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Re: [LUG] Broadband & phone

 

On Sun, 10 Apr 2011, Kai Hendry wrote:

On 9 April 2011 22:13, Gordon Henderson <gordon+dcglug@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
those sort of contracts not enforceable anymore. (mostly - and ofcom is
really cracking down on them)

Wow, OFCOM do stuff? :)

Occasionally...

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.

It's a stone throw away, so it should be really good compared to me at
http://prazefarm.co.uk/

You've got over 5Mb/sec there. That's more than OK for most stuff. You could double your upload if you went to a business package, but might not be worth the cost...

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...

Yes that's the big trouble with AAISP. The peak costs are harsh,
almost unworkable on the basic package.

And I don't think it comes with a modem/router either - they're priced
separately...

ZyXEL comes free http://aaisp.net.uk/broadband-freerouter.html

Ah, OK. It's efectively free if you stay for a year - so you're basically into a one-year deal with them to get the router. Probably not an issue, but it doesn't have Wi-Fi...

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.

Interesting, thanks for that.

The one down-side of the gigaset range is their crappy web interface - it's soooo sloooooowwwwwww....

And the handsets are slow too - the take take half a second to actually hang-up a call.

Other than that, they do work very well.

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.

PBX type services from what I gathered from good VOIP providers seems
to be thrown in. Nonetheless my parents friends are techno-phobes, so
I guess they won't touch these features. Also there is absolutely no
mobile coverage in St. Tudy, so the case of "ringing a mobile once the
main line fails to pick up" is probably never going to work. Rule out
the 3G dongle back up too.

Hm. Three reckon they've got coverage there - certianly good coverage down the A39, but the checkers are never that accurate...

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.

If I was going down the AAISP route for this pub, I would have to make
absolutely sure the public wifi wasn't enabled during peak times,
that's for sure. And then I would have to work out some QoS, though
good wifi routers running DD-WRT have this feature and it surprisingly
works.

Remember you can only shape/QoS outgoing traffic. By the time incoming has reached the modem, it's too late to do anything with it. However with fast incoming speeds it's usually OK.

Many thanks,

p.s. I've updated
http://natalian.org/archives/2011/04/09/Broadband_and_phone/ quite a
bit and next I want to ask you all about your experience with POS and
CC software... oh gosh

I know that HSBC offer IP based card swipe machines - they were used in the Devon Air Ambulance phone-in recently which I provided the VoIP service for - you can just about see one in the tangled mess on: http://drogon.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/daat.jpg it's on the right - they had 4 of them IIRC, and my wife has just been offered a GPRS based portable card machine for her new business from NatWest (you see these a lot at farmers markets!) - however if you've poor mobile coverage that might not be ideal...

Gordon

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