Author Topic: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure  (Read 4479 times)

Diasi

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #30 on: Jan 12, 2020, 04:38:55 PM »
Yes, VOIP is just phone calls over the internet & not using the BT Openreach exchanges & cables.

Maybe these people could advise what's available for you to achieve what you want to do.

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/store/voip-adapters/
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Cassandra

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #31 on: Jan 12, 2020, 05:03:10 PM »
It would certainly do that but he also suggested he was interested in saving cost by my reading.

He is paying Talktalk more for their 40/10 offering than I pay them for their 80/20 and I could recontract and get mine even cheaper but as unlimited 4G is getting cheaper I'm considering just dropping the landline completely.

I wasn't aware there were different speed menu's to select from? No wonder TalkTalk have left me alone! I think like you the landline is now no longer necessary. Email has replaced so many of my voice calls today, that I no longer want to pay the overweight BT £16 a month for a redundant necessity.                                                                                                                           
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Cassandra

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #32 on: Jan 12, 2020, 09:25:34 PM »
Yes, VOIP is just phone calls over the internet & not using the BT Openreach exchanges & cables.

Maybe these people could advise what's available for you to achieve what you want to do.

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/store/voip-adapters/

Thanks Dias, very helpful, what a clever collection of devices. I'm sure one of them is going to solve the problem, much appreciated indeed.
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Diasi

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #33 on: Jan 12, 2020, 09:28:15 PM »
Thanks Dias, very helpful, what a clever collection of devices. I'm sure one of them is going to solve the problem, much appreciated indeed.

You're welcome, I'm always pleased to help wherever I can.
Make every day count, each day is precious.
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal".  (Cassandra)

Cassandra

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #34 on: Jan 12, 2020, 11:28:32 PM »
Not with the two I've had or any I've seen. The only advantages they offer over a typical MiFi device is the option of external antenna for the 4G and an ethernet output you can used for wired devices and/or a wired WiFi repeater if you have a large area to cover.

I dumped my home call package when they wanted to put the price up. With an unlimited calls and texts monthly SIM costing £5 I thought they were having a laugh.

Thank you 'Klondike' for your reply, Talktalk wanted to increase my ‘home call’ package to £12 a month, (£38.50 in all), which I packed in November (pure greed, had they left me alone I’d probably have slumbered on in my inertia of apparently overpaying on broadband speed and only making £5 a month in calls anyway - Now they’ll lose all!). Anyway that was the first step change into a world that I’m somewhat challenged in I must admit?

I have a bungalow of 2,600 sq ft. with floored lit and and power socketed lofts. So (thinking out loud) without the need for a phone line access I could easily locate the 4G router into this space, thus avoiding the signal having to pass through solid walls (and two lots of tiled rooms), to other points of reception. Also, finding a hot spot for connectivity is made that much easier to find I would imagine (bit like the old days with indoor TV aerials)? This combination of the loft re-site, plus a few strategically ’wired' (ethernet cable connected?) repeaters could also be quickly achieved, thereby boosting the signal to the Bedroom TV by placing a repeater directly above it and a second similarly to a guest room? Both these places have TV's on Sky Q, but as I’ve said struggle for reception on iplayer, catch up etc, as they move further away from the present wireless router.

Thank you so much for helping me with this, really much appreciated, and have I got the right idea do you think?

Cassandra
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klondike

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #35 on: Jan 13, 2020, 11:46:26 AM »
I wasn't aware there were different speed menu's to select from? 
I used to be on 80/20 from PlusNet but saw a cheapish deal from TalkTalk that was their standard 40/10 offering £85 cashback. PN couldn't or wouldn't offer a competing price so I switched. Later while looking at my TT account I saw an offer for their 80/20 for only £2 a month more so took it. Their only offer in my account now is to recontract for the original price to fix it but it doesn't say and I haven't checked whether I'd still have what they call  speed boost.

On the VOIP thing when I was with VM their telephony charges were high so I initially bought a VOIP adapter and got call time from somebody or other cheap. The problem was you got a strange VOIP number and if calling somebody with caller id they may have been reluctant to pick up. I ported my landline number to Vonage VOIP service which solved that and I saved a little on the VM broadband price but not much. It also meant I could use the same phones for receiving as making calls without giving everybody the weird VOIP number.


These days it makes more sense to just use a mobile for outbound calls and inbound too if dropping the landline entirely and going to 4G.


I spend most of the summer away from home using a 4G router (used to be a 3G MiFi). You can now get unlimited 4G on a monthly contract for around £20 from Three (search Smarty or Superdrug 4G) so if that network is OK at my static caravan it would make financial sense to abandon the landline at home. I couldn't do it before as unlimited 4G used to be prohibitively expensive and we do use catchup TV which will chew through the GBs in no time.
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zoony

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #36 on: Jan 13, 2020, 11:56:50 AM »
Is anybody else as baffled by all this as I am? I just have a Virgin landline and broadband... ???
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Diasi

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #37 on: Jan 13, 2020, 12:15:42 PM »
Is anybody else as baffled by all this as I am? I just have a Virgin landline and broadband... ???

We have a Plusnet landline phone & broadband & we're happy with that.

