Will Bigpipe get VOIP services anytime soon?

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

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#1650445 13-Oct-2016 14:29

Shoyu:

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!

How many Analog phones do you have? Most common setups use an ATA which basically converts your analog phones for voips

Something like this

Shoyu

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#1650453 13-Oct-2016 14:35

dt:

Shoyu:

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!

How many Analog phones do you have? Most common setups use an ATA which basically converts your analog phones for voips

Something like this

We have around 5 DECT cordless handsets around the home, so it's just one or maybe two base stations that need to plug in to an RJ11 socket.

Having said all that, I believe we're already on a Spark-managed VOIP solution as we no longer have copper lines coming into the house; the ONT has a line connecting to one phone socket in our home, and that somehow enables all other phone sockets in the house to work (with analogue phones). Hope that makes sense!

zyo

513 posts

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#1650465 13-Oct-2016 14:44

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)

Some Voip phones have Ethernet passthrough - like the one I use SPA942

DarkShadow

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#1650472 13-Oct-2016 14:56

Shoyu:

dt:

Shoyu:

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!

How many Analog phones do you have? Most common setups use an ATA which basically converts your analog phones for voips

Something like this

We have around 5 DECT cordless handsets around the home, so it's just one or maybe two base stations that need to plug in to an RJ11 socket.

Having said all that, I believe we're already on a Spark-managed VOIP solution as we no longer have copper lines coming into the house; the ONT has a line connecting to one phone socket in our home, and that somehow enables all other phone sockets in the house to work (with analogue phones). Hope that makes sense!

Cool, you have what's called integrated wiring and that makes things easy. Just buy an ATA, unplug the phone cable that plugs into the ONT, and plug it into the ATA. That will bring all your phones into the VoIP solution.

lxsw20

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#1650745 13-Oct-2016 22:10

You don't need to replace your phones, you buy an ATA and plug your phones in to that. Something like a Cisco SPA112

networkn

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#1650757 13-Oct-2016 22:50

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.

100% agree with this. If the phone is providing passthrough, then his computer is being limited in the rate it can transfer data to and from other parts of the network.

Whether or not this user actually needs it or not, well that's another matter, but there isn't anything wrong with the logic in the request.

richms

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#1650760 13-Oct-2016 23:01

The fritzbox seems to work pretty well with 2talk as an ATA, and it has dect built in which is always going to be better than hanging existing dect base stations off the analog port, but you can do it either way.

Otherwise the other recommended ATAs would do the job, but I prefer the quicker dialing that a direct dect to the fritzbox gets compared with an ATA, and there are less oppertunitues for echo or mismatched volume problems to show up without the analog connection between things.

Richard rich.ms

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Shoyu

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#1650777 14-Oct-2016 00:09

Thanks everyone, very helpful and I've learnt a lot here! Seems there's so many options to re-use the analog phones over VoIP and I can try the cheaper/simpler options first such as using the Fritz Box 7490, or getting ATA adapters as necessary.

So just to summarise it seems I have two options for going Gigabit Fibre:

(a) Port our landline number to 2talk, then sign up with Big Pipe. Monthly fee would be $11.50 + $129 respectively. Initial cost would be $49 + purchase Fritz Box 7490 from somewhere.

(b) Sign up with an ISP that offers VoIP, say Orcon, and it would be $140 per month including the homeline, no initial cost? Seems there's a free Fritz Box or similar and free Xbox One S if I'm happy to sign up for 24 months.

At first I was keen on Big Pipe as I'm reading good things on this forum here, but if the comparison above is correct then the logical choice might be the latter? Worried about Orcon not providing as good connectivity a Big Pipe however, and then I'll be stuck with them for 24 months...

michaelmurfy

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#1650782 14-Oct-2016 04:26

@Shoyu I do have a spare Cisco SPA122 hanging around here - will just need to factory reset it but it is yours if you want it (just make an offer)

A further $20 off is available in my signature. Personally, I think signing up to a provider that offers no contracts is better than signing for one long-term for the following reasons:
1) If they screw up, they'll fix the problem quickly since you can just go elsewhere otherwise.
2) No-contract providers do offer very good service in my own personal opinion.

