In reply to a post by ian72:

That question was answered earlier in the thread I think

Having now read about the N300a having an inbuilt answering machine is good but ultimately not helpful to me as when I say “answering machine” I mean a physical device my Dad can walk up to, press a button to activate it and turn it off and other buttons to play and go back to previous messages.

He is old and unwilling to learn new stuff and has never been great when dealing with technology to start with. “Hidden” menu options and “fiddling” around on a handset isn’t going to be an answering machine he will get on well with and I would prefer to keep the same functionality he currently has with large dedicated buttons and a speaker voice telling him things like “Answer Set” “You have 3 new messages. Message 1. Beep. Blah blah blah, Friday Two Fifteen, Message 2, etc...” All from a dedicated answering machine device.

Well now, don't let's forget that on many phones there is a dedicate button that you press to initiate reading back messages stored in the cloud. If there is no dedicate button, then holding down the '1' key does the same thing. Voice prompts guide you through the process.

No hardware to go wrong and a far greater storage capacity for messages than any other standalone device on the market.. There is nothing to learn to use a cloud base facility and if anything is far simpler to use than something that harks back to half a century ago.

You don't believe me? Well, you could it least run a trial that costs nothing to have and honestly come back to me to say he really couldn't cope with it all. Just a thought, how does he change channels on his TV set, a zapper or a walk over to the TV?

A Gigaset N500, or similar, should be your default purchase.

Not the N500 - no answer capability but it can be PoE.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

I would argue that there is no need for an answering machine with VOIP providers such as Voipfone.

If I don't answer a call, and the caller leaves a message, I get an email with a sound file containing the message. I can listen to this on my laptop or mobile phone. There will be a light on the Gigaset Dect phones showing that there has been a call which I could listen to if I wanted.

+1

It’s not that he can’t press the buttons on a handset it’s that he won’t. If it isn’t what he’s already doing he doesn’t want to know. Same problem with email messages, he doesn’t have email. He doesn’t have a smart phone or laptop/PC either. He’s just sticking to what he knows which is buttons on an answering machine.

I’d love to get rid of the answering machine requirement. Things would be easier then. But alas he is an old man stuck in his ways and is unwilling to change so the ATA option seems like the only realistic option to take even though if I told him he either had to “fiddle” with a handset to get answering machine messages or pay double the price for a ATA and extra VoIP base station with handsets he would rather pay double. That’s how stuck in his ways he is.

However, I can also be stubborn and just on principle I’m not willing to pay for 2 separate packages for the same line/number, so ATA it is.

As to the plan I’m buying the way I see it is this:

If 1 hours usage = 36p and the phone gets used for 5 hours a day on average then each day would cost us, on average, £1.80?

Multiply this by 28 days per month and each month would cost us, on average, £50?

So the way I see it, paying £24 a month is a pretty good deal or am I missing something?

And in case you doubt the 5 hours per day usage. He doesn’t have a laptop or PC etc so isn’t sitting at home watching fluffy kittens on youtube all day or communicating via them. All his communication happens through the home phone line.

He’s president of a gardening club (Although I get told off for calling it that. It’s pronounced “horticultural club”. He also goes rambling, bird watching and is very active in the community in general so he is constantly talking to people on the phone, chatting and organizing things.

It’s frustrating for me because like you're probably thinking now as well, I know how much better and easier things would be if he did use email, had a smart phone for texts and basically got with the 21st century but he likes the personal touch, he likes having a “proper conversation” with people and the phone system he has now is all he believes he needs and will use.

Even worse is that he has the charm/likeability and iron will to make everyone else involved in what he’s doing not just tolerate him ringing them or them having to ring him but enjoy doing it as well so he never has a problem of lacking communication with others.

Anyways, I think I’ve figure out what I need to do now. HT-801 + current phone system. We will find out in a couple of weeks if it all works when I get FTTP installed.

Thanks for all the replies and advice, highly appreciated.

