Tesco voip-anyone used it..?

[Vlad_Dracul]

I am considering a swap to Tesco voip for my home phone using their phone adaptor so that i can use my existing phone hardware. Anyone using it/comments?

Apparently the back off/infrastructure is provided by voicedot

ta

[utt]

Gave it up..

software issues just after it first started, credit top up were a nightmare but have heard its improved

[Kymmy]

Not used thier VoIP but did use Orange VoIP for a bit. Fantastic service when my Mother in Law was touring Australia as the calls were free. Also you would never have known that it was VoIP than analogue line.

A relative uses Tesco and is happy but again they're on ADSL and not Cable but as the bandwidth isn;t that much different up or down I don't see any problem.

Kymmy

[Taf]

My missus uses it to call France.. cheap with no problems so far...

[Shaun]

Try here:

http://www.vonage.co.uk/call-plans/

30 days money back guarantee if you don't like it too. I've found them to be great. Been with them a few years now. Had about three free routers out of them when ours have given up the ghost or started misbehaving. :)

Fee calls to a long list of countries too. :)

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

Not used it personally and probby would not anyway

[chickendippers]

Tesco VOIP is a rip off, use Skype (http://www.skype.com) - the original and best :)

[Shaun]

Tesco VOIP is a rip off, use Skype (http://www.skype.com) - the original and best :)


Best in what way? Can you elaborate for me?

[chickendippers]

Unlimited Landline calls within the UK:
Skype Pro is £1.50/month
Tesco Anytime UK is £5/month

Skype can also be used for video calls, making free calls on a mobile phone (on 3), instant messaging, sending money via PayPal and finding businesses. Tesco mobile does none of these.

[UncleBooBoo]

The OP was looking to replace his home phone line for voip, Skype is only good for people who want to make cheap outgoing calls only and relies on a pc to use. (it also has poor voice quality compared to true voip/sip based providers due to the codec they use!)

A true voip/sip provider allows incoming and outgoing calls with local numbers for all of the uk, you can also use them without the need for any computers. Either via an adapter that allows you to just plug in your normal bt phone into or via a sip phone.

Skype is for amatures or just for people who want something simple to make cheap outgoing calls.

[Losttheplot]

The OP was looking to replace his home phone line for voip, Skype is only good for people who want to make cheap outgoing calls only and relies on a pc to use. (it also has poor voice quality compared to true voip/sip based providers due to the codec they use!)

A true voip/sip provider allows incoming and outgoing calls with local numbers for all of the uk, you can also use them without the need for any computers. Either via an adapter that allows you to just plug in your normal bt phone into or via a sip phone.

Skype is for amatures or just for people who want something simple to make cheap outgoing calls.

Skypein gives you a phone number. :rolleyes: Amateurs?

I've used Skype abroad and its brilliant for phoning home, I've had three and four way conference calls with family on phones or on their own Skype handsets.
Amateurs!! Mod edit (Gavin): Insult removed


However from home we use Vonage. Free landline calls in the UK and something like 10 other countries. We call Greece once a month maybe for an hour, girlfriend phones her parents virtually every night for an hour, all for £7.99 a month.

[UncleBooBoo]

Skypein gives you a phone number. :rolleyes: Amateurs?

Not one to suite your area code regardless of what part of the country your in! ;)

I belive it's only 02 numbers, not much use to some if your looking to replace your home phone landline now is it! Also skype can pull your number at any time and bin it!! They did that to thousands of users just a couple of months ago!!!

I've used Skype abroad and its brilliant for phoning home, I've had three and four way conference calls with family on phones or on their own Skype handsets.
Amateurs!! <removed>.

Like i said it's ok for people who want to make calls! Or those who want to get to know how it all works!! How does that make me a removed.:dozey:

Also i thought it was against forum rules to insult other members?removed.


However from home we use Vonage. Free landline calls in the UK and something like 10 other countries. We call Greece once a month maybe for an hour, girlfriend phones her parents virtually every night for an hour, all for £7.99 a month.

Vonage are a voip/sip based company although they restrict there service to their own hardware only. This has a negative effect for a lot of users as your limited to using settings & codecs not to mention your connection goes all the way round the planet and then back just to make a local call!

That can effect things and often does, check out the vonage forum for proof on that.

[Losttheplot]

Like i said it's ok for people who want to make calls! Or those who want to get to know how it all works!! How does that make me a <removed>? :dozey:

Also i thought it was against forum rules to insult other members? <removed>



No your amateur slur wasn't aimed at anyone, it was aimed at everyone who uses Skype.
You've slated Skype and stated Vonage have problems. I've had no problems with either company. Any constructive comments or recommendations to make?

