Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


DS248

1691 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#255988 9-Sep-2019 16:40
Send private message

We have a Vodafone VOIP landline with Vodafone supplied portable handsets.  Works fine but for more direct access to my Outlook contacts list and using a headset (significant hearing loss), it would be good to have the option to use a softphone from my Win10 PC.  

 

Can this be done easily and securely?

 

If so, any recommendations as to good softphone software?

 

Any special configuration required?


Create new topic
gaddman
224 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

  #2313803 9-Sep-2019 19:29
Send private message

Unfortunately not, it's a policy not to provide the SIP credentials you'd need to do this. Other than picking an alternative VOIP provider, maybe you can plug a headset into the handset you have (or buy one that does have this capability, if the one you have doesn't)?




cyril7
9058 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Subscriber

  #2313820 9-Sep-2019 20:04
Send private message

Hi just port your number to 2talk, just liked you ported your clear.Net and paradise email to a specilised email provider and then be free to select whatever isp you like with no entanglement with phone or email.

Cyril

DS248

1691 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #2314174 10-Sep-2019 11:49
Send private message

Thanks for a straight, prompt answer gaddman.  Not what I wanted to hear of course. 

 

 

 

Can you explain why the policy not to provide the SIP credentials?  Or at least somehow allow use of softphones?

 

Surely it would would add value, at least for some users, basically without cost to VF.

 

The ~year old digital portable handsets we have ex VF do not have a headphone jack (or Bluetooth).  These replaced near new analogue handsets we already had and I have multiple other handsets / phones lying around and really do not want more!  One day need a clear out but not easy to dump items still in good working order.  

 

 

 

re 2talk.  I can see the attraction but it does not appear to offer any cost advantage for our use case (from what I can make out, likely dearer) and from reading limited discussions here on GZ, there seem to be ongoing issues; eg. https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=43&topicid=255738

 

To give VF credit, their landline system just 'works' (once we had ironed out an initial setup problem).  My main gripe is the high charges for add-ons such as Call Diversion & 'Feature Pack' that appear to be no added cost on most VOIP systems and presumably cost very little to provide?




gaddman
224 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

  #2314670 11-Sep-2019 07:41
Send private message

DS248:

 

Can you explain why the policy not to provide the SIP credentials?

 

 

Generally around reducing the opportunity for fraud, eg using the same credentials from the other side of the world (or just elsewhere in NZ) to avoid toll charges, a bit of protecting the network from bad SIP clients, and a little of ensuring a simple support model. Of course there are ways of managing all this, and other providers do give out credentials, but for most of our customers the provided gateway and phones do the job so I don't expect a shift in policy anytime soon. I think for business products there may be more flexibility, but it's not an area I'm familiar with and the pricing would presumably reflect a business product.


sbiddle
30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  #2314676 11-Sep-2019 07:52
Send private message

Vodafone supply a fully managed to end end solution that guarantees it will work. Letting people configure their own hardware or software is a guaranteed support nightmare and the many threads over the years on here from people who have configured their own VoIP hardware and found a) it got hacked, b) couldn't call some numbers due to their configuration around dialplans or codecs or DTMF means it's a path most providers don't want to go down.

 

Many people still think of SIP as a simple thing where you need 3 or 4 settings to make it work. Unfortunately it's a lot more complex than that.

 

 


Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.