Phones!

[Harley]

BT are switching off their traditional exchanges over the next five years.

Strikes me that this will actually force many people to stick to their providers router because setting up an internet phone is still an expensive and fairly scary process for the uninitiated.

The next lot of hardware must have a phone socket. Not only that but I believe there are issues with the the BT version of voip that means it's difficult to get it to work with anything other than BT firmware. Fritzbox seem to have managed it but no one else. I don't know much about that, but Zen Internet for one say that there is a very limited range of hardware that BT Voip works with. Zen use BT as well in their Fritzbox. It seems to me though that while this is irrelevant now, it's going to be critical in the near future.

By the way, I used a Cisco ATA but this was crazy expensive. Added another £60 to the cost of going fttp and I couldn't use my suppliers voip because it is BT based ( Well actually my supplied told be not to bother because it wouldn't work except with their hardware ).

[Bert]

Not sure why. I switched 100% to mobile.

[Netduma Liam]

2 hours ago, Harley said:

BT are switching off their traditional exchanges over the next five years.

Strikes me that this will actually force many people to stick to their providers router because setting up an internet phone is still an expensive and fairly scary process for the uninitiated.

The next lot of hardware must have a phone socket. Not only that but I believe there are issues with the the BT version of voip that means it's difficult to get it to work with anything other than BT firmware. Fritzbox seem to have managed it but no one else. I don't know much about that, but Zen Internet for one say that there is a very limited range of hardware that BT Voip works with. Zen use BT as well in their Fritzbox. It seems to me though that while this is irrelevant now, it's going to be critical in the near future.

By the way, I used a Cisco ATA but this was crazy expensive. Added another £60 to the cost of going fttp and I couldn't use my suppliers voip because it is BT based ( Well actually my supplied told be not to bother because it wouldn't work except with their hardware ).

As you mention, there's so much involved and probably a lot of privacy in the proprietary systems that router's just won't be able to accommodate for all of them. As Bert mentions, we're seeing a decreasing amount of people still using landlines but in the worst case scenarios users would have to leave their phone connected to their ISP equipment while their third-party router handles everything else.

[Newfie]

On 4/21/2022 at 9:06 AM, Harley said:

BT are switching off their traditional exchanges over the next five years.

Strikes me that this will actually force many people to stick to their providers router because setting up an internet phone is still an expensive and fairly scary process for the uninitiated.

The next lot of hardware must have a phone socket. Not only that but I believe there are issues with the the BT version of voip that means it's difficult to get it to work with anything other than BT firmware. Fritzbox seem to have managed it but no one else. I don't know much about that, but Zen Internet for one say that there is a very limited range of hardware that BT Voip works with. Zen use BT as well in their Fritzbox. It seems to me though that while this is irrelevant now, it's going to be critical in the near future.

By the way, I used a Cisco ATA but this was crazy expensive. Added another £60 to the cost of going fttp and I couldn't use my suppliers voip because it is BT based ( Well actually my supplied told be not to bother because it wouldn't work except with their hardware ).

The router I use offers a voip service but it’s yet to appear in the U.K so maybe NG who love subscription services may add one if they see a market for it. 

I’m with BT and to be honest once they get their fibre up and running which I’m hoping is close now I’ll be ditching the home phone as it’s hardly used and save a bit on costs as they continue to rise. 
 

 

[Harley]

On 4/21/2022 at 11:34 AM, Netduma Liam said:

As you mention, there's so much involved and probably a lot of privacy in the proprietary systems that router's just won't be able to accommodate for all of them. As Bert mentions, we're seeing a decreasing amount of people still using landlines but in the worst case scenarios users would have to leave their phone connected to their ISP equipment while their third-party router handles everything else.

I don't think it has to. It just has to accommodate the most popular one. But you may be right that people don't even bother with a landline. Personally, I need one for backup. I think it's just not wise to only have mobile but I guess it's not up to me, it's just up to the masses.

While on the subject of backup, another thing I would like to see is the ability to connect to a mobile network for internet backup via the USB port. I have no idea what that entails but the internet is becoming critical now to homes.

[Netduma Fraser]

7 hours ago, Harley said:

I don't think it has to. It just has to accommodate the most popular one. But you may be right that people don't even bother with a landline. Personally, I need one for backup. I think it's just not wise to only have mobile but I guess it's not up to me, it's just up to the masses.

While on the subject of backup, another thing I would like to see is the ability to connect to a mobile network for internet backup via the USB port. I have no idea what that entails but the internet is becoming critical now to homes.

That would be very cool, I suspect that would not be an easy task but I'll add it to our list.

[Bert]

It should be possible but most likely you will run into driver issues. On most consumer grade routers the failover function isn't as smooth as people like to think though.

 

Also for the sake of argument if you are in need of backup systems then it's probably also time to look into more professional systems than a gaming router.

[Harley]

2 hours ago, Bert said:

It should be possible but most likely you will run into driver issues. On most consumer grade routers the failover function isn't as smooth as people like to think though.

 

Also for the sake of argument if you are in need of backup systems then it's probably also time to look into more professional systems than a gaming router.

Well not really. I am just your average consumer. But thing is, I have recently moved to fttp - that means that there is absolutely no backup at all. I realised this the other day when my fttp threw a wobbly. I had no way to even order a replacement part. At least previously I had a phone but now my phones go over the fiber!! To me a router with the ability to fail to mobile internet would be an instant purchase! I mean the thing is that with everyone pretty much being forced to ditch their landlines in the next three years it seems to me that there is going to be need for ways other than a smartphone for people to contact the internet in the event of a failure.

[Harley]

Looking at this further, it seems to me the best way would be to run DumaOS on a router that can already do the job. Such as the TP-Link Archer MR200 or add in fail-over to existing products so they can access a modem on a second wan port ( which could be just a repurposed lan port ).

[Bert]

This is already possible in some ways.

 

If you use a switch behind your router you can just add a second connection with router. In windows you can set a secondary gateway. Just have to be sure you use only 1 DHCP service.

 

I have 2 WAN connections with 2 separate routers and my PC's have 2 ethernet ports, so in case of failure it goes to the second. I have set it to a primary so that my gaming WAN is the backup WAN. But you can set it to load share as well which can effectively double your speed in multithreaded downloads.

[Harley]

Oh, I found this...

https://www.netgear.com/home/mobile-wifi/routers/lax20/

That would be ideal. Go on then - DumaOS by the end of the week pls. Lol.

 

 

[Harley]

21 hours ago, Bert said:

This is already possible in some ways.

 

If you use a switch behind your router you can just add a second connection with router. In windows you can set a secondary gateway. Just have to be sure you use only 1 DHCP service.

 

I have 2 WAN connections with 2 separate routers and my PC's have 2 ethernet ports, so in case of failure it goes to the second. I have set it to a primary so that my gaming WAN is the backup WAN. But you can set it to load share as well which can effectively double your speed in multithreaded downloads.

I think I will try that.