Voip (UK)

[alfalpha]

Soon changing ISP and will get rid of the landline but would like to keep the landline number through VOIP on the off chance of incoming calls. Can I tap the collective knowledge base please for any hardware required as well as software/ service provider?

Thanks in anticipation.
Alf

[jimjim1]

Have a look at:

https://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/t...mobile.389662/

No idea if you can keep your number.

You can also plug an IP phone into your router. You need to buy a service.

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband/voip/
This looks a pretty goo darticle.

[papabravowhiskey]

Originally Posted by alfalpha

Soon changing ISP and will get rid of the landline but would like to keep the landline number through VOIP on the off chance of incoming calls. Can I tap the collective knowledge base please for any hardware required as well as software/ service provider?

Thanks in anticipation.
Alf

Yes, it is possible, though it is not as simple as porting a mobile number. If you google "transferring fixed line number to voip" it will give you several providers who can do it. Fees may be payable.

Regards
PBW

[pax britanica]

AS al LL in Uk to be phased out I think Ofcom should mandate number porting and as deadline gets closer and many more peopel impacted i suspect they will.

The whole thing is abit of a scam because you still keep a physical network connection to some sort of switch its just an optical pair not a copper pair. They both carry your internet its just the optical one is faster/ it seems almost everyone now uses their mobile as primary means of voice connection but another access pathway to the internet is always going to be useful as back up for people who need 24/7 connectivity (or think they do) .

Also worth remembering that old fashioned copper pair landines keep working even if power goes to your property and that might eb a reason to hang on as long as possible until BT get desperate for you to move rather than youasking them now to move you.

[netstruggler]

Originally Posted by pax britanica

The whole thing is abit of a scam because you still keep a physical network connection to some sort of switch its just an optical pair not a copper pair. They both carry your internet its just the optical one is faster/ it seems almost everyone now uses their mobile as primary means of voice connection but another access pathway to the internet is always going to be useful as back up for people who need 24/7 connectivity (or think they do) .
.

Are you sure they're going to replace the copper with optical fibre - I haven't read that? I was assuming that those who have copper to the exchange would keep it but it would become data only. I get at least 80MB/s down my copper broadband which is more than enough to support a digital voice call or two.

[papabravowhiskey]

Originally Posted by netstruggler

Are you sure they're going to replace the copper with optical fibre - I haven't read that? I was assuming that those who have copper to the exchange would keep it but it would become data only. I get at least 80MB/s down my copper broadband which is more than enough to support a digital voice call or two.

My understanding agrees with you: if you currently have copper from the cabinet to the premises, that's how it will stay unless you are offered FTTP. The copper wires will simply carry broadband and not phone, and not power, so old unpowered phones will not work. If you are with BT and opt for their "Digital Voice" service then it looks like the only way to use the DV service is via the BT SmartHub 2 (which has a built-in DECT base station and a phone socket): from what I understand, other VOIP boxes won't work with the BT DV system. There's nothing stopping you from simply going to a broadband-only service and using your own VOIP box (with another VOIP provider) or something like a Fritz!Box which provides a DECT base station, plus lots of other capabilities.The Fritz!Box that I used to have also had a media server, a VPN server, a voice-to-mail server (so voicemail messages were converted to mp3 files and forwarded via email), a fax receiver which would forward to email, a SIP Voip system and a NAS.

Regards
PBW

[MAC 40612]

Originally Posted by alfalpha

Soon changing ISP and will get rid of the landline but would like to keep the landline number through VOIP on the off chance of incoming calls. Can I tap the collective knowledge base please for any hardware required as well as software/ service provider?

Thanks in anticipation.
Alf

I recently went through the same thing, changing ISP and ditching land line but actually decided against VOIP number transfer. Like you, have had the existing land line number for a number of years [more than 25] so thought long and hard about keeping it but came to the conclusion, that although I could keep the same number on a VOIP system, it would cost about an extra £10-£15 a month. Then I looked at what our actual land line usage was and it was primarily my wife who used the land line to keep in touch with her elderly parents who live in another part of the UK. This 'problem' was solved by getting her a £5 a month unlimited minutes mobile SIM card, so that wasn't an issue any longer. If her parents need to ring her in an emergency they phone her mobile and then hang up an she rings them.
The vast majority of land line calls we were getting in recent years were either out and out scams...'Hello Sir, this is Microsoft here' or marketing calls...'You need extra insulation' etc etc as anyone we do know has long since been contacting us via mobile calls/texts/whatsAPP, so in the end we actually ditched our land line and our old number as the cost savings for just having a fibre broadband ISP were considerable and no more nuisance calls. To highlight how long some of these marketing firms hold onto details, we regularly used to get calls for the previous owners of the house, who had emigrated to Canada more than 25 years ago! It always used to amuse me when they were asked for as I used to reply, 'Do you want their number in Canada?'

