Have you found a VOIP system that works in Europe / UK

[OldAgeTravellers]

Has anybody found a VOIP system that works? We live in France and I am getting fed up with paying for a land line just for two very old friends to call us on, the rest of the calls we get are sales calls. Our internet is 4G from the mobile system so very good and fast internet and I have UK and French PAYG sims on which we make all our outgoing calls or use Whatsapp. The French sim costs only €2 a month and I rarely even get close to the included minutes.
Some time ago I bought an OBI100 Voip adaptor but as Google Voice is restricted to USA & Canada have not managed to find a European VOIP system I can use it with. Most seem to be only for business use so as to have international numbers. I only want it for incoming calls mainly from the UK.
As I live in France, answers about BT, TalkTalk etc. would not be very helpful.
A VOIP system would also be useful when travelling so we could still receive calls to the VOIP Landline equivalent.
Thanks if anybody has any info or ideas.
Steve

 

[gus-lopez]

I use Whatsapp & Viber both of which are using the internet so if you have a decent cinnection it shouldn't be a problem.
I do have Voipcheap but rarely use it as most people these days have internet & even whatsapp can be downloaded on to a computer.

 

[PeteH]

We communicate with the USA using WhatsApp. I have it on my i-Phone as does my Wife. We have had Conferences with Houston, Cheshire, and Camberley. all on line together?. Works just as well in the van using Data stream.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Thanks both for the reply but it is a number for incoming calls I need as I have a couple of friends who use no technology at all except a standard telephone so need to call a standard number and are worried about calling mobile numbers because they think it will cost a fortune. Hence my thoughts about VOIP. I can use Skype for outgoing to landlines in the UK but will look at Voipcheap but it appears to be outgoing only.
Steve

 

[BwB]

Try Googling "VOIP phone numbers" you'll get a few companies who offer you a telephone number for people without technology to call using a normal phone through to your computer/mobile. You could even have a UK phone number that gets through to you in France. Lots of companies use this technology but often a personal phone number service is offered by the VIOP provider too. Skype is probably the most well known.

What is a Skype Number? | Skype Support

support.skype.com

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[The Wino]

My suggestion was going to be just have a mobile phone but you've already answered that. We ditched our landline last year when we moved and haven't missed it at all surely it can't be a lot more expensive these days that calling a landline I've never even looked!
I'm not sure the VoIP would really work that well for incoming calls what would happen if you weren't at your computer or it was turned off?. Don't know if theres an answering facility.

 

[Phil 748]

HI I think that like The Wino says the best option is a mobile, you can get a VOIP number for people to call like we have for work, but you would have to subscribe for the service and not sure how many will offer this to private customers

 

[rod_vw]

As someone else has suggested, does a Skype number not answer your question?

I understand that you can have a Skype number in other countries not just your home one.

 

[CherryPirate]

Have you looked at using Skype number Skype number

 

[Phil 748]

Hi you can get a skype number but you have to subscribe for it, if you google "How to buy skype phone number" there is a youtube vid to show how to obtain one

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[JustifiedAncient]

We've used SIPGate for the last few years and been happy with them. It allowed us to choose a 'local' UK exchange to have our number on. I put £10 credit on every couple of years as I sometimes use it to call France as it is cheaper than a mobile call. You can receive the calls in a number of ways, but currently use Voiper on my iPhone.

 

[orridge]

Perhaps get them to check the call costs as most providers BT included a mobile phone call is the same cost as local calls its been a long time since there has been a huge price difference to call a mobile.

 

[johnalves]

voiptalk.org will give you a UK landline number for incoming calls at a reasonable price. You have an app on your mobile phone which links to it and you can receive calls anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection. A Skype phone number is also a good option

 

[Coolcats]

Has anybody found a VOIP system that works? We live in France and I am getting fed up with paying for a land line just for two very old friends to call us on, the rest of the calls we get are sales calls. Our internet is 4G from the mobile system so very good and fast internet and I have UK and French PAYG sims on which we make all our outgoing calls or use Whatsapp. The French sim costs only €2 a month and I rarely even get close to the included minutes.
Some time ago I bought an OBI100 Voip adaptor but as Google Voice is restricted to USA & Canada have not managed to find a European VOIP system I can use it with. Most seem to be only for business use so as to have international numbers. I only want it for incoming calls mainly from the UK.
As I live in France, answers about BT, TalkTalk etc. would not be very helpful.
A VOIP system would also be useful when travelling so we could still receive calls to the VOIP Landline equivalent.
Thanks if anybody has any info or ideas.
Steve

First you need to understand a little about VOIP, unless your on managed network you can never guaruntee the quality of the call so 'Skype' et al is alway only best effort. The reason is the ip packets travel in thier own time and have no priority, so they can arrive out of sequence or take longer than 100 ms which cause delay and jitter which is why a VOIP call sometimes seems to 'break up'. All the telco's will change out the old PSTN and have voip networks which will guarantee a quality call. VIOP has been around for decades.

I would prefer a cellular call to a VIOP one being routed over uncertain networks but as they say you pay your money and take your choice. iChat, Skype, Cisco Webex zoom etc etc are all video VOIP systems sometimes they work well sometimes not, often its because it is on an unmanaged network one the networks.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

We've used SIPGate for the last few years and been happy with them. It allowed us to choose a 'local' UK exchange to have our number on. I put £10 credit on every couple of years as I sometimes use it to call France as it is cheaper than a mobile call. You can receive the calls in a number of ways, but currently use Voiper on my iPhone.

