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Home > Archive > Voice Over IP in UK > March 2006 > Is Voip.co.uk more reliable than Sipgate?
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| Author |
Is Voip.co.uk more reliable than Sipgate?
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| Sam Jones 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| I have now taken the plunge and cancelled my landline and am looking
to replace it with voip via my cable modem.
I currently have a Sipgate account which sometimes isn't reliable. Eg.
The first time you dial it the number isn't recognised but then it
works when you try again. Also I get occasional engaged tones when
dialing out when I know the number isn't busy.
Is the voip.co.uk service likely to be more reliable?
| |
| M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:55:34 GMT, Sam Jones <sam@dodgeit.com> wrote:
>Is the voip.co.uk service likely to be more reliable?
My experience of them so far is mixed I signed up with them about
three weeks ago the first night I could dial out no problem but could
not receive incoming calls . I called them the next day and the guy
said it was a routing problem being caused by BT and it would be fixed
by that evening and it was so far so good and the line worked
perfectly up until last Thursday evening when I decided to get a
second number after which neither number would work correctly.
I have spent most of this afternoon on the phone to them trying
various things but the system will still not play ball,with the second
number disabled the first works fine.
I needed to go out for an hour this afternoon and left everything has
it was called the guy when I got back and he told me he had been
watching my two numbers while I was away and said both had shown as
going off line for 15 minutes and then going on line again and my two
sipura's where showing registered all the time but both lines where
dead just has I had left them.The guy is going to have discussions
with their network guys to find the cause of this problem .
In direct answer to your question I would say get one line from them
but think twice about getting two it was only when I got the second
number/line that it all went to cock .
You can't grumble at two pounds a month for free calls evenings and
weekends which is more than you get from most of the other providers.
| |
| Dave Gill 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| Sam Jones wrote:
> Is the voip.co.uk service likely to be more reliable?
I can't really comment on incoming calls, but outgoing calls have been
pretty reliable. A bit of a hiccup last week when the ATA occasionally
lost registration, but otherwise nothing to report.
I think a bit of a Google will bring up a few voicemail problems, but I
don't know what the current situation is there.
--
The From address is a spam-trap, so all replies to the newsgroup please.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be Alert, Your Country Needs More Lerts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| |
| Brian A 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:19:23 +0000, Dave Gill
<idontlikespam@spamlovelyspam.com> wrote:
>Sam Jones wrote:
>
>
>I can't really comment on incoming calls, but outgoing calls have been
>pretty reliable. A bit of a hiccup last week when the ATA occasionally
>lost registration, but otherwise nothing to report.
>
>I think a bit of a Google will bring up a few voicemail problems, but I
>don't know what the current situation is there.
I find voip.co.uk reliable. There has been the occasional problem but
generally they are good. The price is right and was just what I was
looking for. Compared to Sipgate they win in nearly every respect.
The voicemail though, currently, is basic. However, they tell me that
they are intending to update it soon. What I would like to see is the
ability call divert either to SIP addreses or to peering numbers.
Currently it is possible to divert only to standard numbers.
The site lacks documentation - that is something else they tell me
they are fixing.
Remove 'no_spam_' from email address.
| |
| Paul Cupis 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:55:34 GMT, Sam Jones <sam@dodgeit.com> wrote:
>
> My experience of them so far is mixed I signed up with them about
> three weeks ago the first night I could dial out no problem but could
> not receive incoming calls . I called them the next day and the guy
> said it was a routing problem being caused by BT
Really? This does not sound likely to me - did they give any further
information?
| |
| M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 22:46:36 +0000, Paul Cupis <paul@cupis.co.uk>
wrote:
>M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>
>Really? This does not sound likely to me - did they give any further
>information?
No but it was fixed the same day with no further problems until I got
the second number last week .
I have in fact had both numbers receiving and calling out perfectly
tonight via soft phones but when I put the settings back into my
Sipura's no joy . I know it isn't anything to do with myself or the
Sipura's has I have had various other providers working perfectly
in them including Sipgate on and off more off than on may I add )) .
To give a fair assessment of voip I would have to say they are ok
and very helpful when you call them but they appear to be a little wet
behind the ears yet .
| |
| M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 21:58:53 GMT, Brian A
<no_spam_bca1000@hotmail.com> wrote:
>The site lacks documentation - that is something else they tell me
>they are fixing.
