Alternative to BT Broadband with two voice lines.

[Trophy200]

Just checking to see if anyone else has found a solution to this.

Currently have two incoming landlines and Broadband from BT.

Service has recently deteriorated badly and I'm looking for an alternative.

Problem is that the likes of Plusnet, whilst looking competitive on price and service, only want to provide a line with Broadband and no second voice landline.

Any suggestions as to where I start looking amongst potential providers?

Thanks.

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[QuartzDad]

Would VOIP be an option for the second line? Would give you many more options.

[Tyre Smoke]

I got rid of BT for the very reason they were rubbish. Copper cable from four miles away, no fibre anytime soon.

We run four cloud phones (voip) and a PC. I checked with BT and my average monthy usage on the broadband never went above 30GB. So I ditched BT as soon as I could and bought a router from Amazon that takes a sim card. I'm now on a rolling 30 day 50GB contract with EE and get 22-25mb down and 10mb up. Before I was less than four down (even slower in school holidays) and less than 1.5 up.

Depends on your usage, but works well for us. Cost of BT was £39.99 plus VAT for a 24 month contract, EE is £23.00 + VAT. The beauty of the rolling 30 days is that I can jump ship if a better offer comes in, or if by some miracle fibre turns up on the industrial estate cheap enough.

[Slushbox]

It's slightly more complex if you want to keep the existing landline numbers but they can probably be transferred to a SIP/VOIP provider.

'Voice' lines are no longer tied to copper wires. You can use a 4G Mobile Broadband Router, assuming you have a good signal or access to one with an extra antenna, and VOIP phones that plug into the ethernet ports.

Or a hybrid solution with SIP/VOIP phones plugged into your existing ADSL broadband.

There are a lot of SIP/VOIP providers. Sipgate is working well for me. You choose a local number when you sign up. Registration takes a couple of days to verify by letter, for 999 call tracing.

https://www.sipgate.co.uk/

Soho66 are also pretty good, with excellent phone support.

https://soho66.co.uk/

You either use a VOIP app on a smartphone, like 3CX, or a dedicated desktop VOIP phone or two, like the Grandstream GXP-1620 (two lines). Two 'lines' needs two SIP accounts.

Once programmed into the phone, the number(s) stays with the handset, so you can move it wherever you have an ethernet socket or take it home at the weekend. You'll keep the same numbers, even if you change broadband suppliers.

The phones also work over ethernet PowerLine adaptors, so you can put ethernet and a handset almost anywhere in the property.

As posted above, SIP phones also work over mobile broadband, with good voice quality.

Edited by Slushbox on Monday 20th May 15:15

[Trophy200]

Thanks for the replies.

Looks like VOIP is the way to go.

I'll get on with it and see where it goes.

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[Slushbox]

Here's the £120 or thereabouts (plus the broadband connection) VOIP set-up for ADSL or 4G broadband. The 'Managed' switch is not vital in a small office, but it will prioritise VOIP call traffic if PC's are also connected to it instead of wifi.

Port forwarding for SIP traffic may need to be enabled at the router (Port 5060)

For managed WiFi traffic (low/medium priority) , switch off the WiFi in the router, and add a WiFi access point to the managed switch.

[Tyre Smoke]

I run a taxi business like that, but without the priority switch. Never needed it.

[Slushbox]

Tyre Smoke said:

I run a taxi business like that, but without the priority switch. Never needed it.

They can be needed to limit PC(s) use of bandwidth from the router, particularly if Windows Update kicks in over multiple PC's.

Also the lower level Gigabit router gives 1000 Mb/s at the lower level, where 4G incoming routers tend to offer only 10/100 between ports.

VOIP doesn't use much bandwidth so a 30Mb/s connection is fast enough. If you add more PCs, network printers or phones, put a managed switch in. They're £15 at the moment. There's almost no reason not to have one. ;-)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS908-100UKS-Unma...

Edited by Slushbox on Wednesday 22 May 08:52

[Mr Pointy]

Trophy200 said:

Currently have two incoming landlines and Broadband from BT. Service has recently deteriorated badly and I'm looking for an alternative.

Problem is that the likes of Plusnet, whilst looking competitive on price and service, only want to provide a line with Broadband and no second voice landline.

Any suggestions as to where I start looking amongst potential providers?

Zen will supply you just a landline or a landline with broadband:
https://www.zen.co.uk/home/phone
https://www.zen.co.uk/home/broadband

Alternatively just switch the broadband line away from BT to somewhere else & leave the voice line with BT (unless it's voice issues you're having).

[Trophy200]

Just to close the thread.

Went with Sipgate in the end for VOIP on one line and a 12 month Plusnet deal for line/Broadband.

Sipgate were very efficient and not difficult to set up. Line quality is good and I like the call handling options.

Will see how we get on with VOIP over the next twelve months with a view to going VOIP/Internet for both lines.

Thanks to all contributors for their input.

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