A Zen VOIP Question

I'm considering moving from BT FTTC to Zen FTTP (CityFibre). I'd like to retain my landline, though mainly for incoming calls, so it would probably make more sense to use AAISP VOIP for that. Since the Fritz!Box already contains a DECT base station I'd probably opt for a Fritz!Fon C6 DECT phone.

I assume I'd then be able to use the C6 to make/receive calls via AAISP VOIP, is that correct?

If instead I were to choose Zen Digital Voice rather than AAISP VOIP, would I still be able to use other VOIP providers in addition to Zen?

Thanks

I have a Fritz Box happily talking to AAISP & SipGate VOIPs via ZEN FTTP, however the Fritz is sat behind a different router and I'm using the built in ATA not the DECT base station.

In reply to a post by Chris4c:

I'm considering moving from BT FTTC to Zen FTTP (CityFibre). I'd like to retain my landline, though mainly for incoming calls, so it would probably make more sense to use AAISP VOIP for that. Since the Fritz!Box already contains a DECT base station I'd probably opt for a Fritz!Fon C6 DECT phone.

I assume I'd then be able to use the C6 to make/receive calls via AAISP VOIP, is that correct?

If instead I were to choose Zen Digital Voice rather than AAISP VOIP, would I still be able to use other VOIP providers in addition to Zen?

Thanks

Short answer yes. I'm not using the zen service as at £6 per month, it's expensive if you only need inbound. I'm using A&A plus voipcheap for any outbound calls. Both on the supplied Fritz, behind my own router connecting to Zens service. Yearly cost around £16 for A&A telephone service and <£20 for calls ( last year was just £10)

I am a great fan of Fritz!boxes but not their phones. I use AAISP VOIP with 3 Gigaset HX phones connected to my F!B4060. No issues whatsoever.

In reply to a post by Kenneth:

I have a Fritz Box happily talking to AAISP & SipGate VOIPs via ZEN FTTP, however the Fritz is sat behind a different router and I'm using the built in ATA not the DECT base station.

In reply to a post by wiggsc00:

Short answer yes. I'm not using the zen service as at £6 per month, it's expensive if you only need inbound. I'm using A&A plus voipcheap for any outbound calls. Both on the supplied Fritz, behind my own router connecting to Zens service. Yearly cost around £16 for A&A telephone service and <£20 for calls ( last year was just £10)

Thanks for those responses, which sound encouraging.

Looking at my last few years of calls with BT I seem to have spent around £4.20pm (at A&A PAYG prices), so it may be worth spending the £6 with Zen to give me a bit more leeway.

I'm assuming that if you opt for Zen Digital Voice, then you are still free to use other VOIP providers?

In reply to a post by GoWest:

I am a great fan of Fritz!boxes but not their phones. I use AAISP VOIP with 3 Gigaset HX phones connected to my F!B4060. No issues whatsoever.

Thanks, that begs the question what don't you like about their phones?

Are your Gigaset phones connected to the DECT base station in the Fritz!box? I was hoping to do so thus avoiding an extra box.

I have looked at Gigaset and they seem to have a ridiculous number of different models, but as far as I can see I'd need an HX model. Though I'm not clear what the differences are between the different models beyond simply looking different. I'm also unclear whether a Gigaset phone would offer any less functionality than a Fritz!fon - or even if that really matters!

Plastic cases; poor charging stands and a tendency for the Li-ON battery to bulge after repeated recharging. They are also expensive compared to what Gigaset can offer - particularly, if they are sitting there just for occasional incoming calls.

I should add that setting up VOIP on a Fritz!box isn’t as simple as plugging in a DECT phone. The settings require a bit of research. It took me 3 months to work out how to enable the keys for tones.

In reply to a post by GoWest:

Plastic cases; poor charging stands and a tendency for the Li-ON battery to bulge after repeated recharging. They are also expensive compared to what Gigaset can offer - particularly, if they are sitting there just for occasional incoming calls.

Thanks, that's useful to know.

In reply to a post by GoWest:

I should add that setting up VOIP on a Fritz!box isn’t as simple as plugging in a DECT phone. The settings require a bit of research. It took me 3 months to work out how to enable the keys for tones.

Yes, I appreciate it need some setting up, but presumably it shouldn't be too difficult.

One further question. For Zen Digital Voice the pricing is shown here:

https://www.zen.co.uk/phone/digital-voice/

UK local & national calls (01, 02, 03 numbers):
- 20ppm (outside of bundle)

UK mobile:
- 20ppm (outside of bundle)

084, 087, 09 & 118 numbers:
- 11ppm charge plus service charge

Standard call setup fee:
- 20p per call


It's not entirely clear whether the 'Standard call setup fee' applies to all calls or only those outside of bundle. I imagine it's the latter, but does anybody know for sure?

