Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

Is there any information on VM plans for digital phone lines using the hubs to plug your phone into?

Cheaper tariffs?
Keep existing POTS numbers?

Any additional services being offered with it being on a digital platform?

Any idea what bandwidth calls will use?

I need my phone socket moving but will not bother if can just use the modem :D

Also, what with the V6 now piggy backing off our home connection and inevitably for cost, phone lines running off it too, are we not soon going to be in a position of us buying bandwidth from Virgin Media for them to then sell it to us again when we use their services?

Sounds like a good scam to me :D

Re: Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

Same tariffs for now, yes you can keep existing numbers, no additional services currently, bandwidth is currently 128Kbps channels per voice call I believe and is segregated from your standard internet connection.

HTH

Re: Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

You can't current choose which system your phone line uses.

Only customers in some FTTH areas have their VM home phone via the Hub 3.0 - everyone else has their landline via a separate cable.

Re: Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

It won't be charging you twice for bandwidth. Obviously VM will be earning a profit on it but the bandwidth won't be the cost to VM. It will be the backend equipment, costs to connect to other providers etc etc

Re: Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

A simple way would be to move your phone to a SIP or VOIP provider.

I moved my old POTS issued number over the Voipfone and use a Panasonic cordless which hooks into their service. Works a charm on Virgin and the call quality appears to be excellent. It's also cheap for what I need, especially since the primary reason to keep a land line is to keep call costs down for relatives calling from overseas.

Just ensure that you change your default security settings otherwise you may find people attempting to hack you if you leave the port settings default.

Re: Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

This. VOIP is so cheap and there's no real reason not to use it.

With one slight exception - if your internet goes down, you have no phone to call support, so make sure you've got a backup mobile phone as well (and who doesn't these days).

As a final warning, remember that during a power cut there's a reasonable chance your mobile will go down as well, whereas phone lines tend to work.

We're talking serious edge cases at this point, though, so it's really only a concern for those who are vulnerable and have the lifeline systems.

Re: Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

SIpgate provide a free number if you're just wanting to accept incoming calls.

I've got one for things like gumtree etc, so I don't have to give out my actual number, just have the SIP account setup natively in Android :)

Re: Digital Voice information and VM charging us twice for bandwidth?
 

True, but customer service with them is dreadful. Also I don't think you can port numbers over to them (or at least there was an issue in the past).

Voipfone seems great and their outgoing call costs are reasonable for domestic calls. I use another SIP provider for international calls which makes all major providers look expensive (didlogic).