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Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

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GrandOiseau
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Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330441

Postby GrandOiseau » August 2nd, 2020, 11:16 pm

So I might being dumb here but when I took on my Vodafone Gigafast FTTH contract it was stated that there was no landline charges as the broadband line was in effect the phone line. I deduced from this that all calls would effectively be VOIP and in effect free. Certainly no phone package or call charges of any sort was mentioned. But I have had my first bill and low and behold there are call charges on there. So is this correct?

And if so is there any way of getting making VOIP (free) calls?

I see via the clunky account interface there are call packages - do I need to use those if I want to make reasonable price calls?

On previous landlines I have used the 1899 and 18185 services to get cheap land line calls but I don't believe those will work on the Gigafast infrastructure.

We've just gone over to a monthly mobile phone package so the other option is to simply use mobiles to make calls instead. But we have had the habit of using the landline sometimes...

chas49
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Re: Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330442

Postby chas49 » August 2nd, 2020, 11:25 pm

I think you've made an incorrect assumption I'm afraid. Although the phone line rental is free/included/not applicable - depending on how you view things, there are indeed charges for calling.

From the website (https://www.vodafone.co.uk/broadband/deals/gigafast)

Vodafone Home Landline T&C


Call costs and subscription features: Details of our call costs (including a complete list of all our premium rate and international call costs and charges) are set out in our Vodafone Broadband and Home Phone Price Plan. The costs of any features or feature bundles which include a monthly subscription charge are also included in this Price Plan. Please note that any features or feature bundles must be retained for a minimum of 30 days.


Whether the call packages are worth it depends on how much you use the 'landline' to make calls.

I've just had the Gigafast service installed and haven't taken a call package as we virtually never use the landline to make calls.

ReformedCharacter
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Re: Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330446

Postby ReformedCharacter » August 3rd, 2020, 12:05 am

GrandOiseau wrote:
And if so is there any way of getting making VOIP (free) calls?


Not free AFAIK but you could consider Sipgate (a search on this site may throw up some previous comments, positive IIRC). I've just subscribed to their basic package:

https://www.sipgatebasic.co.uk/

You can get 'softphones' - software IP phones for PC, tablet or 'phone. Or you can buy special SIP phones. In my case I bought a Linksys PAP2T adaptor for £15:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cisco-Business ... B000HCX7UG

If you do a Google shopping search you can find them for £15 or less.

RC

GrandOiseau
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Re: Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330513

Postby GrandOiseau » August 3rd, 2020, 10:34 am

chas49 wrote:I think you've made an incorrect assumption I'm afraid. Although the phone line rental is free/included/not applicable - depending on how you view things, there are indeed charges for calling.

From the website (https://www.vodafone.co.uk/broadband/deals/gigafast)

Vodafone Home Landline T&C


Call costs and subscription features: Details of our call costs (including a complete list of all our premium rate and international call costs and charges) are set out in our Vodafone Broadband and Home Phone Price Plan. The costs of any features or feature bundles which include a monthly subscription charge are also included in this Price Plan. Please note that any features or feature bundles must be retained for a minimum of 30 days.


Whether the call packages are worth it depends on how much you use the 'landline' to make calls.

I've just had the Gigafast service installed and haven't taken a call package as we virtually never use the landline to make calls.

Cheers. It's not like me to not read fully although it was in the back of my mind to check further. It wasn't the deal killer because we've recently gone over to unlimited calls on our smartphones and of course there is all the other ways of chatting these days. It's just old habits die hard with the handset.

Will just put an embargo on anyway using them aside from Freephone numbers.

GrandOiseau
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Re: Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330516

Postby GrandOiseau » August 3rd, 2020, 10:40 am

ReformedCharacter wrote:
GrandOiseau wrote:
And if so is there any way of getting making VOIP (free) calls?


Not free AFAIK but you could consider Sipgate (a search on this site may throw up some previous comments, positive IIRC). I've just subscribed to their basic package:

https://www.sipgatebasic.co.uk/

You can get 'softphones' - software IP phones for PC, tablet or 'phone. Or you can buy special SIP phones. In my case I bought a Linksys PAP2T adaptor for £15:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cisco-Business ... B000HCX7UG

If you do a Google shopping search you can find them for £15 or less.

RC

Scanning the Vodafone forum it looks like people have had all sorts of problems configuring VOIP - something to do with Vodafone not giving out the config details for the router. So I am probably just going to live without the option of calling out on the standard phones in the house and just rely on the smart phones we have and WhatsApp, etc.

I am guessing Vodafone make good money out of the calls and hence don't want people using VOIP technology.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330528

Postby UncleEbenezer » August 3rd, 2020, 11:19 am

You can use voip with any provider - Vodafone's offering may or may not be competitive (I haven't looked).

I'm another sipgate user myself. I've been with them since my 2013 house move, when I switched to VOIP to take my landline number with me. Negligible cost. That means I have a "landline" number that comes through to the mobile, too.

VOIP can be totally free[1], but not if you're connecting to an old-fashioned 'phone number[2].

[1] For values of "free" meaning "bundled in a package, such as your perhaps-unlimited data allowance".
[2] Unless you have an inclusive calls package.

GrandOiseau
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Re: Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330556

Postby GrandOiseau » August 3rd, 2020, 12:25 pm

UncleEbenezer wrote:You can use voip with any provider - Vodafone's offering may or may not be competitive (I haven't looked).

I'm another sipgate user myself. I've been with them since my 2013 house move, when I switched to VOIP to take my landline number with me. Negligible cost. That means I have a "landline" number that comes through to the mobile, too.

VOIP can be totally free[1], but not if you're connecting to an old-fashioned 'phone number[2].

[1] For values of "free" meaning "bundled in a package, such as your perhaps-unlimited data allowance".
[2] Unless you have an inclusive calls package.

Again, maybe I am missing a trick here but how is it free/negligible.

Sipgate shows call charges of 1.18 / 9.90 (Landline/Mobile) - I presume no connection cost
Vodafone is 11.5 / 13 - with a connection charge of 19p

Package wise free calls to UK landlines would be £5.90 with Sipgate and £8 with Vodafone

So definitely cheaper with Sipgate but still not free/negligible.

Unlimited mobile packages and broadband capability for WhatsApp/Skype type calling have become so common now I'm just not sure there is the need even if it costs me the a few quid a month plus the box, having another account to service, etc?

chas49
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Re: Gigafast (FTTH) and home phone call charges?

#330569

Postby chas49 » August 3rd, 2020, 1:17 pm

Interestingly (?) Vodafone say (in answer to the question"Can I use my own router with Vodafone broadband?"

Calls over the internet (VoIP)
If you choose to use your own router with our Gigafast service, you can't use apps such as Skype, WhatsApp or Facetime to make calls over the internet - Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).


I think this suggests that you can only use their own router to use such apps. I hadn't seen this mentioned anywhere when I signed up so it seems a bit sneaky - but I'm not planning on using my own router so it's a bit academic really.


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