Not saying that Orcon is bad or anything like that but my own personal experiences with them have not been great either. Something else to consider is the router that BigPipe do sell for $99 supports VoIP and there are a few people around here that have set it up with 2talk. Having the flexibility to do what you want with your connection is far better than being locked in personally.

In saying that - I did sign up to a 24mo contract with Voyager for a managed VoIP + VDSL solution for my parents so not all contracts are bad either but if you're having doubts with signing up a contract it doesn't hurt just giving a no-contract provider a shot since you can always leave.

Also, the Fritz!Box isn't a particularly great router again speaking from personal experience. The Dect works however you need to ensure device compatibility and often the Dect isn't as good as the base station of your phone.

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richms

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#1650941 14-Oct-2016 11:36

Why do you need a landline? If you put that cost towards a mobile you get a much more convinent device for calling on and fewer annoying telemarketer and "windows support" calls to bother you.

Skinny direct has a really good deal for a mobile with unlimited calling for $30

Richard rich.ms

Shoyu

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#1650969 14-Oct-2016 11:51

Understand and agree Rich. Wife and I solely use our mobiles (in fact mostly IM and VoIP). But we have 3 generations living together in our home and our eldest generation still prefers the homeline; in particular we have family friends of the older generation whom don't use cellphones and are still with copper lines. So I guess we are really paying for the convenience of family friends to contact us, and maybe just a number that can reach anyone in the household as redundancy.

And thanks Michael! Points taken, I'm just dwelling on it for a day or two. Big Pipe + 2talk appears to be the better path for freedom and a potentially better service overall, but at an additional cost premium initially and the hassle of dealing with more than one provider (well, maybe not so much hassle once its all set up).

richms

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#1650977 14-Oct-2016 11:57

A friend had that problem with their oldies living with them. Just transfered the copper into their name and only put a phone in their room and ignore it. They did get quite pissy that noone else would answer it for them for a while but eventually got over it.

Richard rich.ms

Shoyu

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#1650987 14-Oct-2016 12:09

Haha and that's fair enough. Our DECT handsets ring throughout the house as you can imagine, but I usually ignore it as I know my friends won't contact me that way.

Shoyu

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#1652453 17-Oct-2016 18:43

Just in case anyone is interested at all I've started the process to switch over to BigPipe + 2talk today. It's been interesting :)

Spark requires 30 days notice for me to cancel with them, but the 30 days notice can't come from me as I'm keeping my phone number. It has to come from the new provider (in this case 2talk). Apparently this is because they can't cancel my number; they have to allow the new provider to port the number across instead, which makes sense.
It seems I also cannot port my phone number across sooner than the 30 days without affecting my Fibre connection as they are tied together. Maybe the answer here changes depending on who I speak to at Spark?
2talk says "the port [request that I submitted] is not yet accepted , however porting will be booked within 5-10 days from the date logged [today], so if you needed to inform Spark you should have done so already." I have tried to do everything I can today to have everything switch over in 31 days time, but depending on how things go I may end up paying a little bit of overlap in bills if the port request isn't actually lodged until 5-10 days from today.

I've purchased the Huawei HG569 modem via BigPipe as well and hope to set up the ATA port with 2talk to use our analog phones at home, with the integrated wiring in the house if possible. Maybe just a personal thing but to me this won't be as elegant or simple as the Chorus-managed VOIP on the ONT. I see there are discussions in the VoIP forum regarding this router and 2talk so I'm fairly confident in setting this up when the time comes.

One of my concerns was whether the router would be fast enough to serve up Gigabit speeds, and whether its WIFI will be strong enough for our home. I read another forum member here uses the same model and gets good speeds with Gigabit BigPipe, and we are managing just-OK with our existing Huawei HG630b with Spark Fibre so hopefully the newer Huawei performs about the same WIFI-wise. My plan B would be to purchase one of those expensive routers from PBTech as an alternative.

If anyone is interested at all I'll report back on the outcome... if not, thanks for reading :)

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#1652468 17-Oct-2016 19:16

HG659 will push at GB in both directions.

I've got the speedtest to prove it.

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