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VoIP Provider reviews

ZeroFour

Casual Member
I thought I'd write a post reviewing all the VoIP providers I've used. I've used a few VoIP providers out there, as well as noted all the costings. I will list them all below.

To start:

Vonage for Home:
I used Vonage for a short period of time, about 2 weeks. I paid £10 for the 1000 minutes to mobiles and landlines.

Pros:
Good call quality
Quick call connection time
No drop outs or downtime

Cons:
You can't use your own device - you have to use the supplied grandstream box. I contacted their customer services to try and get the details but they note it as "confidential". I wasn't able to change any of the box settings neither.

My verdict: good for users who just want something basic for their existing landline phone.

Andrews and Arnold:
I've used Andrews and Arnold for VoIP since April. Very reliable service and good customer service. You can use any device with their service. It's £1.44 a month for a VoIP number, with a £1.20 set up fee when you first join. You're charged per minute of calls, rather than having a set minutes package.

Pros:
Good call quality
Reliable, had no drop outs
You can get memorible numbers
Excellent customer services
Cheap monthly costs
Free calls to other AAISP users

Cons:
Could potentially get expensive if you make a lot of calls.

Verdict: I make a lot of calls on my landline because Threes coverage here is bad. So far, the most I've paid for their service in one month was £12. I made a significant amount of calls to mobiles, which are more expensive than landline calls. Would recommend AAISP VoIP for those who want a cheap replacement to sipgate basic.


VOIPFONE:
I tested voipfone last month, with their £24 unlimited voice minutes package. VOIPFONE is notably more expensive for unlimited VoIP than other providers. It works well on a Fritz!Box, although you need to adjust some settings otherwise it will automatically de-register.

Pros:
Good customer service
Good call quality

Cons:
Expensive unlimited plans

Verdict:
Not a good idea for those on a budget and want to make a large amount of calls.


Virtual Landline:
I've been testing out Virtual Landlines unlimited package this month. So far, it's been very good. I'm using it on a fritzbox. It costs £7.95 a month for unlimited calls to UK mobiles and landlines.

But there is a fair usage policy - 1000 minutes to mobiles and 3600 minutes to landlines. A lot of people may not use that much, but I could see the ASA slapping down any advertising of unlimited from them as it's not actually truly unlimited.

To get the SIP details, you have to email their customer services. I got a response back within a couple of hours.

Pros:
Cheap, good for those on a budget
Fast customer service
Can divert calls to mobiles
Can use their app on your phone to make calls

Cons:
Fair usage policy
You have to email to get SIP details.

All in all, I would recommend virtual landline for those who want to make loads of calls, and I would recommend AAISP VoIP for those who just want a cheap number who rarely makes calls.

If there is any other VoIP providers you would like me to test and review back here, let me know and I will try my best to do so.

Hopefully this post helps those who are struggling to find a decent VoIP provider for home use.
 
Yay.com is another good alternative. I've been using them for last couple of months with my partner. It's very easy to set up plus it's only £5.39 per user which gets you a free number, 100 minutes a month, easy to divert to different mobile, and simple but great working mobile and desktop app just name a few features.

Link: https://www.yay.com/voice/
 
Thanks for the good review. Can I just add a question around this subject.

I'm currently with BT FTTP and using Digital Voice via their Smarthub and handsets. At some point in the future I may consider moving away from BT - purely from a price point of view. The question is can my Digital Voice number (affectively the landline number) be ported to another VoIP supplier?
 
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Thanks for the good review. Can I just add a question around this subject.

I'm currently with BT FTTP and using Digital Voice via their Smarthub and handsets. At some point in the future I may consider moving away from BT - purely from a price point of view. The question is can my Digital Voice number (affectively the landline number) be ported to another VoIP supplier?
Thanks for the good review. Can I just add a question around this subject.

I'm currently with BT FTTP and using Digital Voice via their Smarthub and handsets. At some point in the future I may consider moving away from BT - purely from a price point of view. The question is can my Digital Voice number (affectively the landline number) be ported to another VoIP supplier?
When signing up for your new VOIP service, you should be able to inform them that you have an existing number and then BT should be able to release the number. I’m assuming you’d have to provide proof that own the number (eg: a BT bill with your number on it.) but I think every provider is different.
 
Thanks for the replies.

At the moment I have no option in my area but BT for FTTP and the Digital Voice features they have are good in my opinion. But its something to think about in the future when my contract with BT comes to an end.
 
Picking up on something @Fil wrote, and possibly a stupid question...

Can someone clarify/define what "user" means wrt VoIP/"landline" replacement. And I'm talking domestic here, not business situations (I'm sort of presuming you see "user" on all these VoIP sites because their primary focus is on selling to businesses needing x number of physical separate extensions rather than residential landline replacements).

For example:

How many users would a family of four be with one centrally placed physical "landline" phone and one number transferred over from a POTS phone? [One I'd hope.]

How many users is a sole occupant that has 3 DECT phones dotted about the house (on the same old POTS number)? [One I'd hope.]

How many users is a family of four with one physical "landline phone" with a softphone on each of the two adults' mobiles?

Also, you get a VoIP number when signing up and you also transfer your old POTS number. So you have two numbers. If the adults are making two concurrent outgoing calls on, say, the old POTS number via their softphone apps and a child uses the "landline" concurrently to take an incoming call on the VoIP number (presuming such a scenario is possible), does this affect how a user is defined in a residential setting?
 
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Picking up on something @Fil wrote, and possibly a stupid question...

