BT Broadband Voice - Get it Now or Wait a few Months & Software Client Question

I'm just wondering if I should wait until just before the April deadline to
get the equipment free or order now?

I've been looking for a virtual 2nd phoneline option and this is almost here
in terms of what I want.

a) But are there any kinks in the hardware supplied that BT are still
ironing out or will most problems be solved through new software and
firmware?

b) Also I'm wondering why do we need to take the physical hardware with us
when we travel if we want to recieve incoming phonecalls? Can't BT just
create a software client like an MSN Messenger and whenever we're online we
can recieve incoming calls? That way if we travel to another country and are
in an internet cafe which has PC's with Headset we can just make and recieve
phonecalls as normal without the hassle of trying to plug or carry extra
euipment?

c) Also how many digits is this new 05 number?? - From what I can tell it's
going to cost aprox 5p per minute at all times to call an 05 number from a
normal landline??

regards

Dee
www.EveryTwoWeeks.com

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:07:13 -0000, "Dee"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>a) But are there any kinks in the hardware supplied that BT are still
>ironing out or will most problems be solved through new software and
>firmware?

seems OK. the hardware is if anything getting near the end of its
product cycle. There is later version firmware around in the USA, not
tried it with BT box yet. I did read somewhere that BT would
eventually move to SIP as they saw that as "the future"

>b) Also I'm wondering why do we need to take the physical hardware with us
>when we travel if we want to recieve incoming phonecalls? Can't BT just
>create a software client like an MSN Messenger and whenever we're online we
>can recieve incoming calls?

a software client hopefully *not* like MSN messenger :-)
Haven't seen any MGCP software clients - if you find one we could test
it

>c) Also how many digits is this new 05 number?? -

05511435???

Phil

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:07:13 -0000, "Dee"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm just wondering if I should wait until just before the April deadline to
>get the equipment free or order now?
Get it now

>a) But are there any kinks in the hardware supplied that BT are still
>ironing out or will most problems be solved through new software and
>firmware?
Seem ok to me, I was uploading the other day 2gb of files to my
offsite backup. Whilst on a call, the phone kept blipping out.

If i'm not uploading anything it's fine. It's worth pointing out that
ALL VOIP services would blip out, it's not BT's problem.
I just don't have much upload bandwidth.

My ADSL only has 256k upload so my pc was hogging all the upload
bandwidth. If I could get cheap sDSL or more upload speeds it'd be a
dream. Normally on corporate VOIP, you have QOS switched on across all
routers and sometimes even have a separate VOIP network, carrying only
VOIP traffic. If I had an ADSL line for VOIP use only, it'd be fine
aswell.


>when we travel if we want to recieve incoming phonecalls? Can't BT just
>create a software client like an MSN Messenger and whenever we're online we

Search the web for VOIP phones that support MGCP and you'll be ok.

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:47:08 +0000, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:07:13 -0000, "Dee"
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I'm just wondering if I should wait until just before the April deadline to
>>get the equipment free or order now?
>Get it now
>
>>a) But are there any kinks in the hardware supplied that BT are still
>>ironing out or will most problems be solved through new software and
>>firmware?
>Seem ok to me, I was uploading the other day 2gb of files to my
>offsite backup. Whilst on a call, the phone kept blipping out.
>
>If i'm not uploading anything it's fine. It's worth pointing out that
>ALL VOIP services would blip out, it's not BT's problem.
>I just don't have much upload bandwidth.
>
>My ADSL only has 256k upload so my pc was hogging all the upload
>bandwidth. If I could get cheap sDSL or more upload speeds it'd be a
>dream. Normally on corporate VOIP, you have QOS switched on across all
>routers and sometimes even have a separate VOIP network, carrying only
>VOIP traffic. If I had an ADSL line for VOIP use only, it'd be fine
>aswell.
>
>
>>when we travel if we want to recieve incoming phonecalls? Can't BT just
>>create a software client like an MSN Messenger and whenever we're online we
>
>Search the web for VOIP phones that support MGCP and you'll be ok.

What does "blip out" mean?

d

_____________________________

http://www.pearce.uk.com

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:00:55 +0000, Don Pearce <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>What does "blip out" mean?

It means cut out.

