I have three houses that need to speak to each other regularly and current ly use landlines, all have internet and I am thinking we should get rid of the landlines and go voip but haven't a clue where to start. Ideally we wa nt to make free calls to each other but still be able to make outbound call s when needed cheaply or free.
What are the options peeps?
Cheers,
Steve
Well if by 'free' you mean 'excldung cost of internet' then its pretty simple to use a service like SIPGATE that will alow three voiphones to be registered and chat endlessly across the net at no charge, and chat to non-VOIP phoes on a payg basis.
I've had such for years.
I have a routyer designed for VOIP with phone ports, but I beleive that you can plug voip adapters into the home network as well..
Assuming you can get rid of the landlines and still have internet connectivity, then yes, VoIP.
Buy 3 cheap IP phones eg
You may not even need this if you can use a softphone and a headset on a computer, or an app such as Zoiper on a tablet or smartphone.
Set up 3 Sipgate accounts.
Free calls from Sipgate to Sipgate and no monthly rental, free UK landline numbers for incoming calls, calls to UK landlines are about 1.2p/minute.
Owain
Skype (bundled with W10) works perfectly well on the microphone and speakers on a laptop - although the microphone can pick up fan noise etc. A separate microphone solves that problem.
You can even get handheld microphone speaker combinations that look like a telephone and plug into a USB port.
How is the internet service connected?
Owain I think sipgate and cheap voip phones sound the wot to go, thanks for the heads up!
Will make a few phone calls see what I can save, currenlty spending 75? ? a month.
Steve
D'ye not already have a broadband/phone package?
on 06/08/2017, Mr Sandman supposed :
Presumably your broadband comes in on the landline so you can't get rid of it, even if you change over to voip for the phones. I would say voip, Skype or Google Duo (like Skype but better. Works on phone number so no account to set up or sign into).
How are you going to get an internet connection?
Once you have that, the rest is easy.
as in 25 pounds per property?
or something else
tim
Use 18185?
Still 1.5p a minute.
I think you can port an exiting number to Sipgate Basic. I say "I think" as that facilty had disappeared for a while but I think it available again now.
Three BT rentals is £56.97, so £18 ish in calls. If at standard BT rates and not one of the calling plans that isn't many calls (IIRC you are looking at around 25p/call plus a per minute charge).
But do you need the landline to get internet access and thus be able to use a VOIP service. Some ISPs do offer "internet only" lines but the cheapest of those is a tenner or more and they *may* only be available where there is FTTC.
If you ever use a phone dialer of the audio kind then voip is not very good, I found this out some time ago. For some reason it seems unreliable compared to traditional land lines. When you say they have internet, does this mean you have found a company who does not insist on you having the phone line in any case? Lots of alternatives between the houses, no need for phones Skype and its work alikes would suffice, but I'm not sure how competitive the Skype Out is.
Brian
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