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Frequently Asked Questions about Zen Broadband Voice. Click a heading below to show or hide relevant questions.
About Zen Broadband Voice
1. What is Zen Broadband Voice? | Zen Broadband Voice is basically voice communications over the Internet. The key benefits of Zen Broadband Voice are cheaper telephone calls and the ability to make multiple simultaneous calls. |
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| Zen Broadband Voice costs £4.89 (inc VAT) per month. For that price you get 1000 minutes to UK landlines per month. |
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| The following are required:
- A Zen Broadband service. You can order ZBV at the same time as a new broadband order
- A willingness to pay for all recurring services with Zen by direct debit, unless you have a credit account with Zen
- A touchtone telephone
However, if you are using Zen’s recommended hardware and you plug your telephone line into the back then the above numbers will be routed over the PSTN line. These calls will however appear on your BT/CPS bill. If you are using a Softphone then you will be unable to make any calls to any of the above numbers. |
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| Yes. To take the Zen Broadband Service, you will need a broadband account from Zen, which means that you will need a BT line and will need to pay your BT line rental. |
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| Yes. Your Zen Broadband Voice service user name and password are linked to the Zen IP range. In addition to this, an encrypted authentication takes place between your connection and our Zen Broadband Voice system. |
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| If a 999/112 Emergency call arrives on Zen's Voice network, we will endeavour to carry it. There may, however, be issues with your location information and caller display. For these reasons, we would advise that you use a mobile phone or a phone connected directly to the standard telephone network to make these calls.
If you purchase Zen's recommended hardware and you plug your telephone line into the back, the 999/112 Emergency calls will automatically be router over the PSTN. |
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| A PSTN call is a call that is made or received over your existing telephone line (usually BT). |
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| These are calls made over the Zen Broadband Voice service to other people who are on the Zen Broadband Voice service, and they are free at all times! |
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| If you opt to use Zen’s recommended hardware then you do not need to have your PC switched on.
If you are using a Softphone then you will need to have your PC switched on in order to make and receive phone calls.
Please note if you are using a softphone, you will only be able to receive on net calls. |
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| Yes. Please bear this in mind when choosing your ADSL service. |
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| A voice call made via Zen Broadband Voice uses approximately 80Kb per second (0.60MB per minute). If you were to make over 55 hours worth of telephone calls via the Zen Broadband Voice service then you would use approximately 2GB of your allocated download capacity. |
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| You can bring your Zen Broadband Voice Service with you by placing a home move service with our Customer Service team. When you speak to our customer service team, you will need to inform them that you would like to move your Zen Broadband service. |
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| To contact Zen Internet simply dial 777 from your Zen Broadband Voice enabled telephone. |
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| Yes. Customers can call all UK mobiles and all International destinations for a set charge. On net calls and calls to Zen Internet are free. |
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| The number of users is limited by your chosen Voice equipment and the speed of your ADSL connection.
Our recommended hardware allows 2 users to make simultaneous calls with connected handsets over the Voice service.
You can also install additional Softphones on to connected PCs to extend the service to more users. Please be aware that softphones do not share the same set of features as connected physical telephone handsets. |
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| No, you can sign up for the service as part of a new Zen broadband order. You cannot use Zen Broadband Voice unless you have a Zen ADSL account. |
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| No. Zen Broadband Voice is for outbound calls and On-Net calls.
However, if you use Zen’s recommended hardware then your telephone handsets will also receive incoming calls as normal, and those calling you will dial your existing telephone number. |
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| No. The exceptions are:
- Premium Rate numbers (calls beginning 09)
- Service numbers (calls beginning 1)
However, if you are using Zen’s recommended hardware and you plug your telephone line into the back then the above numbers will be routed over the PSTN line. These calls will however appear on your BT/CPS bill. If you are using a Softphone then you will be unable to make any calls to any of the above numbers. |
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| Yes, as long as the outbound number that you are ringing is routed across our Voice network, or the inbound call is from another Zen Broadband Voice user. |
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| Yes. If you receive an on net call or a call from the PSTN, the caller will be routed to your existing answer phone/voicemail service. Please note that if you have BT 1571, the dial tone WILL NOT change if you have a voicemail message, so we recommend that you check for messages regularly. |
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| Yes, as long as you are using our recommended hardware. You cannot receive PSTN calls using the softphone. |
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| Yes. Please note, if you use the auto ring back option (i.e. you dial 1471 and 3 to ring the person who dialled), then this call will go across BT's network and you will need to pay them for the call. |
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| Incoming calls will still arrive on your PSTN line.
If you have plugged your PSTN line into your Zen approved hardware then incoming calls will ring the phone(s) that you use to make outbound calls, thereby making Zen Broadband Voice an ideal and cost effective alternative to your existing telecoms service.
