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On Sat, 9 Apr 2011, Kai Hendry wrote:
Hi guys,I'm in Cornwall (bit windy this morning eh?) where I was prompted to write http://natalian.org/archives/2011/04/09/Broadband_and_phone/ after a friend of my parents asked how they should setup their new pub business in St. Tudy.Be good if you could review it.
Looks ok - limited choice though...It almost always boils down to getting what you pay for, and if you're trying to do it on the cheap, then there will always be limitations or corners cut...
And it's almost impossible to beat the bundled deals from BT, TalkTalk, etc. It's a gamble for them - they have millions of customers so can afford for a small portion to be over the odds vs. the rest of them. They can also gamble on a high portion of calls landing on their own network - which is effectively free for them too... But the price that usually comes at is a long-term contract. And do look-out for rolling contracts too! I've just helped a customer port their numbers out of a telco who'd signed them up for a rolling 5-year contract and they were in year 6... so a year into their next 5-year contract. Fortunately these days we can tell them where to go as those sort of contracts not enforceable anymore. (mostly - and ofcom is really cracking down on them)
So the St. Tudy exchange - Market 1 (no LLU) and no FTTC either. So speeds up to 8Mb in and up to 823Kb out, depending on line distance.
That basic AAISP package has a very limited peak-time capacity - just 1GB per month from 9am to 6pm, so don't try to have lunchtime punters using it, nor the landlord using it to place orders, etc...
And I don't think it comes with a modem/router either - they're priced separately...
My suggestion would be an Entanet line (but I'm an Enta reseller, so I would suggest them!) however, their entry level business package is £19.95 +VAT a month (same install costs), plus the cost of a modem. For that, you get 15G peak times (8am through 8pm) and unmetered outside those times. You also get placed on the elevated services plan over the BTW network - that's an extra £10.95 a month with AAISP. That'll give you up to 832Kb/sec upload speed. Gives a bigger/better margin for VoIP calls.
As for telephone - well, get a BT bundle and it might well work out cheaper than almost anything else, but do watch the contract lengths, T&C's, etc. Or go VoIP - e.g. Drogon Systems ;-) but I don't offer bundles - it's purely pay for what you use with me. My rates are OK, but not brilliant. Slightly above Sipgate, but you get better support (IMO!)
Hm. Just checked Skypes fees - 2.9p connection fee and 1.4p a minute. That's not that competitive, really. Proprietary format, no phone support and they charge for it too.. Hmmm
For VoIP hardware, I'd not use the Gigaset 580IP's - they're OK, but small monochrome screens. I much prefer the C475IP's instead. I've installed quite a few so-far.
The Vonage kit is simply an ATA locked into the Vonage network - which is effectively what's built-into the Gigaset base. Basically it goes in-line with your phone line and you plug normal phones into it - and an Ethernet cable to your router. You can buy ATAs independently of Vonage, of-course which you can then connect to any SIP service.
And do think about the VoIP package - you might want a desk phone as well as DECT, so you might then need a slightly more flexible package from the VoIP provider - e.g. hosted PBX type services. These cost from nothing to 1000's depending on the features and who rips you off the most.
One thing about VoIP (well, there's many things, but...) You will have a better experience with a decent router - one that can do traffic shaping and/or QoS to help prioritise VoIP traffic over other browsing traffic. Nothings pefect though, but a good router can work wonders. You may also want to consider a router that has 3G fall-over if there's a good 3G base station nearby and stick in a 3G dongle. I used Draytek Vigor 2820's mostly, but am currently looking for alternatives. These are not cheap though.
You'll never have a good VoIP experience with teenagers, etc. doing gaming or p2p file sharing, etc. though. No amount of clever routers can really thwart the determined file ripper.
And think about what you're offering punters - maybe you want a router with some sort of authentication, or a separate access point that can throttle traffic on a certain SSID - e.g. the Draytek's which I use can do this - so if I choose, I can let people use my broadband, but only 1Mb/sec of it!
Gordon
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