When I was talking, parts of my words were missing to the other party.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:00:55 +0000, Don Pearce
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> What does "blip out" mean?
>
> It means cut out.
>
> When I was talking, parts of my words were missing to the
> other party.

aka, "you're breaking up! you're breaking up! hello? hello?"

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:47:08 +0000, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>>I'm just wondering if I should wait until just before the April deadline to
>>get the equipment free or order now?
>Get it now

Agreed.

I've spoken to a guy at BT who tells me that they are likely to stick
with MGCP for the hardware side of the service - apparently SIP is not
quite as capable of doing all the features that people expect of a
standard phone line.

He also mentioned that it is possible that they will start running SIP
alongside so that users can take their phone numbers out and about
with a soft-client.

M@t )

"Dee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<400fa026$0$23465$(E-Mail Removed) m>...
> I'm just wondering if I should wait until just before the April deadline to
> get the equipment free or order now?
>
> I've been looking for a virtual 2nd phoneline option and this is almost here
> in terms of what I want.
>
> a) But are there any kinks in the hardware supplied that BT are still
> ironing out or will most problems be solved through new software and
> firmware?

The hardware works fine, but it might be worth waiting until April as
there are major problems with incoming call routing (and outgoing call
routing is not entirely problem-free either).

On the outgoing call front, you will discover from time-to-time that,
seemingly randomly, you are unable to call certain numbers. Orange
Customer Services' 0800 number was an example of this. After
complaining to BBV customer services this was fixed within a few days,
but it's annoying to have to make requests like this. Whether they
are now proactively fixing these problems or whether they sit back and
wait for a complaint I have no idea.

Much more problematic if you're hoping to recieve incoming calls on
the service (as I was) is that many other networks will not yet allow
calls to the 05xxx number. The most notable group of people unable to
call the number has got to be the BBV customer service team! That's
why they always ask for an alternative contact number.

Others unable to call the 05xxx number include Telewest and Orange
PAYG customers, and many people on PBXs.

As one poster in here said, this situation will probably persist for a
"month or six". Don't hold your breath.

> <snipped bit I can't answer>

> c) Also how many digits is this new 05 number?? - From what I can tell it's
> going to cost aprox 5p per minute at all times to call an 05 number from a
> normal landline??

05xxx xxxxxx - same number of digits as a landline.

You are correct in your 5p/min assumption.

Despite having said what I've said, I've got BT Broadband Voice and I
like it. I live in a shared house and run ADSL over the existing BT
landline. Having BBV means I don't need to use the landline for voice
telephony at all and so I pay no line rental or call charges for it.
It also avoids any arguments about tying up the line. BBV's lashings
of free evening and weekend landline calls have helped me stop wasting
my anytime xnet mobile minutes, and the call quality is superb.

On balance, it might be worth waiting until April to see if the
teething problems get fixed. However, if you're keen to try it, sign
up now - just be aware of the current limitations.

"Don Pearce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> What does "blip out" mean?


I was using my PC to talk to relatives in Canada using Skpe.

If you've not tried it then give it a go it's the best voice quality PC to
PC I've come across but did have a few Blips where the sound broke up.

www.skype.com

Having said that I believe the voice transmission may also be encrypted???
So perhaps that adds to the Blips??

I've tried SIP software products but can never get them to work over our
network at home with NAT.

Skype just uses port 80 and works perfectly - if you can get a website to
display then you just know Skype will work and the fact it can ring the
internal PC speaker is so handy if you have a Headset plugged into the PC.

regards

Dee
www.EveryTwoWeeks.com

On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 13:22:41 -0000, "Dee"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

[snip]

>I've tried SIP software products but can never get them to work over our
>network at home with NAT.

The later builds of X-lite from Xten Networks appear to use STUN and
now work fine on my NAT firewall (I used to need to set-up port
forwarding.)

>Skype just uses port 80 and works perfectly - if you can get a website to
>display then you just know Skype will work and the fact it can ring the
>internal PC speaker is so handy if you have a Headset plugged into the PC.

Just for the record Skype and other VoIP apps are still defeatable by
(most) company firewalls that commonly use application proxies to
relay port 80 (and 443) traffic.

IIRC Skype have said they're working on this 'problem' but I haven't
been watching too closely to know if a solution is there yet. Anyone
know?