MySky and Orcon Genius

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › MySky and Orcon Genius

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#87541 1-Aug-2011 08:33

Just had a delayed afterthought about VOIP. I have MYSKY and of course it will not have a phone line to plug the upwards connection into. Not a big loss from my point of view as I don't subscribe to Pay per View (Understand you can still order via 0800 number) but does anyone know if their are any other likely side effects of not having uplink?

[Moderator edit (MF): changed subject to something related to the topic]

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#500169 1-Aug-2011 08:59

Do you have an alarm or use dial up for work i.e. remote access??

Regards,

Old3eyes

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#500170 1-Aug-2011 09:01

Yes have an alarm but got that changed to gprs so that was OK. No other analogue systems that I can think of. (Hopefully)

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

nate

6473 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#500225 1-Aug-2011 10:32

ronw: Yes have an alarm but got that changed to gprs so that was OK. No other analogue systems that I can think of. (Hopefully)

You should be fine.

Box

13 posts

Geek

#502974 7-Aug-2011 13:42

You should be able to plug your mysky into the phone port on the side of your genius router. Problem for me is I am already using that for another DECT handset. Will look around for a RJ11 double adapter, that may allow both to share the one phone port?

andrewcnz

961 posts

Ultimate Geek

#502992 7-Aug-2011 15:46

Box: You should be able to plug your mysky into the phone port on the side of your genius router. Problem for me is I am already using that for another DECT handset. Will look around for a RJ11 double adapter, that may allow both to share the one phone port?

I would doubt the mysky will work correctly via the genius router. Use the 0800 number to book events.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#503010 7-Aug-2011 16:25

Box: You should be able to plug your mysky into the phone port on the side of your genius router. Problem for me is I am already using that for another DECT handset. Will look around for a RJ11 double adapter, that may allow both to share the one phone port?

It's not so much the issue of ports, it's the issue of low speed modems over a VoIP connection.

VoIP uses a variery of voice codecs with G.711 alaw/ulaw being pretty common and delivering identical voice quality to a analogue voice call, because even an "analogue" phone has been digital since the introduction of TDM in the late 70's. TDM uses G.711 also.

With VoIP however there is no guarantee your voice call will stay as G.711 before it interconnects with the PSTN and ultimately Sky's network. Many VoIP providers use G.729 which results in a significant drop in bandwidth usage for a call. A voice call using alaw and ulaw is around 160kbps - 170kbps per call depending on packet size, switching to G.729 can easily halve this. If you're transporting a lot of voice calls around your network then switching to a different codec has plenty of advantages. Codecs like G.729 also handle jitter and packet loss far better than G.711

The disadvantage however is that low speed modems won't work over anything except G.711 - and even then for them to work over G.711 you need zero packet loss and very low jitter.

Low speed modem support may work but is not guaranteed. Orcon's advise is that there is no support for them.

At the end of the day Sky really need to support ethernet backhaul from their devices. Why this doesn't seem to be any closer than it was ~4 years ago when they first started looking at the idea is a question only Sky will be able to answer.

Box

13 posts

Geek

#503031 7-Aug-2011 17:26

I have run the MySky 'system test' and it says the phone is "successfully connected", so looks like it is all good via Genius.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Box

13 posts

Geek

#503034 7-Aug-2011 17:28

I also just paired my existing DECT phone to the Genius so I no longer need to use the phone port for my existing phone. That freed up the phone port for MySky.

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#503035 7-Aug-2011 17:30

I have had mysky since it started and have never needed to order pay per view so I agm happy to leave the phone disconnected

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

DjShadow

4091 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#503036 7-Aug-2011 17:32

A bit OT but makes me wonder when Sky will make use of the Ethernet port on MySky to use as an uplink opposed to the phone jack

Talkiet

4793 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#503050 7-Aug-2011 18:16

DjShadow: A bit OT but makes me wonder when Sky will make use of the Ethernet port on MySky to use as an uplink opposed to the phone jack

Almost certainly when the cost to them (support, back end systems, public education etc) of enabling it is lower than the cost (lost customers, issues with the current phone based system etc) of continuing to use the current phone based communications.

It's _terribly_ easy to understand when a profit driven public company will do new stuff, or upgrade things.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

andrewcnz

961 posts

Ultimate Geek

#503069 7-Aug-2011 19:09

Box: I have run the MySky 'system test' and it says the phone is "successfully connected", so looks like it is all good via Genius.

Does it check for a dial tone or dial in to sky to check connection?