UKVoIPTalk.com

I am considering signing up with Gradwell for VoIP, for home/small
business use.

By far the most important criterion for me is RELIABILITY.

1. When you pick up the phone, do you always get a dial tone?

2. When you dial a number, do you get connected almost immediately, or
do you have to wait 30 seconds to connect?

3. Do you get cut off in mid-call?

4. Does 1471 tell you the date/time that someone called you, as well as
the calling number?

In other words, I'm looking for a basic telephone service, as reliable
as BT or NTL. A service that has got the fundamentals right. A service
that understands what single-point-of-failure means. The frills can come
later.

Experiences of Gradwell anyone?

--
Ian

news wrote:[color=blue]
> I am considering signing up with Gradwell for VoIP, for home/small
> business use.
>
> By far the most important criterion for me is RELIABILITY.
>
> 1. When you pick up the phone, do you always get a dial tone?
>
> 2. When you dial a number, do you get connected almost immediately, or
> do you have to wait 30 seconds to connect?
>
> 3. Do you get cut off in mid-call?
>
> 4. Does 1471 tell you the date/time that someone called you, as well as
> the calling number?
>
> In other words, I'm looking for a basic telephone service, as reliable
> as BT or NTL. A service that has got the fundamentals right. A service
> that understands what single-point-of-failure means. The frills can come
> later.
>
> Experiences of Gradwell anyone?
>[/color]

1. I have never not had a dial tone
2. There is no noticeable difference with the PSTN
3. Only if you've messed up setting up your phone
4. ? (Peter may be along to answer) Though my SPA841 gives me that
information in my missed calls list

news wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am considering signing up with Gradwell for VoIP, for home/small
> business use.
>
> By far the most important criterion for me is RELIABILITY.[/color]

So just use a PSTN line then.
[color=blue]
> In other words, I'm looking for a basic telephone service, as reliable
> as BT or NTL. A service that has got the fundamentals right. A service
> that understands what single-point-of-failure means. The frills can come
> later.[/color]

I reckon your internet connection is far more likely to be the single point
of failure than Gradwell.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpEaTm@ale.cx)
11:34:11 up 6 days, 15:16, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.03, 0.08
This is my BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMSTICK

"news" <news@care4free.net> wrote in message
news:raw1k8FnQVaFFwrj@care4free.net[color=blue]
> I am considering signing up with Gradwell for VoIP, for
> home/small business use.
>
> By far the most important criterion for me is RELIABILITY.
>
> 1. When you pick up the phone, do you always get a dial
> tone?[/color]

Depends on your ATA - dial tone is generated by the ATA not by the
provider.
[color=blue]
> 2. When you dial a number, do you get connected almost
> immediately, or do you have to wait 30 seconds to connect?[/color]

Usually, yes.
[color=blue]
> 3. Do you get cut off in mid-call?[/color]

Not in my experience.
[color=blue]
> 4. Does 1471 tell you the date/time that someone called
> you, as well as the calling number?[/color]

No idea, never used 1471 on Gradwell, but the website status page gives
time/date of made/received calls (although with a short delay, not
immediately).
[color=blue]
> In other words, I'm looking for a basic telephone
> service, as reliable as BT or NTL. A service that has got
> the fundamentals right. A service that understands what
> single-point-of-failure means. The frills can come later.
>
> Experiences of Gradwell anyone?[/color]

I can only speak as a single line customer, in my experience they are
excellent. For the single line service, they offer a 3 month free trial:

[url]http://www.gradwell.com/voip/trial.php[/url]


Ivor

In article <raw1k8FnQVaFFwrj@care4free.net>, [email]news@care4free.net[/email] (news)
wrote:
[color=blue]
> By far the most important criterion for me is RELIABILITY.[/color]

Think "bank of england"...

