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Home > Archive > Voice Over IP in UK > May 2006 > Freetalk, Vonage, BT Broadband Talk - important difference
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Freetalk, Vonage, BT Broadband Talk - important difference
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| duncan.perrett@elekta.com 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| I have just bought a Freetalk box. I have yet to activate it. From
what I can gather, the Freetalk and Vonage setups are VERY similar.
However BT has one advantage....
It's ATA or Phone Adapter (in my case it would be a Voyager 10V) has an
extra port to connect to the home's landline circuit.
I believe this means that if someone called your new VOIP phone number,
all your phones would ring and similarly if they called your current
landline phone number - all your phones would ring. Therefore BT's
advantage is that you needn't bother to inform all your friends and
relatives about your new (VOIP) phone number since they can continue to
call you on your current landline phone number.
I am tempted to change from Freetalk to BT because of this.
The only reason I may just keep Freetalk is because my wireless router
(and Ethernet Cable Modem and NTL socket) is not positioned near a
landline socket. I will be connecting the Freetalk box to a cordless
(DECT) base station. So I would have to move everything (or run a long
cable) to take advantage of BT's feature. I will also connect a
regular phone to a landline socket but then my phones will
unfortunately not ring 'as one'.
Another point on VOIP ...
The VOIP vendors are keen on advertising the fact that you can choose
any local area code regardless of your physical location. This is
meant to save your callers money. However, nowadays, there is no cost
difference between a local call and a national call. So it seems
pointless to me unless you are talking internationally.
Any comments?
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| duncan.perr...@elekta.com wrote:
> Therefore BT's
> advantage is that you needn't bother to inform all your friends and
> relatives about your new (VOIP) phone number since they can continue to
> call you on your current landline phone number.
number portability offers the same benefit - ditch the landline ?
> The VOIP vendors are keen on advertising the fact that you can choose
> any local area code regardless of your physical location. This is
> meant to save your callers money. However, nowadays, there is no cost
> difference between a local call and a national call. So it seems
> pointless to me unless you are talking internationally.
Business lines and some other BT tariffs (Light User) do differentiate
the charges to local and long distance still.
Phil
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| {{{{{Welcome}}}}} 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| Thus spaketh duncan.perrett@elekta.com:
>
> The VOIP vendors are keen on advertising the fact that you can choose
> any local area code regardless of your physical location. This is
> meant to save your callers money. However, nowadays, there is no cost
> difference between a local call and a national call. So it seems
> pointless to me unless you are talking internationally.
>
> Any comments?
In addition to my Birmingham numbers, I have a London number, Liverpool
number, Manchester number, and several other areas, these I use like many
others not for people to be able to call at a lower rate, which as you have
noticed for residential customers the rates are the same, but to appear to
be located in those areas.
I have a German number, Italian number, Romanian number and a USA number
too, these are used so it is cheaper for the caller to call.
--
Items for sale: www.dodgy-dealer.co.uk
3p/min & 1p Texts, EasyMobile, For £5 airtime bonus contact via:
www.southeastbirmingham.co.uk
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| duncan.perrett@elekta.com 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| Which VOIP providers offer number portability then?
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| PhilT wrote:
> number portability offers the same benefit - ditch the landline ?
Not much of the UK can get broadband without a BT line.....
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| {{{{{Welcome}}}}} 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| Thus spaketh Sean:
> PhilT wrote:
>
>
> Not much of the UK can get broadband without a BT line.....
The OP is on NTL.
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| duncan.perrett@elekta.com 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| Is having a BT or NTL line relevant to my post?
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Sean wrote:
> Not much of the UK can get broadband without a BT line.....
only half the households.
Phil
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duncan.perrett@elekta.com wrote:
> Is having a BT or NTL line relevant to my post?
yes in that there would be a case for not having a landline if you have
NTL cable internet. Also the local vs national call charges debate is
call carrier specific.
otherwise no.
Phil
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| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| On 6 Apr 2006 07:50:24 -0700, duncan.perrett@elekta.com wrote:
>The VOIP vendors are keen on advertising the fact that you can choose
>any local area code regardless of your physical location. This is
>meant to save your callers money. However, nowadays, there is no cost
>difference between a local call and a national call. So it seems
>pointless to me unless you are talking internationally.
>
>Any comments?
Seems totally pointless to me to have any voip line if you need to
have a landline for internet access .
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| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| On 6 Apr 2006 08:15:37 -0700, duncan.perrett@elekta.com wrote:
>Is having a BT or NTL line relevant to my post?
Very relevant having cable internet you can totally rule out any need
for a very expensive land line by acquiring a voip line .
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| duncan.perrett@elekta.com wrote:
> Which VOIP providers offer number portability then?
I believe that Gradwell do - however, if the number you want to port isn't
in the 020 area code, you'd have to pay per-hop to Gradwell [or Magrathea
or Gamma or whoever does their back end]'s data centre for calls.
--
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| hairydog@despammed.com 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| On 6 Apr 2006 07:50:24 -0700, duncan.perrett@elekta.com wrote:
>It's ATA or Phone Adapter (in my case it would be a Voyager 10V) has an
>extra port to connect to the home's landline circuit.
