thinking of moving from eircom to skype (2 questions)

terry433iid

Hi - I am a newbie to this thread so apologies if I'm repeating a previously asked question

I am keen to reduce my (eircom) phone bill and am considering skype

1. does anyone know skype's rates compared to eircom for mobiles/landlines and if there is any *significant* saving

2. anyone know anything about skype phones that do not require a PC - I am looking at RTX Dualphone 3058 Skype Phone on amazon for about 40 sterling and can connect this to my eircom broadband router. would think this is handier than phone connected to my laptop

thanks in advance
t.

Johnboy1951

Unless you have some unstated reason for choosing Skype, I would suggest you look into SIP VOIP providers.

There are several threads on this forum which should give you a starting point.

Mr. G

terry433iid wrote: »

Hi - I am a newbie to this thread so apologies if I'm repeating a previously asked question

I am keen to reduce my (eircom) phone bill and am considering skype

1. does anyone know skype's rates compared to eircom for mobiles/landlines and if there is any *significant* saving

2. anyone know anything about skype phones that do not require a PC - I am looking at RTX Dualphone 3058 Skype Phone on amazon for about 40 sterling and can connect this to my eircom broadband router. would think this is handier than phone connected to my laptop

thanks in advance
t.

I would recommend Blueface for use with voip, your limited a lot more with Skype as they use their own technology.

Blueface rates: Ireland and many EU countries landline 1.8 cent peak per minute. Minimum charge per chargeable call 2 cent.

Blueface have a plan so that you can call many countries landlines for 300 minutes at €9.99 inc vat. You get a 076 and geographic number with this plan. Mobiles are cheaper then eircom.

Eircom: Ireland 5 or 6 cent per minute + Connection charge 6 cent.

Eircom rates are approx. And exclude VAT. Blueface residential rates inc VAT. I've moved to Blueface and never looked back. You cannot port your number to Skype. You can port to Blueface. Skype are in Luxembourg (I think) and blueface are in Dublin. And with blueface you can get a local number + 076 number.

Eircom are dodgy people, the service from blueface cannot be compared with Eircom.

I hope this is a comparsion to help you.

You cannot use DSL on the number you port the no over to blueface.

mayosportsfan

Mr_Grumpy wrote: »

I would recommend Blueface for use with voip, your limited a lot more with Skype as they use their own technology.

Blueface rates: Ireland and many EU countries landline 1.8 cent peak per minute. Minimum charge per chargeable call 2 cent.

Blueface have a plan so that you can call many countries landlines for 300 minutes at €9.99 inc vat. You get a 076 and geographic number with this plan. Mobiles are cheaper then eircom.

Eircom: Ireland 5 or 6 cent per minute + Connection charge 6 cent.

Eircom rates are approx. And exclude VAT. Blueface residential rates inc VAT. I've moved to Blueface and never looked back. You cannot port your number to Skype. You can port to Blueface. Skype are in Luxembourg (I think) and blueface are in Dublin. And with blueface you can get a local number + 076 number.

Eircom are dodgy people, the service from blueface cannot be compared with Eircom.

I hope this is a comparsion to help you.

You cannot use DSL on the number you port the no over to blueface.

Could you provide a breakdown of how this works. Example, what broadband service do you use? Did you have to buy a special router to work with VOIP? Do you have a line rental cost with your broadband, What sort of typical savings did you get?

My apologies but I'm not very knowledgeable on these things!

Mr. G

mayosportsfan wrote: »

Mr_Grumpy wrote: »

I would recommend Blueface for use with voip, your limited a lot more with Skype as they use their own technology.

Blueface rates: Ireland and many EU countries landline 1.8 cent peak per minute. Minimum charge per chargeable call 2 cent.

Blueface have a plan so that you can call many countries landlines for 300 minutes at €9.99 inc vat. You get a 076 and geographic number with this plan. Mobiles are cheaper then eircom.

Eircom: Ireland 5 or 6 cent per minute + Connection charge 6 cent.

Eircom rates are approx. And exclude VAT. Blueface residential rates inc VAT. I've moved to Blueface and never looked back. You cannot port your number to Skype. You can port to Blueface. Skype are in Luxembourg (I think) and blueface are in Dublin. And with blueface you can get a local number + 076 number.

Eircom are dodgy people, the service from blueface cannot be compared with Eircom.

I hope this is a comparsion to help you.

You cannot use DSL on the number you port the no over to blueface.

Could you provide a breakdown of how this works. Example, what broadband service do you use? Did you have to buy a special router to work with VOIP? Do you have a line rental cost with your broadband, What sort of typical savings did you get?

My apologies but I'm not very knowledgeable on these things!

VoiP stands for : Voice over internet protocol. A VoiP device known as an ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter: you connect your phone to the Ata and then a cable from the Ata to your broadband modem), Softphone (this connects via your computer) or iP phone (plugs directly into your BB modem) will allow you to make calls cheaply over the internet. VoiP is widely called as "Skype", but Skype is a voip phone provider, and there are many alternatives to Skype. I wouldn't recommend Skype and some other international companies (Such as rynga) for the following reasons:
•you cannot port your number
•you are not as protected by irish authorities like Comreg as you are with irish providers
•you are not supporting irish companies (eircom is not irish by the way)
•if you have a technical problem, you are likely to be unable to contact your provider by phone or even reach a better resolution to any issues.
Your Broadband connection (Wireless, DSL or Cable, however not mobile broadband) should be capable of facilitating voip technology. VoiP is a way of making cheap calls over the internet, like most technologies there are (irish or even international) companies offer services to make calls.