I too have been using the German outfit Sipgate for decades now for a couple of UK geographic numbers. When I signed up, you got the numbers for free -- not sure if they charge these days. I'm not familiar with your hardware but, as long as it uses the SIP protocol, it should work. In fact you don't actually need any specific hardware: you can just divert incoming calls destined for the Sipgate numbers to another number of your choice. One of my UK geographic numbers is diverted to my mobile -- obviously the diverted call costs, but the charges are fairly reasonable.

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[Coolcats]

I too have been using the German outfit Sipgate for decades now for a couple of UK geographic numbers. When I signed up, you got the numbers for free -- not sure if they charge these days. I'm not familiar with your hardware but, as long as it uses the SIP protocol, it should work. In fact you don't actually need any specific hardware: you can just divert incoming calls destined for the Sipgate numbers to another number of your choice. One of my UK geographic numbers is diverted to my mobile -- obviously the diverted call costs, but the charges are fairly reasonable.

PSTN will be dead by 2025 everything will be SIP no more telephone exchanges just IP networks many of the smaller companies and rich providers will just fall by the wayside as the networks get upgraded.

 

[TheCaller]

I would agree, Sipgate have been at it for years. I've got a Sipgate number from when I first started using VoIP about 17 years ago.

My main home & business 'landline' numbers are now VoIP with Andrews & Arnold aa.net.uk
There are a number of free VoIP softphones that you can install on your computer, tablet or smartphone - or better still on all of them, so you can use whatever is convenient at the time. I use a 'paid for' app called Bria, from Counterpath, because I also need the Presence & Instant Messaging it includes. But that's for work - you don't need that for home.

You can also get an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) which plugs into your router. You then plug your existing landline phone into the ATA & it becomes a VoIP handset. Grandstream do one that is ok, although the setup screens that Grandstream do can be a bit off-putting. I got one so that I could plug our existing house 5 extension DECT phone system into it. You can buy VoIP handsets that work just like a traditional phone - again Grandstream is popular.

 

[TheCaller]

Just remembered - there is a free version of Bria Solo
You start a 30 day trial of the paid for version, then let it lapse to the free version after the trial runs out. The free version has all you need for a single home VoIP line.

Andrews & Arnold charge £1/month for hosting a number for you. Get a new one or port an existing UK number over - usually about £15 one off charge for that. The best thing about A&A is that they have real engineers who answer the phone when you have a problem. Not that I've ever had any problems in the two years I've been using them for both broadband & phone systems.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

I would agree, Sipgate have been at it for years. I've got a Sipgate number from when I first started using VoIP about 17 years ago.

My main home & business 'landline' numbers are now VoIP with Andrews & Arnold aa.net.uk
There are a number of free VoIP softphones that you can install on your computer, tablet or smartphone - or better still on all of them, so you can use whatever is convenient at the time. I use a 'paid for' app called Bria, from Counterpath, because I also need the Presence & Instant Messaging it includes. But that's for work - you don't need that for home.

You can also get an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) which plugs into your router. You then plug your existing landline phone into the ATA & it becomes a VoIP handset. Grandstream do one that is ok, although the setup screens that Grandstream do can be a bit off-putting. I got one so that I could plug our existing house 5 extension DECT phone system into it. You can buy VoIP handsets that work just like a traditional phone - again Grandstream is popular.

Ah yes, Andrews & Arnold is definitely a quality ISP. I am using Idnet, who I rate also.

Anyway, that's all by the by. As you say, if you want to use a regular phone, you can use a device like the Grandstream one, which we use to plug in our DECT phones. We also use the freeware "soft phone" software on the laptop to make/receive calls from time to time.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Thanks for all the replies, quite a lot to investigate. I did think about Skype, I have used it a few times, like calling the Bank while in Morocco but the will not publish prices for having a number. You have to sign up first then they will give you a price, I do not deal with companies who cannot be transparent.
but grateful for all the suggestions.
Steve

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[Off da Grid]

Just get them to call your mobile number then hang up, you then call them back.

 

[Lenny HB]

Are you inventing a problem that is not there Steve. You have a UK mobile, so from a UK landline the call rate to a UK mobile are the same as calling a landline if they are on BT, other telecom suppliers charge 2 to 3p a minute more but cheaper than BT.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Are you inventing a problem that is not there Steve. You have a UK mobile, so from a UK landline the call rate to a UK mobile are the same as calling a landline if they are on BT, other telecom suppliers charge 2 to 3p a minute more but cheaper than BT.

Yes possibly I am Lenny but I also have to get past SWMBO's resistance to change and our older friends fear of high costs when ringing mobile numbers. She remembers once ringing a friend who only had a mobile and the call cost us about €20. Ok, it was our France landline to a UK mobile, but there are just so many companies with totally different charging systems and she hates having to ask me all the time which phone and which sim to use.

 

[shunter]

I used this for a long time i took it with us where ever we went USA all over all you need is internet

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[Coolcats]

EE which is BT seem to have good deals

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