[Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Hi all

This package looks good to me.

I am correct if you get this you can then cancell your exsisting line rental for your phone because it uses the broadband connection. (that would save £126pa) plus you get free uk calls !!!

I am correct in my thinking !

mike

Re: Dixons Freetalk. Cancel line rental
 

Is you phone line BT or NTL, It might not work with an NTL line.

Re: Dixons Freetalk. Cancel line rental
 

correct it goes via your broadband connection so you can cancel your BT or NTL phone line provided your broadband isn't via ADSL. yes, the package is good if you do loads of UK calls. I use sipgate which is a similar product ie. voice over IP. The prices on freetalk are better for uk mobile calls compared to sipgate during evenings and weekends. I suggest you check what notice period you're on with BT or NTL re cancelling your phone line before you order freetalk.
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nb. it uses 64k upload and 64 download bandwidth so if you're on a low tier then you will struggle to make phone calls and use your broadband connection at the same time.
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it doesn't go via a phone line mate, it replaces it (if you're happy to lose the 999 facility).

Re: Dixons Freetalk. Cancel line rental
 

Bear in mind that if you have television from NTL you can only cancel your phone line if you cancel the tele as well. They're bundled...

Re: Dixons Freetalk. Cancel line rental
 

OOH dear did not realise they were bundled. Bang goes that plan !

Mike

Dixons Freetalk
 

Hi all

Well I've done it just brought one of these

http://www.freetalk.co.uk

I was paying for talkunlimited £14.50 per month with ntl now paying 6.66 pm for unlimited Uk calls !

All other calls are cheaper like weekend 5p pm to mobiles :) :) :)

If it goes ok I will cancel my ntl line rental (saving £10.50) per month as this uses the broadband connection! So reduced charges from 24.50 per month to 6.66

Mike

Re: Dixons Freetalk
 

do they offer a 14 day money back guarantee if you dont like it?
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what's the call quality like? and what broadband tier are you on? 1meg 2meg or 3meg?
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I thought you weren't able to cancel your phone line as you have the NTL TV service which is bundled with it?

Re: Dixons Freetalk
 

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

a big benefit over their main competitor, Vonage is that they are cheaper per month and dont have a sneaky cancellation charge if you decide to leave them. Vonage boast that there is no contact which is a bit or a lot misleading as they charge £24 if you wish to leave them.
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you're on a 14 day trial mike so make sure you're happy before day 15!

"freetalk offers a 14 day trial period from the date of activation ("Trial Period") to new users for their first freetalk account. If You are not satisfied with the Services during the Trial Period, You may obtain a refund of the monthly subscription fee from freetalk."
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oh and it looks like Freetalk DO have a sneaky cancellation charge:-

"8.8 Cancellation fee.
If You terminate this Agreement within 12 months from activation of Your Service, You must pay a cancellation fee ("Cancellation Fee"), which is equal to the cost incurred by freetalk in making the Service available to You or £23.99, whichever is the greater. A Cancellation Fee is not payable where You terminate this Agreement after 12 consecutive months of receiving the Service. Cancellation Fees shall be billed to Your Payment Card when You notify us of the cancellation of the Service. The Cancellation Fee shall be waived if You have selected a Monthly Service Plan and terminate the Service during the Trial Period."

Although once you're out of the 12 month period you dont have this fee.

Re: Dixons Freetalk
 

Call quality is really good..........easy it set up and phone away.

I am on 3mb

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

how are you gonna ditch the phone line as it's bundled? are you jumping ship to sky?

Re: Dixons Freetalk
 

I take it all back.................having problems now. Most of the local numbers are engaged via Freetalk but fine on a normal landland. I am not sure why this is and it's driving me a bid mad now.

Any ideas. Thanks Mike

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Send it back and use www.18866.co.uk

For £6.66 you can make 222 local/national calls in a month, if you don't then you save money.

Never have problems with engaged lines or bad quality calls.:)
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If you jump ship to sky you'll have to plug your digi box into a phone line, don't know if Sky allow you to use VOIP lines :confused:

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Only if you take advantage of one of the subsidised deals, and then only for a year.

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

How can they tell? Your line will have a standard UK 01 or 02 phone number allocated to it.

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Extremly good point !

Mike :dunce:

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Does require dialing lots of access digits first though.

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Stick it on speed-dial

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

AHHHHHHHHHH But with freetalk you do not pay line rental !

Re: Dixons Freetalk
 

try dialling the full code - e.g. 0161 nnnnnnnn instead of just the nnnnnnn bit.

Re: Dixons Freetalk
 

Tried that but have just spoke to CS in the states !!!

They say they are now on the case and hopefully there will be a fix.

Will let people know

Mike

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

be patient, this isn't the cutting edge... it's the bleeding edge!

new technology and all that. I knew when I got my voip it was also about the experience on being one of the first to adopt a new technology. just make sure if it's failing you return it within 14 days!

