«

Thus spaketh {{{{{Welcome}}}}}:
> Thus spaketh Databug:
>> Jono wrote:
>>> "Databug" <> wrote in message
>>> news:Tcnsg.155811$ ...
>>>
>>>> Do you not need some sort of physical landline/cable for the
>>>> internet?
>>>
>>> You don't need a /telephone/ line with cable broadband - clearly,
>>> they need to supply a "wire & modem" for the internet, but you don't
>>> need the additional expense of phone line.
>>>
>>> AFAIUI, NTL's 10Mb product is now unlimited.
>>>
>>>> Actually the reason for asking this is because of looking into
>>>> voip. Nearly all of our phone bill is for the line and we need
>>>> that for internet so we thought maybe we should look at some
>>>> alternatives.
>>>
>>> If you're on cable......no phone line required.
>>
>> OK I see what you are saying. What confused me was when you said "no
>> need to pay any line rental as you do not need one." From what I have
>> been able to gather from the NTL and Telewest Webpage is there is a
>> line rental charge. Obviously you pay that to the cable provider
>> instead of BT. So you are "free" from BT.
>> But also from what I've been able to gather is the line rental is not
>> much different to BT's line rental. BT is £10 per month payable
>> quarterly and Cable seems to be £11 per month. The only difference
>> there is Cable have free UK calls over the weekend. So in that regard
>> it probably works out marginally cheaper depending on how much you
>> use the phone over the weekend.
>> With cable savings seem to be on package deals. We have no TV so have
>> no need of any of the TV services.The BB seems to be a bit cheaper
>> than the competition and certainly cheaper than what I'm paying atm
>> £23 per month to Pipex. So there do seem to be some savings across
>> the board though not necessarily on the phone costs.
>> Please correct me if I'm wrong.
>
>
> You're getting a little confused.
>
> With ADSL you need a phone line and the broadband over it, therefore
> £11/month for BT landline and whatever per month for broadband.
>
> With Telewest (who I'm with) you don't need a Telephone line,
> therefore NO £11/month, you just pay for broadband which doesn't come
> down a Telephone line.
>
> Both BT and cable is £11/month for phoneline, but you DON'T need any
> phoneline with Telewest possibly the same with NTL but you DO with BT,
> therefore you can dump the phoneline altogether.
>
> Example:
>
> BT:
>
> Telephone Line: £11/month
> BT Total Broadband: £17.99/month
> Total: £28.99/month
>
> Telewest:
> NO Telephone Line: £0.00
> TW Broadband: £17.99/month.
>
> Total: £17.99/month


So as you don't have any Telephone line at all, you are saving £11 per
month.

You can then use your internet connection and use VoIP, get either an
ATA or VoIP router, sign up to Sipgate for example and pay NOTHING per
month, get free caller display, free call waiting, free voicemail (if
you want it), free ACR and only pay for any calls you make, so if you
make no calls, you pay nothing.


--
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Thus spaketh {{{{{Welcome}}}}}:
> Thus spaketh {{{{{Welcome}}}}}:
>> Thus spaketh Databug:
>>> Jono wrote:
>>>> "Databug" <> wrote in message
>>>> news:Tcnsg.155811$ ...
>>>>
>>>>> Do you not need some sort of physical landline/cable for the
>>>>> internet?
>>>>
>>>> You don't need a /telephone/ line with cable broadband - clearly,
>>>> they need to supply a "wire & modem" for the internet, but you
>>>> don't need the additional expense of phone line.
>>>>
>>>> AFAIUI, NTL's 10Mb product is now unlimited.
>>>>
>>>>> Actually the reason for asking this is because of looking into
>>>>> voip. Nearly all of our phone bill is for the line and we need
>>>>> that for internet so we thought maybe we should look at some
>>>>> alternatives.
>>>>
>>>> If you're on cable......no phone line required.
>>>
>>> OK I see what you are saying. What confused me was when you said "no
>>> need to pay any line rental as you do not need one." From what I
>>> have been able to gather from the NTL and Telewest Webpage is there
>>> is a line rental charge. Obviously you pay that to the cable
>>> provider instead of BT. So you are "free" from BT.
>>> But also from what I've been able to gather is the line rental is
>>> not much different to BT's line rental. BT is £10 per month payable
>>> quarterly and Cable seems to be £11 per month. The only difference
>>> there is Cable have free UK calls over the weekend. So in that
>>> regard it probably works out marginally cheaper depending on how
>>> much you use the phone over the weekend.
>>> With cable savings seem to be on package deals. We have no TV so
>>> have no need of any of the TV services.The BB seems to be a bit
>>> cheaper than the competition and certainly cheaper than what I'm
>>> paying atm £23 per month to Pipex. So there do seem to be some
>>> savings across the board though not necessarily on the phone costs.
>>> Please correct me if I'm wrong.
>>
>>
>> You're getting a little confused.
>>
>> With ADSL you need a phone line and the broadband over it, therefore
>> £11/month for BT landline and whatever per month for broadband.
>>
>> With Telewest (who I'm with) you don't need a Telephone line,
>> therefore NO £11/month, you just pay for broadband which doesn't come
>> down a Telephone line.
>>
>> Both BT and cable is £11/month for phoneline, but you DON'T need any
>> phoneline with Telewest possibly the same with NTL but you DO with
>> BT, therefore you can dump the phoneline altogether.
>>
>> Example:
>>
>> BT:
>>
>> Telephone Line: £11/month
>> BT Total Broadband: £17.99/month
>> Total: £28.99/month
>>
>> Telewest:
>> NO Telephone Line: £0.00
>> TW Broadband: £17.99/month.
>>
>> Total: £17.99/month
>


For the 1st year broadband is £14.99/month on TW, so you save even more.


