Moving from PSTN &ADSL broadband to VOIP

I am looking to the experts here for some guidance about moving from PSTN to VOIP.

I'm managing a Bowls club, and we currently have 2 PSTN lines - office and clubhouse - together with ADSL broadband (80 down, 20 up) linked to the office phone. I believe it's Openreach through a reseller. Our current rolling contract for this package hasn't been reviewed for more than 10 years and is eye-wateringly expensive!

I want to replace the whole lot with a cheaper broadband & digital phone solution - the current speed is fine, and I can get this or better from several providers (BT, ZEN, bOnline etc). We definitely need to keep both phone numbers - mostly for incoming calls, although the office phone is used for some outbound as well.

One key aspect is that the provider(s) must accept payment via Direct Debit, so that rules out Voipfone and Voipify among others. Ideally I would like a single contract covering both the phones and broadband, but it's not a deal-breaker if the broadband and VOIP contracts are separate.

Reading about the Gigaset N300 IP DECT/VoIP Base Station, I get the impression that it can cope with multiple VOIP telephone numbers as well as multiple DECT handsets - is that correct? If so, can handsets be associated with just one telephone number? Handsets A & B with one phone number and handset C with a second phone number?

If it is possible to have a single broadband router to which an N300 is connected, providing both the office phone on one phone number (plus an additional office handset) and the clubhouse phone number on a separate handset, that would be perfect.

Would the packages from Zen (broadband with Business Digital Voice) or similar from bOnline be appropriate?

Thanks for any information

Andews & Arnold accept payment by direct debit.

You could do what you want with two N300s.

I use different suppliers for broadband and VOIP.

I am not sure what happens with an N300 if two people want to make a calls each to separate a/cs (voip ISPs)

A&A do also supply broadband but they may well be more expensive

Edited by Michael_Chare (Wed 05-Jun-24 23:35:50)

Personally, as a preference, I would not use the same VOIP provider and broadband provider because when you change broadband provider you do not need to change the phone provider or vice versa.

Also, personally, I would use a card, (credit or debit), instead of direct debit and would pay off the card in full via direct debit but that is your choice.

Regarding the N300: we use an N300a with two separate VOIP providers with two different phone numbers the N300 will work exactly as you want it to. - ie. We since we have two VOIP providers we can set which phone rings for each provider for incoming calls and which provider is used by each phone for outgoing calls.

Therefore, the N300 can easily be set as to which of up to six phones ring and make calls from each of up to six separate VOIP providers but I do not know how to separate which phone is used with separate two lines from the same VOIP provider using one N300.

I suspect that since you plan to have both numbers from the same VOIP provider I suspect that may not be possible but I do not know and I would recommend that you ask one of the VOIP providers that are technically able and who answer their own phone to ask them. - You mentioned Voipify and they should be able to advise you with regard to separating incoming and outgoing calls with two lines from the same VOIP provider.

In reply to a post by Fido:

Therefore, the N300 can easily be set as to which of up to six phones ring and make calls from each of up to six separate VOIP providers but I do not know how to separate which phone is used with separate two lines from the same VOIP provider using one N300.

I suspect that since you plan to have both numbers from the same VOIP provider I suspect that may not be possible but I do not know and I would recommend that you ask one of the VOIP providers that are technically able and who answer their own phone to ask them. - You mentioned Voipify and they should be able to advise you with regard to separating incoming and outgoing calls with two lines from the same VOIP provider.

It shouldn't make difference if its the same provider or not, seeing as each has its own login credentials.

I have two Sipgate accounts on my N300 and a single AAISP. Its just like any other account system.

The N300 lets you choose which account is used for incoming and which for outgoing, per handset. If you have multiple outgoing set for a single handset, is asks you which to use when you try to make a call.

Just beware that Gigaset handsets have a pretty huge flaw, in that their AAA batteries die after 6-12 months, no matter how good a brand of battery you use. There's some fundamental flaw with their charging circuit I think. I continue to use them anyway as they work so well otherwise.

