Virtual 01 area telephone number

BenEadir

Hi all,

Looking for some telco help here.

I need to acquire an 01 number which will remain with my business long term regardless of where the office relocates to. I was thinking of having a second line installed in my home and forwarding all calls to the current office and then to a new office if/when we move in a few months.

Is getting another landline in from Eircom the best option? Theres a one off connection charge of >€100 + monthly line rental and forwarding costs. Do they do some sort of virtual solution where you can buy a number but it's hosted in an exchange by them and forwarded to whatever number we want or are there better 'virtual' solutions on the market similar to how eFax give you a dedicated 01 eFax number for €11 month?

Regards,

Ben

Snaga

Port your landline number to a voip operator such as blue face. You can take it wherever you want then.

Marlow

You can also get a 01- number directly from blueface.

With the Freedom Basic (300 minutes inclusive, 9.99/month or 99 eur/year) or Ireland/UK unlimited (unlimited, 14.99/month or 149 eur/year) you can just forward the number to another landline via their webinterface.

That way you can actually change where you're sending the calls, use their voicemail etc. No need to set up a VoIP phone.

I'd say it's the cheapest/most flexible option. And the upside is, that eircom can't interfere with the number

/M - Happy blueface user for over 4 years.

bigpaddy2004

BenEadir wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking for some telco help here.

I need to acquire an 01 number which will remain with my business long term regardless of where the office relocates to. I was thinking of having a second line installed in my home and forwarding all calls to the current office and then to a new office if/when we move in a few months.

Is getting another landline in from Eircom the best option? Theres a one off connection charge of >€100 + monthly line rental and forwarding costs. Do they do some sort of virtual solution where you can buy a number but it's hosted in an exchange by them and forwarded to whatever number we want or are there better 'virtual' solutions on the market similar to how eFax give you a dedicated 01 eFax number for €11 month?

Regards,

Ben

Your best bet is to get a 01 number from Freespeech or Blueface and then all you have to do is bring the ATA unit around with you to where ever you relocate. Of course you are going to need a stable broadband connection where ever you go to. Best of all you will have no line rental and cheap calls.

BenEadir

Thanks Snaga, Marlow and Bigpaddy. Much appreciated.

Freespeech.ie looks easier to set up and use than Blueface but are the services equivalent in terms of cost and call quality?

Regards,

Ben

bigpaddy2004

BenEadir wrote: »

Thanks Snaga, Marlow and Bigpaddy. Much appreciated.

Freespeech.ie looks easier to set up and use than Blueface but are the services equivalent in terms of cost and call quality?

Regards,

Ben

Costs are very similar, quality depends on your broadband provider.

Cabaal

BenEadir wrote: »

Thanks Snaga, Marlow and Bigpaddy. Much appreciated.

Freespeech.ie looks easier to set up and use than Blueface but are the services equivalent in terms of cost and call quality?

Regards,

Ben

If your concerned about the complexity of setting up blueface I'd suggest you drop them a e-mail or use their forum's, their customer service is excellent and infact since they started as a company I have yet to come across one complaint about them

MunsterCycling

Cabaal wrote: »

If your concerned about the complexity of setting up blueface I'd suggest you drop them a e-mail or use their forum's, their customer service is excellent and infact since they started as a company I have yet to come across one complaint about them

+1

Can't complain one bit, use the SIP client on my N95 while abroad and works flawlessly.

MC

GigaByte

I've been with blueface for about 4 years now and I've never had any problems with them.

I recently was over in St Lucia where the hotel had free wifi so I setup a mobile wifi phone to use blueface on. Then I was able to make and receive calls (by the pool :-D) as if I where at home

Freespeech is no hard or easier to setup than blueface or any other voip provider.

taung

BenEadir wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking for some telco help here.

I need to acquire an 01 number which will remain with my business long term regardless of where the office relocates to. I was thinking of having a second line installed in my home and forwarding all calls to the current office and then to a new office if/when we move in a few months.

Is getting another landline in from Eircom the best option? Theres a one off connection charge of >€100 + monthly line rental and forwarding costs. Do they do some sort of virtual solution where you can buy a number but it's hosted in an exchange by them and forwarded to whatever number we want or are there better 'virtual' solutions on the market similar to how eFax give you a dedicated 01 eFax number for €11 month?