Thanks

I've just switched over to Zen FTTP with DV in Jan this year. My main router is a Draytek Vigor 2865, and I currently use an old PAP2 two channel ATA, one VoIP line is my Zen DV service and the other is a Sipgate VoIP line I've had for about 20 years, both work well without issue. I have my old dual handset Doro DECT plugged in to the Zen DV port and a basic bog standard analogue phone set into the Sipgate port. A point to note is that if one has a block of IPs from Zen, incoming SIP traffic on the Zen DV is only routed to your primary router IP; it can be changed by contacting Zen apparently but I've not needed to. Another point to note if on a single IP with the Zen DV service is that the SIP signalling port (UDP 5060) and the RTP port ranges (UDP 20000-30000) should be opened to the Zen servers and forwarded to the internal IP of the ATAs. If this is not done outgoing calls can be made but there will be no incoming calls received. I've also had it working well with FreePBX.

In reply to a post by Chris4c:

One further question. For Zen Digital Voice the pricing is shown here:

https://www.zen.co.uk/phone/digital-voice/

UK local & national calls (01, 02, 03 numbers):
- 20ppm (outside of bundle)

UK mobile:
- 20ppm (outside of bundle)

084, 087, 09 & 118 numbers:
- 11ppm charge plus service charge

Standard call setup fee:
- 20p per call


It's not entirely clear whether the 'Standard call setup fee' applies to all calls or only those outside of bundle. I imagine it's the latter, but does anybody know for sure?

Thanks

We have had digital voice (& used most of the available included minutes) for 8 months and never been charged anything extra beyond the basic £6 charge. We have not been charged a call setup fee.

In reply to a post by Chris4c:

I'm assuming that if you opt for Zen Digital Voice, then you are still free to use other VOIP providers?

You can run anything over the top of your Zen connection, or for that matter any other. There’s nothing stopping you having multiple voice SIP trunks for instance to numerous providers. An entire office private office exchange could be run over a broadband connection if you wished.

Many thanks for all the additional comments, which all seemed to confirm the answers I was expecting.

I paired my existing DECT handsets to the Fritz!Box, allowing me to use them for VoIP without buying new handsets.

I configure the Fritz!Box to sync contacts with Apple iCloud and they appear in the handset directories and get used for caller ID.

In reply to a post by wiggsc00:

Short answer yes. I'm not using the zen service as at £6 per month, it's expensive if you only need inbound. I'm using A&A plus voipcheap for any outbound calls. Both on the supplied Fritz, behind my own router connecting to Zens service. Yearly cost around £16 for A&A telephone service and <£20 for calls ( last year was just £10)

I was already on Zen FTTC when the switchover from PSTN to digital (migration to SoGEA) became opt-in available.
My monthly fees did not change in going over to Zen VoIP so I am still on the same £30/month inclusive
(as compared with broadband and line-only rental)
(I did not need a call package as my mobile has inclusive UK calling).

On Zen the £6 only arises if you buy the 1000 UK inclusive minutes package, otherwise you don't need to pay any extra just for keeping your number nor having incoming calls.

I had an existing DECT handset with its own base, but I re-paired handset with the Fritz!box router and the original base is now just for charging (no line connected).

Edited by prlzx (Wed 12-Feb-25 01:46:58)

In reply to a post by prlzx:

In reply to a post by wiggsc00:

Short answer yes. I'm not using the zen service as at £6 per month, it's expensive if you only need inbound. I'm using A&A plus voipcheap for any outbound calls. Both on the supplied Fritz, behind my own router connecting to Zens service. Yearly cost around £16 for A&A telephone service and <£20 for calls ( last year was just £10)

I was already on Zen FTTC when the switchover from PSTN to digital (migration to SoGEA) became opt-in available.
My monthly fees did not change in going over to Zen VoIP so I am still on the same £30/month inclusive
(as compared with broadband and line-only rental)
(I did not need a call package as my mobile has inclusive UK calling).

On Zen the £6 only arises if you buy the 1000 UK inclusive minutes package, otherwise you don't need to pay any extra just for keeping your number nor having incoming calls.

I had an existing DECT handset with its own base, but I re-paired handset with the Fritz!box router and the original base is now just for charging (no line connected).

Thanks for that information. I wasn't with Zen when I migrated my phone to A&A so wasn't aware they don't charge line rental. Might think about migrating it to Zen from A&A when the contract is up.

Edited by wiggsc00 (Wed 12-Feb-25 08:42:53)

In reply to a post by prlzx:

On Zen the £6 only arises if you buy the 1000 UK inclusive minutes package, otherwise you don't need to pay any extra just for keeping your number nor having incoming calls.

Ah thanks, I was unaware of that, Zen don't make that at all clear.

So all I would need would be a cheap and reliable VOIP provider. I got the impression that A&A only offer VOIP services if you have ported your number to them, but perhaps I'm wrong about that. Does anybody know?

