..... But which one.

So, I type voip into google and to many appear.

Suggestion please.

Just did a 5 user small office install using VoIPFONE, Seemed knowledgeable and efficient enough.

I use Voipfone and Sipgate, and am happy with both.

Another vote for Voipfone from me, both the straight voip and the carrier pre select service (outgoing calls at voip prices on a standard BT landline). We have experience of both and can thoroughly recommended them.

i am with sipgate, only been with them for a few weeks, but does the job. I use it to replace my home phone.

www.voipdiscount.com
Been with this for several years & no problems

Why bother? Lots of providers give landline and net as an all in one package, free calls etc, voip seems a lot of faffing about to me; can't see a positive in it. Maybe if your on holiday abroad, but thats about it.

I am with Virgin Media now so Broadband and Landline are seperate packages. I hardly use the telephone next year when I am out of the contract. I may ceasse the landline and switch to voip. Just a thought and jsut want to compare providers.

I still prefer the reliability and quality of land line calls to be honest and have calls packages to mobile and landlines (international) so it makes sense for me. I used skype when I had my place in Portugal but rarely used it then.

Been with Voipcheap.com for years, top up €10 (they're based in Europe) every 3 months, get free UK and some international calls (Europe, US, Australia, + others), cheap rates to mobiles and other countries that aren't included in the free rate (which comes out of the €10 top up). I have a Linksys PAP2T and a normal DECT handset, so easy that my non-tech savvy mum can use it without a problem. Call quality is fine too.

I'd like to see a landline deal that offers the same for around £30/year...

There are many people who have a landline because it is required to have broadband and yet they never use it to make calls because they have a mobile. in fact the majority of people I know says they would not have a landline if it was not required for broadband.

Even fibre, either to the premises and to the cabinet still requires people to pay £12 or more a month just for the pleasure of having a way to bring the internet into their home, then the net costs on top.

There are some people who now are starting to use a wireless service like myself and can now get rid of their phone line, just like I have.

voip is fine, i use Sipgate as I said above, mainly so my father can get in touch as he don't have a mobile and phoning a landline is cheaper for him. but i also found it is cheaper for me to phone the states using Sipgate, all Bt and other telecoms companies wants us to do is pay another monthly fee to get things cheaper. Sure that is fine if you phone abroad a lot, but i only phone once a month,

Of cause we are all different and we all use our services differently.

As for Skype, it is not really Voip, and can be expensive compared to a decent voip system

I must admit i did think at one time what on earth would I want voip for, I had no need for it, but since I now got no phone line and if I don't use it, i pay nothing for it, I find it is useful to have .

i was paying over a tenner a month for something I did not use, sure they gave me free weekend and evening calls, but I never used them either, now I topped up my sipgate account with a tenner and i expect it will take me over 12 months to use that.

"in fact the majority of people I know says they would not have a landline if it was not required for broadband" Hardly representative of the population though?

Your not in most cases paying extra for your landline, it thrown in with your BB package so I really can't see why I'd dump it to go over to some 'wireless' fly by night provider. The landline is more reliable even in the event of a major ISP outage or grid failure.

I might go back to skype for vid calls when I move out to Gran Canaria though.

Maybe not, but I bet there are a hell of a lot of people who would not have a landline if they did not have broadband and Telcoms like BT and Talk knows it.



Of cause you are. Sure providers like Tallk Talk, Sky and even Bt now may give you a cut price broadband compared to others, because you pay them around £12 or more in line rental., but then they expect you to make calls to get that money back or charge you for some thing else you may or may not need.

Remember when Talk Talk first started their broadband service and said if you have a international package you get free broadband? i wonder how many people was paying for something they did not need to get their free broadband, which no doubt was more expensive than just paying for broadband.



Who said they are fly by night? some of these wireless services are run by ISps, like Vispa for instance. sure the one I use was started by a payment company, but they was the only ones and still are the only ones that can offer a decent service to people who would not get one, because Bt don't find it cost affective to give broadband to a couple of hundred.

As for reliability, sure a farmer could go into his barn and switch the access point off or in my case the Dean could go into the cathedral and switch my access point off. i heard that only happened once when a farmer just switched every thing off in a barn, but they got UPS to keep them running. Barn access points for country side and also on churches. We could have a power cut or there could be a power cut at the main base.

But with ADSL it is not the most reliable service either, water in cables, cables being cut, exchange problems. Even fibre have the same problems, plus with the further problem of power fail, I presume they go some back up system, but for how long?

