Eircom VOIP

opr

I am setting this up for someone else and am learning about it as i go myself

Currently they use an Eircom 3mb line plus one of the talktime packages. The problem they found was that they call America alot and was working out very expensive. So i set up skype and they are using this for the moment.

I was going to just suggest they keep the BB and move outgoing calls to blueface.

Thing is while having a look i found eircom now do VOIP.

Link

So considering they send you the hardware free and the package seems cheaper than blueface this seems like the better option. Eircom's voip calls to america are still ridiculously overpriced so for these i was going to just use a blueface payg account.

Eircom give you a second line so hopefully what i end up with.

Eircom BB
Line 1 - Normal phone line which can still make/recieve calls
Line 2 - Eircom VOIP for outbound calls
Plus blueface payg account for international calls.

Does this all seem like it should work fine. Reason i am asking is i am very new to all this and from reading most of the threads very few people seem to be with eircom over blueface for voip but given the difference in monthly charge and they send the equipment it seemed like a no brainer to me.

Thanks for any help

VoIP4U

Hi

The link you provide is not working maybe you could send this again.

Regards

opr

Link

That should work if not just seach VOIP on www.eircom.com its the only result you get.

Opr

Johnboy1951

The link won't work for others . have to search for VOIP.

Last I checked Eircom VOIP rates were much higher than Blueface -- even payg

To receive eircom BB you need to pay for the tel line separately.

Last I checked it was cheaper -- with special offer -- to get Irish landline calls with Eircom and all other calls with Blueface.

So my set up is

Eircom landline
3Mb/s BB from Eircom
VOIP from Blueface
and a devent router with VOIP ports to connect the telephones to.

All Irish landline calls go out on Eircom line.
All other calls go out on Blueface
Calls come in on both

Unless things have changed in the last few months . like Eircom offering BB with no tel r something .. then I think I have what is probably not the absolute cheapest set up but definitely the most convenient considering I have no other BB option except tel line.

Regards.

Othello

Hi
eircom have 2 VoIP packages (one business & one consumer)

see http://www.eircom.net/broadbandtalk

The consumer one costs

• €5/month for unlimited local & national calls and 600 anytime minutes to UK fixed lines
• €10/month for unlimited local & national calls and 600 anytime minutes to International fixed lines

You plug you fixed handset into an adapter (ATA) that itself plugs into your broadband router (you need eircom broadband)

opr

Thanks for the info.

Thing is as Johnboy1951 says you still need to pay line rental on top of the BB which kinda defeats the purpose of VOIP. I thought line rental was included with the BB package

It works out just as cheap if your with eircom for BB to lump everything into one of the their call/BB packages and just use VOIP for international calls.

Opr

Johnboy1951

I suspect also that if you do your home VOIP through Eircom and later change to some other BB provider that you might have some difficulties with VOIP number porting and VOIP address etc .... particularly if you have VOIP for a few years and your contact info is generally known.

I feel a bit better having an independent VOIP provider ..... but that is just me, maybe.

regards.

Johnboy1951

Othello wrote: »

Hi
eircom have 2 VoIP packages (one business & one consumer)

see http://www.eircom.net/broadbandtalk

The consumer one costs

• €5/month for unlimited local & national calls and 600 anytime minutes to UK fixed lines
• €10/month for unlimited local & national calls and 600 anytime minutes to International fixed lines

You plug you fixed handset into an adapter (ATA) that itself plugs into your broadband router (you need eircom broadband)

So there is a monthly payment to Eircom which other VOIP providers do not necessarily charge.
That payment is in addition to your talktime payment I understand.
They then do bundles which if they actually match your requirements very closely could work out cheap, but if the bundle doesn't suit you then you are faced with higher costs per call through Eircom VOIP than other providers.

I reckon that local & national Anytime costs me a net ~€6 oer month after discount. So what is the €5 or €10 paying for and could you get it cheaper elsewhere?

Their bundles do not come anywhere near what would suit me ...... others may be a bit luckier.

regards.

Solair

Get yourself onto Blueface (www.blueface.ie)

They've really excellent rates to most destinations and their back up and support is fantastic.

I have no involvement with the company, other than as a customer but I really couldn't speak highly enough of them.

I'd suggest that you pick up an ATA (analogue terminal adaptor) which lets you plug your existing phone in and use VoIP directly, or else buy an actual VoIP phone from them.