Their site/software needs fixing full stop and they do know about this
so they say , if you have two sip accounts with them and you go into
say the top one and make some alteration the next time you go in there
that particular account has jumped to second place and so on .
| |
|
| In message <du2juo$2qg4$1@custnews.inweb.co.uk>, Paul Cupis
<paul@cupis.co.uk> writes
>M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>
>Really? This does not sound likely to me - did they give any further
>information?
This can be a BT problem, I had exactly that problem a while ago, but
with my sipgate number before sipgate went very crappy.
I reported it to BT and they fixed it, but got no feedback as to what
they did to fix it.
--
DJ
| |
| Paul Cupis 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| DJ wrote:
> In message <du2juo$2qg4$1@custnews.inweb.co.uk>, Paul Cupis
> <paul@cupis.co.uk> writes
>
> This can be a BT problem,
What can? I might concede that BT Broadband customers might have their
VoIP affected by BT, but I don't think it is likely that other people
will be affected by "BT Routing problem which is fixed same day" if none
of the parties are using BT Broadband or other BT Internet products.
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-01, 7:45 am |
| M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 21:58:53 GMT, Brian A
> <no_spam_bca1000@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Their site/software needs fixing full stop and they do know about this
> so they say , if you have two sip accounts with them and you go into
> say the top one and make some alteration the next time you go in there
> that particular account has jumped to second place and so on .
>
Yeah, the whole site looks like it's been put together by someone who
hasn't used SQL before. (no ORDER BY clause in the query in a lot of SQL
servers will order the results by the last time they were modified).
| |
| Peter Watson 2006-03-01, 5:45 pm |
| Nothing to do with IP routeing - Think phone routeing. BT need to have
the correct routeing information in their exchange network to know to
deliver a call directed to 01234 5678910 to voip.co.uk not to exchange
01234.
| |
| Sam Jones 2006-03-01, 5:45 pm |
| On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 10:07:09 GMT, Thomas Kenyon
<uktvoip@sanguinarius.co.uk> wrote:
>M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>Yeah, the whole site looks like it's been put together by someone who
>hasn't used SQL before. (no ORDER BY clause in the query in a lot of SQL
>servers will order the results by the last time they were modified).
Thanks for the info. I have taken the plunge and registered with
voip.co.uk. Everything seems to connect OK, I can dial and receive
calls but have made a couple of calls this evening which have not been
good. There was a lot of background noise and one of the calls was
dropped and I was left with an engaged tone in the middle of the call.
This was after about 5 mins.
I'm using a Handytone 486 and the basic settings I have used are:
Sip Server: registrar.voip.co.uk
Outbound proxy: proxy.voip.co.uk
Are these correct and are any of the other settings important?
Thanks for any advice.
| |
| Dave Gill 2006-03-01, 5:45 pm |
| Sam Jones wrote:
> I'm using a Handytone 486 and the basic settings I have used are:
>
> Sip Server: registrar.voip.co.uk
> Outbound proxy: proxy.voip.co.uk
>
> Are these correct and are any of the other settings important?
I don't know what the Outbound Proxy settings are supposed to be (I
don't use an OB Proxy since there's no router between my ATA and my
cable modem) but I'm using proxy.voip.co.uk as my Sip Server (the Sip
Server is referred to as the Proxy in Sipura set-ups in case you're
wondering).
--
The From address is a spam-trap, so all replies to the newsgroup please.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be Alert, Your Country Needs More Lerts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| |
| M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-01, 5:45 pm |
| On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:18:53 GMT, Sam Jones <sam@dodgeit.com> wrote:
>On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 10:07:09 GMT, Thomas Kenyon
><uktvoip@sanguinarius.co.uk> wrote:
>
>Thanks for the info. I have taken the plunge and registered with
>voip.co.uk. Everything seems to connect OK, I can dial and receive
>calls but have made a couple of calls this evening which have not been
>good. There was a lot of background noise and one of the calls was
>dropped and I was left with an engaged tone in the middle of the call.
>This was after about 5 mins.
>
>I'm using a Handytone 486 and the basic settings I have used are:
>
>Sip Server: registrar.voip.co.uk
>Outbound proxy: proxy.voip.co.uk
>
>Are these correct and are any of the other settings important?
More or less one of their guys told me this afternoon to alter the sip
port to 61 from 60 on my Sipura 2000 . My first number is working
fine and staying connected after asking them to drop my second number.
