1. What these terms cover
These product terms cover Lodestar Voice for home customers. Lodestar Voice is a standalone over-the-top SIP service, not broadband, a fixed landline replacement or a managed emergency-backup service. These terms do not cover Lodestar Mobile, Business Voice or wholesale trunks.
Before a customer agrees, Lodestar will confirm the retail provider and give the customer final contract information and a one-page contract summary in a form they can keep. The customer's order, contract information and contract summary will state the exact price, start date, minimum term, equipment, service limits and cancellation process.
If those personalised documents conflict with general product terms, the personalised documents will take priority.
2. The service
Lodestar Voice will provide a SIP account, phone number and call-routing features over an internet connection supplied and managed by the customer. Each plan will include a UK 01 or 02 number, incoming calls, outgoing calls, caller display, voicemail and a registered emergency address.
The Voice overview and price guide explain the plans and call rates. Supported features, equipment and activation arrangements will be confirmed before a customer agrees to service.
3. Emergency calls and registered address
When the Lodestar service, the customer's internet connection, mains power and all required equipment are working, calls to 999 and 112 will cost £0.00. This is not a guarantee of uninterrupted access. Emergency calling through Lodestar Voice will stop during a power cut, internet fault, equipment fault or Lodestar outage.
Before activation, the customer must give a complete and accurate service address. Lodestar will use that address to provide caller-location information to the emergency services where technically feasible.
The customer must tell Lodestar before using the service at another address and wait for confirmation that the registered address has been updated. If an emergency call is made from somewhere else or while an update is pending, the caller should tell the emergency call handler their actual location.
4. No emergency backup is included
Lodestar does not supply, install, monitor, maintain or replace a UPS, battery, generator, backup internet connection, mobile fallback or other alternative means of calling emergency services as part of Lodestar Voice.
The customer is responsible for arranging, testing and maintaining a separate reliable way to call 999 and 112 when Lodestar Voice is unavailable. A customer who depends on a phone for emergency access, or who has no reliable alternative, must not use Lodestar Voice as their only means of calling emergency services.
Any customer-provided UPS, battery, mobile phone, second internet connection or other backup is the customer's own arrangement. Lodestar does not guarantee that it will work with the customer's router, optical network terminal, phone equipment or broadband provider.
Lodestar Voice is not designed or certified for a pendant alarm, telecare alarm, medical monitor, security alarm or lift phone. A customer must not rely on one of these devices over Lodestar Voice unless its supplier has confirmed compatibility in writing.
This service description does not remove any duty that cannot lawfully be excluded. Lodestar will review the service and final contract terms against the regulatory requirements that apply before accepting orders, and will change the service design if required.
5. Broadband and equipment
The customer must supply and maintain a compatible internet connection, working mains power, router and compatible telephone equipment. Lodestar will not supply or control the customer's broadband, router, optical network terminal, household electricity or on-site network.
The customer must provide any SIP phone, DECT base, analogue telephone adapter or app needed to use the service. The order documents will state the supported standards, setup guidance and where responsibility for diagnosing a fault changes between Lodestar's SIP service and the customer's internet connection, network or equipment.
6. Phone numbers and porting
A customer may ask to move an eligible number to or from Lodestar. Lodestar will not make a direct charge to the switching customer for number porting.
Porting depends on correct customer details, validation, the existing provider and industry processes. Lodestar cannot confirm a completion date until the checks and network preparation are complete. The final terms will identify supported number types, the failed-port process, any compensation and the rules for keeping a geographic number after a home move.
A customer may request to port an eligible number away for at least one month after their Lodestar Voice contract ends.
7. Plans, calls and credit
The total customer prices are £1.49 per month for Home PAYG and £8.50 per month for Home Unlimited, on monthly rolling subscriptions. Lodestar is not currently VAT registered, so no VAT is added. Standard new-number setup and eligible consumer porting are free. All charges, including any optional equipment and delivery, will be shown before a customer agrees.
Home Unlimited includes unlimited ordinary household calls to standard UK 01, 02 and 03 numbers and main-network UK mobiles. There is no numerical UK allowance or ordinary-use cutoff. Channel Islands, Isle of Man, premium, personal and other excluded number ranges are not included. The eligible number ranges will be published before ordering opens.
