Using skype/alternatives as a land line

[kirbz]

Hi All

As above, has anybody done that? I need a reliable line but don't want to spend on line rental (~£13 per month).

What I want is for family to ring from there land lines/mobiles as they normally would.

Is this possible?

 

[ci_newman]

The difficulty is that most people actually need a land line in order to have Internet in the first place.

I believe you can purchase DDI numbers from Skype etc though.

 

[kirbz]

I see what your saying but it would be used with virgin media's cable broadband. Would I need a specific phone?

 

[Danny UK]

I used to do this with Voiptalk using Virgin Cable. I did pay a couple of pounds a month, but I think that was for a geographical number. I had a Polycom SIP compliant phone.

 

[!bluetonic!]

I do this using Sipgate UK. I've got VM BB and no BT Line.

I've got a swindon based number.

It's pay as you go and automatically tops up when my credit falls below £5.

The web interface is great. You can monitor all sorts, call divert, voicemail, send SMS.

I connect a standard phone to a LinkSys PAP2 device.

The downsides are 1) My Sky box doesn't like it. I can't remote record or do anything that requires a phone line. - This also means no fax either.
2) The new Police 101 number doesn't currently work.
3) Call quality is on the whole good, but you get a rubbish echo-y line everyso often.

 

[kirbz]

Cheers guys.

Just for information my set up will be as follows.

VM broadband
Freesat HD receiver

There's no phone line so a VoIP service would be perfect for us.

 

[Skidilliplop]

There's no reason it's not doable using a SIP provider. Though using consumer grade internet connections with no end to end QoS means the call quality cannot be guaranteed and is often a bit rubbish.

Most small scale SIP rollouts use a dedicated ADSL/SDSL line for the voice separate of the internet traffic, but even then it's still not fantastic as the ADSL circuit has no proper QoS mechanism and is quite prone to jitter.

 

[BlackAle]

I did exactly that last month, got sick of paying the extra for a VM phone line, especially considering their ridiculous call charges. My VM vill went from £50 (50Mb + phone + unlimited calls) to £35 (50Mb).

Using a Siemens Gigaset N300A-IP which works with my existing Siemens DECT phones. Ported my VM telephone number to sipgate (£20 cost), use localphone for most calls, though sipgate are cheaper for 08 numbers, so use them for those.

 

[sunama]

Slightly off-topic guys, but can you get Virgin Broadband without getting their phone package? I would very much interested in this as I don't use my land-line at all (waste of £14/month).

 

[Van Diemen]

Slightly off-topic guys, but can you get Virgin Broadband without getting their phone package? I would very much interested in this as I don't use my land-line at all (waste of £14/month).

Yes you can, but it's only a few quid more to get the phone line

 

[sunama]

What sort of prices are we looking at here, because as I stated, I do not make any land-line calls.

I've just had a look on the internet have been unable to find any link for broadband only.

Thanks.

 

[Van Diemen]

What sort of prices are we looking at here, because as I stated, I do not make any land-line calls.

I've just had a look on the internet have been unable to find any link for broadband only.

Thanks.

http://shop.virginmedia.com/broadband/up-to-100mb.html

 

[sunama]

Thank you sir.

£34.75/month.
This is pretty steep for broadband only.

I guess they make most of their money on voice calls, which is why they are pushing telephone line rental.

 

[Skidilliplop]

Thank you sir.

£34.75/month.
This is pretty steep for broadband only.

I guess they make most of their money on voice calls, which is why they are pushing telephone line rental.

It's steep because it's cable. You get what is advertised unlike ADSL, which is cheaper but a gamble and usually ends up slower.
Speed equivalency you'd be looking to compare it to a top FTTC VDSL package. When you look at it like that it's not so bad.