Edited by alexatkin (Thu 06-Jun-24 04:24:30)

You are best ordering a new SoGEA connection then moving the phones to VOIP once the new connection is in.
I might be able to help you with this if needed, I know a telecoms guy and can pass on his details.
He's organised a few migrations like this for me

Thanks
Dan

In reply to a post by alexatkin:

Just beware that Gigaset handsets have a pretty huge flaw, in that their AAA batteries die after 6-12 months, no matter how good a brand of battery you use. There's some fundamental flaw with their charging circuit I think. I continue to use them anyway as they work so well otherwise.

I have four Gigaset handsets - three types and no battery issues. All handsets are coming up four years old and still hold charge - one of my desk has been out pf teh charger for almost a day and still showing 100%.

Same here. I use Energizer 800 mAh rechargeables in all 5 Gigaset C57xx phones, with no problems. The phones all sit in their charger bases when not in use.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I have four Gigaset handsets - three types and no battery issues. All handsets are coming up four years old and still hold charge - one of my desk has been out pf teh charger for almost a day and still showing 100%.

Which models? Mine are the C430HX bought in 2021.

One appears to be working great still, the least used one I had to replace once, the most used handset I had to replace twice already. It managed to completely kill Eneloops in a year.

Edited by alexatkin (Thu 06-Jun-24 16:13:44)

From memory - 620, 450 and 85

The 85 is probably 6+ years old and I believe I changed the batteries probably 2+ years back and those are Engergiser 800mA (I had the back off recently).

The problem with the batteries and gigaset is that when you put new batteries in you must must must let the phone completely discharge the batteries out of the cradle. Once that is done (and that might take several days because they use a very low power in standby) then you can put it on charge. The problem is that the charging circuitry doesn't know when the battery is full. I did this after getting through 2 sets of batteries and didn't have a problem after that.

Thanks to all for your replies.

I have spoken to bOnline - they told me that I would need two broadband lines and that I could only use Yealink phones, as their service doesn't work with anything else.

Similarly Zen told me that I would need two broadband lines, one for each phone number.

Direct Debit is essential for the business - we don't have a business credit or debit card, and we are trying to get away from the cottage industry of various members paying on their own cards and claiming it back via expenses.

TT

In reply to a post by Troy_Tempest:

Thanks to all for your replies.

I have spoken to bOnline - they told me that I would need two broadband lines and that I could only use Yealink phones, as their service doesn't work with anything else.

Similarly Zen told me that I would need two broadband lines, one for each phone number.

Direct Debit is essential for the business - we don't have a business credit or debit card, and we are trying to get away from the cottage industry of various members paying on their own cards and claiming it back via expenses.

TT

Why would you need two brioadband lines for two VoIP numbers? There is no technical reason for that. Talk to Andrews & Arnold, I am sure they can do it on one broadband line (or even on broadband lines not supplied by them). I use A&A for VoIP (and Three for broadband), absolutely no issues signing up with A&A and I could have as many lines as I like (as long as I pay £1.44 per month for each number/line) And A&A do Direct Debit (only)

Also bonline claiming you can only use Yealink phones is utter nonsense: VoIP is standardised (SIP) and it doesn't matter who supplies the phone as long as it meets the relevant standard. Maybe they will only support Yealink, but that would be another reason for me to not even touch them with a barge pole.

I can't see any problem with using AAISP for two phone lines. When I ported my DV connection out from Zen (where I can't see how you could have 2 numbers) I then had my original AA-supplied phone plus my ported-in number. Both numbers worked with my N300A-IP, via two separate number entries in the unit. Each number could be assigned to one or more separate phones for in and out calls. I then ceased the first number and now just use my original landline. I remain with Zen for Fibre BB and it all works.

Rubbish.

