Anyone using Vodafone 'Basic Home'? wireless internet + home phone

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358 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#258575 10-Oct-2019 12:26

My retired mother is looking at switching over to Vodafone's 'Basic Home' package, which is a 4G based service, with 60GB data provided to devices via wifi, a home landline, for about $59 a month. She uses very little data, and this sounds like it might be ideal for her, and lets her to keep monthly costs down. (she currently pays $55 for just a land line)

The only potential sticking point is that it comes with one phone, and she is used to having a second handset. Unfortunately it's not clear to me from the description on Vodafone's website whether it's possible to just get another handset and add it to the system. Vodafone don't seem to offer an extra handset.

If anyone is familiar with this, I'd love to know what general bits this setup is made up from, ie is it some GSM->wifi router and just a regular DECT (or similar) handset plugged in (which could be replaced with another set of phones), or is the SIM in the phone itself and it some how provides wifi to the house, or some thing else? Just really trying to understand a bit more clearly what this service is.

What brand of phone is it?

Thanks!

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513 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2334973 10-Oct-2019 12:38

Is flip a better choice?

You get ADSL 150GB + landline for the same price. For old people I think a physical copper line into the house would be more stable/easier to setup etc and it would work in a power outage too (if you have a corded phone obviously)

Quinny

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Ultimate Geek
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#2334976 10-Oct-2019 12:44

My mum uses this. She has had a few issues but they have been not too bad with phone support. She loves the price. I would rather move her to unlimited as she is just getting into Chromecast usage and streaming I have setup for her eg Sky Sport and she panics about going over her bandwidth. For a senior with low net and who wants a home phone it is a good option.

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358 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2334980 10-Oct-2019 12:49

zyo:

Is flip a better choice?

You get ADSL 150GB + landline for the same price. For old people I think a physical copper line into the house would be more stable/easier to setup etc and it would work in a power outage too (if you have a corded phone obviously)

Yeah, something like that might be an option. It'll be slower than the 4G speeds she gets at her place, and a it's a little more costly when you add in the national calling and caller id, which and are included in the Vodafone plan, and something she wants (Sorry - I neglected to mention in my post).

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Ultimate Geek
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#2334981 10-Oct-2019 12:51

Quinny:

My mum uses this. She has had a few issues but they have been not too bad with phone support. She loves the price. I would rather move her to unlimited as she is just getting into Chromecast usage and streaming I have setup for her eg Sky Sport and she panics about going over her bandwidth. For a senior with low net and who wants a home phone it is a good option.

You don't happen to remember what brand of phone it was, and whether it's plugged into a separate router/modem device?

zyo

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Ultimate Geek
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#2334987 10-Oct-2019 13:04

sub:

zyo:

Is flip a better choice?

You get ADSL 150GB + landline for the same price. For old people I think a physical copper line into the house would be more stable/easier to setup etc and it would work in a power outage too (if you have a corded phone obviously)

Yeah, something like that might be an option. It'll be slower than the 4G speeds she gets at her place, and a it's a little more costly when you add in the national calling and caller id, which and are included in the Vodafone plan, and something she wants (Sorry - I neglected to mention in my post).

You can always pick a Skinny 60GB wireless plan for 39 a month and port the phone number to 2talk then use it with a Voip bridge.

Overall it will be cheaper (50 dollars a month) more features (include national minutes and caller ids etc)

And you get to use your own DECT phone like a normal phone line.

Quinny

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Ultimate Geek
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#2335008 10-Oct-2019 13:25

sub:

Quinny:

My mum uses this. She has had a few issues but they have been not too bad with phone support. She loves the price. I would rather move her to unlimited as she is just getting into Chromecast usage and streaming I have setup for her eg Sky Sport and she panics about going over her bandwidth. For a senior with low net and who wants a home phone it is a good option.

You don't happen to remember what brand of phone it was, and whether it's plugged into a separate router/modem device?

She went with the supplied phone. Wish I could just get her to use her mobile but she wont.

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Ultimate Geek
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#2335016 10-Oct-2019 13:40

Quinny:

She went with the supplied phone. Wish I could just get her to use her mobile but she wont.

I hear you 🙄

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Ultimate Geek
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#2335019 10-Oct-2019 13:51

zyo:

You can always pick a Skinny 60GB wireless plan for 39 a month and port the phone number to 2talk then use it with a Voip bridge.

Overall it will be cheaper (50 dollars a month) more features (include national minutes and caller ids etc)

And you get to use your own DECT phone like a normal phone line.

That sounds pretty attractive, though wish it directly supported VOIP without having to add an extra party into the mix.

On, Skinny's FAQ page they say "Sorry, you can't do VOIP (Voice Over IP) with Skinny Broadband". I wonder why that is?

deadlyllama

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#2335022 10-Oct-2019 13:54

The old Vodafone Home Wireless plan (no internet, just phone) made you dial area code prefixes for everything, including local calls. My mother found it very confusing. Is that still the case with this new plan?

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#2335027 10-Oct-2019 14:00

deadlyllama:

The old Vodafone Home Wireless plan (no internet, just phone) made you dial area code prefixes for everything, including local calls. My mother found it very confusing. Is that still the case with this new plan?

@deadlyllama If it over the 3G / 4G network then yes

zyo

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Ultimate Geek
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#2335035 10-Oct-2019 14:10

sub:
zyo:

You can always pick a Skinny 60GB wireless plan for 39 a month and port the phone number to 2talk then use it with a Voip bridge.

Overall it will be cheaper (50 dollars a month) more features (include national minutes and caller ids etc)

And you get to use your own DECT phone like a normal phone line.

That sounds pretty attractive, though wish it directly supported VOIP without having to add an extra party into the mix.

On, Skinny's FAQ page they say "Sorry, you can't do VOIP (Voice Over IP) with Skinny Broadband". I wonder why that is?

Landline is a pretty low margin service (some might argue its legacy even) I'd say skinny simply doesnt want to spend on the training / support infrastructure.

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Quinny

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#2335043 10-Oct-2019 14:23

Linux:

deadlyllama:

The old Vodafone Home Wireless plan (no internet, just phone) made you dial area code prefixes for everything, including local calls. My mother found it very confusing. Is that still the case with this new plan?

@deadlyllama If it over the 3G / 4G network then yes

I will check tonight but do not think this is the case

alasta

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#2335052 10-Oct-2019 14:54

I have had Vodafone's fixed wireless on a 120Gb grandfathered plan for the last couple of years and have found it very reliable. The modem/router is a cheap Huawei thing with terrible Wifi functionality so I have had to use an Airport Extreme with it, but otherwise it works fine. I have found that it's best to physically elevate it so that it's level with the window in my house that has line of sight to the transmitter.

I have never tried to use a phone with it as I have a mobile, so I can't really comment on that aspect.

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Ultimate Geek
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#2335054 10-Oct-2019 14:58

zyo:

Landline is a pretty low margin service (some might argue its legacy even) I'd say skinny simply doesnt want to spend on the training / support infrastructure.

Yeah, I get that - but they actively blocking VOIP? From the reading of their FAQ you can't do VOIP on their system.

Lorenceo

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#2335072 10-Oct-2019 15:21

sub:

Yeah, I get that - but they actively blocking VOIP? From the reading of their FAQ you can't do VOIP on their system.

It isn't actively blocked. Just keep in mind all Skinny WBB is behind CGNAT, which can cause trouble with some VoIP solutions.

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