Home VOIP Phone providers
Discussion
We're going to full fibre broadband shortly, and my ISP (Plusnet) doesn't offer a phone/VOIP solution with that. As the current plans are for all copper phone connections to cease by Jan 2027, my thoughts were that we may as well ditch the landline now and get used to that, not to mention beat the inevitable crush for services last-minute as the deadline approaches.
I very rarely use the landline at home but MrsC's maiden name was Ludd*, as was most of her family's, and although we discussed and agreed on ditching the landline, she's done a U-turn which SKS would be proud of and suggested that she'd like to retain the landline - and our phone number - in oder to remain in contact with her olds.
So I need to find a basic domestic VOIP provider who will accept a port of our existing number. Don't need anything fancy; in fact MrsC said she'd be happy with the VOIP phone just being there for people to call us and she'll use her mobile for outgoing calls, but we may as well have the option to call out over VOIP if necessary. I note that some of them come with an app to call out on the landline (similar to what the likes of Gamma Horizon offer, I guess).
Any recommendations then please for a cheap basic VOIP provider who will accept a port in of our number? I believe you can't port an existing copper line out until the fibre broadband is in, otherwise you'll lose both voice and data? So do I speak to a provider now and tee them up to port our number? There would be little or no point taking on a VOIP contract which provided a new "landline" number.
I've seen the likes of Andrews & Arnold who charge a £12 setup then £1.44 pcm, with calls on top. Are they any good? This seems the sort of service we need.
Any other suggestions/experiences?
TIA.
I very rarely use the landline at home but MrsC's maiden name was Ludd*, as was most of her family's, and although we discussed and agreed on ditching the landline, she's done a U-turn which SKS would be proud of and suggested that she'd like to retain the landline - and our phone number - in oder to remain in contact with her olds.
So I need to find a basic domestic VOIP provider who will accept a port of our existing number. Don't need anything fancy; in fact MrsC said she'd be happy with the VOIP phone just being there for people to call us and she'll use her mobile for outgoing calls, but we may as well have the option to call out over VOIP if necessary. I note that some of them come with an app to call out on the landline (similar to what the likes of Gamma Horizon offer, I guess).
Any recommendations then please for a cheap basic VOIP provider who will accept a port in of our number? I believe you can't port an existing copper line out until the fibre broadband is in, otherwise you'll lose both voice and data? So do I speak to a provider now and tee them up to port our number? There would be little or no point taking on a VOIP contract which provided a new "landline" number.
I've seen the likes of Andrews & Arnold who charge a £12 setup then £1.44 pcm, with calls on top. Are they any good? This seems the sort of service we need.
Any other suggestions/experiences?
TIA.
. * it wasn't really but it may as well have been!
Edited by -Cappo- on Friday 6th June 07:22
I have taken our entire business phone system from £350 a month to £20 a month with:
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/dialpad.com
And it records, transcribes and does fancy AI stuff. Cant fault it so far.
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/dialpad.com
And it records, transcribes and does fancy AI stuff. Cant fault it so far.
Update to this:
I went with A&A and purchased an ATA from them so that we could use our existing set of DECT phones (set of 4). I've been having a lot of trouble with the service being very intermittent both incoming and outgoing but have made further changes at A&A's direction today so we'll see how that goes.
There is a separate issue which of course isn't really down to them. The base DECT phone is plugged into the ATA, and for an incoming call (which takes a long time to connect anyway), the caller gets 2 or 3 rings before the base DECT starts ringing. However, the other handsets around the house don't start ringing for a significantly longer time (many rings longer). Because the base is now with the ATA & router (upstairs), there's a high possibility of missing calls or callers ringing off. This wasn't the case with the old analog line, all 4 phones rang immediately.
The DECT phones are BT 7610 and a good few years old. Will there be any benefit in buying newer DECT phones, and/or are there such things as a set of VOIP phones which will support additional handsets in the way DECT does?
