Re: VOIP Service

MHC · ‎22-11-2011

Everyone hears the bad side when there is a VOIP problem. But no one says when it is going well.

I run my own small consultancy and rely on communication services of all types. About 9 months back I decided to remove my ISDN services and rely on VOIP - my partner moved to PSTN as I felt it important to have a fixed line service in case there was an ADSL/VDSL outage.

I have two VOIP numbers - both configured on my router and the first has a local PSTN overlay number on it too.

One of those is on a physical phone on my desk - and it works perfectly, never a problem except for 30 minutes when I changed the business hub. Incoming and outgoing calls - no problem, voice quality excellent. When I am away from te office it can go to answer or my partner will pick-up.

The second number is used with BT communicator - I have it running on my PC during the working day and is easy to use, if I need to and quality excellent. The main pupose of this second number is for when I am travelling - world wide. The primary number is answered at my office but if anyone is desperate to contact me they can be given the second VOIP number and I can pick it up in hotels, on aircraft, at customer offices and likewise I can call back to teh UK at no cost.

BT's VOIP service give me continous communications access and is an excellent service.

I would recommend it to anyone.

rpincowes · ‎26-01-2012

No-one told us we'd have to dial the area code for all local calls if we had VOIP, nor that the VOIP Call Minder gives no indication, such as a different dialling tone, to alert you that you have a message waiting! A message service that doesn't tell you you have a message, what's the point of that?!

curtjackson · ‎27-01-2012

"The main pupose of this second number is for when I am travelling - world wide. The primary number is answered at my office but if anyone is desperate to contact me they can be given the second VOIP number and I can pick it up in hotels, on aircraft, at customer offices and likewise I can call back to teh UK at no cost."

Really?! How does that work?? I've been given no information about the possibility of that by BT.

MHC · ‎27-01-2012

Download the BT Communicator software. Install, log-on and away you go.

I can also have it running on the PC for the primary number when in the office and see if a second call comes in whilst on the phone and will see either the incoming number or then dial 1571 to check for a message.

It is possible to use both at the same time and make/receive two calls on the one number.

MHC · ‎27-01-2012

@rpincowes wrote:
No-one told us we'd have to dial the area code for all local calls if we had VOIP,

Is it really that difficult? An extra four or five digits ... you always dial an area code from a mobile so what is differnet? And surely when you were given a 0560 number it must have been obvious that an area cose would be needed.

curtjackson · ‎27-01-2012

Good to know. Thanks.

We use BTOC here, but wasn't told that it was possible to access the VoIP lines when not using the BT router and this broadband connection.

curtjackson · ‎27-01-2012

Just whilst I've got you guys here who know more about BT VoIP than I do (not difficult 🙂 ) can I just point you to my main query here, as it's causing a bottleneck here in the office:

http://business.forums.bt.com/t5/Internet-voice-products/Internal-call-transfer-with-BT-communicator...

MHC · ‎27-01-2012

@curtjackson wrote:
Just whilst I've got you guys here who know more about BT VoIP than I do (not difficult 🙂 ) can I just point you to my main query here, as it's causing a bottleneck here in the office:

http://business.forums.bt.com/t5/Internet-voice-products/Internal-call-transfer-with-BT-communicator...

Unfortunaely not.

curtjackson · ‎27-01-2012

Apparently this is available if we were to purchase Falcon phones (which aren't hands-free so would defeat the purpose), but my point being that I think this is probably a BT strategy to require customers to opt into a more expensive service to be able to do this.

Thanks for your reply though. In the light of this, we'll be switching to Skype and dropping BT VoIP.

paragon123 · ‎29-01-2012

I think keeping your VOiP is a good move. You can't imagine the hassle of loosing your phone number when switching to skype. I find it stable here at my end. Just make sure that you internet package is well suited for a VoIP.

If your BW is not huge enough to support VoIP, you will have a lot of headache. It is friendly, we just need to make sure on how to maximize its capability.