VOIP & Porting

Johnboy1951

OK, I am now seriously considering taking the plunge and moving from Eircom. Their latest price increase finally gave me sufficient cause to consider my options.

At present I have a landline, broadband and talktime chatter from Eircom. This costs €52.63 but will be increasing by €5 to €57.63 approx.

I think the following is manageable .....

port the phone number to Goldfish ..... €4.91 per month charge and they provide a VOIP connection to receive calls from that number.

get Vodafone Broadband Only ..... €35 per month for 18 month contract.

{porting the phone number should automatically cancel my Eircom connection, which is out of contract for a considerable time}

New monthly cost of €39.91 [A saving of €17.71 per month]


I have an existing outgoing VOIP set up through FreeVOIP Deal, which I presently use over the Eircom roadband connection.

So the only change in set up should be the addition of the new VOIP account to receive calls.
This should not be a problem as my router has the facility for 6 VOIP accounts.

*****

OK, that is what I have in mind ...... have I missed anything or miscalculated somewhere?

Where are the pitfalls ..... such as timing of each stage .... I have no experience of porting or indeed changing broadband supplier. I have been with Eircom since my dial-up days

It seems this is well worth the effort as the difference in cost should pay for all my phone usage, including mobile calls which are cheap on FreeVoipDeal.

I could be missing something, hence this post.

Thanks for reading and any comments/advice posted.

EDIT: (Almost forgot) I will need to ensure that Vodafone do not block any ports that might interfere either with my multiple VOIP setups or with my usual broadband usage.

Mr. G

Here's what you need to do:

1. Get your new line installed
2. Once broadband is up and running (may take 2 weeks for it to be completed), sign up to Goldfish and submit your port form to Goldfish straight away.
Do not cancel your Eircom account or line, this is taken care of when the number is ported away. If they cancel your line then basically the port request with the EW portal will fail.

Vodafone don't block VoIP on their DSL service at all, and, unlike with their 3G/4G service, you are allowed use VoIP. I can tell you 100% that Goldfish and FreeVoipDeal for that matter will work the same as with Eircom, provided it's on ADSL.

You will need to change the DSL settings when you get the new line installed.

It's not straightforward (as you would have figured from the other thread), and it get's complicated:

If you are out of contract, you can just cancel it (there is a €20.96 charge for cancelling provided you are out of a contract and that you are not in a cooling-off period).

If you are in a contract with Eircom but they have put you in a cooling-off period as they changed the price, then you will need to port within the period that is specified in your contract to avoid being charged. It may take a while for Vodafone to install a line, so bare this in mind or you could stick with a mobile broadband connection until then.

You cannot be charged VAT on a cancellation fee as no good or service is being provided.

I'm presuming here that you intend to get a new line installed? I know it's convoluted but there is no easy way around this

Johnboy1951

I could probably do without my landline for a few days, so thought there might be some way of getting Vodafone to give me a broadband service without too much delay.

If that is not on, then yes I could get a second line in.

It is just a home phone, so I can be contacted on mobile by those who need do so urgently (family & friends have mobile number).

What do you think? Could it be done in a week without a second line?

Thanks for your input

Mr. G

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I could probably do without my landline for a few days, so thought there might be some way of getting Vodafone to give me a broadband service without too much delay.

If that is not on, then yes I could get a second line in.

It is just a home phone, so I can be contacted on mobile by those who need do so urgently (family & friends have mobile number).

What do you think? Could it be done in a week without a second line?

Thanks for your input

Not sure what their timeframes are like now, I suppose it would be quicker since Christmas' backlog but I would ask first and I wouldn't hold my breath!

It only takes 24-48 hours now to port a landline number to VoIP.
Do you have any 3G or 4G signal where you are to cover you?

Johnboy1951

Mr. G wrote: »

Not sure what their timeframes are like now, I suppose it would be quicker since Christmas' backlog but I would ask first and I wouldn't hold my breath!

It only takes 24-48 hours now to port a landline number to VoIP.
Do you have any 3G or 4G signal where you are to cover you?

I might, but I don't have any data plan on mobile ..... so same as

I will talk with Vodafone and see what they say I guess.
I have until 21st of Feb to drop Eircom because of contract change due to price rise ..... so I might be able to get it done during previous week.
I will be away for a couple of days prior to that, so lack of BB would not be a hindrance.
I can go 'cold turkey' for a couple of days too

Thanks for the confirmation of non blocking of ports in your first reply (sorry forgot to mention it).

It is looking something like this ....

Contact Vodafone and see if they can give me a BB connection on 20th Feb and not before.
If yes ....
Contact Goldfish on 16th to port number.