Now considering re joining Vonage now they have dropped their charges
a little not made and decisions yet though .
| |
| Brian A 2006-03-01, 5:45 pm |
| On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:59:29 GMT, M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:18:53 GMT, Sam Jones <sam@dodgeit.com> wrote:
>
I got this a couple of times. Once the noise was received by the other
party and then I got it on another call wheras the called party could
hear me OK.
I just reset my ATA and all has been well since then.[vbcol=seagreen]
Rightly or wrongly, have both 'proxy' and 'Outbound Proxy' set to
proxy.voip.co.uk - it works anyway.[vbcol=seagreen]
>More or less one of their guys told me this afternoon to alter the sip
>port to 61 from 60 on my Sipura 2000 . My first number is working
>fine and staying connected after asking them to drop my second number.
>Now considering re joining Vonage now they have dropped their charges
>a little not made and decisions yet though .
If you are itching ot spend more money then BT 'Broadband Talk' charge
the same £7.99 (or £2.99 for off peak). They include an adapter too,
no conection charge - 12 months contract though.
"Available for Cable and non - BT Broadband customers as well."
http://tinyurl.com/3cwo9
Personally I am happy with voip.co.uk
Ok there are things I would like improved but they are not major
items. I would, for example, like to be able to divert to SIP
addresses (or peering numbers) that way I could divert to a good
voicemail service.
Remove 'no_spam_' from email address.
| |
| Paul Cupis 2006-03-01, 5:45 pm |
| Peter Watson wrote:
> Nothing to do with IP routeing - Think phone routeing. BT need to have
> the correct routeing information in their exchange network to know to
> deliver a call directed to 01234 5678910 to voip.co.uk not to exchange
> 01234.
Do you know how "phone routing" works? BT don't have every telephone
number in their "routing table" anymore than ISPs have every IP address
in their routing table. It works on prefixes, and whereas ISPs have
peering sessions where they can dynamically exchange routes, BT has a
long manual process (3 months) for having number ranges built on their
network.
The chances are that the (non-IP) routing problem was not with BT. There
is an ever so slight change that the number range in question was not
working from a specific BT exchange, but it does not seem very likely to me.
And BT will be delivering the calls to whichever network operator is
selling voip.co.uk blocks, I am not of the impression that voip.co.uk
have a BT Interconnect (though I may be wrong).
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-03, 5:46 pm |
| Brian A wrote:
> If you are itching ot spend more money then BT 'Broadband Talk' charge
> the same £7.99 (or £2.99 for off peak). They include an adapter too,
> no conection charge - 12 months contract though.
> "Available for Cable and non - BT Broadband customers as well."
> http://tinyurl.com/3cwo9
> Personally I am happy with voip.co.uk
> Ok there are things I would like improved but they are not major
> items. I would, for example, like to be able to divert to SIP
> addresses (or peering numbers) that way I could divert to a good
> voicemail service.
>
Will they only give you an 056 incoming number like their broadband
voice product?
| |
| Brian A 2006-03-03, 5:46 pm |
| On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 16:23:05 GMT, Thomas Kenyon
<uktvoip@sanguinarius.co.uk> wrote:
>Brian A wrote:
>
>
>Will they only give you an 056 incoming number like their broadband
>voice product?
afaik yes.
Remove 'no_spam_' from email address.
| |
| hairydog@despammed.com 2006-03-03, 5:46 pm |
| On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:00:08 GMT, M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>I have in fact had both numbers receiving and calling out perfectly
>tonight via soft phones but when I put the settings back into my
>Sipura's no joy
Riiight. So when you changed things at your end, it works. Sounds like
it is a problem at their end, not how the user set things up. Well,
not very much. OK, not at all.
As I said, the problem is almost certainly user settings.
| |
| Sam Jones 2006-03-27, 7:46 am |
| On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:43:39 +0000, hairydog@despammed.com wrote:
>On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:00:08 GMT, M-Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>
>
>Riiight. So when you changed things at your end, it works. Sounds like
>it is a problem at their end, not how the user set things up. Well,
>not very much. OK, not at all.
>
>As I said, the problem is almost certainly user settings.
Looks like I made the wrong choice. I can't receive any incoming calls
this afternoon. Does anyone provide a service you can rely on?