At one time I had 4 differnt VoIP numbers being delivered over a single ADSL then VDSL line. I used an N300A-IP so also had an analogue line. Now, I have one VoIP connection from SIPGATE, and second with two numbers from VOIPify with those using an N300A-IP (GO-Box) plus another from BT CLoudVoice into a Yealink all on a single FTTP circuit.


VOIPify take a payment from me every few months and that is just debitted as charges arise and they tell me when credit is running low. I could, if I wanted, move to monthly billing. Is it really cottage industy having to pay and claimed back? I worked for a company with almost $1bn of revenue - I claimed phone expenses monthly.

I do take a strong dislike to IT companies who say "It is impossible to do X" when they mean "We don't know how to do X" or "We don't don't want to provide X as a service for {reasons}"

Often where {reasons} is that it has an admin overhead, or they have already automated their preferred approach, or anything else costs more.

In reply to a post by Troy_Tempest:

Thanks to all for your replies.

I have spoken to bOnline - they told me that I would need two broadband lines and that I could only use Yealink phones, as their service doesn't work with anything else.

Similarly Zen told me that I would need two broadband lines, one for each phone number.

Direct Debit is essential for the business - we don't have a business credit or debit card, and we are trying to get away from the cottage industry of various members paying on their own cards and claiming it back via expenses.

TT

IMHO Voipfone would be the provider to use. You get over the problem of paying for the service by opening up a suitsme debit card and have a direct debit onto the card of a sufficient amount to cover the billing from Voipfone; over time a credit on the card will build up which eventually you might wish to credit back into your bank account.

The Gigaset base unit to select would be one that doesn't have an answer phone option. Only one broadband service is required but whoever you choose do use a different supplier for VoIP.

Is it wise to use Gigaset hardware at all? VoIP desktop phones should be considered with snom's being my recommendation. With a desktop phone you get all the Bells & Whistles that are part of VoIP which are easily accessed with dedicated keys for each service. instead of keyboard codes on a wireless handset.

The snom phones can be located within a reasonable distance from the router without the need to install cat5 cabling, although that would be preferable in conjunction with PoE. . You could use a wireless dongle plugged into the desktop phone or alternatively Ethernet over Power adaptors.

A further option is to use the two inbuilt ATA's of the router in conjunction with any phone sold by a supermarket or elsewhere

Been there and done all the options mentioned above. I personally use Cloudscape for Broadband and Voipfone for voice. Hardware from both can be shipped out preconfigured for use.

Just thought an update might be appreciated - I went with Gradwell for broadband and one VoIP line and Voipfone for the other telephone number.

Gradwell is paid by DD, while Voipfone is paid using the company debit card with an auto-topup.

I bought a Gigaset N300a (comes with a single 570 handset) and 2 new Gigaset handsets, and reused 2 existing Gigaset 575 handsets.

I set up the Voipfone port first using our existing broadband and configured the N300 as appropriate - this was well documented both by Gigaset and Voipfone and I didn't have any problems. The 2 new handsets are associated with this number.

About 10 days later the broadband and associated phone line were migrated to Gradwell - the broadband was on time and really easy, just had to input the username and password into our existing router, so virtually no downtime - I did have to reboot the N300 to get it to reconnect to Voipfone.

The number port was a day late, so we were without the office phone for about 24 hours, but that wasn't too big a deal.

Gradwell's website is a bit weak, and some things in control panel didn't work - I couldn't set up the Emergency / 999 address for example, but this was done promptly by their support team. You can't configure the necessary extension(s) until this is completed, and you have to know the extension number and the password that's generated as part of this process to connect the N300. So a couple of calls to Gradwell support were required, but credit to them, they were very helpful and the configuration was completed in 30 minutes or so.

So I now have VoIP 2 phone numbers, from 2 separate suppliers, each with 2 handsets associated, which is exactly what I wanted. The N300a also functions as an answering machine for both numbers, which is ideal for us. I've not looked at the voicemail functionality for either Voipfone or Gradwell.

This now costs us more than £100 per month (ex VAT) less than our previous provider.