If that could be arranged all would seem to be OK ...... I think!!!!

tonybrowne.ie

If you do not want to lose your number or miss calls for sometimes, you can proceed as follow:

Look for a VOIP provider who can transfer your calls to your mobile and sign up. Then port port out your number to this VOIP provider and ask them to forward temporally your calls to your mobile number. Then change your broadband provider. Once you have a new broadband, you can ask your VOIP provide to stop call forwarding and the calls will be sent to your existing handset via analogue telephone adaptor(ATA) provided by the VOIP provider.

eeepaulo

tonybrowne.ie wrote: »

If you do not want to lose your number or miss calls for sometimes, you can proceed as follow:

Look for a VOIP provider who can transfer your calls to your mobile and sign up. Then port port out your number to this VOIP provider and ask them to forward temporally your calls to your mobile number. Then change your broadband provider. Once you have a new broadband, you can ask your VOIP provide to stop call forwarding and the calls will be sent to your existing handset via analogue telephone adaptor(ATA) provided by the VOIP provider.

Goldfish allow you to forward your landline number to a mobile, the electricity went off yesterday i forwarded my calls to my mobile, it says 17c a minute but ive yet to be charged for it.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Johnboy1951

tonybrowne.ie wrote: »

If you do not want to lose your number or miss calls for sometimes, you can proceed as follow:

Look for a VOIP provider who can transfer your calls to your mobile and sign up. Then port port out your number to this VOIP provider and ask them to forward temporally your calls to your mobile number. Then change your broadband provider. Once you have a new broadband, you can ask your VOIP provide to stop call forwarding and the calls will be sent to your existing handset via analogue telephone adaptor(ATA) provided by the VOIP provider.

Unfortunately Eircom are not being cooperative
If I port my number from them to say Goldfish, Eircom cancel all services on the line which leaves me without broadband until another provider can supply it ...... up to 15 days I am told.
(This would be regarded as a 'new' service apparently)

I have a call into Vodafone asking about ....
changing service from Eircom to Vodafone.
Vodafone tell me that my phone number is 'attached' to my UAN (contrary to what Eircom said) and so Vodafone would 'hold' it on standby if I chose a broadband only service from them.


Whether or not Vodafone would subsequently port out that number to Goldfish or not, I do not yet know ..... they said they would get back to me.

***

The info I have been given to date indicates the following ....

Eircom will not in ANY circumstances split phone and broadband services.
I can have both or none.
If I port the number then I have none.

Vodafone are quite happy to provide 'simply broadband'.
Apparently they use the Eurcom systems for this as when I asked about site and port blocking, I was told it would be exactly what Eircom do, as they use Eircom.

As I do not wish to be without BB for any extended period, I have to re-think my strategy on this.

Maybe I will end up on a trial contract with Vodafone for phone & broadband, and during that period port out the phone number to Goldfish and get BB only from Vodafone.

I guess it will depend on what Vodafone come back with.

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.

In the end I want my phone number to be a separate service to the BB.
I do not wish to get into the situation of call forwarding to a mobile phone ..... it is not a business phone and is little used.
A week without calls in would not upset me greatly.

I will update if I hear anything further.

Mr. G

Vodafone might just want a quick sale so be careful. The only way to be sure is to port out the number to Goldfish and then sign up to Vodafone.

A lot of people seem to get confused with the UAN numbers during the porting process. All services on that UAN will cease on porting.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Mr. G

Just to clarify, Vodafone is not reselling Eircom's network, they have their own but they use Eircom's network to connect their customers to the VF network and then to the internet through VF's terminations. Magnet might be an option for VDSL as they have no contract.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Johnboy1951

At the present time, I am leaning towards changing from Eircom to Vodafone Home Essentials package, which gives free landline calls to Ireland, and provides a small saving of about €8 per month.
That saving will more than pay for all mobile calls I wish to make via VOIP at ~2c per min.

If I can easily arrange porting the number from Vodafone, after the change-over, then I can take that next step with a further saving of ~€6/month. The response from Vodafone will determine that.

The VOIP service I use will provide the free landline calls and more.

I have begun to think this is the more secure way to approach this.
Probably less savings and a long delay before I can separate phone and BB services, but at least that separation will be possible.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Johnboy1951

yuloni wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Yes, it is on this that I await a response from Vodafone ..... if I can change my package during the first week/month or not. (without incurring penalties)

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Johnboy1951

Thanks for that info yuloni !

Johnboy1951

Decision finally made.

Get a second line, broadband only from Vodafone.

Give it a good testing and iron out any problems within the 'cooling off' period.
If dissatisfied cancel it and continue with Eircom.

(I envisage a possibility that the 'new line' might not be as good as the present one ... I'm getting 5Mb/s+ d/l at about 3.8Kms from exchange ... and you know what some of these rural lines are like)

If satisfied, port Eircom number to Goldfish or other, after setting up a VOIP account with them.

***

Having made the decision, I now find myself in the position of having to postpone action on that decision ..... my builder decided he will start next week on renovations, which will include new ducting under the driveway to bring services in (must prepare for this FTTH coming soon ), amongst other more major works.

***

I should mention here that I was passed to Eircom's 'Loyalty' team for a discussion on my intended move and they made me an offer of a reduction on my monthly charge.

***

Thanks to all for the help and information which caused me to really think about my priorities and the potential effects of making a change.