Couple of points:-
NTL 1Mb is just under £10 a month
BT haven't yet woken up to the new realities.
"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
news:GrmdnfhLlMSDT_3eRVn-tQ@rcn.net...
| Thank you for your advice: It sounds easy enough to set up but not
| particularly easy for someone who is scared of even turning a computer on
| (while I am not there) to maintain: I will have to see how much her phone
| bills are and take some equipment over when I next go to London. Then see
if
| Telewest-Broadband are offering or are going to be offering VoIP?? (the
| companies here which offer digital television, broadband and telephone
| service haven't dared offer VoIP yet: Probably because of the difficulties
| of putting voice communications on IP before more widespread
implementation
| of 3G)
|
| But are BT still as arrogantly uncompetitive as they always were
| (oversimplifying slightly, AT&T, which was one of the largest companies in
| the world went out of business like that here when their lies on their ads
| about how cheap their service was finally stopped working) or has BT
started
| competing with companies like Onetel yet? Do they do 1p or free 56k
| internet access calls yet?
|
| The "someone" seems to have been someone who didn't want my mother to be
| able to speak to any of her old friends or relatives (or me), so they
| changed her phone number and told her that it had to be done. I called BT
| from New York and they cooperated immediately in changing it back. Didn't
| sound arrogant at all, assuming they have actually done it and not
continued
| pretending that it cant be done because it is a different exchange (which
| was an excuse I seem to remember applied even in New York back in the
| eighties)
|
|
| "Alex" <nospam@invalid.com> wrote in message
| news:Z%Q7f.8371$Jl3.5762@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net...
| >> want to use the internet, OneTel only charged me a penny a minute for
the
| >> 56k internet access telephone call. (Is there any competition on this
| >> yet?)
| >
| > Yes, lots, although its died out alot due to broadband becoming so
cheap.
| >
| >> Each satellite leg has 250 msec. Do you have these problems in the UK
or
| >> is this an American thing?
| >
| > The I've only ever found there to be problems when the bandwidth at my
end
| > is overloaded ie when a computer is downloading, never had a delay
really
| > any greater than using a mobile (cell) phone.
| >
| >>
| >> (There is, unfortunately, no chance that my mother would ever
| >> conceivably use the broadband connection for any other purpose). She
| >> WILL have cable television service, probably through some sort of
digital
| >> service available in her area. From New York I don't know if that
service
| >> will offer VoIP (or provide her with a VoIP router as they do in New
York
| >> and connect it up for her, - which I should add they don't do in New
| >> York yet). I actually have a couple of spare WiFi routers I can take to
| >> London but cant figure out how to get a telephone output from these
| >> 802.11b routers when there isn't a telephone socket in them already
| >
| > Either
| > cable modem> existing router mentioned above > ATA and or other
computers
| > (phone connects to ata)
| > or
| > cable modem> ATA (phone connects to ata)
| > or
| > cable modem> router with built in VOIP > computers (phone connects to
| > router)
| >
| > If she goes with the cable route she can ditch the landline, as if you
| > have ADSL here you have to pay for a land phone line aswell as the
| > broadband rental. Cable just charge you for cable internet and you do
not
| > have to have the phone line, so in your case you would get TV and
| > broadband from the cable provider.
| >
| > She will be provided with just a cable modem with ethernet connection to
| > go straight to her computer, no router. If you want a router you have to
| > buy one yourself. If you want a VOIP adapter you have to buy one
yourself,
| > but you are then to choose whatever provider you wish for the VOIP
| > service.
| > So, you need to:
| > 1) Subscribe to cable (you get a cable modem) (Not sure who covers
london,
| > but for example
www.ntl.com provide cable, its £20ish a month for a
| > broadband only service. You will need at least a 1mb connection.
| > 2) Get a VOIP adapter (ATA) either a sipura or grandstream, do a search
on
| > this group for models or on the net, you can get one for about £40, it
| > plugs into the ethernet socket of the modem and you plug a normal phone
| > line into the ATA. If you want a computer on the internet aswell, you
wil
| > need a router to split the connection for the ATA and the computer, else
| > buy a router with built in VOIP so the phone plugs straight into the
| > router and the computers into the router. Linksys and Draytek are
| > companies which do these IIRC.
| > 3) Choose any VOIP provider and put them settings into the ATA. Sipgate
| > will give her a free UK geographical number for incoming calls, but
charge
| > a pence or two a minute to call the states (it is however free to call
| > other people on VOIP). Other providers such as sipdiscount provide free
| > calls to the UK and the states (amongst others) as long as you put
5euros
| > credit in your account. There are lots to choose from, look through past
| > postings from this group to see names. The big players are sipgate,
| > voipcheap, sipdiscount, gradwell, voipfone, vonage to name but a few,
all
| > offer different things so its choosing the one that suits your needs.
| >
| >> Here in New York, Broadband is reasonably inexpensive and the cost of
| >> VOIP is LESS than the comparable cost of telephone service when you
take
| >> into account all the taxes which are added on which don't apply to
| >> internet services (I was paying about $100 a month for telephone before
I
| >> adopted VoIP and now I pay $15 for voip plus $32 for cable modem
access.
| >>
| >
| > Not really the same here, everyone either pays £10 a month for phone
line
| > rental, or pays approx £20 a month for a broadband connection which they
| > can run voip over. Taxes included, the only extras are calls. There are
| > many providers which offer access numebrs to call abroad for very cheap
| > from landlines, so much that its almost not worth getting a VOIP service
| > for cost of calls alone. However VOIP calls are all free which will make
| > it worth it, and there are some providers giving free international
calls
| > to all traditional 'cheap' destinations (such as usa, france,
australia).
| >
| > You could easily pay £20 for broadband, get an ATA and use one or more
| > providers that do not have a monthly charge which will offer you free
| > calls to the states, so your total outgoing per month is £20 (+ digital
| > cable tv if she wants that).
| >
| > Hope this lengthy reply helps.
| > Alex
| >
|
|
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