[LINK] Voice on the NBN

[David Lochrin]

On 09/09/2016 11:15, JanW wrote:

> Question: I have two lots of twisted pair in my house (had it run at the time of first installation with an idea of a second phone line or a network at some stage). Does this give me any benefit?

My understanding is that the run carrying the NBN service should go direct from the Telstra box on the outside wall to your VDSL2 modem without any connection to the remainder of the house wiring in order to avoid loading the VDSL2 signal.

Telstra's approved wiring method is to connect all POTS outlets in series, and their responsibility then extends to the first outlet.  So if you're lucky and the first outlet is where your NBN modem is located, it should be a simple matter to separate the NBN cable from the rest of the POTS wiring.

If you'd like to keep the POTS 'phones you could bring both out to a wall outlet, and connect the NBN signal to the modem input and the POTS wiring to it's FXS port.  Providing the number of telephone instruments doesn't overload the FXS driver (the REN of the FXS port <= the total REN of the connected instruments) you'd be fine.

If you're not so lucky some rewiring would be required, but achieving the above configuration should be quite straightforward and could be done by any approved electrician.


>> As far as voice goes, my guess is that many people will abandon their wired 'phones altogether in favour of their mobile, which would be nice for Telstra, Optus & Vodaphone.
>
> I may have to rethink.  [...]  I wouldn't object to changing to a semi-mobile service if I could get equivalent or better performance (50gb/mo at max 8mbps) for those costs.

Ordinary ADSL performance should be way better than 3G/4G mobile.

I have both VoIP/ADSL and POTS services, but almost always use VoIP at a flat 12c per call nationally because I make many STD calls from this regional location.  Some time ago I created a spreadsheet to accurately compare my actual VoIP call costs with the equivalent Telstra "homeline complete" charges over a whole year, and the result was $92 vs $1,360 (:-).  That doesn't include line rental which of course goes away with an NBN service, at least as a direct cost.


> Yeah, I find mobiles a pita. I always refer people to my landline because it has a reliable message service, I don't have to run to find the blasted mobile and dig it out of my bag, and it just works. Ppl ask me for my mobile for various reasons and tell them I have it but I don't hear it. Cheaper to ring them back at $.30/call on the landline. What really gets me is when they ONLY give me a mobile number which costs me heaps! So I often don't call and instead send an email.

My VoIP calls to mobiles are usually cheaper than Telstra's charges, and I can talk to my brother in Arizona for 30 minutes for just a dollar or so.

Cheers!
David L.