notya...@gmail.com <notyalckram@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 10:05:10 UTC+1, Mark wrote:
> > On 12/05/2023 09:23, Chris Green wrote:
> > > My wife is off to Australia for a couple of months (May/June/July) and
> > > needs to keep in touch. Does anyone have any recommendations for a
> > > good short term deal while she's over there? She needs calls, SMS and
> > > some data (but not a lot of data, no streaming or anything like that).
> > > Not
> >
> >
> > Responding to sub-threads on VoIP...
> >
> > My experience with Android VoIP apps is not great. Most will disconnect
> > from wifi when left idle for a few minutes, so incoming calls typically
> > fail a high proportion of the time. They also drain the battery
> > considerably faster than normal when permanently connected to wifi.
> >
> > The only well-behaved (Android) app I found that will 100% hold a wifi
> > connection "up" to ring reliably at all times is Mizudroid, and even
> > that needed some tweaking of settings to hold a wifi connection.
>
> Not used that one.
> Zoiper [free] works fine on PC's, but does use push on Android and badgers to buy a paid version.
> Voipfone's [free] Softphone does stay awake and does not significantly
> flatten the battery. It does not appear to be tied to Voipfone - i.e. you
> can use it with any Voip provider.
>
> > I've no iPhone VoIP experience, but it may be similar.
>
OP here. The above is part of the issue, i.e. 'technical support'
(me) won't be with her in Australia. Thus anything that doesn't "just
work" is not the right answer, even if it is a good answer.

All the above has got me digging around the Andrews and Arnold VOIP
offers wondering whether moving our UK land line to A&A VOIP would
make sense. Calls to Australia are just 3.3p/minute with no faffing
about, just dial the number. UK calls are about 1p/minute plus or
minus according to time of day. Thinking about our calls it might
well be cheaper tha our current 'all calls' plan with PlusNet.

.... which is almost totally irrelevant to the current discussion! :-)

--
Chris Green
·

On 14/05/2023 13:49, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Saturday, 13 May 2023 at 17:50:46 UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
>> On 13/05/2023 11:42, Woody wrote:
>>> On Sat 13/05/2023 09:04, Chris in Makati wrote:
>>>> On Fri, 12 May 2023 12:48:57 +0100, Mark Carver
>>>> <mark....@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Make sure she completely disables mobile data before getting on the
>>>>> plane !
>>>> Be careful, because even with mobile data turned off I've had charges
>>>> on my bill for roaming data.
>>>>
>>>> It seems that after restarting some phones it's still possible for a
>>>> few bytes of data to be passed across the network. I've seen this
>>>> reported on various forums on the internet, so it wasn't just me. The
>>>> problem is that even a small amount of data was enough to trigger a
>>>> daily charge for data roaming by my home network.
>>>>
>>> Simple answer is to set the phone into aeroplane mode which switches
>>> off GSM, wi-fi and Bluetooth, then manually turn wi-fi back on again.
>>> That way no data can be sent - period.
>> Then how will Mrs Green be connected should someone send her an
>> emergency SMS or call from the UK ?
> Just turn off mobile data.

Which is exactly what I said 3 posts up !

notya...@gmail.com <notyalckram@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 10:05:10 UTC+1, Mark wrote:
>
> Not used that one.
> Zoiper [free] works fine on PC's, but does use push on Android and badgers
> to buy a paid version.
> Voipfone's [free] Softphone does stay awake and does not significantly
> flatten the battery. It does not appear to be tied to Voipfone - i.e.
> you can use it with any Voip provider.
>
> > I've no iPhone VoIP experience, but it may be similar.
>
> Me neither, but iLuvvies expect everything to just work...

Apple is quite strict on apps not staying awake unless there are certain
exceptions (eg GPS turned on). So for incoming calls the app does need to
support push, which means the app needs a server backend to notify Apple of
incoming calls so they can send a push message to the app. Apps can try to
hack around this by inventing spurious reasons why they need GPS on (and
just happen to stay awake), but that is quite fragile and Apple won't allow
it if they find out.

