Should I ditch my landline for VOIP?

amandstu

I have a good quality broadband (fibreoptic) and am wondering if there are any good reasons not to go ahead and make VOIP my only telephone connection?

It would be much cheaper .

Any downsides?

I did ask the engineer who installed the new cables but he was unable to give advice.

Johnboy1951

None that I know of ...... just make sure you have good hardware for the VOIP and your ISP does not interfere with VOIP set up by the user.

I like the fact that I can have multiple VOIP providers and can select which one to use for different call types to get the best call rates.

Baoithin66

Sorry to high jack but I recently got ftth with phone service as part of the eir package. Do I need to buy a VOIP phone as well?

tsue921i8wljb3

Baoithin66 wrote: »

Sorry to high jack but I recently got ftth with phone service as part of the eir package. Do I need to buy a VOIP phone as well?

No. A traditional phone or DECT base station plugs into the router.

Silent Running

I got eir FTTH 2 years ago. The old copper phone cable was left in place and serves the landline. Should/could I have VOIP on the fiber?

Johnboy1951

Baoithin66 wrote: »

Sorry to high jack but I recently got ftth with phone service as part of the eir package. Do I need to buy a VOIP phone as well?

no ..... but that depends on the router supplied.

For instance I have an old Draytek router with two ports that take normal analogue telephones.

The new router I recently got from Airwire, not only has ports for analogue phones but also a built in DECT base which allows me to register up to 6 existing DECT handsets.

Both those routers have all the software/firmware built in to manage all calls, phone numbers telephone book and so on.

So I guess the answer to your question is ...... "it depends on the hardware in use".

CalamariFritti

There are no technical reasons why not to go for VOIP. Any decent internet router also acts like a home phone switch so that you can use your existing phones. So if you have a 'normal' phone and that's all you want after then go for it. You will never know the difference.

Only thing I will say is that I'm disappointed with the lack of freedom of choice, at least with Eir. Eir wouldn't give me my SIP details to use on my own VOIP equipment like desktop (computer) phone. You must use the Eir router and nothing else, they will not allow it. Apparently the whole SIP authentication thing is not safe enough to entrust the enduser with their SIP credentials. At least not the way Eir have implemented it. Which kinda negates most of the advantages of VOIP tbh. I don't think the situation is better with the other ones (not Eir).

Long story short. Its grand if you just want to have a normal landline, but dont expect many of the advantages of VOIP/SIP to be available to you. Eir have an app for the mobile so that you can take/make landline phone calls from anywhere with your mobile. Thats something I guess.

But forget about using your own VOIP phones or making calls from your computer or such.

Edit: All that applies to your Eir/Virigin/Sky provided VOIP account, your former analog line. For 99% of the people that would be their old number they had before. Of course you always sign up on the side for a new VOIP number with a different provider and then you can do 'stuff'.

tsue921i8wljb3

Silent Running wrote: »

I got eir FTTH 2 years ago. The old copper phone cable was left in place and serves the landline. Should/could I have VOIP on the fiber?

If there was an active phone line in place at the time of installation it was generally left in place. Technically you could get VoIP, although I would not fancy trying to get eir to switch you, but to be honest there is really no advantage to it and there may actually be disadvantages in that you lose the phone in the event of a power cut.

Johnboy1951

Silent Running wrote: »

I got eir FTTH 2 years ago. The old copper phone cable was left in place and serves the landline. Should/could I have VOIP on the fiber?

If you are out of contract for the phone service on the copper line then you can port the number to a VOIP provider of your choice .......... and there are quite a number of those.

You can then manage your calls as you see fit ...... even have a number of VOIP accounts to call out using different rates to various locations.

CalamariFritti

Emmeline Putrid Porcupine wrote: »

I...there may actually be disadvantages in that you lose the phone in the event of a power cut.

There is that, yes. But I was told powered analog lines are going to be phased out soon anyway. Then we'll all get VOIP whether we want it or not. You're only delaying the inevitable.

tsue921i8wljb3

CalamariFritti wrote: »

There are no technical reasons why not to go for VOIP. Any decent internet router also acts like a home phone switch so that you can use your existing phones. So if you have a 'normal' phone and that's all you want after then go for it. You will never know the difference.

Only thing I will say is that I'm disappointed with the lack of freedom of choice, at least with Eir. Eir wouldn't give me my SIP details to use on my own VOIP equipment like desktop (computer) phone. You must use the Eir router and nothing else, they will not allow it. Apparently the whole SIP authentication thing is not safe enough to entrust the enduser with their SIP credentials. At least not the way Eir have implemented it. Which kinda negates most of the advantages of VOIP tbh. I don't think the situation is better with the other ones (not Eir).

Long story short. Its grand if you just want to have a normal landline, but dont expect many of the advantages of VOIP/SIP to be available to you. Eir have an app for the mobile so that you can take/make landline phone calls from anywhere with your mobile. Thats something I guess.

But forget about using your own VOIP phones or making calls from your computer or such.