[UncleBooBoo]

How have i slated skype?

And where did i say vonage and skype have problems??

I pointed out both pro's and con's to both companies. ;)

[punky]

Also i thought it was against forum rules to insult other members?

Leave the moderating to the moderators in future. That includes quoting and responding to infractions.

I would also like to remind you that discussion of infraction warnings is prohibited on the open forum.

[UncleBooBoo]

Ok Gavin.

To get back on track, The op was looking for a voip provider to replace his home phone, now unless he wants to leave his computer on 24/7 and have an 02 number that may not be suitable depending on his area i don't think skype is a good solution.

Vonage is but due to their servers being based in the usa depending on who his isp is this can sometimes be a problem. See vonage forums for further info...
One other downside is you can only use vonage supplied hardware in most cases this is ok but it restrics things later on down the line if you want to make some changes hardware wise even more so if you have given your number out to people!

I would recommend companies such as gradwell, voip.co.uk and voipfone etc... Just pick one that saves you the most depending on when you make your calls. These companies also allow number porting from and to BT etc... as well as other voip providers.

[Losttheplot]

How have i slated skype?


By calling its users amateurs. Or in your case amatures.

[UncleBooBoo]

Umm i am an amateur when it comes to a lot of things, i don't take offence!

I am an amateur diy enthusiast does that mean i am slating B&Q?

Skype is for voip enthusiasts/amateurs end of now how about keeping this thread on topic, we will just have to agree to disagree if you want to have a dig at me personally do it by pm so people on this forum don't get bored!

[Xan]

I used skype in/out payed for it all even got a phone which connects to the router so you dont need computer on,Had nothing but trouble with skype.Keep with your lanline phone,skype is good as a second phone.

[UncleBooBoo]

I used skype in/out payed for it all even got a phone which connects to the router so you dont need computer on

That's interesting, what hardware did you use and what proxy did you connect via?

If im still correct i belive skype in is still beta but i may be wrong. Been a while since i used skype.

[Losttheplot]

Umm i am an amateur when it comes to a lot of things, i don't take offence!

I am an amateur diy enthusiast does that mean i am slating B&Q?

Skype is for voip enthusiasts/amateurs end of now how about keeping this thread on topic, if you want to have a dig at me personally do it by pm so people on this forum don't get bored!
:zzz: If you said B&Q is for amateurs then yes. You would have insulted all B&Q visitors! Its not just beginners who use Skype.
Yes back to the subject.
Skype is just a very handy piece of software for people out and about. I use it from work, my last company used to recommend its use as we did a lot of round the world travelling. I've used it around the world, to speak to people, but probably use it more for sending messages.
As far as Vonage goes, once I'd got all the required ports opened up with the right protocols its worked absolutely fault free for me for the last two years. I'm on ADSL though so can't comment on cable usage. The fact you don't have to mess about setting up equipment (apart from firewalls) is a plus.

I looked at other VOIP providers and decided Vonage would be best for all the UK phone calls we make, the fact that Greece is now free to call was a big bonus.

[Stuart]

Dunno if it's still true, but one thing that you used to need to look out for in VOIP providers is that they (particularly Skype and Vonage) frequently blocked calls to 999.

Also, there's the practical aspect of what you do if there is a fire, or powercut? In either case, your router and/or modem will probably not get power, so will not handle outside calls. Phone lines are powered independantly, and are legally required to have battery back up in the event of an area power failure.

Of course, if you have a mobile with some power and a signal, this is all covered.

[UncleBooBoo]

Good point, i know voip.co.uk and voipfone allow calls to 999 not sure about gradwell though.

Something else to think about.

---------- Post added at 19:51 ---------- Previous post was at 19:47 ----------

Also, there's the practical aspect of what you do if there is a fire, or powercut? In either case, your router and/or modem will probably not get power, so will not handle outside calls. Phone lines are powered independantly, and are legally required to have battery back up in the event of an area power failure.

Then again most people use some type of cordless phone these days so they also don't have use of a phone line during power failure. I also thought VM phone lines don't work if there is a power failure as they have no backup power source in the cabs or am i wrong?

I know BT have battery backup in the exchange.

[Losttheplot]

Dunno if it's still true, but one thing that you used to need to look out for in VOIP providers is that they (particularly Skype and Vonage) frequently blocked calls to 999.

Also, there's the practical aspect of what you do if there is a fire, or powercut? In either case, your router and/or modem will probably not get power, so will not handle outside calls. Phone lines are powered independantly, and are legally required to have battery back up in the event of an area power failure.

Of course, if you have a mobile with some power and a signal, this is all covered.

With Vonage you now have to register an address that 999 calls will apply to.

