VOIP/SIP line provider?

Gimpymoo · 10 Oct 2018 at 18:07

Can someone please point in direction of a VOIP/SIP provider which is reliable?

Only a single number needed along with voicemail. Mainly calling UK mobiles.

Thanks.

Caged · 10 Oct 2018 at 18:29

Voipfone is good

Raggs · 10 Oct 2018 at 20:36

been using sipgate basic for a few months been reliable no outages. i did buy some kit from viopfone too very good customer service. there live chat actually works un like virgin media

Caged · 10 Oct 2018 at 21:02

I use Voipfone for a company of about 35, I've emailed them questions at 10pm before and had an answer within minutes. Really can't fault them. Shame they don't offer actual trunks though. It works fine for us as we don't care a huge amount about phones and don't give people individual numbers.

Avalon · 10 Oct 2018 at 21:25

Imagine a UK based company that actually cares about it's customers, will go above and beyond to help you (if required) and will do so from the UK at all sorts of hours of the day/night even when it's not something that will financially benefit them. That's Voipfone.

Shawreyboy · 11 Oct 2018 at 08:23

Gimpymoo said:
Can someone please point in direction of a VOIP/SIP provider which is reliable?

Only a single number needed along with voicemail. Mainly calling UK mobiles.

Thanks.

Give Southern Communications a call ask to speak to Raj Miah or Chloe Ramsden - 01256 391000

Shawrey

Steveocee · 11 Oct 2018 at 08:49

SIPGate are OK
Vonage would be an option but recently prices have risen

the-evaluator · 5 Nov 2018 at 17:02

I'm in the market for a new provider, currently I'm with Gradwell, have been for about 5 years. Of late the service has been a bit iffy, there's been a few outages (with no RFO being provided despite promises) and their control panel is utter junk.

My requirements are very small, a single SIP extension with the ability to port my number over from Gradwell.

the-evaluator · 5 Nov 2018 at 17:27

Looks like it'll be Voipfone then. I sent them some questions through the form on their website and had a reply back in under 5 minutes.

Praetorian · 5 Nov 2018 at 19:14

Sipgate basic over here. Never really had an outage for the 2 or 3 years that I've been using them, apart from my lines going down but that's expected. Put £50 on there 3 years ago and still have £20 available. VOIP is definitely the way to go

the-evaluator · 6 Nov 2018 at 06:38

So with Voipfone you can't change your control panel password, you have to call them and tell them what you want them to change it to. I don't like that. Also, their default control panel passwords are as basic as anything, just 6 numbers.

I'll keep looking I think.

Avalon · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:42

the-evaluator said:
So with Voipfone you can't change your control panel password, you have to call them and tell them what you want them to change it to. I don't like that. Also, their default control panel passwords are as basic as anything, just 6 numbers.

I'll keep looking I think.

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/how-do-i-change-my-password.php

It’s pretty obvious why it’s numerical, also can you imagine the agro in a larger install if someone resets the password?

the-evaluator · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:51

I'm not talking about the password for an extension, I'm talking about the password for the control panel. That link may suggest that those passwords are one and the same, but they're not. My SIP extension password is a nice 16 digit password of my choosing but my control panel password is a crap 6 digit password.

lmfy2k · 6 Nov 2018 at 22:01

I use sipgate basic at home. The £9.99 per month unlimited uk calls. We use the phone a lot and it’s been perfect.

Has our virgin landline number ported over too.

No complaints. Was cheaper than voipfone for our usage.

the-evaluator · 7 Nov 2018 at 07:43

I found Sipgate weren't the most reliable provider but it was a few years ago I last used my account so I'll give them another try.

Jamauk · 7 Nov 2018 at 08:11

I've got Sipgate basic and put £10 on every few months, seems enough for the low number of calls I make. All started off as a project a couple of years ago now with an old N36 Microserver, some Cisco phones and an FXO card for the landline. With Sipgate being so reliable I put it into mainstream use.

Gimpymoo · 7 Nov 2018 at 09:46

For the record, I went with Sipgate in the end on their "basic" £10 a month, unlimited plan.

I have no problem with the service, got my Polycom 335 setup with minor teething problems (config issues my end, nothing to do with Sipgate specifically).

Their support site seems inconsistent, for example, Voicemail is referred to as 50000 in some areas and 55000 depending where you look and they both go into different mailboxes and only one of them ties into your number (No idea what is going on there).

They did have a setup guide for my phone though which made things easy.

When I did submit a support a support ticket, I got this in the "auto responder" reply which in the short term, is concerning if I have a billing problem for example owing to the lack of live chat support for the UK:

*Due to an ongoing staffing issue we can not guarantee short response times. This affects all UK support teams.
We are already taking the right steps to remediate this unfortunate situation. Please excuse the inconvenience.*

I will consider giving these guys a go:

https://voipstudio.com/pricing/gbp/

They offer a free trial so nothing to lose

With Virtual PBX's being so prevalent and for the most part, not costing anything ontop of calls, is self hosting your own PBX in-home for a few users worth the hassle?

Thanks.

the-evaluator · 7 Nov 2018 at 11:00

Personally I'd not bother hosting a PBX in house unless I absolutely had to and definitely not for a single user. They're a bit of a faff and I like the idea of making it some body elses problem.