Edited by Icgaln (Sat 10-Jun-23 08:43:19)

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

I would argue that there is no need for an answering machine with VOIP providers such as Voipfone.

If I don't answer a call, and the caller leaves a message, I get an email with a sound file containing the message. I can listen to this on my laptop or mobile phone. There will be a light on the Gigaset Dect phones showing that there has been a call which I could listen to if I wanted.

+1

Most of the ones I get start off with: "This is bank security ...", "I am calling about your Amazon Prime ...", "this is OpenReach Technical ..."

In reply to a post by Icgaln:

If 1 hours usage = 36p and the phone gets used for 5 hours a day on average then each day would cost us, on average, £1.80?

Multiply this by 28 days per month and each month would cost us, on average, £50?

So the way I see it, paying £24 a month is a pretty good deal or am I missing something?

Either the batteries in my calculator needs changing or maybe your device as your figures are suspect.

5 hours is 300 minutes. Voipfone call rate to 01/02/03 numbers is 1.2 ppm
300 * 1.2 = 360p or £3.60 a day. £3.60 * 30 days = £10.80 pm
However, all of the calls, or at least some, could be to mobile number costing 8 ppm which would skew the total call spend. It assumes that there were no calls to Crown Dependency landlines which are excluded from the plan.

If all calls happened to be to mobile numbers, then I see the costs escalating almost 10 times.
300 * 8.4 = 2772p or £27.72 a day. That would be a bill of £83.16 for the month; but that could hit fair usage policies.

So, yes a fixed fee of £24 a month could be a bargain if the range of numbers was indeed 01/02/03/07, but it seems 03 numbers are excluded as the numbers included in the package is defined as UK landlines or mobiles,

I would say that 5 hours usage per day ever day is pretty unusual anyway, but if true might hit the buffers with a fair usage policy.

With a seemingly enormous usage of 9,000 minutes per 30 day period an inclusive minutes package of £24.00 per 30 day period is a no brainer. - (Subject to a fair use policy which is very likely to kick in).

If the inclusive minutes package did not allow 9,000 minutes use, (5 hours x 60 minutes x 30 days), per 30 day period you may wish to consider a mobile phone Sim Only Mobile Deal as a backup and very cheap unlimited minutes mobile phone call deals, (of around £5.00 per month including VAT), with a rolling one month contract are cheaply available from Asda and Smarty etc. which would at least be a backup and maybe a even a viable alternative.

Also, with such a huge monthly usage a Business Account may be better for you as the fair usage limits probably will not apply.

Sipgate have Business Deals, from £30.00 per month, that you may wish to consider;

https://www.sipgate.co.uk/call-packages

Regarding Sipgate: Sipgate are a reliable VOIP provider from Germany and many of us still have PAYG Sipgate Starter Accounts, (which have now ended for new customers).

The only downside with Sipgate was that they never seemed to answer their own phones but do usually answer emails). - However now that Sipgate concentrate on business customers this may be different but since most of do not need higher usage accounts a Sipgate Business Account is not an option for most of us.

You may be able to obtain discounted prices of the type that a small business users would obtain from other providers;

https://help.voipify.net/faq/article/are-call-discou...

What you want is an open version of the BT Smart Hub 2 - a CAT-iq DECT base station supporting HD voice, but with an analogue port on it as well. The Cisco SPA232D comes close but it's an EOL product now and the old Sipura devices are insecure and won't be fixed with updates.

Edit: Whoever mentioned the Fritzbox 7530 earlier was bang on, that should do what you need.

Edited by jpm (Sat 10-Jun-23 17:30:23)

In reply to a post by MHC:

Not the N500 - no answer capability but it can be PoE.

I'm assuming you are refering to the current model, the N510 IP Pro. In addition to no answerphone as it's a Oro model yo ideally need Pro handsets, otherwise you get limited functionality with non-Pro Gigaset handsets.