Home PAYG calls to standard UK 01, 02 and 03 numbers cost 1p per minute, and standard main-network UK mobile calls cost 1.5p per minute. Chargeable UK calls are billed per second with a 2p minimum total charge per call. This is a price floor, not a connection fee or an extra charge: a five-minute call at 1p/min costs 5p. Purchased call credit will not expire while the line remains active. The contract information will explain how unused credit is handled after cancellation or switching.
Home Unlimited also includes 100 pooled international minutes in each billing month to standard landlines in Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden, and standard landlines and mobiles in Mexico and mainland USA (the 48 contiguous states and Washington DC). Alaska, Hawaii, US territories, other +1 countries, premium, satellite and special destinations are excluded.
Each answered international call is rounded up to a whole minute, and unused allowance does not roll over. On Home PAYG, or after the international allowance is used, those selected destinations cost 1p per minute, billed in whole minutes with a 2p minimum total charge per chargeable call. International access is opt-in with a spending limit for chargeable calls. Other international and excluded chargeable destinations remain blocked until their rates are published.
There are no connection fees. Included UK calls, international calls within the allowance and calls priced at £0.00 have no minimum charge. The 2p minimum applies only to chargeable PAYG or out-of-bundle calls. Free calls will not be blocked because of a zero credit balance. Call forwarding is currently unavailable and outside the included bundle; its destinations and charges will be published before it is enabled.
8. Acceptable use and security
A customer must not use Lodestar Voice to:
- break the law, harass another person or make unlawful nuisance calls;
- spoof caller identity or impersonate another person;
- attack, disrupt or gain unauthorised access to an account, device or network;
- use stolen or compromised credentials;
- use automated dialling, traffic generation or call-centre activity on a household plan; or
- resell the service without a written wholesale agreement.
Ordinary household calling will not be restricted solely because it exceeds a numerical usage threshold.
The customer must use a strong, unique password, keep equipment and credentials secure, and report suspected compromise promptly.
9. Faults, restriction and suspension
Lodestar may carry out planned or emergency maintenance. It will give reasonable notice of planned work where possible and use reasonable care and skill to restore a fault.
Where reasonably possible, Lodestar will warn a customer before restricting service for non-payment or a remediable breach. Immediate action may be taken where delay would create a serious risk of harm, fraud, illegality or security compromise, or where an authorised body requires it.
A restriction will be proportionate and limited to the affected service where technically feasible. It will be removed when the reason has been resolved.
10. Contract, payment and cancellation
Before agreement, the customer will receive the full price, service description, quality commitment or a statement that no minimum quality level applies, payment timing, duration, renewal, cancellation and support arrangements in a form they can keep.
A consumer who agrees online or by telephone will normally have 14 days after the contract is made to change their mind. If the customer expressly asks for service to start during that period and later cancels, a properly disclosed proportionate charge may be made for service already supplied.
The final documents will provide simple online, email, telephone and postal cancellation routes. Any scheduled in-contract subscription-price increase will be stated in pounds and pence, with the date it takes effect, before the customer agrees.
11. Information and privacy
Providing Lodestar Voice requires account, registered-address, call, traffic, usage, billing and equipment information. A separate Lodestar Voice privacy notice will explain each purpose and lawful basis, recipients, retention period, international transfer and the customer's rights before orders open.
If a customer provides information about disability, health or vulnerability when asking about service suitability or support, Lodestar will keep it to the minimum required and protect it appropriately.
12. Complaints
Complaints can be started by email at hello@lodestarnetworks.co.uk or by post to Lodestar Networks Ltd, 66 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NA.
Before orders open, Lodestar will publish a complaints code, a telephone route and the approved alternative dispute resolution scheme. The code will explain free referral after a deadlock letter or when a complaint has remained unresolved for the period set by Ofcom.
13. Responsibility and consumer rights
Lodestar will provide the service with reasonable care and skill. Lodestar will be responsible for foreseeable loss caused by a breach of contract or failure to use reasonable care and skill.
Nothing in the final terms will exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, statutory consumer rights, regulatory responsibilities or anything else the law does not allow a provider to exclude or limit.
English law will govern a consumer contract, without removing any mandatory rights the customer has under the law where they live.