The call quality tends to be a lot better when you're using actual hardware.

Othello

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

So there is a monthly payment to Eircom which other VOIP providers do not necessarily charge.
That payment is in addition to your talktime payment I understand.
They then do bundles which if they actually match your requirements very closely could work out cheap, but if the bundle doesn't suit you then you are faced with higher costs per call through Eircom VOIP than other providers.

I reckon that local & national Anytime costs me a net ~€6 oer month after discount. So what is the €5 or €10 paying for and could you get it cheaper elsewhere?

Their bundles do not come anywhere near what would suit me ...... others may be a bit luckier.

regards.

From the eircom.ie website
1M BB + Talktime Anytime Bundle = €56 and includes line rental
1M BB + LR + VoIP UK = €25+€25+5 = €55 but you get 600 mins to the UK

Not as cheap as blueface but not a bad add on if all you can get is eircom bb.

Johnboy1951

Othello wrote: »

From the eircom.ie website
1M BB + Talktime Anytime Bundle = €56 and includes line rental
1M BB + LR + VoIP UK = €25+€25+5 = €55 but you get 600 mins to the UK

Not as cheap as blueface but not a bad add on if all you can get is eircom bb.

Can you get the VOIP service from Eircom without one of the call bundles? I was under the impression that you had to have a bundle -- like TalkTim or such -- and add on VOIP.
I may have misinterpreted ....

EDIT: The talktime package applies to the landline; a similar package is included in the bundle for the VOIP line. So yes the one for the landline could be discarded if the VOIP line is used for local calls. Makes me wonder what calls would be made on the landline so ....

Of course if you do not have a 'bundle' then your local calls are charged at either the full local call rate through the landline or the VOIP price from Eircom, which is considerably dearer than Blueface I understand.

For local calls (within Ireland to landlines) the Eircom 'bundle' is hard to beat .... I doubt there is a better offer from anyone.

But as I said previously, it does depend upon your usage. In my case I make a lot of Ireland landline calls. Rarely would any of them go beyond an hour in duration. So for totally unlimited use of this type the net ~€6 it costs is great value.

After that it is a matter of looking at the international calls. I do not make a lot of calls to the UK, so the Eircom bundle is not attractive, but if I did make such calls then it would be attractive, as it would be about half the price of Blueface for 600 minutes of calls to the UK.

In all other instances Blueface has better pricing, as do other providers.

With regard to calls to Irish mobiles ..... Blueface is fractionally cheaper than Eircom I think.

So really what you have now is a couple of call options which can be utilised and adapted to suit most calling situations.

You just need to determine your usage and make your calls from whichever provider gives the better value FOR THOSE CALLS.
It requires a little bit of research and a willingness to use a specific phone for specific call types to make the best value for you.
I have just visited the Eircom site and it seems you can get rid of the landline Anytime package as it essentially duplicates the new setup.

Does anyone know what the model of the new modem/router is?
Is it possible to set it up to phone other VOIP users for FREE, regardless of their location in the world?

For instances if I want to speak to my friend in the Phillipines I do so over SIP VOIP by 'calling' his 'number'. His number may be something like [email]Bill@SIP_Provider.com[/email]. All I have done is set up a quick dial in my router and I connect to him.

If this sort of functionality is missing from Eircom's setup I would strongly advise against it In The Long Term.

The real beauty of VOIP is that calls between VOIP "numbers" are totally free.

It is worrying to see this on the Eircom site

Why does the broadband talk number start with 076?
Numbers beginning with 076 have been created specifically for use within Ireland for VoIP calls. They are not free to call.

I have been aware for some time that Eircom charge the full local rate for calls to 076x numbers. They are not included in the talktime packages. I think the local rate is about 5c per minute or so.

So do they mean that they will charge an Eircom VOIP user the local rate if they phone another VOIP user on their 076x number?

I have no idea, but it is this sort of messing about that really p's me off. If they cannot say it out straight then they must be hiding something ...... but what?

At least with Blueface and other such providers there are no hidden costs. VOIP to VOIP are Advertised as being FREE. Quite some difference when you try to get info from the Eircom site.

Yes this is a long missive ...... I have been reading a bit as I write.

My conclusion is I will stay well away from the Eircom offering not only because the bundle doesn't match my needs but because I cannot know in advance, by reading FAQs and such, what my call costs will be, or if I will be able to phone other VOIP users or not.