The unlimited 4G option could be a reasonable alternative for those who can get a guaranteed decent 4G signal.
Make every day count, each day is precious.
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal".  (Cassandra)

Alex22

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #38 on: Jan 13, 2020, 12:24:23 PM »
Is anybody else as baffled by all this as I am? I just have a Virgin landline and broadband... ???
Yes me !   ;D   I'm with TalkTalk and have been for years, just phone and broadband.
.

klondike

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #39 on: Jan 13, 2020, 12:24:37 PM »
Is anybody else as baffled by all this as I am? I just have a Virgin landline and broadband... ???
I just like to save money if I can. My wife uses the telephone quite a bit and these days mobile call costs are cheaper than landline based call costs.

Cass asked about 4G broadband and whether you can replace landline phones using it with a router. Well you can but sfaik nobody produces a 4G router that you can just plug a normal phone in and use the 4G SIM number so you need to use VOIP to do that but IMO doing so offers no cost saving over just usiing a cheap mobile SIM for calls.
So long and thanks for all the fish

Raven

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #40 on: Jan 13, 2020, 12:36:48 PM »
Is anybody else as baffled by all this as I am? I just have a Virgin landline and broadband... ???



It confuses me a bit too Zoony. At my own home in Perth I had VM for years. When I started I had TV, Phone, Internet, all for £30 a month. But the price kept going up and up and up till I could no longer afford it.  :( I stopped the phone and the TV, but the internet only kept going up until it was to be £38 a month and I said NO, and left.  >:( I no longer have internet at my home but I just use my phone if I need to come online. Up North we were finding the same problem with BT, now we have Wifi from our Phone Network supplier "3" it's only £17 a month and it gives a good signal around the house, I love the fact I can plug it in to any room in the house or take it with me to Perth if I wanted to and plug it into the mains there and it would work fine.  ;D

klondike

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #41 on: Jan 13, 2020, 01:56:40 PM »

You are doing what I will probably end up on. Mobile phone for calls and a 4G device for broadband.

The only way to avoid being ripped off is to renegotiate at the end of minimum term and be prepared to change provider if they don't come up with a decent deal.

Since ISPs were forced to include landline costs in with their total broadband price I think that price, for new customers at least, has fallen and they are making up the shortfall on TV and call package costs. I don't do the TV sticking with Freesat but did take a call plan as my wife preferred to use the house phone to a mobile. The price went up and she agreed to just use the mobile for outgoing calls. If we go 4G only there will be no landline number and all calls will be by mobile.
So long and thanks for all the fish

Cassandra

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #42 on: Jan 13, 2020, 02:51:05 PM »
You are doing what I will probably end up on. Mobile phone for calls and a 4G device for broadband.

The only way to avoid being ripped off is to renegotiate at the end of minimum term and be prepared to change provider if they don't come up with a decent deal.

Since ISPs were forced to include landline costs in with their total broadband price I think that price, for new customers at least, has fallen and they are making up the shortfall on TV and call package costs. I don't do the TV sticking with Freesat but did take a call plan as my wife preferred to use the house phone to a mobile. The price went up and she agreed to just use the mobile for outgoing calls. If we go 4G only there will be no landline number and all calls will be by mobile.

Like your wife I prefer the landline hardware to a mobile and as far as I can make out for a one off cost I can buy this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gigaset-A540H-DECT-Handset/123738284042

Which I will endeavour to find out from 4G by email, (a facility they try to conceal) may possess the capability of at least making outgoing calls via their product. I find the need to keep a mobile on all the time irksome, also it necessitates battery recharging, which I will forget. I only ever switch the dumb-phone mobile on now to make voice calls or to accompany me if I'm out for emergencies, or to allow people I may be visiting to call me - both instances are rare these days.

I have found this morning tying down the kids who operate in call centres stupefying. They are obviously selling double glazing one moment and broadband the next? Consequently they keep trying to drag you back to their scripts on marketing points and seemingly having no knowledge about technical questions, the whole loop becomes maniacally meaningless!

It's like cross examining an answering machine!
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

klondike

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #43 on: Jan 13, 2020, 03:23:16 PM »
I just checked my old Huawei B310 4G router and see it has an RJ11 telephone socket (not the type on BT mastersockets but the cutdown ethernet sort). The manual just says "The B310s-22 provides one telephone port that can be connected to telephones for calling". My current 4G SIM has no voice minutes so I'm not sure if I can test it but I certainly won't sell it as I'd intended as I could use it at home with one of those 4G SIMs I linked to earlier as they come with unlimited minutes too.

So long and thanks for all the fish

Cassandra

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Re: Superfast broadband - another SNP failure
« Reply #44 on: Jan 13, 2020, 03:52:33 PM »
Thanks, I'm awaiting a response from 4G to the email I sent trying to extricate, (more like excavate) the facts about what they sell Viz;

Good afternoon. My postcode is *** *** and I'm interested in your 'Unlimited 4G Broadband Service @ £20 monthly for 24 months. I'd like to do away with my BT landline completely. I have listed my questions below viz:

Q What will be the 'likely' actual speeds - I have a dongle - Can I have a trial sim card (a day say) to see what the actual 'PERFORMANCE' is like?

Q Can I make and receive phone calls at home (therefore does the sim have a phone number)? If so do I need a VOIP adapter?

Q If voice calls with compatible equipment to your router are possible, do you charge extra for VOIP calls or are they inclusive in the £20 fee?

Q Does your router allow ethernet connections for repeater stations to be added and if so how many ethernet ports does it have?


I don't actually expect a response as they'll probably play round robin, pass the parcel with it internally?
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...