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Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Naked DSL without a landline - Where to get?


145 posts

Master Geek
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Topic # 22147 18-May-2008 13:55
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Forgive me if this is a FAQ - searching for "naked dsl no phone" doesn't kick up any clues.

My pal is looking for a DSL provider but doesn't need a phone line. Skype will do him fine.

All the ISPs I've called today offer a bundled phone line as part of their "naked DSL" packages. And seem to charge for them - eg with XNet he'd pay about $40/mo (for 6GB of use) if he was on "regular" DSL and paying Telecom a monthly line rental for a phone, but if he switches to XNet's Naked DSL suddenly the price leaps to $69.95 (and there's a "free" phone line available).

I called Callplus and a few others - all said something similar - which seems deeply ironic given that the ISPs were fighting to get DSL unbundled, then none of them actually offer a package without bundling it themselves. (Am I misunderstanding the market wickedly or something?)

How / where do you get a plain DSL connection WITHOUT a phone line bundled? Must be plenty of business cases where there's space for a DSL installation without a phone line. I can think of a handful.

Any suggestions / recommendations welcome.

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  Reply # 131586 18-May-2008 13:57
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NZ Connections has to be useful for this - http://www.nzconnection.net/Internet_Plan_and_Pricing_Comparisons#Naked_DSL

Look into the "Free VoIP product included?" column.




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  Reply # 131590 18-May-2008 14:02
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The "price leap" is due to Telecom still having to maintain the line and the associated gear in the exchange etc.

http://www.nzconnection.net/Internet_Service_Providers
http://www.nzconnection.net/Naked_DSL

There was talk a while ago of Xnet dropping the price by $10 if you didn't want the VFX but this was only going to be available through their dealer channel not direct to their sales desk.

 
 
 
 


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  Reply # 131592 18-May-2008 14:06
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The "free" phoneline both Slingshot and WxC have mentioned to you is their VoIP offering. Sign up with them and you'll get a VoIP connection complete with incoming local number included for free.

Skype is a pretty hopeless alternative to the VoIP services that both of these companies offer.

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  Reply # 131593 18-May-2008 14:07
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I'm assuming your $40 calculation was using the "River" plan (Full speed down, 128k up) which is $33.95 + usage?

Note Xnet's Fusion includes the "Flood" plan (Full speed up and down) which is normally $49.95 + usage so you are only paying $20 for Naked DSL instead of ~$43 for a phone line - that saves you $23 per month and provided you have a compatible VOIP device you end up with far more features (VoiceMail, Call Forwarding, etc).



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Master Geek
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  Reply # 131607 18-May-2008 16:02
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Thanks for the words of advice. Appreciated by my mate who I recommended Naked DSL + Skype to. (We don't get ADSL here so I am not 100% with the DSL market.) Your changes to the calcs make it a bit more reasonable.

I would still rate the instant-on portability of SkypeIn over ISP VOIP, though I'm sure VOIP is capable of clever redirection too.

Cheers

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  Reply # 131680 19-May-2008 01:12
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There is also no wiring an matainance contracts on NakeDSL,  if you have a fault and it's your wires, then your billed.
Well it's like that from Slingshot, not sure of Xnet.  (sorry my spell checkers not going)

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  Reply # 131955 20-May-2008 00:50
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Yes you did misunderstand the market completely. Unbundling means the physical copper line can now be wired to 3rd party equipment instead of Telecom's own equipment.

Actually, you want a phone line thats only connected to data but not voice. Unbundled or not, you eventually have to pay for the line so there is little point to offer it without voice because the voice part doesnt cost that muchextra but works better if its provided to everyone. Even if it did make sense, so far no provider wants to have special cards reserved for customers that dont want voice because that would require twice the investment in spare (ie wasted) capacity on line cards.

If you dont want to pay for the phone line then you will need wireless instead of ADSL, because ADSL technology is designed to share a phone line.




Qualified in business, certified in fibre, stuck in copper, have to keep going  ^_^

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Ultimate Geek

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  Reply # 132258 21-May-2008 09:02
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xurizaemon:

I would still rate the instant-on portability of SkypeIn over ISP VOIP, though I'm sure VOIP is capable of clever redirection too.



Skype is hopeless for calling NZ landlines seeing as their PSTN interconnects are on the other side of the world.

What do you mean by 'instant-on portability'? Skype is a VoIP service just like the others, except it uses proprietary protocols so can only be used by Skype equipment.

It will be far better for your friend to get a local number from the likes of Slingshot, Xnet or 2talk.co.nz. Call quality will be much better. I'm not sure about Xnet, but the 2talk signup process is very straight forward, and he/she can even get a line for free if they don't mind having an 028 number which costs the same as a mobile phone number for people to call. (Would be great if he/she mainly just wants outgoing calls and doesn't mind that people have to pay to call in). A local line costs $7/month on 2talk which gives free local calls in the area just like a normal phone line (on Skype local calls still cost).

Also, being that the non-Skype services are based on the SIP protocol, there are a wide range of software clients and physical IP Phones (as well as cell phones, PDAs etc) that can connect to them.

Skype works fine in Europe and North America, but in NZ you have a)latency over the net connection to Skype servers, and b) latency/poor quality in PSTN (phone system) connections back to NZ. With a local VoIP provider, both these are eliminated.

DON'T RECCOMMEND SKYPE FOR PC-PSTN CALLS IN NEW ZEALAND!!! (PC - PC is fine).



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Master Geek
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  Reply # 132279 21-May-2008 10:27
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What I mean by "instant-on portability" is that with Skype, I can land in Melbourne and answer a phonecall to my NZ SkypeIn number either on my laptop or my Skype-capable cellphone. I know that other VOIP/SIP services can do this too, but the fact that Skype already does it for me is a bonus. But as my pal is not a current Skype user, that's no bonus for him.

(Wow. Normally I'm the one rolling my eyes at friends who give "but I don't want to have to configure anything" as a reason to stick with crap, expensive, insecure software. Must be getting old.)

Anyway - my pal isn't a current Skype user, and your advice is well-suited for him. Thanks for your well-considered input.

I think his ultimate plan (for now) is to get his iPod touch working as a SIP phone :)

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Ultimate Geek

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  Reply # 132285 21-May-2008 10:53
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With the 2talk softclient, it is just as easy as skype (enter username and password), and can manage your other IMs as well.

Other SIP clients aren't exactly hard to configure. You just have the additional step of typing in a server/domain address as well as your username and password (unless you really really want to configure advanced options). And once you have it set up thats it, it will also work wherever you have internet access (and works over cellular data if you want to pay for the data charges!). You can even set up fancy features that will call both the SIP client and the cellphone (and any other phone) at the same time.

On top of that there are the call forwarding, voicemail, call waiting etc etc etc features with the SIP providers.

With 2talk there is also a callback service that lets you route calls from your cellphone via 2talk (means you pay say 25c a min for the call to the NZ cellphone, plus 5c per min to a landline in over 50 countries - much cheaper than a lot of the rates thru NZ mobile companies. )

Check http://www.geekzone.co.nz/mushion22/5067 if you want a bit of a blurb about 2talk. I am trialling a line from them while i'm in Canada and its working extremely well.



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