People recommend Bria or Acrobits Groundwire as good VOIP apps, but
personally I have no experience. Because of the need to run a push server
there is usually a cost involved (upfront or monthly).

Theo

On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 12:03:06 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
> notya...@gmail.com <notya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
SNIP
> >
> OP here. The above is part of the issue, i.e. 'technical support'
> (me) won't be with her in Australia. Thus anything that doesn't "just
> work" is not the right answer, even if it is a good answer.

You need to set it up before departure.

Back in 2010 a key [decidedly non-techie] worker at a mate's office had to travel to Ireland to deal with the sudden severe illness of a close relative and care for the kids.

The office manager rung me asking whether Voip, which we had been experimenting with could be a solution. The same afternoon I went to Niman's and bought another Siemens Gigaset box. I then configured it on Voipfone, set [up] the switchboard number as the CLI and gave it to the staffer concerned, telling them just to plug the adapter into the mains and the patch lead into the router and not to worry about the phone line.

The following morning, I returned to set up the office end, which no sooner had I done than it rang and it was the staffer ringing in from Ireland. Calls could then be made from Ireland to the UK and appear to come from the office. The same equipment was later used [unchanged] in Belgium and Germany.

>
> All the above has got me digging around the Andrews and Arnold VOIP
> offers wondering whether moving our UK land line to A&A VOIP would
> make sense. Calls to Australia are just 3.3p/minute with no faffing
> about, just dial the number. UK calls are about 1p/minute plus or
> minus according to time of day. Thinking about our calls it might
> well be cheaper tha our current 'all calls' plan with PlusNet.
>
> ... which is almost totally irrelevant to the current discussion! :-)

Voipfone 1.9p/min + VAT no connection charge = 2.3p.

>
> --
> Chris Green
> ·

On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 12:25:54 UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
> On 14/05/2023 13:49, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Saturday, 13 May 2023 at 17:50:46 UTC+1, Mark Carver wrote:
> >> On 13/05/2023 11:42, Woody wrote:
> >>> On Sat 13/05/2023 09:04, Chris in Makati wrote:
> >>>> On Fri, 12 May 2023 12:48:57 +0100, Mark Carver
> >>>> <mark....@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Make sure she completely disables mobile data before getting on the
> >>>>> plane !
> >>>> Be careful, because even with mobile data turned off I've had charges
> >>>> on my bill for roaming data.
> >>>>
> >>>> It seems that after restarting some phones it's still possible for a
> >>>> few bytes of data to be passed across the network. I've seen this
> >>>> reported on various forums on the internet, so it wasn't just me. The
> >>>> problem is that even a small amount of data was enough to trigger a
> >>>> daily charge for data roaming by my home network.
> >>>>
> >>> Simple answer is to set the phone into aeroplane mode which switches
> >>> off GSM, wi-fi and Bluetooth, then manually turn wi-fi back on again.
> >>> That way no data can be sent - period.
> >> Then how will Mrs Green be connected should someone send her an
> >> emergency SMS or call from the UK ?
> > Just turn off mobile data.
> Which is exactly what I said 3 posts up !

Well except that on my Nokia N8 it only turned of 3G, but left GPRS / EDGE working, so with a P&G SIM (inserted when I upgraded my main phone) you still got billed.

