I know this is likely "no", but...

Is it possible for someone on BT, with a BT Home Hub to make a VoIP call to me on Plus Broadband Phone?

I mean, actually use VoIP for what it really was intended, i.e. call Internet to Internet.

They can of course call my landline, and BT now offer that free evenings & weekend anyway.

It's just relatives of mine have been given one of these phones free and are trying to use it, and just wondered how best to use it. So far they can do calls to landlines. Quality sucks doing that, but then VoIP likely sucks whatever way you use it.

It would make sense to use VoIP properly, but then if it makes no difference in cost to them, even compared to landline -> landline, then what's the point?

Anyway, just wondered if BT VoIP -> PlusNet VoIP was possible. Considering who owns PlusNet, you'd think it would be

Not using a SIP to SIP call I'm afraid. Most SIP providers are part of a peering partnership which does allow free SIp to SIP calls between partners. Here is the Gradwell/PlusNet list https://portal.gradwell.n...egory_id/9/article_id/194

AFAIK BT do not subscribe to any SIP peering partnership agreements, but I guess thats typical BT for you ...

They can of course still call you using your allocated PSTN number but that would be subject to any charges they have for normal landline calls, but presumably they get some free minutes each month...
 

yeh this is annoying - as the BT HH carries an 05 DDI maybe its time to look at the charging for 05 numbers - potentially allow these as inclusive calls? Cant think of a problem with that right now but im not 100% sure what the charges are for an 05 number! Will get back to you on that one.

Unless BT actively block it, it should be possible as long as you know each other's SIP addresses (as opposed to the 01 or 05 landline type number).

For example, to call from a sipgate account to a plusnet account, you can use the peering code & the 01 number, or you can call 1234567@sip.plus.net. This later is not dependent on the peering arrangement.

You need a phone that will allow you to enter addresses in this form. That's one of the big advantages of softphones - you have a computer keyboard for that sort of thing!

I have a SIP address that is the same as my email address. If you put my address into your email program, I get an email. If you put my address into your phone, I get a phone call. That should have been half the point of VoIP, but it got lost somewhere in trying to make it just like PSTN, with all it's restrictions.

You may find if you if dial from the homehub (via BT broadband) to a nokia E65 N82 N95 N95-8gb or N96 that the sip address may come up.  Dont answer the call and it may show up in missed calls

I did say may!

Puddy

Though I originally assumed SIP should be as simple as putting in a SIP address and it will reach the destintation, I got the impression it wasn't the case and it was subject to peering.

Is there some kind of MX record on DNS servers for SIP then, as I can't see how it would work otherwise, as the system would need to know how to route the call?

Also, many ISPs filter and block direct SMTP connections and force their customers through their own mail server (thankfully for some of us that run secure mail servers, PlusNet don't ). They might do the same with SIP.

But other than that, can a BT Home Hub Phone accept SIP email-style addresses? I don't have one but the other person does. At the moment they just call a landline / mobile number. If they can enter a SIP address and it'll route properly then they could call me on my sipgate account (or could call my PlusNet account if I could reactivate the thing!).

Haven't tried getting them to call my mobile, but I suspect the Caller ID will be the same as on the landline, as they get assigned a local geographic number to their Home Hub line and their SIP server likely sets that as the outbound. I have the same with sipgate and I know the caller ID to the mobile number is just the geographic number.


Edit: Reading around it seems the trick the other way round for BT customers to receive calls is for them to set up a dynamic IP service (e.g dyndns) to give them a static address that points to their dynamic address (as they don't have a static public domain to call, just IP addresses apparently). Then calling them will just go direct to their IP address (no need for extra DNS records then).

So by that logic, a BT customer should in theory be able to contact me by my SIP address (which is static) or to my IP address (which is also static in my case).

Problem still remains though... can you enter SIP addresses on the Home Hub Phone? If not, it's a useless SIP phone.

There seems to be very little on this on the web, which suggests the vast majority of people are only interested in cheap phone calls really, not true Internet calls. The fact it's going via the net is something they are oblivious too, except for the lower quality calls.

I am glad that plusnet have not gone down the road by offering us the BT HH, perhaps thats why they choose Gradwell to offer us a better voip service than BT

puddy

Sad, but true. It also means that they miss out on all the other potential benefits of integrated communication that a proper SIP based system could provide.

I also support puddy's comments.

I don't think the majority of people have grasp the concept of VoIP. That you can be anywhere in the world and be reachable on a geographical number and the cost of making calls are always the same. With open WiFi growing this is becoming more attractive. I have used my VoIP account in mainland Europe and the Far East with very few problems. 

Not sure of all the in's and out's of the BT system but I believe they do supply a UMA service and together with hotspots BT users can benefit from cheap calls in a very large area of the UK and the World using the Fon access points.

And there is plenty of commercial incentive among the traditional telecoms industry to make sure that they never do.