Regards,

Ben

If you want to stick to traditional telephone lines (lines which work in the event of power failure and lines which provide access to emergency services) then Eircom may well be able to provision you with the same telephone number when you move location. Eircom is mandated to do this (with some restrictions) by Comreg. The restrictions relate to the certain numbering areas that Eircom have implemented. I think Dublin is divided up into 3 numbering areas, North, South and Central. So, if your new office is located within the same numbering area you should be able to keep your existing telephone number without any need for call diversion etc.

BenEadir

Hi all,

OK so the goalposts have moved a little.

I've invested in a mobile broadband solution from Three.ie (USB modem + wireless router to distribute to 2-3 laptops at a time). Will Blueface work off this setup? I ran the Blueface broadband test a few times (including the one at www.irishisptest.com) and got medium/amber results which I guess is to be expected with a mobile boradband solution e.g. 2.5mbps downstream, 500k upstream with varying jitter.

Given this set up whats my best solution? Go with Blueface to get a Dublin 01 number or what about Skype? A friend swears by Skype and purchased a Dublin 01 number from them recently for €50 a year. I tried Skype years ago when it was new and the VOIP quality was crap. I haven't used them since and tend to use www.jajah.com when making calls overseas or even long distance from here.

All input much appreciated.

Ben

Johnboy1951

BenEadir wrote: »

Hi all,

OK so the goalposts have moved a little.

I've invested in a mobile broadband solution from Three.ie (USB modem + wireless router to distribute to 2-3 laptops at a time). Will Blueface work off this setup? I ran the Blueface broadband test a few times (including the one at www.irishisptest.com) and got medium/amber results which I guess is to be expected with a mobile boradband solution e.g. 2.5mbps downstream, 500k upstream with varying jitter.

Given this set up whats my best solution? Go with Blueface to get a Dublin 01 number or what about Skype? A friend swears by Skype and purchased a Dublin 01 number from them recently for €50 a year. I tried Skype years ago when it was new and the VOIP quality was crap. I haven't used them since and tend to use www.jajah.com when making calls overseas or even long distance from here.

All input much appreciated.

Ben

I think you are on a hiding to nothing using one of those 3G dongles to try to do anything for a business.
A total waste of money IMO.

Skype is a closed system which means anything you buy for it, such as phones etc will not work with any other provider. It does not give you VOIP access to other VOIP providers.

Use SIP VOIP if you want choices.

I think you have made a bad decision and are about to make another ......... if this is truly for a business.

I suggest you read some of the posts in the Midband section of this forum.

regards.

DECEiFER

3G Internet is not VoIP friendly. Couldn't you have gotten a fixed line operator to supply broadband to your office (eircom, UPC, Smart, etc.)?

jor el

I think I remember reading that Three block VOIP on their network anyway, not that it would be much good even if it did work. Far too unreliable, even if it did work fine sometimes. Connecting a single Three modem to 2 or 3 laptops is going to make things even worse.

If you need broadband and VOIP for your business, invest in a proper service, not some cheap mobile sh*te.

BenEadir

Oops, sounds Like I fu**ed up. For pure internet access the Three usb modem is working very well actually and that's with 3 laptops pulling off it. If it's not viable for VOIP then I guess I'll have to get a line in, get some 'proper' broadband and just use the Three USB as a backup and for travbelling around with.

Thanks for all the input, even the candid stuff telling me I'd made a bad decision!!

Ben

OutlawPete

BenEadir wrote: »

Oops, sounds Like I fu**ed up. For pure internet access the Three usb modem is working very well actually and that's with 3 laptops pulling off it. If it's not viable for VOIP then I guess I'll have to get a line in, get some 'proper' broadband and just use the Three USB as a backup and for travbelling around with.

Thanks for all the input, even the candid stuff telling me I'd made a bad decision!!

Ben

Another option is to buy a Dublin number (01) from MyDivert.com for €3.50 per month.

In your control panel you enter a phone number (VOIP, Mobile, Landline etc etc) that you wish the new number to divert to and that's that.

You can change the number it diverts too as much as you like which is handy and I can confirm it's instant.