Back to part 2 – Really joining the Cord Cutters & Busters
We made the move to having the equivalent of ‘fixed’ or landline telephone numbers again, after a few years of not having one, due to spam and scams. This time we have again gone for rolling 30 day contracts, which gives us the ability to change numbers or reduce outgoings should the need arise.
As we have written in the preceding parts of this post, we do not have a physical wire connection for phone, internet or media streaming. For our telephony services, we have opted to use VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol).
Using VOIP does not place much of a burden on your internet’s capacity. The figure we have seen listed is around 0.512 Mbps bandwidth per telephone line, so even a fairly slow internet connection can support VOIP.
We chose VoipFone.co.uk as our provider, as they have been in business for quite a long time and offer scalability, from one phone line up to full PBX systems. They also offer a free trial period.
We ‘dipped our toes’ into the world of VOIP by ordering the following items from Amazon:
- Grandstream HT-812 2FXS Gateway, Black ← ↓paid links
- BT Telephone Socket Adapter Cable BT to RJ11 2 Pack
- Gigaset C190A SINGLE – Premium Cordless Home Phone with Answer Machine and Nuisance Call Block – Black/Silver
Ian did quite a bit of research into which would be the most suitable VOIP to ATA (analogue telephone adapter) for their home. The Grandstream HT-812 allows for 2 different phone lines.
Standard UK telephones can use the beauty of ATA devices. You can plug the “BT” cable in and use it with the aid of an adapter. A standard UK phone needs an adapter because the HT-812 has 2x RJ11 sockets on the rear. The one we bought is above.
Key to successfully using the HT-812 is getting the settings correct for your VOIP provider.
The settings we used to connect a GrandStream HT-812 to VoipFone.co.uk
The settings we used to connect a GrandStream GXP2135 to VoipFone.co.uk
We opted for the Gigaset telephone as it is standard DECT, so expandable in the home and that Gigaset has an excellent reputation as a manufacturer.
For our office telephone(s) we chose another Grandstream product, this time a phone capable of supporting multi telephone numbers. It also has the VOIP functionality built in. Below is the telephone we purchased:
- Grandstream GXP2135 8 Line / 4 Account SIP IP Phone, Inc PSU ←paid link
- TP-Link 802.3at/af Gigabit PoE Injector ←paid link
We chose not to use the PSU supplied with the telephone. Instead, we decided to use a PoE (Power over Ethernet) injector, as all the network switches and hubs all lead back to our office.
Back when Ian spent a lot of time on tele-conferences and supporting users, he often required the use of both hands to type, so used headsets. For his office, Ian has paired the following headset with the GXP2135, we also paired the headset to the PC that Ian uses, so he has maximum flexibility:
- AnkerWork H300 Bluetooth Mono Headset ←paid link