VOIP on mobile broadband?

Lochlannach

Is this feasible on 4G? Thinking of porting from a landline which is not heavily used but would like to keep the number.

I would tentatively expect to get good signal via a router as mobiles can get a 4G in some areas of the house.

As I understand it Vodafone are a no-go as they block VOIP?

In terms of testing what would be best to use to determine if quality etc. is ok prior to setting up VOIP account and porting the number - would skype be any good here?

Ten Pin

Making VOIP calls over mobile broadband works on Eir. It did work on Vodafone and possibly still does. Your main issue will be incoming VOIP calls over mobile broadband. If you need to keep your existing number you'll need to port to a provider eg Goldfish or Freespeech (they will charge monthly rental).
The most straightforward option is to ditch the landline number altogether and just use your mobile as main contact number and then use an app on a smartphone to make calls over mobile broadband with a VOIP account
Make sure you have good 4G signal, 3G latency can be a problem for mobile VOIP (you'll end up talking over each other).

Lochlannach

Yeah, I'm aware of the need to do the port if it's to be a full solution but I'd like to prove out that it is workable before doing so. As I said I'm optimistic I'll get consistent 4G so that should help. Eir are the closest mast also. I'm surprised about VF - from what I'd read they block VOIP?

IrishVOIP look to be another option who support porting.

Ten Pin

Eir, Vodafone etc will generally state in their terms that VOIP is not supported. In other words if it doesn't work correctly then they won't help you fix it. I've only ever tried outbound calls so don't know if inbound will work correctly. The last time I used Vodafone for VOIP calls was over a year ago and it worked fine. Perhaps someone else on here might know if it still does...

msmx5

Lochlannach wrote: »

In terms of testing what would be best to use to determine if quality etc. is ok prior to setting up VOIP account and porting the number - would skype be any good here?

I have used both Vodafone & Eir in the past for one off SIP/VOIP over 3g/4g - not extensively and generally not for incoming calls or everyday use, purely as I didn't have the need to.

Regarding testing: For general 3g/4g speed latency and drop packet real life testing I suggest getting a free freespeech.ie account and making some test calls using a client. I use csip simple successfully on Android.

One thing I'd suggest testing first though is if your mobile provider dishes out private IP addresses for example, in the 10.x.x.x range rather than public facing addresses - having a private address may cause difficulties with incoming calls not making it to your device reliably...may not be an issue of concern for you especially if you can divert to mobile when inaccessible or busy.

I am currently using Blueface for my residential line and have been for years but may consider moving it now as its used less and less as mobile bundles are more feature rich and price competitive.

Johnboy1951

On some (all?) VOIP accounts you can set up your Caller ID if confirmed ...... so you could set it to your mobile number. Calls out using VOIP would appear to come from the mobile.
Return calls then come to the mobile.
(I have two 'approved' numbers that I can use for caller ID ... landline and mobile numbers)

Port the landline number as intended. How you deal with the incoming calls depends on what suits you best ...... you could have them directed to your mobile for a cost, or to a VOIP handset at home. There are probably other options also some of which might suit better.

For free VOIP account I use Linphone and the Linphone application.
http://www.linphone.org/
https://www.linphone.org/free-sip-service.html
I have a separate VOIP account with http://www.freevoipdeal.com/dashboard for outgoing calls to mobiles and landlines.

The set up suits my use but maybe not yours.