And before anyone suggests it: MrsC is adamant that she wants a landline in the house, so I need a solution other than "just use your mobiles"
I went with A&A and purchased an ATA from them so that we could use our existing set of DECT phones (set of 4). I've been having a lot of trouble with the service being very intermittent both incoming and outgoing but have made further changes at A&A's direction today so we'll see how that goes.
There is a separate issue which of course isn't really down to them. The base DECT phone is plugged into the ATA, and for an incoming call (which takes a long time to connect anyway), the caller gets 2 or 3 rings before the base DECT starts ringing. However, the other handsets around the house don't start ringing for a significantly longer time (many rings longer). Because the base is now with the ATA & router (upstairs), there's a high possibility of missing calls or callers ringing off. This wasn't the case with the old analog line, all 4 phones rang immediately.
The DECT phones are BT 7610 and a good few years old. Will there be any benefit in buying newer DECT phones, and/or are there such things as a set of VOIP phones which will support additional handsets in the way DECT does?
And before anyone suggests it: MrsC is adamant that she wants a landline in the house, so I need a solution other than "just use your mobiles"
-Cappo- said:
Update to this:
I went with A&A and purchased an ATA from them so that we could use our existing set of DECT phones (set of 4). I've been having a lot of trouble with the service being very intermittent both incoming and outgoing but have made further changes at A&A's direction today so we'll see how that goes.
There is a separate issue which of course isn't really down to them. The base DECT phone is plugged into the ATA, and for an incoming call (which takes a long time to connect anyway), the caller gets 2 or 3 rings before the base DECT starts ringing. However, the other handsets around the house don't start ringing for a significantly longer time (many rings longer). Because the base is now with the ATA & router (upstairs), there's a high possibility of missing calls or callers ringing off. This wasn't the case with the old analog line, all 4 phones rang immediately.
The DECT phones are BT 7610 and a good few years old. Will there be any benefit in buying newer DECT phones, and/or are there such things as a set of VOIP phones which will support additional handsets in the way DECT does?
And before anyone suggests it: MrsC is adamant that she wants a landline in the house, so I need a solution other than "just use your mobiles"
I would go for something like a Yealink W73P (other options are available)I went with A&A and purchased an ATA from them so that we could use our existing set of DECT phones (set of 4). I've been having a lot of trouble with the service being very intermittent both incoming and outgoing but have made further changes at A&A's direction today so we'll see how that goes.
There is a separate issue which of course isn't really down to them. The base DECT phone is plugged into the ATA, and for an incoming call (which takes a long time to connect anyway), the caller gets 2 or 3 rings before the base DECT starts ringing. However, the other handsets around the house don't start ringing for a significantly longer time (many rings longer). Because the base is now with the ATA & router (upstairs), there's a high possibility of missing calls or callers ringing off. This wasn't the case with the old analog line, all 4 phones rang immediately.
The DECT phones are BT 7610 and a good few years old. Will there be any benefit in buying newer DECT phones, and/or are there such things as a set of VOIP phones which will support additional handsets in the way DECT does?
And before anyone suggests it: MrsC is adamant that she wants a landline in the house, so I need a solution other than "just use your mobiles"
In this way you dispense with all the old analogue stuff, and go naitive ethernet/VoIP
The above implements a base station with a direct ethernet connection, then DECT to one or more handsets.
All this with terminal adaptors be that seperate or built in to a provider's router is a poor solution.
Thanks for that.
Have decided that I'm going to bin A&A and try Voipfone. The A&A service has never worked properly since the day it went live (about 5 weeks ago); it's both intermittent - will work one time then not 5 mins later - and the delays in connecting calls, both OG & IG, are long enough to have people hanging up. I measured one today, it took 45 secs.
A&A's support relies on the end user being a fully qualified networking expert. They just send config notes out and expect the customer to know about SIP ALG, UPnP, NATing, etc, and where to find it and how to change it. My previous life was spent in IT, albeit not comms/networks, so I have some degree of knowledge but it's still taken me ages to work through their docs, and the changes haven't made any difference anyway.