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-27, 7:46 am |
| Sam Jones wrote:
> On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:43:39 +0000, hairydog@despammed.com wrote:
>
> Looks like I made the wrong choice. I can't receive any incoming calls
> this afternoon. Does anyone provide a service you can rely on?
How about using more than one service for incoming calls and getting a
number with a carousel service on (to make the multiple incoming
transparent).
Mind you,. you'll probably need to pay for incoming calls on that number
(or have it as an 0845).
| |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-27, 7:46 am |
| On Sun, 26 Mar 2006 16:46:25 GMT, Sam Jones <sam@dodgeit.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:43:39 +0000, hairydog@despammed.com wrote:
>
>Looks like I made the wrong choice. I can't receive any incoming calls
>this afternoon. Does anyone provide a service you can rely on?
Our three voip.co lines are working ok Sam I suspect it is either a
server of theirs or a provider they use playing up .
| |
| Dave Gill 2006-03-27, 11:56 pm |
| Sam Jones wrote:
> Looks like I made the wrong choice. I can't receive any incoming calls
> this afternoon. Does anyone provide a service you can rely on?
I've found Voip.co.uk to be pretty reliable so far, but here it's used
almost exclusively for outgoing calls (on the £20 for the year option).
For an incoming VoIP number I use Gradwell, which costs me a little
under a fiver a month. I know some people aren't happy with paying line
rental for a VoIP line, but the way I look at it is it's less than half
the price of the Telewest line I used to have and it's just as reliable.
YPYM,YTYC
--
The From address is a spam-trap, so all replies to the newsgroup please.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be Alert, Your Country Needs More Lerts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| |
| Dave Gill 2006-03-27, 11:56 pm |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> So what is wrong with having a second line from voip.co.uk for a
> couple of quid a month instead of paying Gradwell more than
> double do you have a reason for not doing so ? .
It's not that I need my incoming line separate to my outgoing line or
anything like that, one line would be sufficient. However, I've had my
Gradwell line for some time now and that's the number I give out as my
home number. I've no reason to change that. The only reason I added
the Voip.co.uk line was for the inclusive evening calls (love-struck
teenager in the house...).
--
The From address is a spam-trap, so all replies to the newsgroup please.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be Alert, Your Country Needs More Lerts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-27, 11:56 pm |
| On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 22:04:15 +0100, Dave Gill
<idontlikespam@spamlovelyspam.com> wrote:
>It's not that I need my incoming line separate to my outgoing line or
>anything like that, one line would be sufficient. However, I've had my
>Gradwell line for some time now and that's the number I give out as my
>home number. I've no reason to change that. The only reason I added
>the Voip.co.uk line was for the inclusive evening calls (love-struck
>teenager in the house...).
Very handy the free evening and all weekend calls Dave .
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-27, 11:56 pm |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:18:57 +0100, Dave Gill
> <idontlikespam@spamlovelyspam.com> wrote:
>
>
> So what is wrong with having a second line from voip.co.uk for a
> couple of quid a month instead of paying Gradwell more than
> double do you have a reason for not doing so ? .
>
For a second number with voip.co.uk it's a one-off payment of £2, not
£2/month.
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-27, 11:56 pm |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 22:04:15 +0100, Dave Gill
> <idontlikespam@spamlovelyspam.com> wrote:
>
[vbcol=seagreen]
> Very handy the free evening and all weekend calls Dave .
Or at least it would be if they worked, still nothing from them fixing
my overbilling problem.
Important note with voip.co.uk, you need to pay for a call if you are
making more than one at a time. (and their billing system seems to think
that I've been on the phone on 2 calls for now 1.5 days which means that
I can't make any calls without being billed for them).
And they haven't replied to my support request. (although typically when
they do they're bloody useless).
| |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-30, 11:56 pm |
| On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 22:39:11 GMT, Thomas Kenyon
<tom@art-it-services.co.uk> wrote:
>Or at least it would be if they worked, still nothing from them fixing
>my overbilling problem.
>
>Important note with voip.co.uk, you need to pay for a call if you are
>making more than one at a time. (and their billing system seems to think
>that I've been on the phone on 2 calls for now 1.5 days which means that
>I can't make any calls without being billed for them).
>
>And they haven't replied to my support request. (although typically when
>they do they're bloody useless).
I guess from the tone of your post Tom that you are pissing about
emailing them rather than using the phone to call them, one of my main
reasons for disliking Sipgate so much is the fact that there was no
way of contacting them direct via the phone .