On Mon 15/05/2023 16:47, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 12:03:06 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
>> notya...@gmail.com <notya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
> SNIP
>>>
>> OP here. The above is part of the issue, i.e. 'technical support'
>> (me) won't be with her in Australia. Thus anything that doesn't "just
>> work" is not the right answer, even if it is a good answer.
>
> You need to set it up before departure.
>
> Back in 2010 a key [decidedly non-techie] worker at a mate's office had to travel to Ireland to deal with the sudden severe illness of a close relative and care for the kids.
>
> The office manager rung me asking whether Voip, which we had been experimenting with could be a solution. The same afternoon I went to Niman's and bought another Siemens Gigaset box. I then configured it on Voipfone, set [up] the switchboard number as the CLI and gave it to the staffer concerned, telling them just to plug the adapter into the mains and the patch lead into the router and not to worry about the phone line.
>
> The following morning, I returned to set up the office end, which no sooner had I done than it rang and it was the staffer ringing in from Ireland. Calls could then be made from Ireland to the UK and appear to come from the office. The same equipment was later used [unchanged] in Belgium and Germany.
>
>>
>> All the above has got me digging around the Andrews and Arnold VOIP
>> offers wondering whether moving our UK land line to A&A VOIP would
>> make sense. Calls to Australia are just 3.3p/minute with no faffing
>> about, just dial the number. UK calls are about 1p/minute plus or
>> minus according to time of day. Thinking about our calls it might
>> well be cheaper tha our current 'all calls' plan with PlusNet.
>>
>> ... which is almost totally irrelevant to the current discussion! :-)
>
> Voipfone 1.9p/min + VAT no connection charge = 2.3p.
>

Are Voipfone still in business? If I Google it it goes to the site which
is a blank page.

Er, help?

Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> writes:

> On Mon 15/05/2023 16:47, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 12:03:06 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
>>> notya...@gmail.com <notya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>> SNIP
>>>>
>>> OP here. The above is part of the issue, i.e. 'technical support'
>>> (me) won't be with her in Australia. Thus anything that doesn't "just
>>> work" is not the right answer, even if it is a good answer.
>> You need to set it up before departure.
>> Back in 2010 a key [decidedly non-techie] worker at a mate's office
>> had to travel to Ireland to deal with the sudden severe illness of a
>> close relative and care for the kids.
>> The office manager rung me asking whether Voip, which we had been
>> experimenting with could be a solution. The same afternoon I went
>> to Niman's and bought another Siemens Gigaset box. I then
>> configured it on Voipfone, set [up] the switchboard number as the
>> CLI and gave it to the staffer concerned, telling them just to plug
>> the adapter into the mains and the patch lead into the router and
>> not to worry about the phone line.
>> The following morning, I returned to set up the office end, which no
>> sooner had I done than it rang and it was the staffer ringing in
>> from Ireland. Calls could then be made from Ireland to the UK and
>> appear to come from the office. The same equipment was later used
>> [unchanged] in Belgium and Germany.
>>
>>>
>>> All the above has got me digging around the Andrews and Arnold VOIP
>>> offers wondering whether moving our UK land line to A&A VOIP would
>>> make sense. Calls to Australia are just 3.3p/minute with no faffing
>>> about, just dial the number. UK calls are about 1p/minute plus or
>>> minus according to time of day. Thinking about our calls it might
>>> well be cheaper tha our current 'all calls' plan with PlusNet.
>>>
>>> ... which is almost totally irrelevant to the current discussion! :-)
>> Voipfone 1.9p/min + VAT no connection charge = 2.3p.
>>
>
> Are Voipfone still in business? If I Google it it goes to the site
> which is a blank page.
>
> Er, help?

Yes, I used voipfone today. And the website is working.

On Mon 15/05/2023 18:11, Richmond wrote:
> Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> writes:
>
>> On Mon 15/05/2023 16:47, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
>>> On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 12:03:06 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
>>>> notya...@gmail.com <notya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>> SNIP
>>>>>
>>>> OP here. The above is part of the issue, i.e. 'technical support'
>>>> (me) won't be with her in Australia. Thus anything that doesn't "just
>>>> work" is not the right answer, even if it is a good answer.
>>> You need to set it up before departure.
>>> Back in 2010 a key [decidedly non-techie] worker at a mate's office
>>> had to travel to Ireland to deal with the sudden severe illness of a
>>> close relative and care for the kids.
>>> The office manager rung me asking whether Voip, which we had been
>>> experimenting with could be a solution. The same afternoon I went
>>> to Niman's and bought another Siemens Gigaset box. I then
>>> configured it on Voipfone, set [up] the switchboard number as the
>>> CLI and gave it to the staffer concerned, telling them just to plug
>>> the adapter into the mains and the patch lead into the router and
>>> not to worry about the phone line.
>>> The following morning, I returned to set up the office end, which no
>>> sooner had I done than it rang and it was the staffer ringing in
>>> from Ireland. Calls could then be made from Ireland to the UK and
>>> appear to come from the office. The same equipment was later used
>>> [unchanged] in Belgium and Germany.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> All the above has got me digging around the Andrews and Arnold VOIP
>>>> offers wondering whether moving our UK land line to A&A VOIP would
>>>> make sense. Calls to Australia are just 3.3p/minute with no faffing
>>>> about, just dial the number. UK calls are about 1p/minute plus or
>>>> minus according to time of day. Thinking about our calls it might
>>>> well be cheaper tha our current 'all calls' plan with PlusNet.
>>>>
>>>> ... which is almost totally irrelevant to the current discussion! :-)
>>> Voipfone 1.9p/min + VAT no connection charge = 2.3p.
>>>
>>
>> Are Voipfone still in business? If I Google it it goes to the site
>> which is a blank page.
>>
>> Er, help?
>
> Yes, I used voipfone today. And the website is working.
>

