Will Bigpipe get VOIP services anytime soon?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Will Bigpipe get VOIP services anytime soon?

jat80

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#204485 3-Oct-2016 22:33

With gigabit rolling out in Auckland and Stuff fibre offering gigabit plans with no contract and a landline plus free router for $124.50 was wondering if Bigpipe have any plans to offer a landline over IP in the future?

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#1644961 3-Oct-2016 22:46

Gigabit is not related to VoIP in anyway and if you want to use VoIP on Bigpipe nothing is stopping you now

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NonprayingMantis

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#1644962 3-Oct-2016 23:01

The reason Bigpipe is good is precisely because they don't spend time on things like VoIP and focus on the actual broadband.
i get unlimited voice and SMS for $30 on my mobile (and 3GB of data) so have no need for VoIP at all.

Also, stuff fibre looks absolutely terrible. They don't manage their own network and they are totally unproven as far as quality goes.

DarkShadow

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#1644973 4-Oct-2016 00:29

Stuff's voice service is delivered as an app on your smartphone. If you want to use a "traditional" phone, you will need to pay extra. You might as well download Skype or something.

sbiddle

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#1644984 4-Oct-2016 01:10

I'd be highly surprised if it was on their roadmap.

They're two different companies targeting two very different markets with their products. If you want a VoIP line now there is nothing stopping you using one from the many providers who offer the service, at a price less than Stuff are charging.

richms

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#1644997 4-Oct-2016 06:36

Why do I want voip from my ISP? I get my calling needs from a vodafone prepay that has more than enough mins that I could probably talk for a day non stop with what I have rolled over.

If you want a managed voip on your router solution (IMO a bit of a crap solution for a "landline" compared to a ONT based connection) then there are plenty of other ISPs out there offering it. 2Degrees have been doing it since the snap days and are pretty good at it, vodafone will do it, etc etc.

If you want to use a different voip provider that you configure yourself, then there is no reason to buy it from your ISP, you can get 2talk or countless overseas providers that can get you a sip voip service on any hardware you like on any connection you have, with no ties to who is giving you internet at the momemnt.

The whole point of voip is versatility, you can take the calls wherever on what ever connection you have. VOIP from your home ISPs router breaks that, and makes it a phone that is stuck in a location like copper landlines were. Massive step backwards.

Richard rich.ms

kodiaknz

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#1645020 4-Oct-2016 08:31

No, no a thousand times no. :-) The thing that I (and clearly others) like about BigPipe is the lack of ad-ons that so many ISPs get distracted with because of non technical or legacy style customers that think every ISP should offer email or this or that.

We use to run 2talk over our internet service to get an 04 number for the mothers to call, but got rid of that as both my wife and I have mobile plans with more minutes than we can use and it makes zero sense to pay extra for an ISP that offered it or even the $11.50 that 2talk cost us a month. VoIP over both VodaTelstra and then subsequently BigPipe worked flawlessly.

So get yourself a 2talk plan or the like and either an IP phone, ATA or soft client and run it over BigPipe.

Or move to an ISP that offers everything and the kitchen sink - and usually does all of it in a very average way.

Also you get what you pay for, if an ISP is promising everything, can they deliver for that price?

My 2c.

xpd

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#1645026 4-Oct-2016 08:50

Linux: Gigabit is not related to VoIP in anyway
Linux

Slightly OT....

But are you sure, according to one of the users in one of our offices, he requires a gigabit VoIP desk phone instead of his 100mb one because we upgraded their switch to a gigabit model :-p (Yes, that was an actual request that came in)

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cynnicallemon

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#1645040 4-Oct-2016 09:02

xpd:

Linux: Gigabit is not related to VoIP in anyway
Linux

Slightly OT....

But are you sure, according to one of the users in one of our offices, he requires a gigabit VoIP desk phone instead of his 100mb one because we upgraded their switch to a gigabit model :-p (Yes, that was an actual request that came in)

Seems like a reasonable request if you ask me. Perhaps they wanted quicker response times to calls...

Flickky

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#1645042 4-Oct-2016 09:08

It's not on the roadmap currently. Things can always change, but it's not something that we're getting bombarded with requests about.

cynnicallemon

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#1645052 4-Oct-2016 09:28

Flickky:

It's not on the roadmap currently. Things can always change, but it's not something that we're getting bombarded with requests about.

Good, keep it simple. I'm in the process of moving from Orcon to BigPipe mainly because of simplicity as I don't want to be bogged down by 12 or 24 month contracts, pay as you go is the way of the future.

I've decided to ditch the landline/VOIP for home as a mobile phone is much more flexible these days, something radical for me being from the landline generation.

trig42

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#1645071 4-Oct-2016 10:02

cynnicallemon:

xpd:

Linux: Gigabit is not related to VoIP in anyway
Linux

Slightly OT....