[snip]
>I am tempted to change from Freetalk to BT because of this.
What an astonishingly silly thing to do. It isn't BT who provide this
facility, it's the ATA.
You can buy a Grandstream AT-486 that does the same, or one of several
other (but maybe more expensive) ATAs that have full FXO ports that do
the same and more.
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| hairydog@despammed.com 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 17:10:23 GMT, M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>Seems totally pointless to me to have any voip line if you need to
>have a landline for internet access .
Only if you don't understand the advantages of VOIP.
But then again, it is you...
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| duncan.perrett@elekta.com 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| OK.
I want to keep my landline for emergency situations and in case of
power cuts or loss of NTLWorld service. Anyway, I'm on a triple-play
package so the phone line is kind of thrown in with my TV and
Broadband. The advantage of VOIP is that ALL my calls to UK landlines
are 'free' 24/7. I could pay NTL and join a 24/7 Talk Plan but it
would cost me more! Also with the VOIP I get much better features than
with my NTL line. Eg: Caller ID, itemised billing, etc...
I know I could buy a fancy ATA and/or replace my wireless router, but I
don't want the hassle of having to configure it to work on Freetalk or
whoever.
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| {{{{{Welcome}}}}} 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| Thus spaketh duncan.perrett@elekta.com:
> OK.
> I want to keep my landline for emergency situations and in case of
> power cuts or loss of NTLWorld service. Anyway, I'm on a triple-play
> package so the phone line is kind of thrown in with my TV and
> Broadband. The advantage of VOIP is that ALL my calls to UK landlines
> are 'free' 24/7. I could pay NTL and join a 24/7 Talk Plan but it
> would cost me more! Also with the VOIP I get much better features
> than with my NTL line. Eg: Caller ID, itemised billing, etc...
>
> I know I could buy a fancy ATA and/or replace my wireless router, but
> I don't want the hassle of having to configure it to work on Freetalk
> or whoever.
Not sure if it's the same with NTL, but with Telewest if there is a local
powercut (not just in the house powercut) the phoneline will not work
anyway, it's different with BT theirs will work in power cuts.
--
Items for sale: www.dodgy-dealer.co.uk
3p/min & 1p Texts, EasyMobile, For £5 airtime bonus contact via:
www.southeastbirmingham.co.uk
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| duncan.perrett@elekta.com 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| Oh dear - I'll just have to keep my mobile charged then!
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| Tim Bray 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| duncan.perrett@elekta.com wrote:
> I believe this means that if someone called your new VOIP phone number,
> all your phones would ring and similarly if they called your current
> landline phone number - all your phones would ring. Therefore BT's
> advantage is that you needn't bother to inform all your friends and
> relatives about your new (VOIP) phone number since they can continue to
> call you on your current landline phone number.
Unless they are doing something very clever, it is a feature of tha
hardware, rather than the service.
You can do this using any SIP service provider and an SPA-3000.
It takes a little bit of setting up, but works very nicely.
Tim
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| M.Dexter@blueyonder.co.uk 2006-04-08, 6:57 pm |
| On 7 Apr 2006 03:13:01 -0700, duncan.perrett@elekta.com wrote:
>Oh dear - I'll just have to keep my mobile charged then!
So really you do not have a need to keep an expensive land line then.
On the other hand if you subscribed to Vonage you could still dial 999
from a Vonage account .
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<duncan.perrett@elekta.com> wrote in message
news:1144335023.911162.214710@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
>I have just bought a Freetalk box. I have yet to activate it. From
> what I can gather, the Freetalk and Vonage setups are VERY similar.
> However BT has one advantage....
>
> It's ATA or Phone Adapter (in my case it would be a Voyager 10V) has an
> extra port to connect to the home's landline circuit.
> I believe this means that if someone called your new VOIP phone number,
> all your phones would ring and similarly if they called your current
> landline phone number - all your phones would ring. Therefore BT's
> advantage is that you needn't bother to inform all your friends and
> relatives about your new (VOIP) phone number since they can continue to
> call you on your current landline phone number.
>
> I am tempted to change from Freetalk to BT because of this.
> The only reason I may just keep Freetalk is because my wireless router
> (and Ethernet Cable Modem and NTL socket) is not positioned near a
> landline socket. I will be connecting the Freetalk box to a cordless
> (DECT) base station. So I would have to move everything (or run a long
> cable) to take advantage of BT's feature. I will also connect a
> regular phone to a landline socket but then my phones will
> unfortunately not ring 'as one'.
>
> Another point on VOIP ...
>
> The VOIP vendors are keen on advertising the fact that you can choose
> any local area code regardless of your physical location. This is
> meant to save your callers money. However, nowadays, there is no cost
> difference between a local call and a national call. So it seems
> pointless to me unless you are talking internationally.
>
> Any comments?
>
Yes that is good, but the other advantage is that in the event of
power/broadband failure, the box latches to the normal phone line so that
you can make emergency calls to 999.
Cheers
Alex
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