voice over IP

zap

When will we be able to use voice over IP (VOIP) comreg have made the prefix 076 available so when will there be a service?

aidan_walsh

As soon as operators start offering it. Personally, I won't be holding my breath... Its taking Eircom et al long enough to roll out more standardised services that are widely available elsewhere...

steve-hosting36

You'll most likely see voip services towards the end of jan / feb this year. Needless to say, Eircom wont be in a hurry to offer it

zap

is anyone other than eircom planning on offering it

steve-hosting36

I know of one or two companies putting offerings together. Obviously its ideal for wireless operators, who could give customers land line numbers without land lines.

zap

steve-hosting36 wrote:

I know of one or two companies putting offerings together. Obviously its ideal for wireless operators, who could give customers land line numbers without land lines.

I know Esat BT already use it in all theire offices.

any rough ideas on price

steve-hosting36

I wold expect zero 'line rental' costs unless yu want a direct dial (in bound number). You should be paying for calls at normaldiscounted rates, or maybe 5-10 euro per month to have inbound calls to a geographic or non-geographic number.

paulhurl

Check out www.skype.com

-ADREN-

What exactly is VOIP, I know its something to do with making phone calls to other pcs. But how does it work? Must one have a broadband connection? and can you ring a normal land line? Will it cost extra say if you get it of eircom will there be the standard line rental + broad band Subscription + a VOIP charge?

-Coz.

bringitdown

-ADREN- wrote:

What exactly is VOIP, I know its something to do with making phone calls to other pcs. But how does it work? Must one have a broadband connection? and can you ring a normal land line? Will it cost extra say if you get it of eircom will there be the standard line rental + broad band Subscription + a VOIP charge?

-Coz.

VOIP - in simple terms using IP (Packet based) technology to allow 'phone' calls.
At the moment software like skype allows free PC to PC calls - but you need a decent connection (e.g. broadband) to get it to work reliably. You can also call landlines at a price (usually far cheaper than traditional telephony).

Upshot is at the moment you'd probably be paying for you line rental and your broadband before any VOIP charges came into account.

No idea what Comreg proposes with the 076 but you could read:
http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg04103.pdf

boo4842

I live in Canada and have VOIP line with Vonage.

Its about the same quality as a land line. I have an inbound number, free voicemail, call ID, call forwarding, call history etc. I even have my number based in a different city as all my friends live there and can call me for free. I pay no line rental charges because.... I don't have a phone line.

I pay about 15 euros a month for a landline with 500 minutes of outbound calling anywhere in North America, unlimited inbound, and all the features metnioned above, and can call almost anywhere else in the world for about 5 cents a minute. You need a broadband connection to use it and it comes with a phone line enabled router (which was a bonus as saved me a few quid as I needed one anyways) and the phone plugs right into the router. Nothing else needed. I have a cordless phone, and the best part is definately the call forwarding. It sends all calls to my mobile if I don't pick up at home in 3 rings.

I would have killed for something like this when I lived over there. It was bad enough trying to get broadband without getting a phone line. NTL have a very limited coverage with cable internet. I would guess Eircom would fight this tooth and nail, as it offers a better service for 1/4 the cost.

Fibonacci

paulhurl wrote:

Check out www.skype.com

I second Skype. Its absolutely brilliant. When you talk Skype-to-Skype (your computer to someone else's computer who as Skype installed) the quality is incredible. Much, much better than the regular phone.

Unfortunately, when you use Skype-Out (Your computer to a landline), the quality isn't as reliably good. But still, I'm a big convert....

darraghrogan

Fibonacci wrote:

I second Skype. Its absolutely brilliant. When you talk Skype-to-Skype (your computer to someone else's computer who as Skype installed) the quality is incredible. Much, much better than the regular phone.

Unfortunately, when you use Skype-Out (Your computer to a landline), the quality isn't as reliably good. But still, I'm a big convert....

The problem with skype is that its based on a prop protocol.

You can't use it with standardised equipment which might support SIP or H323.

I experimented with voip there not too long ago with a company called voiptalk.org - not especially cheap to call mobiles but useful for educating yourself.

A good sw app is x-lite.

Darragh

Cabaal

Funnily enough I'm still waiting on VoIP, I have a esat business line and I have the option of dropping my standard voice line and turning my line into digital ONLY, if I do this no more eircom line rental

I would have done this only for my girlfriend uses the landline, but in fairness only €5 worth of calls in two months, I must see if I can get her to use skype for landline calls but its unlikely to work as we need inbound calls.

Roll on proper VoIP services...

oceanclub

Fibonacci wrote:

I second Skype. Its absolutely brilliant. When you talk Skype-to-Skype (your computer to someone else's computer who as Skype installed) the quality is incredible. Much, much better than the regular phone.

Unfortunately, when you use Skype-Out (Your computer to a landline), the quality isn't as reliably good. But still, I'm a big convert....

I third the above. When back in my partner's family in Malaysia recently, we set up their broadband-enabled PC with a webcam and Skype. She now uses Skype to chat to them, while using Yahoo Messenger to view them over cam, and it works a treat. As mentioned, the voice quality is superb, even when using a basic microphone. Since we now rarely use our landline, once we switch to NTL cable broadband, we can ditch our Eircom rental - which will give me _great_ pleasure, considering what a pain in the neck they have been to deal with.

P.