BT VOIP - I'm still hideously confused!
Posted: September 25th, 2021, 10:05 am
Warning, lotta questions.
Apologies if the following sounds stupid or pathetic. I've just read the thread at viewtopic.php?f=39&t=30821, and I'd love to say I understood most/all of it, but unfortunately I don't. And I have this feeling that BT are trying to rush something past me while I'm confused. All help gratefully appreciated.
Some basics: We live in a rural area, with fibre to the cabinet and the last mile in copper. I get about 21 mbps from my BT Infinity set-up, which was good enough for around £40 a month. Mobile phone coverage here is well below 4G, and it often isn't there at all. That'll become more relevant in a moment.
Sooooooo...... Eight days ago, my ancient BT Home Hub 3 packed up and my internet went down. I phoned the support line and they put me through to somebody in Glasgow, who promised me a top-of-the-range Smart Hub 2 router, and duly did so. The stuff arrived four days later, and it worked straight out of the box. I'm back with 21 mbps, and life is good.
Except that the Glasgow woman went straight into sales mode and tried to tell me that BT was upgrading my system to VOIP. I could connect any VOIP phone to the hub, she said, and that would mean that BT could downgrade my (very lightly used) landline account to PAYG @ 20p a minute. I would also be able to dial out from my landline number using my VOIP data allowance, which would effectively mean that it cost me nothing for outward calls.
I have no idea whether that was correct - maybe so, but by then she was battering me with so much tech that I could hardly follow. She also said I could use the hub's wifi calling facility to hook up a mobile (and thus improve my connectivity) - and that that would enable me to make outward calls via VOIP from my mobile, but using my landline's number. I have not the slightest idea whether that's technically possible. Is it?
With hindsight, I'd have liked to ask her a lot more. Could I run a second landline number through the VOIP system as well as my first one (plus the mobile number, so that would make three), and if so, how would that affect my landline voicemails, which are currently stored on answerphones on our existing multi-handset phones? (I think I get a voicemail account with VOIP, but I couldn't seem to pin her down.)
And then there are our existing (non-VOIP) phone handsets. I do understand that I can buy a £30 VOIP adapter that will connect an old-style handset into VOIP, but would I be able to use all of its multi-handsets - for instance, if I plugged the base set in instead of just one of the handsets? And would I be able to do the same with our second landline and our other multi-handset system? Would that all work through the one broadband connection?
I told the Glasgow woman that I'd do some research and get back to her. But unbeknownst to me, she had already activated the switch to something called Halo 3, at about ten quid a month extra - and I hadn't even agreed to it yet. She's also activated the changed to my direct debit. What a cheek!
I think I smell a mis-selling scandal here, but if the deal is really as good as I understood her to be claiming, then I might decide to stick with it. I still have nine days left to cancel the order under the 14 day rule.
So, over to you. How much of what I've set out here seems probable, and how much of it seems iffy? I am an innocent abroad in this tech territory!
TIA
BJ
Apologies if the following sounds stupid or pathetic. I've just read the thread at viewtopic.php?f=39&t=30821, and I'd love to say I understood most/all of it, but unfortunately I don't. And I have this feeling that BT are trying to rush something past me while I'm confused. All help gratefully appreciated.
Some basics: We live in a rural area, with fibre to the cabinet and the last mile in copper. I get about 21 mbps from my BT Infinity set-up, which was good enough for around £40 a month. Mobile phone coverage here is well below 4G, and it often isn't there at all. That'll become more relevant in a moment.
Sooooooo...... Eight days ago, my ancient BT Home Hub 3 packed up and my internet went down. I phoned the support line and they put me through to somebody in Glasgow, who promised me a top-of-the-range Smart Hub 2 router, and duly did so. The stuff arrived four days later, and it worked straight out of the box. I'm back with 21 mbps, and life is good.
Except that the Glasgow woman went straight into sales mode and tried to tell me that BT was upgrading my system to VOIP. I could connect any VOIP phone to the hub, she said, and that would mean that BT could downgrade my (very lightly used) landline account to PAYG @ 20p a minute. I would also be able to dial out from my landline number using my VOIP data allowance, which would effectively mean that it cost me nothing for outward calls.
I have no idea whether that was correct - maybe so, but by then she was battering me with so much tech that I could hardly follow. She also said I could use the hub's wifi calling facility to hook up a mobile (and thus improve my connectivity) - and that that would enable me to make outward calls via VOIP from my mobile, but using my landline's number. I have not the slightest idea whether that's technically possible. Is it?
With hindsight, I'd have liked to ask her a lot more. Could I run a second landline number through the VOIP system as well as my first one (plus the mobile number, so that would make three), and if so, how would that affect my landline voicemails, which are currently stored on answerphones on our existing multi-handset phones? (I think I get a voicemail account with VOIP, but I couldn't seem to pin her down.)
And then there are our existing (non-VOIP) phone handsets. I do understand that I can buy a £30 VOIP adapter that will connect an old-style handset into VOIP, but would I be able to use all of its multi-handsets - for instance, if I plugged the base set in instead of just one of the handsets? And would I be able to do the same with our second landline and our other multi-handset system? Would that all work through the one broadband connection?
I told the Glasgow woman that I'd do some research and get back to her. But unbeknownst to me, she had already activated the switch to something called Halo 3, at about ten quid a month extra - and I hadn't even agreed to it yet. She's also activated the changed to my direct debit. What a cheek!
I think I smell a mis-selling scandal here, but if the deal is really as good as I understood her to be claiming, then I might decide to stick with it. I still have nine days left to cancel the order under the 14 day rule.
So, over to you. How much of what I've set out here seems probable, and how much of it seems iffy? I am an innocent abroad in this tech territory!
TIA
BJ