UKVoIPTalk.com

A work colleague wants to start using voip over her cable broadband and
eventualy cancel her BT line rental.

I use voip.co.uk myself but as they are not currently taking residential
customers we are looking for other recommendations. Sipgate is not an
option as she will need to be able to port her BT number over once the
account is up and running.

Thoughts and recommendations would be most welcome.

"BC" <bacillus.cereus@nospam.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:RGOIj.899$yD2.205@text.news.virginmedia.com
: A work colleague wants to start using voip over her cable
: broadband and eventualy cancel her BT line rental.
:
: I use voip.co.uk myself but as they are not currently
: taking residential customers we are looking for other
: recommendations. Sipgate is not an option as she will
: need to be able to port her BT number over once the
: account is up and running.
:
: Thoughts and recommendations would be most welcome.

Is it absolutely necessary to port the BT number..? I've changed numbers a
few times over the years and yes, it can be a pain, but people eventually
get used to the new one.

Gradwell accept ported numbers, but their residential single line service
is £4.00+VAT per month though (£8.50 per month for the unlimited package),
whereas Sipgate is free. They are very reliable though and MD Peter
Gradwell posts here on occasion.

See [url]http://www.gradwell.co.uk/voip/singleuser/[/url]

Ivor

BC wrote:[color=blue]
> A work colleague wants to start using voip over her cable broadband and
> eventualy cancel her BT line rental.
>
> I use voip.co.uk myself but as they are not currently taking residential
> customers we are looking for other recommendations. Sipgate is not an
> option as she will need to be able to port her BT number over once the
> account is up and running.
>
> Thoughts and recommendations would be most welcome.[/color]

speaking from personal experience, if she is planning on using virgin
cable connection I would advise against canceling BT line as it will
cost £100 to get it re-connected when she finds Virgin next to useless.

Others have used and I'm sure still use cable for voip without problem,
I ended up scrapping cable completely in favour of ADSL/BT as cable is
still on the slippery slope to oblivion where only the customer gets
completely shafted.

Sipgate for free incoming number and one of the betamax companies for
outgoing.

I only get around 1.5Mbps on adsl at home and even that is better for
voip than the rubbish virgin were claiming as a 10Mbps cable connection.

Cable is dead in the UK.
Long-Live ADSL and 21CN (or whatever it's called)

As others have said, changing numbers is no problem at all, I changed
the business phone number to an 0845 number provided by voipfone.co.uk
Keeping the BT line means anyone that takes a while to get the new
number can be dumped to an answerphone with a message giving the new
voip number.

Other opinions may vary of course.

Cheers
Pete
--
[url]http://gymratz.co.uk[/url] - Fitness & Gym Equipment/nutrition specialists.
[url]http://www.trade-price-supplements.co.uk[/url] - Bulk buy for up to 33% off.
[url]http://www.BBE-Boxing-Equipment.co.uk[/url] - New Boxing Equipment site.
[url]http://www.equipmentforfitness.uk[/url] - fitness Equipment.

"Pet - www.GymRatZ.co.uk" <0845-86-86-888@Cheapest-Prices.ever> wrote in
message news:ft0t2e$ge9$1@registered.motzarella.org...[color=blue]
> BC wrote:[color=green]
>> A work colleague wants to start using voip over her cable broadband
>> and eventualy cancel her BT line rental.
>>
>> I use voip.co.uk myself but as they are not currently taking
>> residential customers we are looking for other recommendations.
>> Sipgate is not an option as she will need to be able to port her BT
>> number over once the account is up and running.
>>
>> Thoughts and recommendations would be most welcome.[/color]
>
> speaking from personal experience, if she is planning on using virgin
> cable connection I would advise against canceling BT line as it will
> cost £100 to get it re-connected when she finds Virgin next to
> useless.
>
> Others have used and I'm sure still use cable for voip without
> problem, I ended up scrapping cable completely in favour of ADSL/BT as
> cable is still on the slippery slope to oblivion where only the
> customer gets completely shafted.
>
> Sipgate for free incoming number and one of the betamax companies for
> outgoing.
>
> I only get around 1.5Mbps on adsl at home and even that is better for
> voip than the rubbish virgin were claiming as a 10Mbps cable
> connection.
>
> Cable is dead in the UK.
> Long-Live ADSL and 21CN (or whatever it's called)
>
> As others have said, changing numbers is no problem at all, I changed
> the business phone number to an 0845 number provided by voipfone.co.uk
> Keeping the BT line means anyone that takes a while to get the new
> number can be dumped to an answerphone with a message giving the new
> voip number.
>
> Other opinions may vary of course.
>
> Cheers
> Pete[/color]



Speak for yourself sunshine, but don't castigate cable across the
country.