--
Paul Cummins

**FREE** mobile phones, with FREE line rental
[url]http://www.gstgroup.co.uk/[/url]

In message <4sttn1F11fqnjU1@mid.individual.net>, Ivor Jones
<ivor@despammed.invalid> writes[color=blue]
>"news" <news@care4free.net> wrote in message
>news:raw1k8FnQVaFFwrj@care4free.net[color=green]
>>
>> 1. When you pick up the phone, do you always get a dial
>> tone?[/color]
>
>Depends on your ATA - dial tone is generated by the ATA not by the
>provider.
>[/color]

You're right, of course, but that isn't quite what I was getting at. You
will only get the dial tone if the phone is registered. If the VoIP
provider's system has crashed or is otherwise unavailable, the ATA or
VoIP phone will fall back to a non-registered condition and you will not
get a dial tone. The availability of the provider's system was what I
had in mind in my question.

So, to re-phrase the question: How often have you experienced the NR
condition with Gradwell? Never? Almost never? A couple of times a year?
At least once a month? More frequently? Has the NR condition ever
extended to several minutes (or even hours), rather than just a
transient blip of a few seconds?

--
Ian

"news" <news@care4free.net> wrote in message
news:vx0EuhD1zfaFFwpa@care4free.net

[snip]
[color=blue]
> So, to re-phrase the question: How often have you
> experienced the NR condition with Gradwell? Never? Almost
> never? A couple of times a year? At least once a month?
> More frequently? Has the NR condition ever extended to
> several minutes (or even hours), rather than just a
> transient blip of a few seconds?[/color]

Never. Since I've been using Gradwell (about a year) the only problem I
had was incoming calls going straight to voicemail without ringing the
phone. This occurred only on PSTN calls, not on SIP calls from other
Gradwell users. It was corrected by a slight parameter change in my
account at Gradwell's end and has been fine ever since.

They have an excellent reputation for business use and I can recommend
them wholeheartedly. Additionally, the MD Peter Gradwell posts here
sometimes, and may well answer a question if you ask..!

Ivor

On 2006-11-26, news <news@care4free.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
> In message <4sttn1F11fqnjU1@mid.individual.net>, Ivor Jones
><ivor@despammed.invalid> writes[color=green]
>>"news" <news@care4free.net> wrote in message
>>news:raw1k8FnQVaFFwrj@care4free.net[color=darkred]
>>>
>>> 1. When you pick up the phone, do you always get a dial
>>> tone?[/color]
>>
>>Depends on your ATA - dial tone is generated by the ATA not by the
>>provider.
>>[/color]
>
> You're right, of course, but that isn't quite what I was getting at. You
> will only get the dial tone if the phone is registered. If the VoIP
> provider's system has crashed or is otherwise unavailable, the ATA or
> VoIP phone will fall back to a non-registered condition and you will not
> get a dial tone. The availability of the provider's system was what I
> had in mind in my question.[/color]

To eliminate the dial tone on a SPA2000 it is necessary to have a line
not registered and the parameter 'Make Call Without Reg:' set to 'no'.
With 'Make Call Without Reg:' as 'yes' there is a dial tone. Other ATAs
or softphones may behave differently I suppose but I cannot see why they
should.

Brian.

"news" <news@care4free.net> wrote in message
news:vx0EuhD1zfaFFwpa@care4free.net...[color=blue]
>
> You're right, of course, but that isn't quite what I was getting at. You
> will only get the dial tone if the phone is registered. If the VoIP
> provider's system has crashed or is otherwise unavailable, the ATA or
> VoIP phone will fall back to a non-registered condition and you will not
> get a dial tone. The availability of the provider's system was what I
> had in mind in my question.[/color]

The DrayTek Vigor2800VG has an option "Play dial tone only when account
registered", which depending on whether it is selected or not, gives a dial
tone in either state of the VoIP account (ie registered or non-registered).

Rob

In message <456acb79$0$8735$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>, Rob
<nobody@this.place.invalid> writes[color=blue]
>
>
>The DrayTek Vigor2800VG has an option "Play dial tone only when account
>registered", which depending on whether it is selected or not, gives a dial
>tone in either state of the VoIP account (ie registered or non-registered).
>[/color]

OK, but is there any point in presenting a dial tone to the user if the
phone/ATA is not registered?

--
Ian