VOIP - Is it for me ?

eddiem74

********************NOVICE ALERT************************
Hi There,

I am just wondering is VOIP for me ? Is there savings to be made or not ?

My current set-up:

- Eircom phone line
- Eircom broadband 2MB Package (€29.99) - non wireless
- Eircom Talktime Mobile (€40.99) (60 mobile minutes, 200 national/local)
- Belkin Wireless Router 2.4GHz / 54g
- Phone points in most rooms in the house

So it is costing me around €71 per month once I stay within my minutes. Phone would not be used that much in reality but when it is, a combination of landline, and mobile calls would be made.

So what do you think ? VOIP for me ?

guigui

- Eircom Talktime Mobile (€40.99) (60 mobile minutes, 200 national/local)

If you had a Blueface freedom basic, it would cost 9.99 euros monthly and that would give you 300 minutes to Irish landlines and to landlines in other countries (UK, US, Australia, ...)

Look at :
http://www.blueface.ie/purchase/plans.aspx

Minutes to mobiles would be billed on the pay as you go credit.
If you consider their most expensive mobile rate during peak time (Ireland - Mobile (Tesco) ) 0.27 * 60 = 16.2 euros

So basically you would save a lot only by getting your voice package from them rather than from Eircom.

eddiem74

guigui, that sounds interesting !

However, from my limited knowledge, and some brief reading around, as I have DSL via Eircom, it seems I would still need to retain my phoneline for this purpose, therefore I would still need to pay broadband fee, and line rental (not sure what that is these days, €20'ish?) even if I looked to drop the talktime package.

So it would seem the price is creeping back up.

Am I correct?

nava

eddiem74 wrote: »

guigui, that sounds interesting !

However, from my limited knowledge, and some brief reading around, as I have DSL via Eircom, it seems I would still need to retain my phoneline for this purpose, therefore I would still need to pay broadband fee, and line rental (not sure what that is these days, €20'ish?) even if I looked to drop the talktime package.

So it would seem the price is creeping back up.

Am I correct?

Hi

I think you still need to have your landline with Eircom to use their Broadband. Can you get NTL in your area?

You can visit the Blueface forum and ask there they can let you know if you need to keep your line with Eircom.

But as said above you will save lots of money if you can move over to Blueface.

guigui

eddiem74,

Since you have your broadband connection with Eircom you won't be able to stop paying line rental and port your number to blueface.
If you want to do that, you'll need to get your broadband connection from another provider.

1 piece of advice though, don't port your number directly, wait for at least a month or two, to make sure you are happy with the service and that your broadband provides you with a good call quality. Just in case

eddiem74

I see Eircom also now offer VOIP (eircom broadband talk), didn't know that.

Just on VOIP, can I have multiple phones connected to the service? I have phone points in each of the rooms today, so can they all access VOIP ? Or would I need a central base and need to use cordless phones?

guigui

Usually you would need to purchase an ATA : analogue telephone adapter, on which you plug your modem and the central base(s) of your phone(s)

If you have many phones, you'll need to be careful to take an ATA with multiple slots.

You should phone directly the voip provider and they'll help you out better

emul

Best bet is to use ATA to connect to VOIP provider with DECT base station attached. Then register as many other "extensions" with the Dect base unit as are needed.

I have Eircom talktime and Blueface Uk & IRL for €129. I've kept the Eircom for a. backup in case of BB outage b. incoming local calls. With blueface I took a geo number in another STD code so family calling me were only making a local call.
While I would save money porting to Blueface I would still need a line & BB provider, with Blueface the missus (and me) can talk talk talk anytime of the day or night to Irl and UK numbers. I have no surprises with telephone bills bi-monthly for Eircom, Blueface pre-pay once a year.

Eoin

eddiem74

Thanks again !

So who would you recommend to get the DECT products from i.e. which manufacturers are good ? And where is the best place to purchase e.g. online ?

Any additional information welcome.

emul

You could purchase a Siemens C450IP dect station. This is a VOIP / PSTN phone. Your incoming (PSTN) calls will ring on this and outgoing calls re made via SIP provider i.e. Blueface. Blueface support this phone sell it for €99 with one months IRL / UK included which is probably your best way to go and then add UK / IRL unlimited for €129 the following month for a year.

This handset supports GAP so you can add any other manf handsets that support the GAP protocol, in essence probably easiest to buy some Siemens DECT handsets as menus / setup will be the same.

Eoin

eddiem74

Thanks all for your inputs thus far !

One last question, is it possible with VOIP to have 'caller ID' display on any PC's which are connected on the network ? If yes, what software/options are there ?