That is my opinion and nothing else.
Find the info yourself and then make up your own mind .... if you do find the info, stated clearly someplace, please post a link.

I would like to see an unambiguous statement that I can use the Eircom VOIP to speak to other VOIP users around the world for no charge on my Eircom bill, regardless of what VOIP & Landline bundles I may have.

I would like to see a clear statement on what charges might be applied to my account if I use the VOIP phone to call a buddy with an Irish VOIP number (076x).

All such calls should be free of charge. If not it is a rip-off by Eircom and I would have nothing to do with it.

.. sorry this turned out so long ...

Othello

Johnboy1951,

Most VoIP providers say they provide free 'on-net calls'. What they actually mean is that you can all other users of the same service provider for free. If your mates are not on the same provider then you can't avail of this.

For example, Skype->Skype and blueface->blueface is free.

Also, calling users on another VoIP provider far from as simple as xxx@sipprovider.com. Most VoIP providers do not interconnect with each other but rather route the calls to the normal telephone network (for which there is a charge).

076 numbering and the cost of calling these numbers was mandated by Comreg (not something the VoIP operator controls as far as I'm aware)

Johnboy1951

Othello wrote: »

Johnboy1951,

Most VoIP providers say they provide free 'on-net calls'. What they actually mean is that you can all other users of the same service provider for free. If your mates are not on the same provider then you can't avail of this.

For example, Skype->Skype and blueface->blueface is free.

Also, calling users on another VoIP provider far from as simple as xxx@sipprovider.com. Most VoIP providers do not interconnect with each other but rather route the calls to the normal telephone network (for which there is a charge).

076 numbering and the cost of calling these numbers was mandated by Comreg (not something the VoIP operator controls as far as I'm aware)

All I can say is that from my direct experience you are misunderstanding what is and is not available.

For instance if you have a VOIP account/presence/number or whatever the terminology might be with your provider, then I can call you for no cost from my Blueface VOIP unless your provider has refused to 'join in' or something ... don't know what the correct terminology is.

All Blueface rates are inclusive of VAT @21.5% so the rates you see listed are the rates you pay. No hidden charges or add-ons.

* Calls are billed by the second and rounded up to the nearest tenth of a cent.
* Calls to other Blueface numbers and to other public VoIP providers are FREE.

http://www.blueface.ie/rates/rates.aspx

I think that says it very clearly.

I can call any SIP VOIP user, anywhere in the world, on a VOIP to VOIP call, for no cost.

If your mates are not on the same provider then you can't avail of this.

This is not true.

What may be the case with traditional phone suppliers is that they do not give their users the full advantage of VOIP --- in other words they rip people off, IMO -- by only allowing free connections to their own network.

It is high time this sort of rip off was exposed where it exists.

Skype, which you mention, is a different thing altogether. It is a CLOSED network, which uses their own proprietary protocol to achieve Voice over IP. They do not allow their users to access other protocols and do not allow other protocols access to their users.
So essentially, Skype users are cut off from all the VOIP offerings that you find anywhere is the world. In general VOIP uses SIP as the connection protocol, and there are many hundreds and probably thousands of providers of the service, to private and business users.

Also, calling users on another VoIP provider far from as simple as xxx@sipprovider.com. Most VoIP providers do not interconnect with each other but rather route the calls to the normal telephone network (for which there is a charge).

Again I disagree, and believe if you try it for yourself you will find the above statement incorrect.
It is as simple as mentioned.
I have several such entries in my address book with a quick dial number allocated to them, and call those numbers regularly from my phone handset, and do not get charged for the call .... such as MyFriend@ekiga.net, and MyFriend@voipwise.com

You should also note that when you sign up for BlueFace VOIP you are not only given your 076x number which is accessible from the standard telephone service, but you also receive a SIP number which makes the same account accessible from all the other SIP providers at no cost.

Regards.

malachy47

I was genuinely holding out on adding my €0.02 to this thread, but as the replies have come in they have only re-enforced my initial thoughts. All you have to do is look at the two words in the topic heading - "Eircom VOIP". The former is about parting you and your money, the latter about keeping it in your own pocket.

The two are mutually exclusive, they'll never meet. You may as well be p*ssing off the bow of a boat for all the good it'll do ya. :pac:;)