[karj]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Who told me? Veetel.

I don't know anything about Veetel, but a quick look on their website indicates that they only offer NBN phone plans on NBN FTTP (fibre to the premise).

As you have only just come onto the NBN and the Coalition halted FTTP rollout when elected in 2013, it is unlikely that you have FTTP, so it would seem you cannot get a phone service through Veetel.

Veetel look like they did offer a NBN FTTP internet and phone bundle previously, but no longer. Not that this is relevant to you anyway because you probably don't have FTTP.

You are likely to be connected to the NBN through FTTN (fibre to the node) or HFC (hybrid fibre coaxial) or FTTB (fibre to the building) or fixed wireless.

You can check what technology connects you to the NBN at this website

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Tell me that in layman terms.

I'll give it my best. Sorry if the following is clear as mud.

You probably used to have an analogue phone that you connected directly to a phone socket. With NBN FTTN, FTTB, HFC or fixed wireless, you can no longer do this.

Telephone services are instead delivered by VoIP (which stands for voice over internet protocol). In layman terms, you need an active internet connection to deliver the voice service.

Most RSP's (retail service providers) offer NBN internet and phone bundles. So if you opt to retain a landline phone number and port that number to your RSP, that phone service will be delivered by VoIP and they will typically supply you with a pre-configured modem/router that you plug into the wall socket, and then you plug your analogue phone into the modem/router. In this situation, your phone connects to the modem/router and the modem/router connects to internet.

If you are unhappy with the voice service provided by your RSP (eg: you may feel call costs are uncompetitive) you could choose to port your phone number to an alternative VoIP provider (eg: Telecube, MyNetFone - **these are just examples, not me recommending these providers).

If you did this, you could no longer plug your phone into the RSP's supplied modem/router because they typically do not allow customers to configure alternative VoIP providers on their supplied hardware. You would instead have to purchase an ATA (analogue telephone adapter, eg: Cisco SPA112), configure it with the settings provided to you by your alternative VoIP provider, plug your phone into the ATA, and plug the ATA into the modem/router via an ethernet cable. In this situation, your phone connects to the ATA, the ATA connects to the modem/router via ethernet, and the modem/router connects to internet.

So you would be effectively using your RSP for internet only, and a separate VoIP provider for your phone.

Originally Posted by Syndrome

What are the issues with VoIP?

The things that I don't particularly like about it are:
- Emergency call routing issues depending on VoIP provider (eg: I called police assistance in SA and was routed to NSW police assistance)
- Latency/delay/echo issues
- No phone service at all in event of power outage and nothing you can do about it
- Potential QoS issues
- Requirement for an ATA, or VoIP modem/router.

These issues are either significantly minimised, or eliminated if using a UNI-V port on the NTD in Labor's original FTTP NBN rollout. With FTTP, you also had the flexibility such that if you did want to setup a VoIP provider and an ATA, you could achieve this as well through your router and NBN UNI-D connection.