Can someone clarify/define what "user" means wrt VoIP/"landline" replacement. And I'm talking domestic here, not business situations (I'm sort of presuming you see "user" on all these VoIP sites because their primary focus is on selling to businesses needing x number of physical separate extensions rather than residential landline replacements).

For example:

1.How many users would a family of four be with one centrally placed physical "landline" phone and one number transferred over from a POTS phone? [One I'd hope.]

2.How many users is a sole occupant that has 3 DECT phones dotted about the house (on the same old POTS number)? [One I'd hope.]

3.How many users is a family of four with one physical "landline phone" with a softphone on each of the two adults' mobiles?

4.Also, you get a VoIP number when signing up and you also transfer your old POTS number. So you have two numbers. If the adults are making two concurrent outgoing calls on, say, the old POTS number via their softphone apps and a child uses the "landline" concurrently to take an incoming call on the VoIP number (presuming such a scenario is possible), does this affect how a user is defined in a residential setting?
1. one
2. one
3. one
4. should not
 
I've recently tried out FreeVoipDeal.
I'm not super impressed as the server seems to suffer from 'demand' issues.
 
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We have two Sipgate accounts, both have been active since winter 2017 without any issues. Sipgate ported a long held number from BT so one a/c has 2 in bound numbers.
 
I've recently tried out FreeVoipDeal.
I'm not super impressed as the server seems to suffer from 'demand' issues.
I have been using FreeVoipDeal for over ten years now and rarely had a problem making calls.

What symptoms do you get, SIP errors, bad voice quality?
 
The calls will sometimes drop and sometimes the voice quality (packet loss and latency) will make the calls very unstable. This happens sometimes, not all the time. But I also have an account with A&A which doesn’t have the same issue.

Someone else mentioned it’s a bit oversubscribed which would align with my experience.
 
Check the A&A and the FreeVoipDeal devices are configured to use different ( preferably non standard ) in bound SIP ports. We have always configured to VOIP provider's STUN server for our VOIP phones. Prefer G.771A codec for clarity & compatibility.
 
Thanks for info on A&A as was considering them for a friend who needs a VOIP number. (We have several numbers with Sipgate and hopefully get to keep them for a bit longer...)

Re your Three signal, isn't WIFI calling OK? It works fine for me on Smarty using the Three network.
 
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I thought I'd write a post reviewing all the VoIP providers I've used. I've used a few VoIP providers out there, as well as noted all the costings. I will list them all below.

To start:

Vonage for Home:
I used Vonage for a short period of time, about 2 weeks. I paid £10 for the 1000 minutes to mobiles and landlines.

Pros:
Good call quality
Quick call connection time
No drop outs or downtime

Cons:
You can't use your own device - you have to use the supplied grandstream box. I contacted their customer services to try and get the details but they note it as "confidential". I wasn't able to change any of the box settings neither.

My verdict: good for users who just want something basic for their existing landline phone.

Andrews and Arnold:
I've used Andrews and Arnold for VoIP since April. Very reliable service and good customer service. You can use any device with their service. It's £1.44 a month for a VoIP number, with a £1.20 set up fee when you first join. You're charged per minute of calls, rather than having a set minutes package.

Pros:
Good call quality
Reliable, had no drop outs
You can get memorible numbers
Excellent customer services
Cheap monthly costs
Free calls to other AAISP users

Cons:
Could potentially get expensive if you make a lot of calls.

Verdict: I make a lot of calls on my landline because Threes coverage here is bad. So far, the most I've paid for their service in one month was £12. I made a significant amount of calls to mobiles, which are more expensive than landline calls. Would recommend AAISP VoIP for those who want a cheap replacement to sipgate basic.


VOIPFONE:
I tested voipfone last month, with their £24 unlimited voice minutes package. VOIPFONE is notably more expensive for unlimited VoIP than other providers. It works well on a Fritz!Box, although you need to adjust some settings otherwise it will automatically de-register.

Pros:
Good customer service
Good call quality

Cons:
Expensive unlimited plans

Verdict:
Not a good idea for those on a budget and want to make a large amount of calls.


Virtual Landline:
I've been testing out Virtual Landlines unlimited package this month. So far, it's been very good. I'm using it on a fritzbox. It costs £7.95 a month for unlimited calls to UK mobiles and landlines.

But there is a fair usage policy - 1000 minutes to mobiles and 3600 minutes to landlines. A lot of people may not use that much, but I could see the ASA slapping down any advertising of unlimited from them as it's not actually truly unlimited.

To get the SIP details, you have to email their customer services. I got a response back within a couple of hours.

Pros:
Cheap, good for those on a budget
Fast customer service
Can divert calls to mobiles
Can use their app on your phone to make calls

Cons:
Fair usage policy
You have to email to get SIP details.

All in all, I would recommend virtual landline for those who want to make loads of calls, and I would recommend AAISP VoIP for those who just want a cheap number who rarely makes calls.

If there is any other VoIP providers you would like me to test and review back here, let me know and I will try my best to do so.

Hopefully this post helps those who are struggling to find a decent VoIP provider for home use.
Have you tried Freeola Voice (https://freeola.com/home-voip/)?

I've used their email service for years but know nothing (currently) about VoIP offerings so don't know what to look for in a good provider.
 
Thanks for sharing your reviews. I've actually found a tool that might help you with call routing, which can be useful for managing incoming calls to your VoIP numbers. You might want to check out https://www.mightycall.com/features/call-routing/. They offer call routing features that can help you customize how calls are directed to different extensions or numbers.
It seems like you've found a good balance between cost and service quality with Andrews and Arnold and Virtual Landline. It's great that you're willing to share your experiences to help others find a suitable VoIP provider.
 
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