so it is not a high 03 cost and some types of calls do have a minuscule call connection cost but that is dancing around on the head of a pin and since I am just a user of the service I just provided links to what I see as three viable providers.

I did not refer to the fact the Voipfone only provide free 056 numbers which is sub-optimal or that AAISP insist on a Direct Debit.

When I was on a copper line I was paying about £19.00 per month for line rental and an unlimited call package but I did not make that many calls and a number of calls are excluded from calls packages.

The Voipfone £20.00 package does sound OK for you.

I am fairly sure that the N300a can be used with any VOIP provider and that it will also work with a copper line and at up to four separate VOIP Providers at the same time.

We previously had Panasonic Dect Phones and at first I used the N300a with my Panasonic Dect Phones which did work but the features on the panasonic dect phones went dumb and with gigaset phones all of the features work properly so I bought gigaset phones and gave the Panasonic phones away to a family member.

I usually buy direct from Amazon but at present it seems that there is lower stock but this seller, (who also operates via Amazon), appear to have some stocks.

https://ligo.co.uk/catalogsearch/result

Gigaset were formerly known as Siemens.

Regards,
Fido

Just to clarify the N300A: it can support up to 6 VOIP connections, plus one landline (which of course could allow a number of old phones to connect as if they were connected to an old master socket). The latter could connect either to an old landline or to a suitable connection on a router, e.q. the Fritz!Box 7530. The N300A, but not the N300, also has 3 independent answering machines.

Give VoIPify a call, I called them a few weeks ago regarding a VoIP service and their advice was extremely detailed and very helpful when I mentioned my specific requirements.

I recently had FTTP broadband installed/activated and am still currently using a PSTN landline with the same provider. My ADSL broadband was with a different provider and this I ceased a few weeks after the FTTP was up and running. Now I'm looking to move from PSTN voice to VoIP together with porting my phone number and with these issues I would certainly recommend having a noncommittal chat with VoIPify,