This is my voip setup:
1. Broadband>Blueface SIP account>PBX (Phone system)>ATA's connect extensions to phones

2. Broadband>Blueface SIP account>iP Siemens phone. I can use this phone to make calls easily.

I recommend you do no. 2 what I did. Blueface can answer any questions for you I'm sure. Their web address is www.blueface.ie. You can port your number, or keep your DSL broadband and use the ip phone for external calls and incoming calls via the siemens box. You can get the caller I'd changed by emailing your phone bill to blueface.

As you already know, Eircom (landline) charge a lot more for calls because your phone is connected to a local exchange etc and it would naturally cost more by landline. Blueface are a lot cheaper.

Johnboy1951

You can buy a router with phone sockets (RJ11) built in, and all the software/firmware to set up VOIP account/s, and have them register with your supplier.
Most of those also give priority to voice calls (VOIP) through the router - Quality of Service settings.

Alternatively you can add an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) to an existing router, just by plugging it into one of the LAN ports, as you would a PC. The ATA then supplies the facilities to connect ordinary phone/s --- including a Dect Wireless phone if you wish.

Originally I had a Grandstream ATA but later got a router with built in ATA.

My router has the facility to have up to 6 different VOIP 'numbers' registered at one time, and will receive calls from all, and I can set up a dialling plan to use whichever of the accounts provide the cheapest cost for particular calls ..... such as Irish landlines, Irish mobiles, different countries etc etc.

In addition it has an address book which allocates phone numbers to 2 digit quick dial numbers.

Last but not least, I can put the VOIP URI into the address book and make free calls to any other VOIP phone on the planet which uses the SIP protocol.

Skype uses a proprietary protocol, and does not allow any other VOIP system to connect into it; neither does it allow its users to phone out to other VOIP users not on the Skype network ,,,, for free. It is a very limiting and limited service for which I have no time.
I use it when I must for free calls to other Skype users, but that is all ... and I do that from my PC.

I have ADSL from Eircom over a tel line and use the broadband for calls exclusively now.

As a home user I use one of the Betamax companies mostly, but also have a Blueface account, which does not get used much since I got the Betmax account.
My incoming number for VOIP is the one issued by Blueface .... 076xxxxxx ..... but when using the Betmax for outgoing calls my landline number is the one the receiver sees and so calls back on.

The above may seem like a very complicated setup, but that is due to the versatility rather than anything else.

If I ever get rid of the Eircom landline, I will port my number to Blueface, and continue to use the Betamax account for the cheaper calls.

If using VOIP for a business, some of the points made by Mr_Grumpy would be more pertinent than my personal use.

regards.

http://backsla.sh/betamax

fbit_colin

Hey All

Good advice from all on this post.

If you want to just purchase a VoIP phone from Blueface that you can just plug in and start getting savings check out this link

http://www.blueface.ie/shop/shop.aspx?products=hardware

The reason VoIP is getting bad press in the residential market is that it is too complicated for home users

Business use is different.

Cheers
Colin

jamesbil

good info here, i am considering the same as the first post,

I currently have landline with vodafone/perlico, BB with 3 and national BB scheme due to rural area, not too impressed with the 3 router tho, great to the PC via LAN, but intermittent to laptop via wifi.

my download is about 1.8 and upload about 1.1, is this good enough for VOIP?

Any tips to improve? Am thinking of getting rid of the landline and using only Viop and mobiles.

Thanks all
James

Johnboy1951

Check your broadband connection to see if it is suitable for VOIP

http://www.irishisptest.com/runmyspeed.php

jamesbil

thanks for that, now to work out what it all means!!

says my upload is 1.59, download. 5.4
download consistency 66%, upload 81%
21.8ms avg jitter, 0% packet loss,

I am assuming this is good enough for voip?

Thanks
James

Johnboy1951

jamesbil wrote: »

thanks for that, now to work out what it all means!!

says my upload is 1.59, download. 5.4
download consistency 66%, upload 81%
21.8ms avg jitter, 0% packet loss,

I am assuming this is good enough for voip?

Thanks
James

That figure, if correct, will mean bad quality of VOIP ..... broken sound.

Mine is good at 0.1/0.2ms Jitter.

Have a good read of all the sections in the result ..... it should tell you exactly what to expect.

See especially the Results tab .....

jamesbil

just done it again and got 22ms jitter and 3% loss!

seems my BB is a little un stable

Johnboy1951

jamesbil wrote: »

just done it again and got 22ms jitter and 3% loss!

seems my BB is a little un stable

Is your broadband over telephone line or via a 3G dongle or other?

Was unsure how to read your previous post on this ....

jamesbil

its over the national Broadband Scheme with three using their sim router.

Johnboy1951

jamesbil wrote: »

its over the national Broadband Scheme with three using their sim router.

It is unlikely you will get satisfactory results using VOIP.

You can test it with a client application on the PC and register with one of the free providers to do some practical tests.

Linphone and Ekiga come to mind as solid applications without much fancy stuff to distract
They both allow you to get a VOIP address when you launch the app.

jamesbil

I have tested it over the last few days with Blueface, has so far has been perfect!
I keep running the speed test, and often get 0% loss.

Next issue is cancelling my landline subscription.
I want to get rid of the bundle and just have line rental.
However this means taking out a new contract just for rental even tho I am out of contract on the bundle.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
James

Johnboy1951

jamesbil wrote: »

I have tested it over the last few days with Blueface, has so far has been perfect!
I keep running the speed test, and often get 0% loss.

Next issue is cancelling my landline subscription.
I want to get rid of the bundle and just have line rental.
However this means taking out a new contract just for rental even tho I am out of contract on the bundle.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
James

I don't know how the Vodafone bundling scheme works, sorry.
I am with Eircom for line and BB.

I hope you continue to have satisfactory results with your VOIP.

Solair

You need a good ISP to get VoIP to work perfectly.

UPC works excellently with Blueface as they both peer on the INEX so the data only goes a few hops!