In reply to a post by prlzx:

I had an existing DECT handset with its own base, but I re-paired handset with the Fritz!box router and the original base is now just for charging (no line connected).

My existing handsets are BT8500 ones, and I suspect from what I've read elsewhere that they may have compatibility issues.

It's the same cost. £12 setup + £1.20+VAT rental per month.

Personally, I would use VOIPCHEAP.COM. 3 months of inclusive minutes for a £10 topup, and then your credit is 10 Euros (1000 minutes @ 1p / min for most lines). Then topup again.
I have mine setup for auto-topup when balance <£1. I topped up last month, which was 13 months after I last topped up.
You can also use your existing number as presentation number for CLI, and they do support ipv6 too.

In reply to a post by wiggsc00:

It's the same cost. £12 setup + £1.20+VAT rental per month.

Personally, I would use VOIPCHEAP.COM. 3 months of inclusive minutes for a £10 topup, and then your credit is 10 Euros (1000 minutes @ 1p / min for most lines). Then topup again.
I have mine setup for auto-topup when balance <£1. I topped up last month, which was 13 months after I last topped up.
You can also use your existing number as presentation number for CLI, and they do support ipv6 too.

Thanks, I'll take a look at VOIPCHEAP.

In reply to a post by Chris4c:

[So all I would need would be a cheap and reliable VOIP provider. I got the impression that A&A only offer VOIP services if you have ported your number to them, but perhaps I'm wrong about that. Does anybody know?
/quote]

A&A offer VoIP with or without broadband or porting existing number. I opened a new A&A account and received a new number. When I was ready I ported in my own number and then deleted the new number.

A reasonably simple and cheap solution is to open an A&A account and port in your own number. plus open a FreeVoipDeal account. The A&A allows free receiving of calls, for only £1.44/month. The FVD account is for outgoing only, at rather good rates, and you can assign your own number(s) for these calls, without porting them. FVD doesn't receive calls.

In reply to a post by cjn:

A&A offer VoIP with or without broadband or porting existing number. I opened a new A&A account and received a new number. When I was ready I ported in my own number and then deleted the new number.

A reasonably simple and cheap solution is to open an A&A account and port in your own number. plus open a FreeVoipDeal account. The A&A allows free receiving of calls, for only £1.44/month. The FVD account is for outgoing only, at rather good rates, and you can assign your own number(s) for these calls, without porting them. FVD doesn't receive calls.

Thanks, but what's the advantage in using A&A (£1.44pm) rather than Zen (£0.00pm) for incoming calls? Or is it simply to separate voice and broadband with different providers (which presumably makes any subsequent switches easier)?

Our digital voice service costs just £6 per month

Zen isnt £0.00

In reply to a post by iannewson:

Our digital voice service costs just £6 per month

Zen isnt £0.00

A previous post here:

https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/zen/t/4772383-a-ze...

suggested that there was no charge if you opt not to buy any inclusive minutes. Admittedly I've not checked that with Zen though.

Zen certainly don't make it obvious whether you can have DV with no bundled calls. If you can, then great, although there seems to be no actual contract involved. You can always change to an external VoIP supplier in the future. Obvious solution is just ask Zen rather than relying on hearsay.

In reply to a post by cjn:

Zen certainly don't make it obvious whether you can have DV with no bundled calls. If you can, then great, although there seems to be no actual contract involved. You can always change to an external VoIP supplier in the future. Obvious solution is just ask Zen rather than relying on hearsay.

Yes, I will of course do so.

It's always good to check but it's not hearsay as I'm still with Zen as a customer and that's how it works if you have broadband with them at least for FTTC.

The bill also lists the month as a single broadband item described like this:

Unlimited Fibre 1 - Monthly charge
Care Level: Standard
Lifetime Price Guarantee: Yes
Phone Number to Migrate to SoGEA: ;
Zen Username: zen000000@zen
Period of service: 23-Jan-2025 to 22-Feb-2025

However I won't try to extrapolate that for any other product (e.g. full fibre / leased line) or services that didn't historically depend on the phone line.

Only those who took out a contract with Zen some time ago when it guaranteed no price increase are moved to digital voice with no charge - but we have no included calls.

For new customers, DV is £6 with the inclusive minutes. There doesn't appear to be any option to take it without.

https://www.zen.co.uk/phone/digital-voice

That's a shame - well for reference the service is referred to (in the account portal) as Digital Voice PAYG if someone is making a pre-sales enquiry.

And I would say it's a mistake to not offer a "line-only" service option (without inclusive minutes) given the choices available on the wider market.

I still have a Draytel geographic VoIP number (now telappliant.red)
and I only made a one-off payment years ago.

That was for exploring options to be able to give out a Manchester number that could ring me anywhere on my mobile (without a landline caller being charged a mobile destination ppm).

Edited by prlzx (Fri 14-Feb-25 21:22:04)