However, if you are using a Softphone then you will need to use your existing telephone handset to receive calls (the only exception to this is incoming calls from other Zen Broadband Voice callers). |
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| If you are using Zen’s recommended hardware then you just plug your telephone into the hardware and make calls as now; there is no need to use a headset on a computer or to install any extra software.
If you are using a softphone, your personal computer will need to be on for you to make/receive any calls. |
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| If you are using Zen’s recommended hardware then all your calls will be routed over your existing telephony connection, so you will have no loss of service. Please note that if this happens your call charges will appear on your next PSTN bill.
If you are using Softphones then you will be unable to make/receive calls in the event of a connection failure. |
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| Voice clarity is generally much better than a mobile telephone and in normal situations it is the same as a normal telephone call. However, degradation can occur if there is heavy data transfer on your broadband connection. |
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| To guarantee fax machine compatibility we would recommend that you purchase a phone splitter (not supplied with the TG784) and plug this into the PSTN port on your microfilter and then plug the fax machine and the phone line into the back of the splitter. Please note this will mean that faxes will go across your current supplier, so you will need to pay them for these calls. |
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Hardware
1. What features are available with the service? | There are a number of additional service features available when used with compatible recommended hardware. These features include call forwarding, 3-way conference calls, and more.
A full list of call features is available here |
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| If you have a Zen Broadband connection then you can use the Voice service.
A basic Softphone is all you need to use the service; however Softphones are not a true replacement for your existing telephone handset.
If you choose Zen’s approved hardware option then you can connect and use your existing touchtone telephone and get even more out of your Zen Broadband Voice service. |
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| No. If you would like us to support your hardware, please purchase our recommended option. |
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| Further information can be found here |
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Billing
1. Do Zen Internet provide me with a bill? | Yes, we will provide you with a summarised bill that will appear on the same invoice as your ADSL account as long as you are paying for both services by Direct Debit. Hourly itemised call information is available on-line in the portal that can be accessed at https://portal.zen.co.uk |
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| When you sign up to Zen Broadband Voice, you will automatically receive your bills by PDF. Please note that if you have more than one service with Zen Internet, this will mean that all your bills for all of your services will be sent by PDF. If you want to change this to paper billing, please log on to our customer portal or contact our accounts team on 0845 058 9000. |
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| The information will be updated every hour, so you can constantly check how much your bill will be. |
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| When you sign up for Zen Broadband Voice, one of the stipulations is that you agree to sign a Direct Debit mandate for all of the services that you have with Zen Internet. To ensure that the order progresses as quickly as possible, we will take the initial payment by Credit/Debit Card and then send you the link to our customer portal where you will be able to complete a Direct Debit form. The only exception to this is if you have a credit account with us. |
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| Yes – but as your calls are being made over the internet it will be only for the line rental, apart from any calls made to those numbers that are routed over the PSTN. |
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| We have imposed a level of credit and we are only allowing Zen ADSL customers to use our service.
You will be contacted once you have accumulated £50 worth of outstanding call charges in a single billing month to ensure that you were aware that you had made so many chargeable calls.
If your outstanding call charges reach £75 within a single billing month then we will contact you again and take an interim payment of £50 from the amount that you have accrued, this payment will be taken by direct debit. Should the direct debit fail then we may temporarily suspend the service until such payment is made.
The exception to this rule is when customers have a credit account with Zen Internet. These customers will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Please note: £75 worth of call charges equates to more than 60 hours of UK calls, on top of your inclusive 1,000 minutes. |
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| Yes. We have done this to help the environment and make paying for services easier for our customers. |
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| We require customers to pay by direct debit to reduce the number of invoices that we have to send out, and for ease of use for our customers. This will reduce the risk of us cutting off customers’ Voice service due to non payment. |
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| The monthly charge of £4.89 includes VAT. On the Voice website, you can view all other charges including or excluding VAT. |
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| No, there are no minimum call charges; you only pay for the time that you talk. |
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| Yes, all calls are billed by the second. |
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| You will be charged £0.02 ex VAT (£0.023 inc VAT) per minute for any additional calls to UK landlines. |
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| These minutes will be lost, and your quota will re-set to 1000 at the start of each month. |
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Miscellaneous
1. How do I cancel my Zen Broadband Voice Service? | If you want to cancel your Voice service then please do so via the customer portal (https://portal.zen.co.uk). You must provide 30 days notice if you would like to cancel the service. |
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| No. If you want to cancel your Zen Broadband Service, you must also do this via the customer portal. |
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| No. Although you must have a Zen ADSL account to use Zen Broadband Voice, you will still need to manually cancel the Zen Broadband Voice Service. If you do not, then you may get charged. |
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| Once your cancellation date has passed, you may be sent a final bill that you will be required to pay for all calls made up until the cancellation date. |
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| You can contact us on voice@zen.co.uk or ring our sales team on 0845 058 9000. |
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