Virgin - as was largely NTL - got to where it is by taking over other
cable companies, and not all cable structures were as good as others.
Here I pay for 4Mb and get 4Mb (varies between 3967Kb and 4136Kb) and
rarely have an outage - perhaps three or four in over 6 years.

You don't, incidently, have to have TV and/or phone to have broadband on
cable - it is available stand-alone, as I have here.


--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

Woody wrote
on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:04:53 GMT in message
<9qTIj.32005$%N1.18416@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net>:
[color=blue]
>"Pet - www.GymRatZ.co.uk" <0845-86-86-888@Cheapest-Prices.ever> wrote in
>message news:ft0t2e$ge9$1@registered.motzarella.org...[color=green]
>> BC wrote:[color=darkred]
>>> A work colleague wants to start using voip over her cable broadband
>>> and eventualy cancel her BT line rental.
>>>
>>> I use voip.co.uk myself but as they are not currently taking
>>> residential customers we are looking for other recommendations.
>>> Sipgate is not an option as she will need to be able to port her BT
>>> number over once the account is up and running.
>>>
>>> Thoughts and recommendations would be most welcome.[/color]
>>
>> speaking from personal experience, if she is planning on using virgin
>> cable connection I would advise against canceling BT line as it will
>> cost £100 to get it re-connected when she finds Virgin next to
>> useless.
>>
>> Others have used and I'm sure still use cable for voip without
>> problem, I ended up scrapping cable completely in favour of ADSL/BT as
>> cable is still on the slippery slope to oblivion where only the
>> customer gets completely shafted.
>>
>> Sipgate for free incoming number and one of the betamax companies for
>> outgoing.
>>
>> I only get around 1.5Mbps on adsl at home and even that is better for
>> voip than the rubbish virgin were claiming as a 10Mbps cable
>> connection.
>>
>> Cable is dead in the UK.
>> Long-Live ADSL and 21CN (or whatever it's called)
>>
>> As others have said, changing numbers is no problem at all, I changed
>> the business phone number to an 0845 number provided by voipfone.co.uk
>> Keeping the BT line means anyone that takes a while to get the new
>> number can be dumped to an answerphone with a message giving the new
>> voip number.
>>
>> Other opinions may vary of course.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Pete[/color]
>
>
>
>Speak for yourself sunshine, but don't castigate cable across the
>country.
>
>Virgin - as was largely NTL - got to where it is by taking over other
>cable companies, and not all cable structures were as good as others.
>Here I pay for 4Mb and get 4Mb (varies between 3967Kb and 4136Kb) and
>rarely have an outage - perhaps three or four in over 6 years.
>
>You don't, incidently, have to have TV and/or phone to have broadband on
>cable - it is available stand-alone, as I have here.[/color]

I've no problems either with VoIP over my cable (xTelewest) broadband
serive.

No one knows I am using VoIP unless I mention it.

Yes, I know many people with broadband only from cable and no TV or phone.

--
[url]http://www.badphorm.co.uk[/url]
[url]http://www.dephormation.org.uk[/url]
free.spy.oix.phorm

Pet - [url]www.GymRatZ.co.uk[/url] wrote:
[color=blue]
>
> Other opinions may vary of course.
>[/color]

Well I use voip over my cable connection and have no problems. Haven't
had a BT line for almost 12 months.

>A work colleague wants to start using voip over her cable broadband and[color=blue]
>eventualy cancel her BT line rental.
>
> I use voip.co.uk myself but as they are not currently taking residential
> customers we are looking for other recommendations. Sipgate is not an
> option as she will need to be able to port her BT number over once the
> account is up and running.
>
> Thoughts and recommendations would be most welcome.[/color]

I am not going to comment about BT line or not... althought I still believe
that basic safety reckon you should keep at least 1 phone line with a corded
phone per house... as this is probably the only working communication device
you will have if you need emergency during a local power cut... or is that
me not trusting VoIP enough to make the jump....

Anyway, I have tried the following:
- voipfone.co.uk (but they intend to cut the line if they detect no activity
for 2 minutes)
- voiptalk.co.uk (DTMF/keytone not always correctly detected by remote
system...)
They both give you a 056 number for free.... local number are charged...

- voipcheap.com: you get charged for a call-in number (never tried this
yet). dunno either about call quality.

I still believe voip.co.uk is the best one out there.... for these who got
in early enough... not sure what will happen with them in the near future...
it is all very quiet at their end... voipfone is good line quality, probebly
even better that voip.co.uk, but them cutting the line after 2 minutes of
silence is not acceptable for me.