>
> So as you don't have any Telephone line at all, you are saving £11 per
> month.
>
> You can then use your internet connection and use VoIP, get either an
> ATA or VoIP router, sign up to Sipgate for example and pay NOTHING per
> month, get free caller display, free call waiting, free voicemail (if
> you want it), free ACR and only pay for any calls you make, so if you
> make no calls, you pay nothing.

{{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:

> Example:
>
> BT:
>
> Telephone Line: £11/month
> BT Total Broadband: £17.99/month
> Total: £28.99/month
>
> Telewest:
> NO Telephone Line: £0.00
> TW Broadband: £17.99/month.
>
> Total: £17.99/month

Oh right. So you're talking about replacing the phoneline with VOIP all
together and not bothering with a "normal" phoneservice. Or at least
that the line is optional rather than necessary as it is with BT. Gotcha
now.
Although I think my wife would still like a "normal" phone as she
doesn't trust all this computery stuff . But I see the possibilities.

--
this post has been brought to you by the Databug©

Thus spaketh Databug:
> {{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:
>
>> Example:
>>
>> BT:
>>
>> Telephone Line: £11/month
>> BT Total Broadband: £17.99/month
>> Total: £28.99/month
>>
>> Telewest:
>> NO Telephone Line: £0.00
>> TW Broadband: £17.99/month.
>>
>> Total: £17.99/month
>
> Oh right. So you're talking about replacing the phoneline with VOIP
> all together and not bothering with a "normal" phoneservice. Or at
> least that the line is optional rather than necessary as it is with
> BT. Gotcha now.
> Although I think my wife would still like a "normal" phone as she
> doesn't trust all this computery stuff . But I see the
> possibilities.

When you dump the BT landline disconnect the incoming line from the
master socket, then using an ATA or VoIP router connected to your cable
broadband service, connect that to your master socket and then use you
existing phones as you would now, do it tidily and your wife wouldn't
know the difference.

{{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:
> Thus spaketh Databug:
>> {{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:
>>
>>> Example:
>>>
>>> BT:
>>>
>>> Telephone Line: £11/month
>>> BT Total Broadband: £17.99/month
>>> Total: £28.99/month
>>>
>>> Telewest:
>>> NO Telephone Line: £0.00
>>> TW Broadband: £17.99/month.
>>>
>>> Total: £17.99/month
>>
>> Oh right. So you're talking about replacing the phoneline with VOIP
>> all together and not bothering with a "normal" phoneservice. Or at
>> least that the line is optional rather than necessary as it is with
>> BT. Gotcha now.
>> Although I think my wife would still like a "normal" phone as she
>> doesn't trust all this computery stuff . But I see the
>> possibilities.
>
> When you dump the BT landline disconnect the incoming line from the
> master socket, then using an ATA or VoIP router connected to your cable
> broadband service, connect that to your master socket and then use you
> existing phones as you would now, do it tidily and your wife wouldn't
> know the difference.

Thanks for the enlightening info. It's given us food for thought. Wether
we do this or not is another matter but at least it's an option that we
can consider at any time. So in terms of outgoing expenditure I would
need to invest in a ATA or VOIP router. Then presumably I have to run
wires from that to all the phone sockets.

Just a couple of questions. Does internet traffic ie downloading affect
VOIP?
Is there any chance that VOIP may be made illegal for taking away
business from traditional Telcos?
What's the difference between ATA and VOIP routers?
Do you have a link explaining simply how to rewire the phone sockets?

Which of the VOIP companies would you recommend? I've heard of Vonage
and Sipgate.

Presumably there is a difference between companies such as Skype that
offer software VOIP to the likes of Sipgate whose main aim is the
hardware veriety.

--
this post has been brought to you by the Databug©

"Databug" <> wrote in
message news:_%rsg.102884$

[snip]


> Which of the VOIP companies would you recommend? I've
> heard of Vonage and Sipgate.
>
> Presumably there is a difference between companies such
> as Skype that offer software VOIP to the likes of Sipgate
> whose main aim is the hardware veriety.

Skype is a peer-to-peer computer application, you don't use it with ATA's
and standalone phones. There are USB adaptors available that let you plug
a phone in I believe but you still need a computer on all the time.

Personally I wouldn't bother with Vonage as they have a fairly hefty
monthly charge and the ATA you get is locked to their system. Sipgate has
in the past had a bit of a reputation for unreliability but they have
improved considerably in recent months and I now use them almost
exclusively with very few problems. Their overriding advantage is no
monthly charges and pay as you go call charges to PSTN numbers. As with
most VoIP companies calls to other users of the system (and usually other
VoIP systems with peering agreements) are free, so if you can get most of
your friends on the system you'll never have to pay to call them again..!

Ivor

>Sipgate has
> in the past had a bit of a reputation for unreliability but they have
> improved considerably in recent months



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>I-n-c-o-m-i-n-g-!-!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

"Graham." <> wrote in message
news:44b2bec4$
> > Sipgate has
> > in the past had a bit of a reputation for unreliability
> > but they have improved considerably in recent months
>
>
>
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > > I-n-c-o-m-i-n-g-!-!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
>
> Graham.
>
> %Profound_observation%

I don't understand what you mean, why the laege number of > symbols..? In
any case, you snipped the part of my post where I said:

>I now use them almost exclusively with very few problems

Ivor

Bloody Hell Ivor, you are hard work sometimes!
I am trying to be supportive!

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

"Graham." <> wrote in message
news:
> Bloody Hell Ivor, you are hard work sometimes!
> I am trying to be supportive!
>
> Graham.

Sorry, as you didn't quote what you were replying to, I have no idea what
you mean..!

Ivor