>And they haven't replied to my support request. (although typically when
>they do they're bloody useless).
Your experience of voip.co.uk seems to be entirely different to that
of mine I have had nothing but help from them when I have contacted
them by phone .
On the other hand I cannot get two numbers to remain registered when
connected via the same IP range I have to have one on 192.168.1.11 and
the other on 192.168.15.3 .If I put a second number in the 1.11 PAP2
it stays registered for about five minutes then drops .
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-30, 11:56 pm |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 22:39:11 GMT, Thomas Kenyon
> <tom@art-it-services.co.uk> wrote:
>
[vbcol=seagreen]
> I guess from the tone of your post Tom that you are pissing about
> emailing them rather than using the phone to call them, one of my main
> reasons for disliking Sipgate so much is the fact that there was no
> way of contacting them direct via the phone .
I must be a fool, I figured that they knew how to use a computer.
[vbcol=seagreen]
> Your experience of voip.co.uk seems to be entirely different to that
> of mine I have had nothing but help from them when I have contacted
> them by phone .
I've not tried phoning them. I don't expecially like phoning companies
to moan at them when an email should suffice.
> On the other hand I cannot get two numbers to remain registered when
> connected via the same IP range I have to have one on 192.168.1.11 and
> the other on 192.168.15.3 .If I put a second number in the 1.11 PAP2
> it stays registered for about five minutes then drops .
That sounds very strange (no problem here with that).
Not just that you appear to be using a /16 (well somewhere between /16
and /22) subnet but the registration thing. Mind you, you are
registering through a NAT, completely different situation.
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-30, 11:56 pm |
| Thomas Kenyon wrote:[vbcol=seagreen]
I've just noticed that I can't find anything regarding this on their
pricing or T's and C's.
| |
| David Floyd 2006-03-30, 11:56 pm |
| In message of Tue, 28 Mar 2006, Thomas Kenyon writes
>Thomas Kenyon wrote:
>I've just noticed that I can't find anything regarding this on their
>pricing or T's and C's.
You really ought to speak to them.
I've had no problems, with 2 lines connected. Although I was away when
the time changed to BST, so if there was a problem then, I wasn't aware
of it. All was OK last night.
The only thing I don't like at the moment is the Voicemail system. I
was away at the week-end - phoned the 0845 no. for voicemail - didn't
catch all the message, and then you can't listen to it again. OK you
can listen to it again on-line - but I was away and only had access to
the 0845 no. via a mobile.
David
| |
| Thomas Kenyon 2006-03-30, 11:56 pm |
| David Floyd wrote:
> In message of Tue, 28 Mar 2006, Thomas Kenyon writes
>
>
> You really ought to speak to them.
>
> I've had no problems, with 2 lines connected. Although I was away when
> the time changed to BST, so if there was a problem then, I wasn't aware
> of it. All was OK last night.
>
> The only thing I don't like at the moment is the Voicemail system. I
> was away at the week-end - phoned the 0845 no. for voicemail - didn't
> catch all the message, and then you can't listen to it again. OK you
> can listen to it again on-line - but I was away and only had access to
> the 0845 no. via a mobile.
>
> David
Funnily enough, a separate support request I made from a different
account (that I manage) a couple of days later (which didn't have nearly
the same problem, but was overbilled). I got a reply from on the same day.
| |
| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-03-30, 11:56 pm |
| On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 10:08:39 GMT, Thomas Kenyon
<tom@art-it-services.co.uk> wrote:
>I must be a fool, I figured that they knew how to use a computer.
Tom I know it is just not practical in this day and age but I feel
that if we where able to deal more with company employees that use pen
and paper as they used to do rather than computers there would not be
half the mistakes made that are made today.
>I've not tried phoning them. I don't expecially like phoning companies
>to moan at them when an email should suffice.
I am just the opposite Tom sooner pick up the phone than start
swapping emails and filling in forms via computer .
>That sounds very strange (no problem here with that).
From my dealings with voip.co.uk I gather that like Sipgate the
service is being run on a shoestring budget which would explain
all the little problems some people are having . Why did some peple
have no service for a time the other day and yet my numbers where
working ok .
To get more or less 24/7 perfect service one just has to spend a
little more money, I have two Freetalk lines and in the eight months I
have had them not once have they given me cause to complain.
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