Questions on my scenario

Tom Dunne

Hi All,

First time posting over this neck of the woods, but I hope you can help me with my situation.

Basically, I am living abroad and will most likely be getting rid of my landline in my home in Ireland (no point paying for it when there is nobody using it). What I would like to do, though, is keep my landline number and use a VOIP provider so that when I am abroad, people in Ireland can ring my Irish number and I can answer from abroad. And likewise, I can ring Irish numbers via the account.

First of all, is this possible with a regular Irish landline number?

Secondly, any recommendations as to who I could go with? I have been looking at Blueface and I see that you can do number porting with them - is this what I am looking for?

Thanks,

TD.

guigui

hi Tom,

You can easily port your landline number with Blueface, see : number porting

Then, they have a nice tool that allows mangling with call diverts in a few clicks. You could, after porting, divert your current number to your new landline, see : call forwarding

HTH

Johnboy1951

First of all, is this possible with a regular Irish landline number?

Secondly, any recommendations as to who I could go with? I have been looking at Blueface and I see that you can do number porting with them - is this what I am looking for?

Yes to both ...... and Blueface has an excellent rep.

Tom Dunne

guigui wrote: »

Then, they have a nice tool that allows mangling with call diverts in a few clicks. You could, after porting, divert your current number to your new landline, see : call forwarding

HTH

You see that's part of the problem - I don't have a landline here (abroad). I want to either use a softphone or an IP phone and answer my Irish number as if I was in Ireland.

nilhg

Tom Dunne wrote: »

You see that's part of the problem - I don't have a landline here (abroad). I want to either use a softphone or an IP phone and answer my Irish number as if I was in Ireland.

You have cable broadband or wireless though? If so you need either an ATA or a router with VOIP capability built in, even a decent smartphone would do.

I currently use a fritzbox and my E71 to connect to blueface, when I had a Nokia N800 I used it all the way through to Perth in OZ including 3 days in Kuala Lumpur, if I had wifi coverage it rang at the same time as my phone at home in the house.

Decent BB is what you really need to make what you want to do work.

Tom Dunne

nilhg wrote: »

You have cable broadband or wireless though?

Yes, I have broadband and use it regularly for Skype, both audio and video. Is this enough of a guide or is more bandwidth needed? Just ran a test on speedtest.net and I am getting the following (not the best, by the looks of it):
Download - 0.74Mbps
Upload - 0.25Mbps
Ping - 39ms (didn't realise it was so bad)

nilhg wrote: »

If so you need either an ATA or a router with VOIP capability built in, even a decent smartphone would do.

Decent smartphone, you say? I have an iPhone, plus the mention Fring on the Blueface website, so would I be correct in assuming that is one option I could use?

Also, could I simply use software on the laptop (similar to Skype) to make/receive calls?

nilhg wrote: »

if I had wifi coverage it rang at the same time as my phone at home in the house.

This is not really what I want. I want to cancel the landline and hold onto the number. Could that work?

guigui

Tom Dunne wrote: »

You see that's part of the problem - I don't have a landline here (abroad). I want to either use a softphone or an IP phone and answer my Irish number as if I was in Ireland.

Once your number is ported you don't need a landline, abroad, to receive call on it.
If you port it with Blueface, then it will be set to ring a SIP account. You'll only need to have a device registered with your SIP account.

Tom Dunne

guigui wrote: »

Once your number is ported you don't need a landline, abroad, to receive call on it.
If you port it with Blueface, then it will be set to ring a SIP account. You'll only need to have a device registered with your SIP account.

Brilliant, so that sounds like this is what I need.

Thanks for all the info.

nilhg

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Yes, I have broadband and use it regularly for Skype, both audio and video. Is this enough of a guide or is more bandwidth needed? Just ran a test on speedtest.net and I am getting the following (not the best, by the looks of it):
Download - 0.74Mbps
Upload - 0.25Mbps
Ping - 39ms (didn't realise it was so bad)

Try this test, it's optimised for VOIP

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Decent smartphone, you say? I have an iPhone, plus the mention Fring on the Blueface website, so would I be correct in assuming that is one option I could use?

Also, could I simply use software on the laptop (similar to Skype) to make/receive calls?

Fring should work, or do a search for a SIP client for an iphone, I'm sure there are plenty

Tom Dunne wrote: »

This is not really what I want. I want to cancel the landline and hold onto the number. Could that work?

I wasn't clear, you can have as many sip logins as you want (within reason) on a blueface account, my N800 was in OZ, my linksys router with built in SIP was at home, both acting as internal extensions, a call between the two free and made like a call between two rooms in my house, thats the great thing about SIP as long as you have decent BB, geography doesn't matter

Johnboy1951

Something you should not forget about ....... when abroad and registered with your provider (such as Blueface) as well as being able to receive calls from any landline or mobile, you will also be able to receive calls from anyone who also uses SIP VOIP, regardless of their provider, without any cost at all.

So if some of your contacts can or do use a SIP client or device, then calls between the two will be cost free.

regards.