One final thing, which I'm sure you know, is that one of the main reasons for a land line in the past was for emergencies as that worked even if you lost power to your property. That obviously is no longer the case with a VOIP system as a power failure in the house means no broad band and no VOIP.

[rans6andrew]

I asked the question of internet staying up during power cuts when I spoke to CityFibre recently. They "opined" that IF I could power up my modem/router and my VOIP box then I SHOULD be able to make/receive phone calls over the internet as normal. The only shame is that our latest router is powered from a USB phone charger at 5 volts and not the 12 volts that the previous ones have been. 12 volts would have been so much easier to manage with a left over car battery and a trickle charger set up. A sort of DIY UPS. I am still tempted to make a 5 volt supply with battery backup to support the modem/router and wait for a power cut to afflict us.

Rans6................

[Saab Dastard]

I wouldn't be too sanguine about being able to use the internet during a power cut - unless it's just your property, the likelihood will be that some upstream network device in your area will also be taken out once the power goes, rendering your power supply moot.

In the past when we have had power cuts in our street (there was a dodgy transformer locally, since replaced), the Virgin media boxes used also go down. Virgin used to send a man with a van to power up the voice side (as they were legally obliged to do so), but not the data side, so even though I could power the cable modem with a UPS, the upstream connection was dead. Then when the power came back, more often than not, a network card in the street cabinet would have tripped / failed, requiring Virgin to send a repair team out to replace it.

[pax britanica]

I think the internet working post power cut is unlikely and consequently your VOIP will go dead as well. Old landline phones will mostly work, the power for your phone comes from the exchange over copper wire and the exchange has massive batteries that will back up the power for at the very minimum a day.. But you still have your mobile and unless you live alone the odds are there is more than one 'mobile device' in the property voice calls should be fine unless the power cut takes out the nearby phone mast and even then unless you live in a very rural area your phone can probably link to more than one mast.

[papabravowhiskey]

Originally Posted by pax britanica

I think the internet working post power cut is unlikely and consequently your VOIP will go dead as well.

Agreed, unless you have a UPS AND there is a UPS at the exchange or the exchange has an independent supply unaffected by the power cut.

Originally Posted by pax britanica

Old landline phones will mostly work, the power for your phone comes from the exchange over copper wire and the exchange has massive batteries that will back up the power for at the very minimum a day.

After the changeover, what OpenReach is saying is that old landline phones will NOT work because the power for the phone will no longer come from the exchange over the copper wire. tHe exchange may still have backup power but it won't be channelled down the copper wires of those that don't have FTTP yet.

Originally Posted by pax britanica

But you still have your mobile and unless you live alone the odds are there is more than one 'mobile device' in the property voice calls should be fine unless the power cut takes out the nearby phone mast and even then unless you live in a very rural area your phone can probably link to more than one mast.

Our last house was less than half a mile from the M6 but the cells were designed to give a good service to the motorway traffic (the tower was between us and the motorway) and our mobile reception was piss-poor even when everything was supposedly working normally!!

[pax britanica]

I am not sure about Open rechs statement that central battery powering will be discontinued becuase that would involve quite bit of engineering -why would they undertake that rather than leave as it is because there is little to no chance they will meet this dead line and some landlines will stay operational. What they can say is that keeping a traditional phone may at some point cease working and they will then transfer you to VOIP . Most people will just go for the VOIP option but Ofcom , as weak and useless as always should have mandated back up battery (2 x AA) in the home router for service continuity. As to your misfortune with mobile service how many other properties were affected by the antennae facing the 'wrongway'. Once thy have a tower power and connectivity it isnt that expensive to add other antennae to the tower. If there were a lot of you its surprising no operator went for that option. Being from the physical connectivity side of the industry I regard any radio system as somewhere between a miracle or black magic due to its vagaries and temperamental service.

[jimjim1]

Originally Posted by Saab Dastard

power up the voice side (as they were legally obliged to do so),

This leads to a good tip if you have broadband issues. If you can find anything about the voice to complain about then do so. You might get it fixed sooner. This won't always work, but for say a noisy line it will likely do so.