VOIP - help me please
Discussion
Openreach have recently strung new fibre cables to/from the pole outside my house. This means I can change from my slow FTTC (7-8Mbps down, 0.4-0.5Mbps up) connection to a lot faster FTTP connection. In the process of upgrading I will lose the landline which I intend to replace with a VOIP system.
When I rewired the house (over 20 years ago) I installed telephone sockets in a number of rooms with the initial connection at the master socket. Due to the layout of the house I have two DECT systems (a 3 handset unit and a 2 handset unit). If I get an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) box can I connect the analogue output to the existing phone socket wiring and leave the two DECT systems in place?
Are there any pitfalls in VOIP in general?
When I rewired the house (over 20 years ago) I installed telephone sockets in a number of rooms with the initial connection at the master socket. Due to the layout of the house I have two DECT systems (a 3 handset unit and a 2 handset unit). If I get an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) box can I connect the analogue output to the existing phone socket wiring and leave the two DECT systems in place?
Are there any pitfalls in VOIP in general?
Should work, here is a related video that may be of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_KGXMcJHk
Four replies so far. One actually provided an answer to my question, thank you.
The PSTN system is being phased out and will be gone by 2025. BT are converting customers to their Digital Voice which is VOIP.
Another point is I’m “hearing impaired”, yes I’m a Deaf Old Fart and have difficulty hearing my mobile phone.
The PSTN system is being phased out and will be gone by 2025. BT are converting customers to their Digital Voice which is VOIP.
Another point is I’m “hearing impaired”, yes I’m a Deaf Old Fart and have difficulty hearing my mobile phone.
I have used an Obi200 Google voice box for 10 years with no issues. I don't think they are available in the UK but I have never had any major voice quality issues and there are UK equivalent systems.
QoS, unless you have a really busy home network should make no difference as it gets removed at your gateway on the way out.
Latency and jitter are the quality killers so as long as they are low you shouldn't have a problem.
I don't know what BT implement for their VoIP solution but with a decent internet link you should have no problem.
To use your existing wiring and analog phones you will have to open the master socket, pull the inbound wire off and make a cable from the VoIP box to the socket.
BT used to frown on touching the master socket, but I left the UK 10 years ago so no idea on policy now. Or, ignore that socket and just splice into the extension wire.
I have around 3000 agents working from home and 98% have no voice quality issues at all using VoIP on soft phones. Most are on general cable or copper internet connections. Nothing is perfect but we have agents on everything from 5meg to 2gig connections. That has to carry the VDA traffic too.
QoS, unless you have a really busy home network should make no difference as it gets removed at your gateway on the way out.
Latency and jitter are the quality killers so as long as they are low you shouldn't have a problem.
I don't know what BT implement for their VoIP solution but with a decent internet link you should have no problem.
To use your existing wiring and analog phones you will have to open the master socket, pull the inbound wire off and make a cable from the VoIP box to the socket.
BT used to frown on touching the master socket, but I left the UK 10 years ago so no idea on policy now. Or, ignore that socket and just splice into the extension wire.
I have around 3000 agents working from home and 98% have no voice quality issues at all using VoIP on soft phones. Most are on general cable or copper internet connections. Nothing is perfect but we have agents on everything from 5meg to 2gig connections. That has to carry the VDA traffic too.
We were converted to FTTP some years ago, and Openreach installed a A2D box for the phone. We made no changes to the phone and they also installed a battery backup so the phone would work in the event of a power cut. As an aside the performance of broadband and the phone has been fantastic since the fibre connection. VERY few dropouts on data, and I can't remember a single phone fault (about 8 years).
Maybe what you need is a copy of the kit we have been supplied with. I'll edit this post later with some pics of the Openreach boxes.
We don't have to dial the STD code for local calls.
We have recently received an email from BT telling us that we're about to change to Digital Voice. It doesn't make sense to me, but I think maybe there will be changes at the exchange so we will have to dial full codes for local calls and the dial tone will change.
Maybe what you need is a copy of the kit we have been supplied with. I'll edit this post later with some pics of the Openreach boxes.
We don't have to dial the STD code for local calls.
