VoIP phones - any good?

[tbourner]

I'm trying to find a way my mum can save money, she needs broadband really but we want to cancel her Talk Anywhere 400 package with Virgin so she can afford to add broadband. The TA400 is about £17 on top of the phone line.

 

So, VoIP phones? Are they any good? Can you still phone landlines and mobiles or is it just other VoIP users (that would be no good)? Can you get a 'normal' phone to use or do you have to use the PC (that would be no good)? Is it cheaper? How does it work?

 

She's very computer illiterate, so we can't have "You need to log onto this webpage, connect with that, plug in that, press XYZ....." etc., needs to be as much like a PSTN phone as possible - will VoIP be any good?

[johnny g]

Try Vonage?

Also, look at a Skype setup in the house, with a Skype phone?

[AndrewOW]

We use VoIP phones at my work, and they are excellent IMO.

 

We've been using http://www.soho66.co.uk , and it's free to call land lines anywhere in the UK, and mobiles/0845 numbers can be called using their PAYG facility.

 

We've been using it for a few months now without any issues at all.

 

Brilliant for home use, and the office. It has so many additional features too.

[ozz]

I had a VoIP phone 'free' with my BT broadband. I think I plugged it in and tried it, was simple and could recieve and make calls. I never looked into what the charges were for using it, I could call people who weren't on VoIP phones, I assume standard tariff applies. I didn't bother using it though as I have a business mobile I use and not many friends :-(

 

IIRC, it just needed power and to be reasonably close to my BT home hub, it did the rest.

[DamanC]

Use 'em here. We have a Gigaset A580 IP's with A58H handsets on a service with sipgate. No fees, just 1p per min to landlines and 10p per min to mobiles. I also use other sip profiles on my mobile when I am abroad so I just hook into a wireless connection and start phoning home for pence

[tbourner]

Sipgate sounds good.

Could plug her phone into the adapter and she wouldn't notice much difference, just have to keep an eye on minutes used. Calling mobiles seems to be the most costly.

[Chris Wilson]

I have used Skype for years and think it's great, and will be buying a dedicated phone at some time.

[Branners]

We have started using http://www.voicehost.co.uk at work. Seems to be a very reliable service and good value. We pay £1 per month per telephone number (and you can choose a number from any dial code in the UK) and £1 per month per extension. It has full voicemail, music on hold and they recommend Snom VOIP units. The Snom M9 is a full cordless phone with 2 handsets in the pack, and the Snom normal phones also work well.

 

You simply plug the phone in to any CAT5 port on the switch or router and so long as you can see the internet it will connect out. It does not care what line it is on, ADSL, ADSL2+, SDSL, fibre, WIMAX. So long as the internet is visible it will connect back to the main server and off you go. It really is that simple.

 

We also use them for 'spoof' numbers which are put on agents web sites and when somebody calls us using that number we know which web site they saw us on, and we can even record the whole call.

 

Might be a bit high end for what you need, Skype may well be sufficient for your needs.