As I’m sure many readers will be aware, our Broadband Phone (formerly PlusTalk) VoIP offering has been in need of a little TLC for some time now. We introduced the service during a time when there was a lot of focus on VoIP across the industry, and it was anticipated then that there would be a lot of interest in IP telephony as a fixed line alternative.
In reality, interest was perhaps not as abundant as we expected. At the time of writing we have just over 1000 customers who regularly use our Broadband Phone service. When compared with the 200,000 or so Broadband customers we have in total (almost all of which have an included Broadband Phone service) that’s not a very large percentage.
It could be argued that the reason for the slow take-up is partly a consequence of the regular service interruptions and problems that have plagued the service. Others might argue that customers don’t trust or understand VoIP technologies or would rather stick to conventional fixed line alternatives. Whatever the reasoning behind it, it can’t be argued that over time other priorities have resulted in our VoIP platform being left very much devoid of the attention it needed.
Well, not for much longer…
After discussions with a number of suppliers we are pleased to announce that we have recently signed a deal with Gradwell. Gradwell are a well-respected, privately owned company specialising in highly specified and flexible Internet solutions. The company was founded by Peter Gradwell who is the co-founder of the ITSPA association and has worked very closely with OFCOM regarding VoIP regulatory legislation. More information on Gradwell can be seen here.
Over the next few months we will be working closely with Gradwell to help bring customers a new and improved Broadband Phone offering. Not only will this allow us to improve the quality of service by utilising the skill, experience and technological advantage of a dedicated third party, but it will also allows us to make a number of enhancements that have long been promised with the existing service like allowing customers to choose a geographical number for their account.
We understand that customers are eager for us to fix the current problems with Broadband Phone so we thought it would be a good idea to trial the Gradwell-partnered solution as an open BETA alongside the existing platform.
The BETA Trial will be open to any customer on request. In order to register your interest, all you need to do is visit http://trials.plus.net click on VoIP Beta Trial and follow the on-screen prompts.
At it’s inception it will be a pretty simple affair; you’ll be able to manage your BETA account via a control panel that will be accessible at http://voip.plus.net. To begin with there will be no changes to the existing Member Centre Control Panel and most account administration (application of credit/resetting of password etc.) will be based around manual processes. Once we’re happy we’re in a good place, and assuming customers are also happy with it, we’ll look at a full integration before finally switching the old platform off.
During the initial phases of the trial we’ll be making a number of new features available:
After registering for the trial you will receive an email containing a link that you will need to follow in order to activate your account and choose a geographical telephone number. Once this step is complete you will be emailed your new connection details and can start using the service immediately.
We hope you enjoy helping us test the new platform and we look forward to your feedback.
There’s an FAQ available here which should answer any questions you may have. We’ll also be hovering around in the forums to help support those on the trial or those thinking about taking part.
Bob Pullen
This entry was posted by Bob Pullen on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 4:35 pm and is tagged with Gradwell, Voice Over IP, VoIP and is posted in the category PlusNet News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I think you have picked the right company to partner with - congratulations to both parties.
It's probably a bit late to raise this now, but to me, one of the biggest advantages of VoIP telephony is the integration of Presence facilities. None of the commercial virtual PBX services seem to offer this, which has kept us running our own SIP server so far.
I would be delighted to hand this role over to Plusnet/Gradwell as soon as I can see which of my colleagues around the country are available, out to lunch, idle (!) on the phone etc.
The other facility I am looking for is the ability to accept an incoming call from the PSTN gateway & then transfer it to another SIP phone. Again, many commercial gateways restrict this.
You will gather that we use softphones - it would appear that we are in the minority. So far the only interest in VoIP seems to be as a means of reducing call charges, which ignores a major part of the potential benefits.
It's an interesting proposition Simon. Presences aren't really something that's dawned on me before. Gradwell do offer PBX solutions although this sort of thing won't be integrated into the initial trials. If we were to go down this avenue for our business customers then we'll certainly take your suggestion on board.
I'm not sure if gradwell's call diversion facility would allow you to achieve what you talk about in your second point. You can divert calls to each extension to another number so it's quite feasible that this would be possible.
The reason I never bothered to use Plustalk is that it didn't seem possible to use my monthly FREE minutes without placing a credit on the account.