Nothing is 100%, sure I only been on this new service for a couple of weeks, but it have been reliable, ok I will not lie i have had a couple of speed problems, but that is now sorted and next month the bandwidth is being upgraded.

i think they service grew faster than they thought it would and now need a upgrade. As long as I can browse the net, watch netflix, that is all I need.

Don't forget this is my choice, in the next month or so FTTC will be here, the cabinets was put in place late last week, still got a load of barriers around them. So I could have waited and got 40 megabits or more via FTTC soon, but as I have told you many many times, I don't want it, I don't need 40 megabits.

You was so sure that I would go to FTTC as soon as it was available, but it is not going to happen.

some people don't have that choice and these so called fly by night wireless services are the only way these people can get a decent broadband.


Never been that impressed with Skype to be honest, i have used it and do use it still now and again, but the voice quality is iffy .

Your better off going FTTC, look at the Talk Talk offers, simply superb at the moment, these wireless providers are OK if you stuck up some dirt track in the middle of nowhere but for reliability you want your land line and FTTC if you can afford it.

Don't forget Talk Talk's award winning customer service, voted WORST twice in a row!

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/b...ard-AGAIN.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011...roadband-ofcom

LOFL. Talk talk and reliability, that is a laugh. I suppose they are reliable, if you only want low speeds. Yes, i know your family, your best friend and your best man got Talk Talk and they get a great service.

Anyway, If I wanted FTTC I would have waited, but I don't, TBH, i am glad to be away from any Bt network and not rely on their old copper cabling that they got around here. the state of their cables, i would be surprised if FTTC will work around here.

BT should have gone straight for fibre to the premises, not this half job they are doing now which is already out of date, even then I would have second thoughts about going for it.


I can understand people for this high speed if they got a family with multiple devices, but for me it is just a waste, the 10 megabits I will eventually go for will be enough to get XHD on netflixs, so why would I need 40 megabits or more?

True, I bet Talk Talk would not phone me up if i send them a email with a problem I have got, they will send some of their standard bull scripted email

Never had a reliability issue with TT, nor have family and friends. All providers have problems but I've not with them. What speed are you on having gone wireless? Best you get a good FTTC deal really.

Do it matter what speed I am on? lets say it is more than what I was on with ADSL and once the installation fee is paid I will take it up a bit higher to 10 megabits.

You just don't read, or it don't sink in, I have said before i have got no need for 40 Mb/s. Eventually the service I am with are going to go to 30Mb/s, but even then I doubt I will bother.

Tell me what on earth I need more than 10 Mb/s for?


To go fibre now would be expensive, because i would need to connect my phone line back up and also I am in a contract now.
As for a good FTTC deal, these is none.

As a package the TT FTTC takes some beating, its very good, 10Mb/s is slow by todays standards, bear minimum really for streaming content.

As a package of a phone line, phone calls and other stuff I don't need or require, so it is not good good value. In your opinion TT FTTC takes some beating, other people may and no doubt think differently.

If I am getting XHD on 10 megabits which is the highest Netfliks do, then how on earth can 10 megabits be slow for streaming?

i don't have ten megabits at the moment mind you, but I did for a day to sort something out, i will be getting it again next month. The only minor problem was when i was watching Netflixs and i was using the voip phone, netflixs quality went down a bit, but that is because i am only on five megabits at the moment. Also it don't really matter as when I am on the phone i pause netflix.

Don't forget, I am the only one here, so ten megabits will do the job. so I will ask again, what do i want with 40 megabits?

Also you know full well even if I did go for FTTC, i would never go with TT, even if they was the last ISp in this country i would rather go without the net.

Sure in a couple of years time I may go for fibre, depends how this service I got works out and what happens in the next two years.

And back to a voip provider...Any further suggestions

oh yeah . sorry i can't help you any further, apart from Bt voip service, which was useless, i have only used Sipgate.

i do know of someone who uses vonage and I must admit they are very good, but you got to pay a subscription to use them and their equipment is normally locked. to them

I wanted to bring the conversation back from the standard TalkTalk debate!

I will look into your suggestions. Thanks again Noise.

The extra speed is nice for downloads, game playing, streaming, you can have streaming on several screens at the same time, well worth the little bit extra in cost.

I can't understand the hatred for TT, read on the net, its getting better all the time, complaints down 50% this year, not that I've ever had a problem nor have friends and family who use the service.