I switched my telephony over to VOIP earlier this year. I signed up for an account with Irish VOIP co. Blueface and the service has been, on the whole, fairly reliable.
In fact, I was so happy with the service I recommended it in a Sunday Times article on VOIP this last weekend.
Boy do I feel stupid now – the VOIP service has been down for over 12 hours now leaving me with no phone service for incoming or outgoing calls (apart from my mobile).
For now, if you need to call me, call me to my mobile (+353 86 384 0828).
Update: Phone service has returned to normal after nearly 24 hours and no explanation of the downtime.
Nothing to beat the fixed line in reality Tom.
I will rescue you soon with better prices on the fixed line.
Congrats on the article though.
Lucky you! My Blueface has been down for three times as long although it flickers on and off intermittently and suggests there’s a hope in the days ahead.
Tech support has been quick to acknowledge there are issues in my area. I think the fact the eircom lines have been physically stitched together twice around the corner from my house has something to do with my service difficulties. Smart burglars are hacking through phone watch lines inside the pavements and that kills all phone service for hundreds of homes.
oops. To be fair through, if your phone is mission critical, you have a landline. It gets worse: you have an eircom landline. Why? Because its a single point of responsibility and the regulator can’t get everyone to act like grown ups. However, now that you have posted, shouldn’t some marketing hot shot from an alternative telco, scanning the blogsphere for influencers, be making you an offer you can’t refuse?
Twelve hours is quite a long time. They must be having serious issues.
Ouch! I saw the article with that big smiling picture of yourself! It’s awful when critical services fail on you. Hope it comes back sooner rather than later.
So that’s why they called it Blueface!
If you’ve a mission-critical voice requirement, you need more than one channel. That’s why every uniformed garda carries a mobile phone–back-up to the analogue until the much-awaited Tetra system comes over the horizon.
Those living among the trees of Ireland’s super-rural landscape need a data signal through the ground and over the air. I will feel much more business-capable when I see a three-bar 3G signal on my laptop. As Tom has discovered and as I can substantiate, relying on a single strand of cable to conduct business can snap connectivity to business contacts as frequently as road works are set up around town.
I think VoIP is fine but not as the primary node of voice contact.
How does it feel to be on bleeding edge of Technology, besides bloody that is. 😉
It’s unfortunate that the communication infrastructure in Ireland is that of a third world country, attempting to leap into the 21st century requires investment. I would place Eircom squarely in the blame category on this one, but remember this is the country where the politicians chose to tear up their railroad infrastructure, then fail to fund road construction.
http://about.skype.com/2006/08/introducing_the_first_cordless.html
Game over Blueface!
Another crap irish company bites the dust.
I think it is unfair, the amount of bitching going on over recent Blueface issues, especially with such comments as “Another crap irish company bites the dust”. I have been using Blueface for over a year and the service has been very reliable. When I was an eircom customer I had long downtime on at least two occasions. Whether it’s a Blueface server having problems or someone digging up the phone cables by -mistake- … sh*t happens, GET OVER IT. :/
I signed up to Blueface recently and have been totally impressed. Quick responses to my emails and good call quality. I have a Grandstream Budgetone 101 that I picked up off eBay for €40 so my computer doesn’t even need to be on to receive calls. Very nice. Let’s hope Blueface keep going.
Hmm, I have never tried Blueface. I myself use Skype VoIP and I haven’t had any downtime with it at all. I love the voice quality of it too.
He,
I am havind the same problems over here in the Netherlands with KPN InternetPlusBellen. Combining high speed internet with a telephone line. It’s voip 100%, but we are having huge problems with this system in holland!
My personal findings : do not do it for 1 year or so. Read the rest on http://www.watdoenwijmet.nl