There's interesting.

It works on Firefox, Edge, and Opera
It does not work with Google Chrome, Brave, Safari and Vivaldi.
Indeed in Safari the loading bar is shown and stops early as though the
last part is missing whilst the buffering wheel still rotates.
Vivaldi actually shows graphically it cannot access the site.

This all on W10Pro.

Thoughts anyone?

Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> writes:

> On Mon 15/05/2023 18:11, Richmond wrote:
>> Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> writes:
>>
>>> On Mon 15/05/2023 16:47, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>> On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 12:03:06 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
>>>>> notya...@gmail.com <notya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>> SNIP
>>>>>>
>>>>> OP here. The above is part of the issue, i.e. 'technical support'
>>>>> (me) won't be with her in Australia. Thus anything that doesn't "just
>>>>> work" is not the right answer, even if it is a good answer.
>>>> You need to set it up before departure.
>>>> Back in 2010 a key [decidedly non-techie] worker at a mate's office
>>>> had to travel to Ireland to deal with the sudden severe illness of a
>>>> close relative and care for the kids.
>>>> The office manager rung me asking whether Voip, which we had been
>>>> experimenting with could be a solution. The same afternoon I went
>>>> to Niman's and bought another Siemens Gigaset box. I then
>>>> configured it on Voipfone, set [up] the switchboard number as the
>>>> CLI and gave it to the staffer concerned, telling them just to plug
>>>> the adapter into the mains and the patch lead into the router and
>>>> not to worry about the phone line.
>>>> The following morning, I returned to set up the office end, which no
>>>> sooner had I done than it rang and it was the staffer ringing in
>>>> from Ireland. Calls could then be made from Ireland to the UK and
>>>> appear to come from the office. The same equipment was later used
>>>> [unchanged] in Belgium and Germany.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> All the above has got me digging around the Andrews and Arnold VOIP
>>>>> offers wondering whether moving our UK land line to A&A VOIP would
>>>>> make sense. Calls to Australia are just 3.3p/minute with no faffing
>>>>> about, just dial the number. UK calls are about 1p/minute plus or
>>>>> minus according to time of day. Thinking about our calls it might
>>>>> well be cheaper tha our current 'all calls' plan with PlusNet.
>>>>>
>>>>> ... which is almost totally irrelevant to the current discussion! :-)
>>>> Voipfone 1.9p/min + VAT no connection charge = 2.3p.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Are Voipfone still in business? If I Google it it goes to the site
>>> which is a blank page.
>>>
>>> Er, help?
>> Yes, I used voipfone today. And the website is working.
>>
>
> There's interesting.
>
> It works on Firefox, Edge, and Opera
> It does not work with Google Chrome, Brave, Safari and Vivaldi.
> Indeed in Safari the loading bar is shown and stops early as though
> the last part is missing whilst the buffering wheel still rotates.
> Vivaldi actually shows graphically it cannot access the site.
>
> This all on W10Pro.
>
> Thoughts anyone?

I was using Google Chrome on Linux. It might be cookies or
extensions. Try a New Incognito Window.