We have recently received an email from BT telling us that we're about to change to Digital Voice. It doesn't make sense to me, but I think maybe there will be changes at the exchange so we will have to dial full codes for local calls and the dial tone will change.
Fibre broadband here and the phone option is £5 extra plus call charges. Stuff that I said! Got a Grandstream ATA that a standard BT dect base station connects to and with Sipgate basic as the sip provider. Took a bit of configuration to get the dial tone, uk dialling pattern etc set but once up and running it has been flawless. Just as good quality as a standard line and very cheap (I tend to use the mobile, this is just a backup and to have a landline number).
colin79666 said:
Fibre broadband here and the phone option is £5 extra plus call charges. Stuff that I said! Got a Grandstream ATA that a standard BT dect base station connects to and with Sipgate basic as the sip provider. Took a bit of configuration to get the dial tone, uk dialling pattern etc set but once up and running it has been flawless. Just as good quality as a standard line and very cheap (I tend to use the mobile, this is just a backup and to have a landline number).
Exact same setup here: Sipgate basic & Grandstream ATA. Has also been flawless. Sound quality is actually much better than our noisy old analogue line.The only hiccup we had was that our alarm system (which used the phone line to contact the monitoring centre) didn’t like the new setup, so if you have an alarm you might want to make the alarm company aware of your plans.
NoTreadLeft said:
colin79666 said:
Fibre broadband here and the phone option is £5 extra plus call charges. Stuff that I said! Got a Grandstream ATA that a standard BT dect base station connects to and with Sipgate basic as the sip provider. Took a bit of configuration to get the dial tone, uk dialling pattern etc set but once up and running it has been flawless. Just as good quality as a standard line and very cheap (I tend to use the mobile, this is just a backup and to have a landline number).
Exact same setup here: Sipgate basic & Grandstream ATA. Has also been flawless. Sound quality is actually much better than our noisy old analogue line.The only hiccup we had was that our alarm system (which used the phone line to contact the monitoring centre) didn’t like the new setup, so if you have an alarm you might want to make the alarm company aware of your plans.
Agree that call quality is better than the old analogue line.
Since paying for them to migrate our old number in I have paid them almost nothing as we rarely use the line for outgoing calls. Need to make/receive a call every 3 months to keep it active, finally a use for spam calls that I can answer and hang up on, keeping my free service active
. If you make more calls, they do offer call packages or it's 1.18ppm for PAYGsnuffy said:
Thats what BT say, but I'd be amazed if that date was met. The big problem as I see it is that BT haven't really bothered to tell anyone.
I’m guessing you don’t work in IT or don’t have responsibilities for purchasing? I get two or three calls a day with people telling me about the above and telling me our phone system won’t work anymore….. call doesn’t last long when I tell them that we’re on a hosted voip system, we’re in contract and yes, we are happy with the service. FlossyThePig said:
When I rewired the house (over 20 years ago) I installed telephone sockets in a number of rooms with the initial connection at the master socket. Due to the layout of the house I have two DECT systems (a 3 handset unit and a 2 handset unit). If I get an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) box can I connect the analogue output to the existing phone socket wiring and leave the two DECT systems in place?
Are there any pitfalls in VOIP in general?
As already said above, yes this should work through you might need to find the right cable or just cut the end of one and 'hardwire' it into your existing phone line extensions.Are there any pitfalls in VOIP in general?
I've been on VOIP since about October 2018 (see my profile for a link to who I use), initially through a 'WiFi' 2.5Mbps link and now through a 400Mbps fibre link. The WiFi link was a local provider doing, in effect, microwave point to point - can't remember the latency but I think it was circa 40mS. I've had very few issues with call quality or drop outs. I did initially, but that might have been down to my ATA - I've since swapped to a Grandstream HT802 which has been fine. If / When you get your ATA, this guide might help you with UK settings / dial tones etc.
https://teamhelp.sipgate.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/2...
Wax1234 said:
I’m guessing you don’t work in IT or don’t have responsibilities for purchasing? I get two or three calls a day with people telling me about the above and telling me our phone system won’t work anymore….. call doesn’t last long when I tell them that we’re on a hosted voip system, we’re in contract and yes, we are happy with the service.