But are you sure, according to one of the users in one of our offices, he requires a gigabit VoIP desk phone instead of his 100mb one because we upgraded their switch to a gigabit model :-p (Yes, that was an actual request that came in)

Seems like a reasonable request if you ask me. Perhaps they wanted quicker response times to calls...

Funny as that sounds, I'd actually like a Gigabit enabled desk phone.

Most desks in our office have the PC connected through their phones (so from wall jack, to phone, from Phone to PC/Laptop). The phones (Avaya) are 100Mbit only, and the switch is Gbit. I have a couple of connections at my desk that are Gbit (don't go via phone) but it is a PITA if I am transferring data over the network (say, upgrading someones computer and grabbing all their documents and their Archive PST) when they are on 100Mbit.

old3eyes

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#1645145 4-Oct-2016 11:26

trig42:

cynnicallemon:

xpd:

Linux: Gigabit is not related to VoIP in anyway
Linux

Slightly OT....

But are you sure, according to one of the users in one of our offices, he requires a gigabit VoIP desk phone instead of his 100mb one because we upgraded their switch to a gigabit model :-p (Yes, that was an actual request that came in)

Seems like a reasonable request if you ask me. Perhaps they wanted quicker response times to calls...

Funny as that sounds, I'd actually like a Gigabit enabled desk phone.

Most desks in our office have the PC connected through their phones (so from wall jack, to phone, from Phone to PC/Laptop). The phones (Avaya) are 100Mbit only, and the switch is Gbit. I have a couple of connections at my desk that are Gbit (don't go via phone) but it is a PITA if I am transferring data over the network (say, upgrading someones computer and grabbing all their documents and their Archive PST) when they are on 100Mbit.

Upgrade to a NEC system and you can have Gigabit phones on your desk..

Regards,

Old3eyes

ajobbins

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#1645159 4-Oct-2016 11:49

trig42: Funny as that sounds, I'd actually like a Gigabit enabled desk phone.

Most desks in our office have the PC connected through their phones (so from wall jack, to phone, from Phone to PC/Laptop). The phones (Avaya) are 100Mbit only, and the switch is Gbit. I have a couple of connections at my desk that are Gbit (don't go via phone) but it is a PITA if I am transferring data over the network (say, upgrading someones computer and grabbing all their documents and their Archive PST) when they are on 100Mbit.

My work laptop is connected this way, but I am getting gigabit through the Avaya 9611G on my desk

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matisyahu

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#1646010 5-Oct-2016 16:20

cynnicallemon:

Flickky:

It's not on the roadmap currently. Things can always change, but it's not something that we're getting bombarded with requests about.

Good, keep it simple. I'm in the process of moving from Orcon to BigPipe mainly because of simplicity as I don't want to be bogged down by 12 or 24 month contracts, pay as you go is the way of the future.

I've decided to ditch the landline/VOIP for home as a mobile phone is much more flexible these days, something radical for me being from the landline generation.

For me it was the first thing I got rid of when I moved out of home and it is particularly easy to do given you can have Skinny Direct for $30 with unlimited talk and SMS along with a 3GB of data thus making a land line rather pointless. Moving to BigPipe was the best decision I made after dealing with Vodafone, Orcon etc.

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Shoyu

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#1650427 13-Oct-2016 14:20

richms:

Why do I want voip from my ISP? I get my calling needs from a vodafone prepay that has more than enough mins that I could probably talk for a day non stop with what I have rolled over.

If you want a managed voip on your router solution (IMO a bit of a crap solution for a "landline" compared to a ONT based connection) then there are plenty of other ISPs out there offering it. 2Degrees have been doing it since the snap days and are pretty good at it, vodafone will do it, etc etc.

If you want to use a different voip provider that you configure yourself, then there is no reason to buy it from your ISP, you can get 2talk or countless overseas providers that can get you a sip voip service on any hardware you like on any connection you have, with no ties to who is giving you internet at the momemnt.

The whole point of voip is versatility, you can take the calls wherever on what ever connection you have. VOIP from your home ISPs router breaks that, and makes it a phone that is stuck in a location like copper landlines were. Massive step backwards.

Thank you for the above advice Rich, best answer I've read after searching through the forum with a similar question.

Was hoping to get further advice from you or anyone here; we're currently with Spark UFB + Landline and would like to switch over to Bigpipe while keeping the landline 'number'. Is the 2talk option mentioned above the best way to continue with an 09 xxxxxxx landline number? Do we port the number across to 2talk, wait for that to happen, then sign up to Bigpipe? The only drawback I see is that we'll need to replace all our analogue phones at home with VoIP phones.

Thanks in advance!

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