On 15/05/2023 20:31, Woody wrote:
> On Mon 15/05/2023 18:11, Richmond wrote:

[snip]

>>
>> Yes, I used voipfone today. And the website is working.
>>
>
> There's interesting.
>
> It works on Firefox, Edge, and Opera
> It does not work with Google Chrome, Brave, Safari and Vivaldi.
> Indeed in Safari the loading bar is shown and stops early as though the
> last part is missing whilst the buffering wheel still rotates.
> Vivaldi actually shows graphically it cannot access the site.
>
> This all on W10Pro.
>
> Thoughts anyone?

Fine on Chrome on W10Pro here.
And Safari on an iPad

On 15/05/2023 20:31, Woody wrote:
> On Mon 15/05/2023 18:11, Richmond wrote:
>> Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> writes:
>>
>>> On Mon 15/05/2023 16:47, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
>>> Are Voipfone still in business? If I Google it it goes to the site
>>> which is a blank page.
>>>
>>> Er, help?
>>
>> Yes, I used voipfone today. And the website is working.
>>
>
> There's interesting.
>
> It works on Firefox, Edge, and Opera
> It does not work with Google Chrome, Brave, Safari and Vivaldi.
> Indeed in Safari the loading bar is shown and stops early as though the
> last part is missing whilst the buffering wheel still rotates.
> Vivaldi actually shows graphically it cannot access the site.
>
> This all on W10Pro.
>
> Thoughts anyone?

Blank page with Firefox and Duck Duck Go privacy blocking Google and
Cloudflare tracking. Works if I just have Firefox blocking.

Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >> This all on W10Pro.
> >>
> >> Thoughts anyone?
> >
> > I was using Google Chrome on Linux. It might be cookies or
> > extensions. Try a New Incognito Window.
> >
>
> Duck Duck Go is the culprit. Turn it off and Google works perfectly.
>
I use Duck Duck Go as my main search engine on Vivaldi (Chrome based)
and have no issues. I still use Google Shopping, just not Google (or
other Google services).

--
Chris Green
·

Nick Finnigan <nix@genie.co.uk> wrote:
> On 15/05/2023 20:31, Woody wrote:
> > On Mon 15/05/2023 18:11, Richmond wrote:
> >> Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> writes:
> >>
> >>> On Mon 15/05/2023 16:47, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> >>> Are Voipfone still in business? If I Google it it goes to the site
> >>> which is a blank page.
> >>>
> >>> Er, help?
> >>
> >> Yes, I used voipfone today. And the website is working.
> >>
> >
> > There's interesting.
> >
> > It works on Firefox, Edge, and Opera
> > It does not work with Google Chrome, Brave, Safari and Vivaldi.
> > Indeed in Safari the loading bar is shown and stops early as though the
> > last part is missing whilst the buffering wheel still rotates.
> > Vivaldi actually shows graphically it cannot access the site.
> >
> > This all on W10Pro.
> >
> > Thoughts anyone?
>
> Blank page with Firefox and Duck Duck Go privacy blocking Google and
> Cloudflare tracking. Works if I just have Firefox blocking.

Works fine for me too. Vivaldi on Linux. PiHole type ad blocking.

--
Chris Green
·

On Monday, 15 May 2023 at 20:33:18 UTC+1, Woody wrote:
> On Mon 15/05/2023 18:11, Richmond wrote:
> > Woody <harro...@ntlworld.com> writes:
> >
SNIP
> >>
> >> Are Voipfone still in business? If I Google it it goes to the site
> >> which is a blank page.
> >>
> >> Er, help?
> >
> > Yes, I used voipfone today. And the website is working.
> >
> There's interesting.
>
> It works on Firefox, Edge, and Opera
> It does not work with Google Chrome, Brave, Safari and Vivaldi.
> Indeed in Safari the loading bar is shown and stops early as though the
> last part is missing whilst the buffering wheel still rotates.
> Vivaldi actually shows graphically it cannot access the site.
>
> This all on W10Pro.
>
> Thoughts anyone?

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/ working on Chrome here.

Voipfone in business and trading since mid-noughties.