HTH

JM

Woody wrote:[color=blue]
> "Pet - www.GymRatZ.co.uk" <0845-86-86-888@Cheapest-Prices.ever> wrote in
> message news:ft0t2e$ge9$1@registered.motzarella.org...[color=green]
>> BC wrote:[color=darkred]
>>> A work colleague wants to start using voip over her cable broadband
>>> and eventualy cancel her BT line rental.
>>>
>>> I use voip.co.uk myself but as they are not currently taking
>>> residential customers we are looking for other recommendations.
>>> Sipgate is not an option as she will need to be able to port her BT
>>> number over once the account is up and running.
>>>
>>> Thoughts and recommendations would be most welcome.[/color]
>> speaking from personal experience, if she is planning on using virgin
>> cable connection I would advise against canceling BT line as it will
>> cost £100 to get it re-connected when she finds Virgin next to
>> useless.
>>
>> Others have used and I'm sure still use cable for voip without
>> problem, I ended up scrapping cable completely in favour of ADSL/BT as
>> cable is still on the slippery slope to oblivion where only the
>> customer gets completely shafted.
>>
>> Sipgate for free incoming number and one of the betamax companies for
>> outgoing.
>>
>> I only get around 1.5Mbps on adsl at home and even that is better for
>> voip than the rubbish virgin were claiming as a 10Mbps cable
>> connection.
>>
>> Cable is dead in the UK.
>> Long-Live ADSL and 21CN (or whatever it's called)
>>
>> As others have said, changing numbers is no problem at all, I changed
>> the business phone number to an 0845 number provided by voipfone.co.uk
>> Keeping the BT line means anyone that takes a while to get the new
>> number can be dumped to an answerphone with a message giving the new
>> voip number.
>>
>> Other opinions may vary of course.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Pete[/color]
>
>
>
> Speak for yourself sunshine, but don't castigate cable across the
> country.
>
> Virgin - as was largely NTL - got to where it is by taking over other
> cable companies, and not all cable structures were as good as others.
> Here I pay for 4Mb and get 4Mb (varies between 3967Kb and 4136Kb) and
> rarely have an outage - perhaps three or four in over 6 years.
>
> You don't, incidently, have to have TV and/or phone to have broadband on
> cable - it is available stand-alone, as I have here.
>
>[/color]
I tried VM cable the 20 Mb product. In the evening and weekends the per
connection speed was nearly always slower than my 4 Mb adsl account.
Often it would run at about 1 Mb per connection.

The Voip quality was always worse than ADSL and even when the line was
working at 20 Mb it still couldn't stream some US video sites that my
ADSL line could handle without trouble.


If you want to do a lot of large multithread/multiconnection downloads
VM was good.

Nick wrote:[color=blue]
> Woody wrote:[/color]
[color=blue]
> I tried VM cable the 20 Mb product. In the evening and weekends the per
> connection speed was nearly always slower than my 4 Mb adsl account.
> Often it would run at about 1 Mb per connection.[/color]

I was forever getting network drop-out initially presented its self as
occasional browser failure, but voip was un-usable and kept getting worse.
[color=blue]
> The Voip quality was always worse than ADSL and even when the line was
> working at 20 Mb it still couldn't stream some US video sites that my
> ADSL line could handle without trouble.[/color]

Could just have been the network segment or UBR or whatever the
technical name is, but my dad who is about 12 miles away found his cable
connection was suffering the same problems.

He also dumped virgin and took up a 2Mbps ADSL with uk-online (with whom
I have 2 ADSL accounts)and has been very pleased. Not got him on voip as
he took up a £7 for unlimited free calls offer from BT.

Either way he's saving a fortune each month.
[color=blue]
> If you want to do a lot of large multithread/multiconnection downloads
> VM was good.[/color]

Yes, the binary news server was good ;¬)
But the abuse by VM of the term "up to 20Mb" was criminal.

Still I'm glad to be shot, and my 3 x ADSL connections have been as
stable as my cable was when it was Telewest.

:¬)
--
[url]http://gymratz.co.uk[/url] - Fitness & Gym Equipment/nutrition specialists.
[url]http://www.trade-price-supplements.co.uk[/url] - Bulk buy for up to 33% off.
[url]http://www.BBE-Boxing-Equipment.co.uk[/url] - New Boxing Equipment site.
[url]http://www.equipmentforfitness.co.uk[/url] - Commercial Gym Equipment.

Pet - [url]www.GymRatZ.co.uk[/url] wrote:
[color=blue]
> Yes, the binary news server was good ;¬)
> But the abuse by VM of the term "up to 20Mb" was criminal.
>[/color]
Mine genuinely would work at 20Mb for much of the day especially 9am to
11am. However in the evening 4.00pm to 12pm it slowed down.

So I'm pretty certain this slowdown was due to congestion on VM's network.

I did ask VM support about it but didn't get any kind of a rational
response.

It is a shame really because even at £37.00 it wouldn't have been more
expensive than my BT line rental + ISP cost. The upstream speed was much
better than adsl.

If VM were willing to introduce some kind of QoS guarantee or introduced
sensible download limits so they could achieve a good QoS I would
consider trying them again.