Do Smart use VOIP for fone calls?

cramp

So i have Magnets 100gb/4mb BB package, with this package you have to change your fone number...(like with Smart)....this i knew about.... what i didn't know was that it is a VOIP line.... now there is some small print somewhere on their signing up that u " u will be supplied with a Phone that HAS to plugged into the mains at ALL times, this might have been said to me on signing up...anyway Magnet do not supply the fone anymore, so basically you have to run the fone from the 2wire Modem.... now i have 3 other fones in my house so these fones now have to end up where my modem is, or an extension from my modem......
Anyway what iam getting at here is this the same deal with Smart and do all Smart customers know this, do you guys care, and is it the same quality as Analog Fone calls!??

cramp

jor el

I think Smart give you a regular phone number, but you can also get an 076 number if you use www.smart076.ie

cramp

You get an ordinary 7 digit number with Magnet!!!

cramp

Xterminator

Smart calls are not voip

X

paulm17781

I think Smart use VOIP in the exchange. The line connects to your house as normal but it is different "in the back". So I heard anyway.

dub45

Slightly off topic but you might want to be aware that some users have had caller id issues when moving to Smart - seems to be linked to the brand of phone involved. Have a look at the Smart support site for the posts on this.

byte

Only thing I noticed after the changeover, is that the phone rings once, like American phones. Not the double-ring we are accustomed to.

Do-more

Smart use the normal copper cable to the exchange and then VoIP on their own fibre optic network, so there are no issues with using your existing household phones. Smart also now offer number porting so that you can keep your existing number. The big issue with Smart is when they will ever enable the Mullingar exchange for broadband.:mad:

cramp

ok thanks guys....Magnet use VoiP only through their 2Wire modem, ordinary fones wont work directly connected to the fone line., ...


cramp

Stark

If you have an apartment that's been specially wired for Smart, then you'll get a Voip phone.

probe

byte wrote:

Only thing I noticed after the changeover, is that the phone rings once, like American phones. Not the double-ring we are accustomed to.

This single ringing cadence is the norm in most countries of the world and is part of ITU-T standards used in Europe and internationally.

The double ring is one of those antiquated eccentric British things, generally only found in ex-British colonies who haven't enough money in the kitty to replace the old electromechanical strowger* exchanges left over by the Brits.

While Ireland has managed to update the hardware, the "software" legacy of British eccentricity appears to remain in the minds of the eircom/comreg mafia many of whom in their previous jobs worked for Telecom Eireann and prior to that the Department of Posts of Telegraphs in the various con trick rebranding exercises.

While the double ringing signal may be perceived as cosmetic or an impetuously annoying throwback to when the phone was just invented, depending on one's perspective, the related use of the non-standard double ringing tone requires the mobile networks in Ireland to waste wireless spectrum broadcasting the ringing signal ring by ring to every mobile phone (because GSM/UMTS phones don't support the British ringing tone). Virtually everywhere else in Europe, the ringing tone is generated in your mobile phone, in accordance with ITU-T standards and the voice transmission channel only becomes necessary to be deployed when the called party answers. As a result Ireland probably requires 10% more ugly cellsites than virtually anywhere else in Europe simply and needlessly to relay this antiquated non-standard double ring "beep-beep" noise to your phone!


Probe

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almon_Strowger

GregusManus

probe wrote:

Virtually everywhere else in Europe, the ringing tone is generated in your mobile phone

Hmm this does'nt sound right...as far as phone signalling goes, the phone provides on-hook and off-hook signal and in th case of a mobile a signal to say if it is switch on. These signals are sent to the exchange. The exchange sends the ring signal to the callers phone (if the receivers phone is alive).

Since Smart have the own equipment in the exchange, they will have control over how you hear the ringing noise when you call somebody.

So Eircom are sending two signals to Smarts one...does'nt seem like much of an overhead in portion to the size of the voice traffic

V1llianous

Do-more wrote:

Smart use the normal copper cable to the exchange and then VoIP on their own fibre optic network, so there are no issues with using your existing household phones. Smart also now offer number porting so that you can keep your existing number. The big issue with Smart is when they will ever enable the Mullingar exchange for broadband.:mad:

Any linky to prove you can now port over your existing number ?

probe

GregusManus wrote:

Hmm this does'nt sound right...as far as phone signalling goes, the phone provides on-hook and off-hook signal and in th case of a mobile a signal to say if it is switch on. These signals are sent to the exchange. The exchange sends the ring signal to the callers phone (if the receivers phone is alive).

