BT Broadband Voice - BT's new VoIP offering

I meant to x-post this here as well as uk.telecom but forgot so..

BT have quietly launched a new Broadband VoIP offering.

http://www.bt.com/broadbandvoice/

Appears aimed at residential broadband customers and appears similar to US
services like Vontage (http://www.vonage.com/)

I haven't yet gone through the pricing properly but the call charges appears
"linked" to BT Together Option 2 and that BT have finally found a use for
the 05 number range.

The entry in BT's price list can be found at
http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/c...oo/0037110.htm

As a special offer it appears you will get cheaper international calls for a
few months and various "Broadband Voice" Calling Features free fro a few
months.

Regards
Sunil

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:br4sjp$289vfp$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I meant to x-post this here as well as uk.telecom but forgot so..
>
> BT have quietly launched a new Broadband VoIP offering.
>
> http://www.bt.com/broadbandvoice/
>
> Appears aimed at residential broadband customers and appears similar to US
> services like Vontage (http://www.vonage.com/)
>
> I haven't yet gone through the pricing properly but the call charges
appears
> "linked" to BT Together Option 2 and that BT have finally found a use for
> the 05 number range.
>
> The entry in BT's price list can be found at
>
http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/c...boo/0037110.ht
m
>
> As a special offer it appears you will get cheaper international calls for
a
> few months and various "Broadband Voice" Calling Features free fro a few
> months.

Fine so they are providing a digital to analogue converter and an RJ45
inline PBX master to allow a bt phone.

It seems to me that whilst they are using Voice over ip to clog up the
broadband network they aren't using voice over ip properly in the sense of a
free long distance service. What would make more sense surely if everyone
just bought themselevs a Voice over ip phone and there were competing
service providers for 'gateways' just like I can use news.f9.net.uk etc.
Calls to over IP phones would then be free and service providers could
provice 05x \ 08x \ 07x numbers to for incoming calls from the main
telephone network.

sam
>
> Regards
> Sunil
>
>


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Sam Albrow <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> "Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:br4sjp$289vfp$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I meant to x-post this here as well as uk.telecom but forgot so..
>>
>> BT have quietly launched a new Broadband VoIP offering.
>>
>> http://www.bt.com/broadbandvoice/
<snip>
> Fine so they are providing a digital to analogue converter and an RJ45
> inline PBX master to allow a bt phone.

What would be really nifty would be if you can unplug it from your router,
take it to work, plug it in, and you've got a home phone line anywhere
you can get IP connectivity.
Even niftier of course would be for someone to reverse engineer the
device, and let you do it all from a PC.

>
> It seems to me that whilst they are using Voice over ip to clog up the
> broadband network they aren't using voice over ip properly in the sense of a
> free long distance service. What would make more sense surely if everyone
> just bought themselevs a Voice over ip phone and there were competing

But everyone won't.
Why should granny buy two phones.

> service providers for 'gateways' just like I can use news.f9.net.uk etc.
> Calls to over IP phones would then be free and service providers could
> provice 05x \ 08x \ 07x numbers to for incoming calls from the main
> telephone network.

Personally, I have no great problem with phone calls costing money, as
long as internet is free

Ian Stirling wrote:

>
>
> What would be really nifty would be if you can unplug it from your router,
> take it to work, plug it in, and you've got a home phone line anywhere
> you can get IP connectivity.


Mobility

Once you have configured your Broadband Voice Telephone Adaptor (BTA)
you can plug it into any Ethernet port in the UK with access to the
public internet. The location does not affect the call tariffs,
and calls to your Broadband Voice number will ring on your handset
regardless of who owns the local computer network you are using.