Shall try Voipfone next.
Have decided that I'm going to bin A&A and try Voipfone. The A&A service has never worked properly since the day it went live (about 5 weeks ago); it's both intermittent - will work one time then not 5 mins later - and the delays in connecting calls, both OG & IG, are long enough to have people hanging up. I measured one today, it took 45 secs.
A&A's support relies on the end user being a fully qualified networking expert. They just send config notes out and expect the customer to know about SIP ALG, UPnP, NATing, etc, and where to find it and how to change it. My previous life was spent in IT, albeit not comms/networks, so I have some degree of knowledge but it's still taken me ages to work through their docs, and the changes haven't made any difference anyway.
Shall try Voipfone next.
-Cappo- said:
Thanks for that.
Have decided that I'm going to bin A&A and try Voipfone. The A&A service has never worked properly since the day it went live (about 5 weeks ago); it's both intermittent - will work one time then not 5 mins later - and the delays in connecting calls, both OG & IG, are long enough to have people hanging up. I measured one today, it took 45 secs.
A&A's support relies on the end user being a fully qualified networking expert. They just send config notes out and expect the customer to know about SIP ALG, UPnP, NATing, etc, and where to find it and how to change it. My previous life was spent in IT, albeit not comms/networks, so I have some degree of knowledge but it's still taken me ages to work through their docs, and the changes haven't made any difference anyway.
Shall try Voipfone next.
Might be worth trying Hostcomm.co.uk - I have found their support pretty good. I can give you a contact there if you like.Have decided that I'm going to bin A&A and try Voipfone. The A&A service has never worked properly since the day it went live (about 5 weeks ago); it's both intermittent - will work one time then not 5 mins later - and the delays in connecting calls, both OG & IG, are long enough to have people hanging up. I measured one today, it took 45 secs.
A&A's support relies on the end user being a fully qualified networking expert. They just send config notes out and expect the customer to know about SIP ALG, UPnP, NATing, etc, and where to find it and how to change it. My previous life was spent in IT, albeit not comms/networks, so I have some degree of knowledge but it's still taken me ages to work through their docs, and the changes haven't made any difference anyway.
Shall try Voipfone next.
Full disclosure: This is what I do for a living - but not really looking for 'end user' business hence me recommending the above.
Not worked with A&A - but only hear good things... I do expect you are right though and the level of knowledge required from the user might be too high.
Once you 'have' your number, it is fairly easy to port between providers. Still requires filling in some paperwork though.
Feel free to ask any questions - but since it is part of what I do as a business - I try and keep out of the Computers and Gadgets forums in my spare time.
Definately get rid of the analogue 'bodge' if you can.
It's a while since I had to sort out VoIP issues (horrible memories of looking at Wireshark dumps trying to figure out what was breaking) but the analogue base of the DECT phones should be getting an AC voltage pulse (IIRC!) from the ATA. The DECT base should then be ringing the other handsets.
Do you have an intercom function on the DECT phones? Does that work and ring the other handsets promptly?
Do you have an intercom function on the DECT phones? Does that work and ring the other handsets promptly?
No ideas for a name said:
Might be worth trying Hostcomm.co.uk - I have found their support pretty good. I can give you a contact there if you like.
Full disclosure: This is what I do for a living - but not really looking for 'end user' business hence me recommending the above.
Not worked with A&A - but only hear good things... I do expect you are right though and the level of knowledge required from the user might be too high.
Once you 'have' your number, it is fairly easy to port between providers. Still requires filling in some paperwork though.
Feel free to ask any questions - but since it is part of what I do as a business - I try and keep out of the Computers and Gadgets forums in my spare time.
Definately get rid of the analogue 'bodge' if you can.
Thanks - I get that completely, I used to look after large server and email installs, and quickly got bored of “can you have a look at my laptop for me?” questions!Full disclosure: This is what I do for a living - but not really looking for 'end user' business hence me recommending the above.
Not worked with A&A - but only hear good things... I do expect you are right though and the level of knowledge required from the user might be too high.