Since Smart have the own equipment in the exchange, they will have control over how you hear the ringing noise when you call somebody.

So Eircom are sending two signals to Smarts one...does'nt seem like much of an overhead in portion to the size of the voice traffic

You appear to be confused. Aside from the fact that Smart doesn’t (yet) have a mobile network my point relates to the waste of wireless spectrum transmitting the “ring ring” tone to mobile phones in Ireland while the caller is waiting for the called party to answer the call.

In the case of mobile phones, this ring tone can be generated within the phone itself. There is no need to open a sound channel (to play the ring ring tone down the line). When the called party answers the sound channel can be opened – saving lots of wireless spectrum in the process. All that is required is for ComReg to specify the adoption of the ITU-T standard ringing tone on Irish telecommunications networks, as is the norm in the rest of Europe and most of the rest of the planet.

This has already been done with the subscriber busy tone (it is generated within one’s mobile phone upon receipt of the CSB signal via a C7 link between the networks in question).

People listen to ringing tones for much longer than busy tones…

probe

watty

If Smart use VOIP at the exchange, then even though a normal phone plugs in, lots of non-phone things may not work (High speed Fax, Auto dialling alarms, SkyDigiboxes, Direct dial modems etc). It depends how cleverly the VOIP codec adapts to what it hears.

Aparently again the Problem is Eircom. If you do LLU to be able to do better ADSL, eircom won't let the operator use the analog phone line part. The LLU operators like Magent & Smart HAVE to do VOIP at present, to get the call / voice over the IP network to their softswitch gateway to the phone network.

GarfieldConnoll

watty wrote:

Aparently again the Problem is Eircom. If you do LLU to be able to do better ADSL, eircom won't let the operator use the analog phone line part. The LLU operators like Magent & Smart HAVE to do VOIP at present, to get the call / voice over the IP network to their softswitch gateway to the phone network.

Hi,

For clarity, Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) has two flavours in Ireland.

1. Line Share: A co-located operator (eg. Smart) unbundles the line, provides the broadband service via whatever xDSL flavour they want BUT 'return' the narrowband element to eircom, so eircom provides whatever service they provide.

2. Unbundled Local Metallic Path (ULMP): The co-located operator has taken complete responsibility for the all the services offered across the copper pair.

The latter is what Smart do. Whether the voice service is offered via VoIP or Campbell soup cans is entirely up to the co-located operator.

Garfield.

Foxwood

GarfieldConnoll wrote:

For clarity, Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) has two flavours in Ireland.

1. Line Share: A co-located operator (eg. Smart) unbundles the line, provides the broadband service via whatever xDSL flavour they want BUT 'return' the narrowband element to eircom, so eircom provides whatever service they provide.

2. Unbundled Local Metallic Path (ULMP): The co-located operator has takes complete responsibility for the all the services offered across the copper pair.

As a matter if interest, do you know how much the operators have to pay eircom for each line for either of two services? If your line was "line shared" would you still have to pay eircom €24.18 line rental for phone service?

GarfieldConnoll

Foxwood wrote:

As a matter if interest, do you know how much the operators have to pay eircom for each line for either of two services? If your line was "line shared" would you still have to pay eircom €24.18 line rental for phone service?

Yes. Yes.

Garfield.

Do-more

V1llianous wrote:

Any linky to prove you can now port over your existing number ?

http://www.smarttelecom.ie/singlebillingfaq.php

Scroll down to

Q. Do I keep the same phone number?
A. Your number will not be affected by this service.

Foxwood

Do-more wrote:

http://www.smarttelecom.ie/singlebillingfaq.php

Scroll down to

Q. Do I keep the same phone number?
A. Your number will not be affected by this service.

That's for the CPS service (available on any residential line, on any exchange, not for the LLU service where you get line rental and broadband for €35).

Comreg has announced that there will be a trial of a process for porting the number on an unbundled line in the next couple of weeks. We'll all just have to wait and see how long eircom can keep up the farce before they decide to make it work propery.

Foxwood

GarfieldConnoll wrote:

Yes. Yes.

Thanks for that.

Actually, I really wanted to know the numbers, not whether or not you know the numbers. I'll be more specific in future.