"Ian Stirling" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:tjoCb.20609$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sam Albrow <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> > "Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:br4sjp$289vfp$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> I meant to x-post this here as well as uk.telecom but forgot so..
> >>
> >> BT have quietly launched a new Broadband VoIP offering.
> >>
> >> http://www.bt.com/broadbandvoice/
> <snip>
> > Fine so they are providing a digital to analogue converter and an RJ45
> > inline PBX master to allow a bt phone.
>
> What would be really nifty would be if you can unplug it from your router,
> take it to work, plug it in, and you've got a home phone line anywhere
> you can get IP connectivity.
> Even niftier of course would be for someone to reverse engineer the
> device, and let you do it all from a PC.
>
> >
> > It seems to me that whilst they are using Voice over ip to clog up the
> > broadband network they aren't using voice over ip properly in the sense
of a
> > free long distance service. What would make more sense surely if
everyone
> > just bought themselevs a Voice over ip phone and there were competing
>
> But everyone won't.
> Why should granny buy two phones.
>
> > service providers for 'gateways' just like I can use news.f9.net.uk etc.
> > Calls to over IP phones would then be free and service providers could
> > provice 05x \ 08x \ 07x numbers to for incoming calls from the main
> > telephone network.
>
> Personally, I have no great problem with phone calls costing money, as
> long as internet is free

True, I don't have a problem as such, just can see the case for Voice Over
IP being free because its using the same bandwith that watching a video file
online does that we already pay for. i.e. the internet isn't free, just
unmetered.

Sam
>


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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Sent from \\STN1 on HOMENET1 by user Sam Albrow 'Administrator'.
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In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Bat Guano <bat.guano@talk21dotcom> wrote:
>> What would be really nifty would be if you can unplug it from your router,
>> take it to work, plug it in, and you've got a home phone line anywhere
>> you can get IP connectivity.
>
>Mobility
>
>Once you have configured your Broadband Voice Telephone Adaptor (BTA)
>you can plug it into any Ethernet port in the UK with access to the
>public internet. The location does not affect the call tariffs,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
However, the protocols used by the device are probably not going to be
allowed through firewalls, limiting the usefulness.

What would be nice is the ability to tunnel over http, so you could use the
phone anywhere you could get www access (including via web proxies) - but
that's probably too difficult for a simple service such as this.

Zane.

In article <s0pCb.20634$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Sam Albrow <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> Personally, I have no great problem with phone calls costing money, as
>> long as internet is free
>
>True, I don't have a problem as such, just can see the case for Voice Over
>IP being free because its using the same bandwith that watching a video file
>online does that we already pay for. i.e. the internet isn't free, just
>unmetered.

You would think that BT Voip to another BT Voip would be free, or at least
flat fee per call (BT does the initiation, but the phone-to-phone costs after
that are all bandwidth related and covered already by whatever network
connectivity you're plugged into). 3p/minutes is a bit much.

Zane.

Sam
>True, I don't have a problem as such, just can see the case for Voice Over
>IP being free because its using the same bandwith that watching a video
file
>online does that we already pay for. i.e. the internet isn't free, just
>unmetered.

You can the VoIP for free with Skype or FWD. It is the net to public phone
network part that you have to pay for. And being BT it's a rip off ! Why
another £7.50 standing charge if you are already paying line rental AND
broadband fee.
Regards,
Martin

Zane Wilson <abuse@do_not_send_ucewilson.st> wrote:
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
> Bat Guano <bat.guano@talk21dotcom> wrote:
>> Ian Stirling wrote:
>>> What would be really nifty would be if you can unplug it from your router,
>>> take it to work, plug it in, and you've got a home phone line anywhere
>>> you can get IP connectivity.

>>Mobility

>>Once you have configured your Broadband Voice Telephone Adaptor (BTA)
>>you can plug it into any Ethernet port in the UK with access to the
>>public internet. The location does not affect the call tariffs,

Presumably, this should work just fine outside the UK too.
Really handy to be able to take your phoneline with you on holiday for
no extra money, and the ability to make and recieve call at UK rates.

> However, the protocols used by the device are probably not going to be
> allowed through firewalls, limiting the usefulness.
>
> What would be nice is the ability to tunnel over http, so you could use the
> phone anywhere you could get www access (including via web proxies) - but
> that's probably too difficult for a simple service such as this.

Hmm, I missed that bit.
Second thing after I get it (after opening it to look for chip numbers)
is to see if I can reverse engineer the protocol enough to write a
proxy, then go and see if I can do enough to get a totally software
solution.

Zane Wilson wrote:
> However, the protocols used by the device are probably not going to be
> allowed through firewalls, limiting the usefulness.
>

Firewalls only allow through protocols that are deemed useful, and VOIP
probably falls into that category.