Once you 'have' your number, it is fairly easy to port between providers. Still requires filling in some paperwork though.
Feel free to ask any questions - but since it is part of what I do as a business - I try and keep out of the Computers and Gadgets forums in my spare time.
Definately get rid of the analogue 'bodge' if you can.
I’ll have a look at hostcomm - feel free to fire a name over, thanks. Will probably go with a VOIP/DECT solution as above. It looks like a neater option as well.
Harpoon said:
It's a while since I had to sort out VoIP issues (horrible memories of looking at Wireshark dumps trying to figure out what was breaking) but the analogue base of the DECT phones should be getting an AC voltage pulse (IIRC!) from the ATA. The DECT base should then be ringing the other handsets.
Do you have an intercom function on the DECT phones? Does that work and ring the other handsets promptly?
That’s an interesting thought. There’s a “Find” rather than an intercom, but pressing that sounds all 4 handsets immediately, so there’s clearly something in the VOIP/ATA config that’s not firing the ringer correctly. All 4 handsets rang fine on the old analog line. Do you have an intercom function on the DECT phones? Does that work and ring the other handsets promptly?
Can you get onto the ATA to manage it, e.g. via web page or similar? Might need to tweak the registration time or similar so it reconnects a bit more frequently.
Seems unlikely it'll be related to what handsets are plugged in or what VoIP provider you're using. More likely the ATA itself or your router.
Seems unlikely it'll be related to what handsets are plugged in or what VoIP provider you're using. More likely the ATA itself or your router.
wombleh said:
Can you get onto the ATA to manage it, e.g. via web page or similar? Might need to tweak the registration time or similar so it reconnects a bit more frequently.
Seems unlikely it'll be related to what handsets are plugged in or what VoIP provider you're using. More likely the ATA itself or your router.
Hi, yes, I can access the ATA. What should I be looking for?Seems unlikely it'll be related to what handsets are plugged in or what VoIP provider you're using. More likely the ATA itself or your router.
@No ideas for a name, PM received and noted, thanks.
The minor annoyance is that A&A sold me the ATA!
No ideas for a name said:
I would go for something like a Yealink W73P (other options are available)
In this way you dispense with all the old analogue stuff, and go naitive ethernet/VoIP
The above implements a base station with a direct ethernet connection, then DECT to one or more handsets.
We use a Gigaset N300 for this with voipfone (and nimvelo), and it's great (although N300 is a bit long in the tooth).In this way you dispense with all the old analogue stuff, and go naitive ethernet/VoIP
The above implements a base station with a direct ethernet connection, then DECT to one or more handsets.
Multiple incoming lines (work + Home), multiple simultaneous calls, digital end-to-end.
Harpoon said:
Which make / model of ATA do you have?
Is there any mention on the ATA and phones about a REN rating?
It's a Grandstream HT801. Just had a look through it and I can't see any reference to REN, although I think I've spotted that somewhere before.Is there any mention on the ATA and phones about a REN rating?
I also noticed that whilst a Stun server was added, the option to "Use STUN to detect network connectivity" wasn't checked, so amended that, and was able to dial in to the house immediately. The additional handsets still don't ring for about an extra 3 rings after the master starts though.
Was also able to dial out to a landline but not a mobile, but the A&A website says there is an issue currently with calling mobiles.
So we may be a short step further forward. As per several suggestions, I think I'll just get a VOIP handset and see if that improves things.
Thanks for all the input, much appreciated!
I downloaded a manual for the HT801 and that claims it has a REN of 5 so that shouldn't be an issue if they only thing you have plugged into the ATA is the DECT base.
Dumb question / check... If you move one of the DECT handsets (ie not the base) into the same room as the DECT base / ATA and ring in, does the extension handset ring at the same time as the base handset?
Dumb question / check... If you move one of the DECT handsets (ie not the base) into the same room as the DECT base / ATA and ring in, does the extension handset ring at the same time as the base handset?
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