You have just underlined my point. You know about it because it's your job, I know about it because I'm a Control Systems Engineer. But does the average householder know about it? I suspect not, since no one has told them.FlossyThePig said:
Openreach have recently strung new fibre cables to/from the pole outside my house. This means I can change from my slow FTTC (7-8Mbps down, 0.4-0.5Mbps up) connection to a lot faster FTTP connection. In the process of upgrading I will lose the landline which I intend to replace with a VOIP system.
When I rewired the house (over 20 years ago) I installed telephone sockets in a number of rooms with the initial connection at the master socket. Due to the layout of the house I have two DECT systems (a 3 handset unit and a 2 handset unit). If I get an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) box can I connect the analogue output to the existing phone socket wiring and leave the two DECT systems in place?
Are there any pitfalls in VOIP in general?
The o/h cable from the pole to your house has a copper pair along with the fibre optic. This is split where it hits the house and the copper connected to your pstn socket, the fibre goes to the fibre modem which is connected by ethernet to your router. When I rewired the house (over 20 years ago) I installed telephone sockets in a number of rooms with the initial connection at the master socket. Due to the layout of the house I have two DECT systems (a 3 handset unit and a 2 handset unit). If I get an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) box can I connect the analogue output to the existing phone socket wiring and leave the two DECT systems in place?
Are there any pitfalls in VOIP in general?
If you want to keep your landline it's possible or alternatively you can change to "digital voice" and plug a dect phone into the router for VoIP.
snuffy said:
The Telegraph has a report this morning that BT has just halted its plans to switch to VOIP.
So it looks like the switch in 2025 will not be happening.
On hold while issues are sorted out. It is still happening, just delayed a bit. So it looks like the switch in 2025 will not be happening.
Reinstalling the battery backup that the first installs came with would go a long way to sorting the problem out.
colin79666 said:
snuffy said:
The Telegraph has a report this morning that BT has just halted its plans to switch to VOIP.
So it looks like the switch in 2025 will not be happening.
On hold while issues are sorted out. It is still happening, just delayed a bit. So it looks like the switch in 2025 will not be happening.
Reinstalling the battery backup that the first installs came with would go a long way to sorting the problem out.
Don't get my wrong, I don't object to it at all. I'm all in favour of it. But in reality it was never going to happen in 2025.
snuffy said:
colin79666 said:
snuffy said:
The Telegraph has a report this morning that BT has just halted its plans to switch to VOIP.
So it looks like the switch in 2025 will not be happening.
On hold while issues are sorted out. It is still happening, just delayed a bit. So it looks like the switch in 2025 will not be happening.
Reinstalling the battery backup that the first installs came with would go a long way to sorting the problem out.
Don't get my wrong, I don't object to it at all. I'm all in favour of it. But in reality it was never going to happen in 2025.
The PSTN is operated by Openreach, which whilst owned by BT PLC, is largely autonomous. Openreach are driving the PSTN switch off. Openreach sell infrastructure services to a plethora of Communications Providers who then sell services to end users.
Migrating customers to alternative solutions, and issues around backup solutions for the vulnerable are issues that CP's are expected to resolve - after all, they are the ones who sell services to the end user customers.
The "BT" referred to in the Telegraph article is their consumer/retail division who have been proactively migrating customers to their Digital Voice service in preparation for the 2025 PSTN switch off. This has raised some issues amongst their customer base and so they have halted the proactive migration for now.
FTTP Battery Backup Units (BBU's) aren't the solution because the PSTN switch off is not contingent on FTTP being rolled out universally. A substantial number of customers will still be served by FTTC in 2025. The switch off will remove the the MFP (Metallic Path Facility, or pair of copper wires) back to the exchange. BBU's are problematic because they are a consumable item - the batteries only last a few years - and so the maintenance overhead is massive. There is no way Openreach or the CP's want to take that on en-masse - prices would have to increase dramatically.
The original BBU's Openreach supplied were installed but passed over to the customer to be responsible going forward, but that doesn't really work either because almost nobody tests them or replaces the battery units when they reach end of life. The outcome of this is that in an emergency they don't work or only work for such a limited period of time they are of no practical use. The consumer may claim they were lured into a false sense of security and not put other measures in place. If something is for emergency use it needs to work in an emergency, or you're better off not providing anything at all.
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