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

I assumed the service was using the new 056 numbers being allocated to other VOIP lines :confused:

https://store.hub.voxhub.net/phones/...undnumbers.jsp

Re: [merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

no, with vonage, freetalk, sipgate and all decent uk voip providers you get a proper 'normal' phone number.

www.freetalk.co.uk/Features_.aspx#2

"CHOOSE YOUR AREA CODE

Choose a phone number from any of the available UK rate centres, regardless of where your freetalk phone will be physically located. freetalk asks you to specify the "rate centre" (calling area or city name) that you would like to have assigned to your account. There can be many rate centres within one area code. With freetalk, you can request a rate centre that is local to those who call you the most. Rate centre selection does not affect your freetalk calling rates.

When you make calls from your freetalk account, all calls within the UK are included with your flat rate freetalk service. On all of our calling plans, calls between two freetalk subscribers are free and unlimited, anywhere in the world. Remember: freetalk is available to you even if we do not have your local area code or rate centre. Your freetalk area code and phone number is only used for inbound calls. If a more desirable rate centre later becomes available, freetalk will assign a new number to your account. This is a freetalk feature that is free of extra charge. "

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Makes it a little more attractive but I still cant see it beating 18866 for call costs.:erm:

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

I think 18866 are the same people who own/run www.voipcheap.co.uk/en/index.html which is voip but doesn't give you a phone number and has ****e support for technical issues.

vonage and freetalk etc are attractive as they are mass market toys aimed at passing trade and non techy people - they also allow you to connect your normal phone to it so it has the appeal of being an (almost) replacement for the BT line.
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the ideal solution would be something like sipgate for incoming calls (so you have a normal phone number) and voipcheap or 18866 etc for your outgoing calls.
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the £80 for a year upfront is a bloody good deal though - if it works! as it includes hardware which would cost you at least £20. my voip box cost me in the region of £50 to get up and running.

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

I agree, I did mention this the other day, if you're willing to sit at your PC and use firefly then it would be a virtually free service (As voipcheap don't make any charge for uk calls, not even a connection fee).

I believe there are routers (Draytec is the one I've seen mentioned) that can handle this and allow you to plug your home phone in if you don't mind replacing your router.

Re: Dixons Freetalk. Cancel line rental
 

Also bear in mind that you do really need a phone that can dial 999 in the event of an emergency. Nine times out of ten, a Mobile will be fine, but there's always then tenth where the battery is flat, or you don't have a good signal.

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

01235 local code has now been sorted so I am well happy !

Will leave it a couple of days then cancel ntl phone/tv. It's VOIP for me now.

I have been on a bit of a cost saving fews days because I am broke. Phoned ntl as I was paying 72.39 per month. TV / Phone / Talk unlimited / 3 MB BB.

Their response was : free TV for 6 months / cancelled Talk unlimited / half price BB at 3MB for 18.99 for six months. Just shows what happens if you ask nicely :tu: :tu: :tu: > Customers services :tu:

Mike

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

if you ring up to cancel your tv and phone I recon they'll offer you a deal to keep it - like half price tv service - I was offered that (a few years back) when I cancelled.

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

I've been thinking about this again.

Etc. do you know of a hardware solution that would allow you to replace the firefly software in this example :

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...1&postcount=11

I was wondering if this box would allow you to configure one of the lines as above; with one provider for incoming calls and oinr for outgoing?

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...0&ShopGroupID=

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

ok, firstly that box is the linksys pap2 which is what I have - it's a rebadged Sipura 2000 in a nicer case and a lot cheaper!

www.voiptalk.org/products/Sipura+SPA+2002

yes you can connect 2 VOIP services to it but you would need to use 2 seperate phones.

so perhaps you need a higher spec model... in theory you can setup the sipura 3000 to take your incoming calls from sipgate and pass them through to your phone and use that same line for outgoing via another voip provider.

www.voiptalk.org/products/Sipura+SPA+3000

ok, now there are dedicated forums such as voxilla for all this and it's dam technical - they talk about settings and loads of techy stuff which goes over my head. I researched for hours when I got mine and concluded I wanted the linksys/sipura base model as it was my first venture/experiment into this. the sipura 3000 also has the benefit of being able to route calls to your normal phone line - so really this is aimed at the higher end of the market. I think it's also got a built in router.

here's a couple of threads re what you're attempting to do:-
http://www.voxilla.com/forum-viewtop...ight-2000.html
http://voxilla.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-6044.html
http://voxilla.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-6051.html


ok, next problem, the voipcheap/voipbuster provider does not work on this hardware although someone on that forum you quote has said they've managed it - I've not been able to get it to work. your calls dial out but when the other person answers it drops it. it doesnt help that voipbuster shut down their forums a few months back.

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Well according to this thread:

http://voxilla.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopi...oipbuster.html

It is possible to get VOIPbuster working with it, just wonder if it's possible to get one line forwarded to the other so you don't have to use two phone. :confused:

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

I suggest you also check this forum out:-

www.voipuser.org/forum_index.html

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Well thanks to your links Etc. I think I've answered my own question.

Looks like you can have voipbuster on line one and another provider on line two (who supply your geo number) and forward your calls from 2 to 1. The only issue is whether your geo number supplier allows "reinvites". Apparently Sipgate and the like have that feature disabled.

:banghead:

Guess I'll just have to wait until voipbuster start issuing incoming numbers! :(

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

what's viopbuster got that's so appealing for you? the free uk calls?

Re: [Merged] Dixons Freetalk
 

Pretty much, that and free calls to the states.