Mike the unimaginative wrote:
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> Ahh so someone has to listen to an advert before the call is connected
> methinks - OK it's a business model, not one I'd go for, but it's an
> approach.
>
> What I don't want is : resellers, spam (ignoring what has been said
> before), poor call quality, obscure call pricing plans, hard-to-get out
> of contracts.
> What I do want is : one-off payments (rather than monthly charges) for
> things like geo numbers; a choice of number; settable outgoing CLID;
> simple (yes *simple*) setting instructions for my ATA (and his, and his,
> and hers);veiwable on-line call cost records.
> What I'd like is : a second tier service that I can ignore if I want to
> that includes the bells & whistles that 'professional users' might want
> - that might even extend to voicemail.
>
> What I think I'm describing is mostly Sipgate with a bit of Voip.co.uk
> thrown in.
>[/color]
The one thing that puts me off going fully VOIP (I use voip.co.uk for
outgoing calls and BT for incoming) is ownership of any allocated
geographic number and the 'permanence' of the VOIP provider. Like many
people I suspect, my telephone number is widely known and therefore more
important to me than the telco providing it. I could port my current BT
number to voip.co.uk but what would happen if they went bust? I
suspect that the number would automatically revert back to BT's pool and
I would have no claim over it. Equally I could choose to publicise my
voip.co.uk number(s) and then I'd almost definitely lose them.

In an ideal world I would 'own' the number and then choose a telco to
provide service...