I think they have pulled the app! I can't find it on the Play Store on Android, I don't know about iOS. Talk about incompetent. It was really the only selling point for their VoIP service.

Johnboy1951

CalamariFritti wrote: »

There is that, yes. But I was told powered analog lines are going to be phased out soon anyway. Then we'll all get VOIP whether we want it or not. You're only delaying the inevitable.

Regardless how long it takes for the copper service to disappear, it is fairly simple to use a battery backup to ensure the phone stays active if your premises loses power.

CalamariFritti

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Regardless how long it takes for the copper service to disappear, it is fairly simple to use a battery backup to ensure the phone stays active if your premises loses power.

Not really firm on this but if the switch goes dead would a local power backup make a difference?

tsue921i8wljb3

CalamariFritti wrote: »

There is that, yes. But I was told powered analog lines are going to be phased out soon anyway. Then we'll all get VOIP whether we want it or not. You're only delaying the inevitable.

Soon is not soon in the traditional meaning of the word. I don't think Comreg have even begun to look at it yet so there will be years of consultation ahead.

tsue921i8wljb3

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Not really firm on this but if the switch goes dead would a local power backup make a difference?

For the current FTTH you would need something like a UPS to power the ONT, the router and the DECT base station (if in place).

Interestingly BT in the UK had been providing battery backup on their fledgling fibre VoIP service and they have now stopped providing the backup. Everyone has a mobile now right!

Baoithin66

Thanks. I am using my old landline phone but there is a lot of static. Maybe its the phone. I'll borrow a new phone and see how I get on.

Johnboy1951

CalamariFritti wrote: »

There are no technical reasons why not to go for VOIP. Any decent internet router also acts like a home phone switch so that you can use your existing phones. So if you have a 'normal' phone and that's all you want after then go for it. You will never know the difference.

Only thing I will say is that I'm disappointed with the lack of freedom of choice, at least with Eir. Eir wouldn't give me my SIP details to use on my own VOIP equipment like desktop (computer) phone. You must use the Eir router and nothing else, they will not allow it. Apparently the whole SIP authentication thing is not safe enough to entrust the enduser with their SIP credentials. At least not the way Eir have implemented it. Which kinda negates most of the advantages of VOIP tbh. I don't think the situation is better with the other ones (not Eir).

Long story short. Its grand if you just want to have a normal landline, but dont expect many of the advantages of VOIP/SIP to be available to you. Eir have an app for the mobile so that you can take/make landline phone calls from anywhere with your mobile. Thats something I guess.

But forget about using your own VOIP phones or making calls from your computer or such.

Edit: All that applies to your Eir/Virigin/Sky provided VOIP account, your former analog line. For 99% of the people that would be their old number they had before. Of course you always sign up on the side for a new VOIP number with a different provider and then you can do 'stuff'.

There is no requirement to use eir VOIP ....... use a different provider!
Most will allow you to use standard SIP compliant apps on just about any device you like to register your phone.
Indeed most will allow multiple device to be registered concurrently, so you use whicever is most convenient.
Those device do not have to be physically close ..... take you phone number on holiday with you on your mobile phone using an app.

Eir are the pits from just about every angle.
One wonders at times how Openeir managed to do so well in rolling out the fibre lines ...... although there are quite a number of people who would disagree with that, having been left out of the Openeir roll out.

Johnboy1951

Emmeline Putrid Porcupine wrote: »

For the current FTTH you would need something like a UPS to power the ONT, the router and the DECT base station (if in place).

Interestingly BT in the UK had been providing battery backup on their fledgling fibre VoIP service and they have now stopped providing the backup. Everyone has a mobile now right!

Probably close to everyone ....... but not coverage in the home for quite a number!

Silent Running

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Probably close to everyone ....... but not coverage in the home for quite a number!

Yes, I'm in that bracket. Zero coverage from any mobile provider. I'm fairly rural and have a generator to deal with the frequent power outages, so home power is secure.

Power at the exchange seems to be a problem. We were without power for a week due to Ophelia. The phone worked for a few days then died. This only means that the local exchange has no generator backup, and when the batteries ran down, service ceased. I presume there is some mains powered equipment for the fibre at the exchange, so this would be no different?

Johnboy1951

Silent Running wrote: »

Yes, I'm in that bracket. Zero coverage from any mobile provider. I'm fairly rural and have a generator to deal with the frequent power outages, so home power is secure.

Power at the exchange seems to be a problem. We were without power for a week due to Ophelia. The phone worked for a few days then died. This only means that the local exchange has no generator backup, and when the batteries ran down, service ceased. I presume there is some mains powered equipment for the fibre at the exchange, so this would be no different?

I would 'expect' (but really have no clue) that the modern fibre gear would be a lot less power hungry and easier to keep working in the event of power failure at the exchange.

At least the phone lasted sufficiently long after ophelia to allow all the necessary calls to be made etc etc.
A good result in the circumstances IMO.