Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!reader5.news.weretis.net!news.solani.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Richmond Newsgroups: uk.telecom Subject: Re: Virgin Media's Digital Voice system Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:07:00 +0000 Organization: Frantic Message-ID: <82qzqossgb.fsf@example.com> References: <82v7g2uk0q.fsf@example.com> <10mmss6$27ag8$1@dont-email.me> <10mn6f2$260no$1@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: solani.org; logging-data="147194"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@news.solani.org" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Cancel-Lock: sha1:34BHQHaa4l80yDyg9albInVZD1g= sha1:+fcUdPrO4YssfDtbIzWW9JGpV04= X-User-ID: eJwFwQcBACAIBMBKsh6Jw5D+EbwzAaFdYVBb2/WQFzNXu6p9EOI8/uaBqYglYyXmniPMmfUBK+MRZw== Xref: csiph.com uk.telecom:38902 David Wade writes: > On 13/02/2026 10:02, The Natural Philosopher wrote: >> On 12/02/2026 14:13, Richmond wrote: >>> I read that VM uses SIP for its business services, but for residential >>> services it uses its own digital voice system. Why does it do this you >>> might wonder? > > Not sure about VM but certainly BT does this. I doubt any digital > voice system is anything other than SIP under the covers with the > login details hidden so you can't connect other hardware.. > > Call me a cynic, but I would say it is so that it can >>> never interoperate with the SIP telephone network, and they can always >>> charge a connection fee. This is the same approach of Google and Amazon, >>> just refuse to co-operate and so make life difficult for customers. > > You can charge a connection fee on a SIP account. It has IMHO one > purpose, and that is to maximise profits. > > It does this by minimising support and service delivery costs. So the > hardware they provide is "Plug and Play", you don't need to put user > names or passwords in. Its all been tested together so it all works. > > As so many "just want it to work" they can, and do, sell this service > at a premium, and many are happy to pay, as the price stays the same. > > >>> >>> So there it is, we've destroyed the telephone network and handed >>> ourselves over to corporations to feed parasitically on us. All this was >>> started by Margaret Thatcher. >>> > > I don't believe its "destroyed", in fact I feel its in a much better > place than when it was run by the GPO, there were no socketed phones, > only GPO approved and owned devices, and long distance calls were at a > premium. > > If you are prepared to shop around there are many options. > What we are moving toward is not a telephone network, it is the internet. The telephone network has been dissolved into just another internet service. With genuine competition people will stop paying for calls and use some free software. But genuine competition isn't Google Meet or Whatsapp, where you have to determine which proprietary software the recipient is using before calling.