[Shaun]

I can confirm 999 calls work fine from Vonage lines - we've had to call it once or twice and they had all our details.

As for Vonage on Cable/ADSL, I've had both and it works fine. Personally I'd never switch back to a "real" phone line. I've had both BT and VM phone line at the same time as my Vonage line and I never used either.

Free calls to a long list of countries as well as the UK is great. Currently we have cable BB and the Vonage line - no "real" line at all and never miss it. Like Stu said, I have a mobile to if it ever goes off (only twice in two years) I have a mobile to call them on.

[chamoan]

I have used Tesco VOIP, i tried different phones, even the kit where you plug it into your router directly. For UK calls all seemed well, but for calling Canada from the UK was always a waste of space, they could never hear me, i tried it on different computers aswell with same results.

Also with Tesco mics/phones, it would never let me adjust the microphone level, it would always preset itself, which is totally useless.

I gave up with them in the end cos it was just a waste of time, which is a shame cos for something like £8.50 a month it was free UK landline and selected international destinations unlimited calls (if i remember correctly).

[Xan]

That's interesting, what hardware did you use and what proxy did you connect via?

If im still correct i belive skype in is still beta but i may be wrong. Been a while since i used skype.

this is the phone i had nothing but trouble avoid skype as your main line

Dualphone 3088

• Make and receive both Skype and landline calls, without needing a PC
• Attractive cordless phone
• Easy to use graphical interface with color LCD screen
• DECT wireless technology so won’t interfere with WiFi networks

[SMHarman]

Dunno if it's still true, but one thing that you used to need to look out for in VOIP providers is that they (particularly Skype and Vonage) frequently blocked calls to 999. Vonage do not block 999. In fact they are on a campaign right now to get their customer base to make sure that they have the right address in the system so E911/E999/E112 works effectively.

How I do that with mine as it is located in the US instead of the UK is a bit of a challenge but hey ho.

I would have said SkyPe is for pros not am's as it is not plug and play wheras Vonage is for amatures as it is plug and play. Vonage do allow settings for call quality to be changed but they do it through their web interface not through the router hardware. Also, there's the practical aspect of what you do if there is a fire, or powercut? In either case, your router and/or modem will probably not get power, so will not handle outside calls. Phone lines are powered independantly, and are legally required to have battery back up in the event of an area power failure.

Of course, if you have a mobile with some power and a signal, this is all covered. Being as many homes have only cordless phones attached to their BT/Virgin outlet so when the power goes out the line may work but the cordless base station does not this is a bit less of an issue than many make out (though of course legally you should have battery back up in such a system or a wired handset installed).

Now, Tesco outsource this kinda thing, so who is the real provider of Tesco VOIP?

[alferret]

Vonage is a great package with excellent quality. We used it along side VM for a month last year and had no problems at all until we got an even better deal from VM and tried to cancel within their 30 MBG. Now thats another story :D

[bikeman]

I use tesco regularly for incoming calls as they provide a free geographic number of my business.

I have used it with the free xlite softphone and tescos own softphone on vista and it works great. Even does 999 calls.

I have tried lots of voip services and tesco voip is the only one that consistently provides good landline quality service - with every other voip provider I had problems with one way transmission on incoming calls.

I don't use them for outgoing because the 2ppm rate is not competitive but I know they offer free eve7 wkend calls for £2pm, free anytime for £5pm and mobile calls for 7.5ppm for £2.50 pm.

I've never had any problems and on the few occcasions I have contacted them they have been very good. I would whole heartedly recommend them.

I wouldn't recommend VM quite so unreservedly!

[Ken W]

I am considering a swap to Tesco voip for my home phone using their phone adaptor so that i can use my existing phone hardware. Anyone using it/comments?
Apparently the back off/infrastructure is provided by voicedot
ta

I have tried tesco VoIp phone and found I got a lot of echo heard by me and the other party which I never got when I use Skype, I have now gone back to useing Skype which I am very happy with.

[BexTech]

Tesco & Skype are the two dearer VoIP providers.

There are many others out there.

Vonage you have to pay each and every month and has too many fees for this and that, so for most people it's not a great package. The AOL of VoIP.

I use Sipgate and VoIPStunt (have a local, though they don't issue them now), have been using them for several years. I do now have a landline again, but only because VM are giving it me free, with free caller display and call package.

I use a Linksys PAP2 ATA.

[Ken W]

I am considering a swap to Tesco voip for my home phone using their phone adaptor so that i can use my existing phone hardware. Anyone using it/comments?

Apparently the back off/infrastructure is provided by voicedot

ta
I tried Tesco VOIP but I found a lot of echo and poor sound so I went back to Skype which I find better sound quality and no echo.