The was reported about 3 times over several months though no real answer was ever forthcoming (Plusnet support is usually much better than this).
I prefer FREE to mean FREE so I am now a happy Skype user having gone from a FREE trial to a full service.
I would be interested to know how the new Plusnet service compares with Skype.
Gradwell's virutal IPBX offering does not currently offer the presence facility however they are working on a new version of the Virtual IPBX which will offer the presence facility along with other options such as call group pickup.
The call divert features of gradwell's Virtual IPBX service allow the customer to accept calls from the PSTN gateway and then pass them on to any SIP phone, whether it is a sip phone provided by gradwell or any other sip provider/customer's own asterisk installation.
"The reason I never bothered to use Plustalk is that it didn’t seem possible to use my monthly FREE minutes without placing a credit on the account."
That's odd because it isn't a prerequisite that you have credit on your account in order to make calls to 01/02 numbers (presuming your account has an inclusive call allowance).
The Gradwell Beta accounts on the other hand do need credit on before your allowance can be used. At the moment we're looking to apply 50p credit to the trial accounts to get around this however we're working with Gradwell to come to an alternative solution.
"divert your calls to a given geographic or mobile number after a specified number of rings" - is this going to preserve the inbound CallerID and present it to the recipient of the forwarding ?
Before anybody tries to tell me this isn't allowed - you're wrong.
Not too sure Phil, I'll try it and report back as soon as I get the chance.
Right I've had the chance to try call forwarding now. You have two options. The default setting is to present the PSTN number associated with your VoIP account.
eg. I ring 01234 567890 from my work phone. 01234 567890 is forwarded to my mobile. The CLI that is presented to my mobile is 01234 567890.
There is however another setting that allows you to forward the original CLI.
eg. I ring 01234 567890 from my work phone. 01234 567890 is forwarded to my mobile. The CLI that is presented to my mobile is that of my work number.
Hope this helps clear things up.
I have been using VOIP for over 6 months . Unlike the other big name voip service this is the real sip type of voip service. With voip phones coming down in price and equipment getting better its worth using the free allowance every month that you get with Plusnet. My setup and equipment means the computer can be switched off but still allows me to make and receive calls. I have a dect phone which allows me to choose between BT or Voip and it was so easy to setup.
We have been Gradwell VOIP customers for over 21 months, and their service and support is superb.
I am very pleased that Plusnet are partnering with them. VOIP itself is still a bit "leading edge" we sometimes find the line quailty not ideal, but the sheer flexibility and features are really worth it. It is not expensive either. I know Peter Gradwell, he usually gives a presentation each year to the British Computer Society Internet Specialist Group, of which I am the Chairman, and other BCS groups and branches.
Peter is a (very!) young, confident chap with a well-run company.
This news augers well for all concerned.
Hi, maybe one of the reasons VOIP isn't as popular as thought is the lack of accessible software. None of it is accessible to blind people so we simply are unable to use it if we want. Skype, on the other hand, is accessible. Now as employers and service providers have to make all their services accessible by law, most should now have software procurement policies that guarantee accessibility, so I don't see VOIP as a really safe option until there is propper access to it for all under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act. Plusnet actually have a lot of blind customers, and maybe don't even know this, as most things are accessible, but this is the one thing we are unable to use.
I also think skype is better.and I am making extra for skype.
Regards
chilopod
-------
Not everyone broadcasts their personal information, but maybe you know
it and you want to add it to their profile.
Extended Contact for Skype
https://extras.skype.com/1471
---------------------------
Import SkypeOut contacts from a CSV file
Contacts Manager for Skype
https://extras.skype.com/1451
-----------
[...] in November I published an article about a new and improved VoIP service PlusNet were offering in conjunction with the well respected Internet solution provider [...]
[...] recently ran a trial with Gradwell, a leading supplier of VoIP services. The trial has been successful so we will be moving all [...]
Here at Plusnet we're always trying to use clever open source things to make our lives easier. Sometimes we write our own and make other people's lives easier too!
We sell broadband, phone, VoIP and more to homes and businesses in the UK. Winner of 9 out of 11 Categories in the 2008 USwitch survey. Winner of "Best Consumer ISP" at 2008 ISPA awards. Voted number 1 in the Broadband Choices 2008 survey.
© Plusnet plc All Rights Reserved. E&OE
Community Site News is powered by WordPress
