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| Thread ID: 98551 | 2009-03-28 21:59:00 | VOIP | notechyet (4479) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 760337 | 2009-03-28 21:59:00 | Hello members What are our(NZ) best options for VOIP? Thanks NT |
notechyet (4479) | ||
| 760338 | 2009-03-28 22:13:00 | That all really depends on what your definition of "best" is. Low-cost? Value-for-money? Choice of codecs? Uptime? Support for endpoint devices? Multiple logins? Xnet's VFX service is good if you're after a "local" number and low-cost For an extra $4 a month you can get 500 minutes with 2talk though and personally Im a big fan of theirs! Highly recommended :) Give us a few more details, what you're going to be doing with VoIP, and we can let you know Bandwidth requirements, recommendations for an Endpoint (Softphone, ATA or IP Phone etc) :) Cheers Chill. |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 760339 | 2009-03-28 22:24:00 | That all really depends on what your definition of "best" is. Low-cost? Value-for-money? Choice of codecs? Uptime? Support for endpoint devices? Multiple logins? Xnet's VFX service is good if you're after a "local" number and low-cost For an extra $4 a month you can get 500 minutes with 2talk though and personally Im a big fan of theirs! Highly recommended :) Give us a few more details, what you're going to be doing with VoIP, and we can let you know Bandwidth requirements, recommendations for an Endpoint (Softphone, ATA or IP Phone etc) :) Cheers Chill. Thanks Chill My existing setup with T..com with go large and 2 lines cost me without long distance calls(though local calling area is included) approx. $ 150.- plus at least $20-30.- for calling card. I thought that I may be able to do better with a new "product" that has VOIP included? Though I have no hardware for a VOIP yet. What are the chances? |
notechyet (4479) | ||
| 760340 | 2009-03-28 23:14:00 | You could try XNETS naked DSL which comes with VFX, and is $70 a month + $1 per GB of data you use. You need no home phone line with this service at all, ive been using it for 1 and half years and has always worked great. | pantera989 (14533) | ||
| 760341 | 2009-03-29 01:16:00 | pantera what hardware phone and voip mode/router have you got for that setup? And, could I keep existing numbers with that? |
notechyet (4479) | ||
| 760342 | 2009-03-29 03:04:00 | In that case, in order to get up and running and saving money with the least fuss you're better off doing the following (In this order): * Call Xtra and tell them you want one of their new free modems, and you want to make sure you're on the best possible plan 1) Buy an ATA such as the HandyTone HT-486 from TradeMe (Search: HT-486) 2) Sign up with 2talk on their 2talk500 Personal Plan ($15 monthly) 3) Disconnecting your second number you have with Telecom (Or transferring it to 2talk to replace the "free local" number they give you on that plan, for a once-off transfer fee of $20+gst). 4) Lastly, enjoy some decent savings for very little effort Why do it this way? Well I'll tell you 1) The standard modem that Xtra was shipping for years, the D-Link models, are absolute crap, even worse for VoIP. They fall over constantly. I do VoIP for a living, Ive tried them, you *can* get them to work but Xtra will ship out a new Router within 2-3 days so why not? :) They'll possibly upgrade you to a full-line-speed plan for an extra $2-ish a month. Im not 100% familiar with the old plans, but currently Xtra are surprisingly competitive. The Full-line-speed plans allow you to make a VoIP call (mostly -- For 95% of home users) and have no noticable drop in quality when people are emailing / browsing at the same time. Useful, yes! Worth $2-ish a month? If you've had bad quality calls or drop-outs, you'll agree wholeheartedly ;) 2) The Grandstream HandyTone ATA's are cheap, decent quality, and perfect for home users. They work just fine for a single line. It'll let you plug any regular telephone into it (Cordless phones are my fav) and use it to make calls via your VoIP line. Beats using a PC / Headset / Mic hands-down any day! Well worth the $60-ish investment. You can find a setup guide here: blog.2talk.co.nz 3) If you want to keep your second number you've currently got, then talk with 2talk about "porting" it, which will allow you to keep it and use it as your VoIP number for a once-off fee of $20. They can use that to replace your temporary VoIP number they give you. Again, worth following up, for the cost of 1-2 emails to 2talks support ;) 4) Savings, thats what its about at the end of the day, enjoy them :D 500 minutes to any of 40-odd countries including around NZ (Mobiles not usually included) is highly worthwhile. You *could* go naked DSL, but you run the risk of losing your phone number when you do-so (Going to Naked DSL with Orcon you do, I'd presume its similar with Xnet), not to mention you have down-time. Its usually easier to sign up for a new Naked DSL connection with your new preferred provider, THEN transfer all your numbers to VoIP if you want to do-so. I'd highly recommend avoiding Naked DSL for now. Its nice in-theory, but for existing people with ADSL and a Landline with Telecom / whoever, its just not worthwhile. Xnet's service blows IMO, Im with them for Internet currently (Shared Line at home), Im regretting it, your experience may vary... Left their VoIP service a while ago, but know people that still have it. They get funky issues all the time, it breaks regularly :-/ If you *really* wanted to try and save every last cent, check out Orcon vs Xtra and compare plans. You never know ;) Whatever you do, compare apples with apples, not Naked DSL with normal landlines. Hope this long speil helps Cheers Chill. |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 760343 | 2009-03-29 03:33:00 | Chill, that is prof. service and advice!!!! Thanks. I will have to read this a couple of times to get familiar with it. At first glance-would you then recommend to stay with the good old "go large" or change that over as well? To calculate the costs mth: Keep "go large": 49.95 2talk500 Personal Plan 15.- transfer of number(Once off cost for 20.-) upgrade full line speed $2.- cost for second phone(second phone from another phone jack and room)? Even if i would spend another $20/mth on top of what is calculated above, that would only come to half the cost of what it is now! Is that real?? And I could possibly send and receive faxes?(which go per email and cost now $10-20 on top of what I gave at the start).NT |
notechyet (4479) | ||
| 760344 | 2009-03-29 03:48:00 | Faxing is possible via T.38 and other things, but to be honest, its not worth the time & hassle. Working in VoIP, we recommend people stick to faxing via their regular landline, or you can possibly look at 2talks Faxmail service which is pretty good :) You'd take whatever phone is currently plugged into your second line now, and plug it into the HT-486 Adapter. So you'd have 1 Regular Landline, and 1 VoIP Line from 2talk which includes the 500 minutes to 40 countries. Talk with Xtra about your current plan vs their new ones. You're under no obligation to switch just by talking to them. Take into account your plan size, and the amount you actually use each month. Go Large may or may not be your most cost-effective option. You CAN do VoIP on the limited-upload plans, but you get best results for the full-line-speed plans that Xtra can advise on. Definitely tell them your current router isnt up to the task of VoIP if you've got one of the D-Link ones (Or possibly even if you havent) and ask for one of the nice shiney new ones you see on the TV Ad. They're free, and work quite well with VoIP in my experience! :) Just in case you're unsure what an ATA is: It stands for Analog Telephone Adapter. Basically it lets you use a regular phone which you plug into it as a VoIP Phone. The HandyTone HT-486 is the cheapest one you can get from some fella in Christchurch off TradeMe right now. If you're at all unsure, post-back and ask, happy to help :) Chill. |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 760345 | 2009-03-29 04:42:00 | If you are keen you could setup your own asterisk box, with the likes of italk, and have a phone for each member of the household. Very handy if you have kids. Everyone can be on the phone, either incoming and outgoing. Never have to wait your turn again... Also you can conference call, very handy for family scattered around the country / world. For non tech savy relations you can get a phone number in their free calling area that they can ring you on, or you ring them on. If they are a bit tech savy you could hang them of the asterisk system and all could share the benefits. If you travel over seas you could take a SIP phone with you and have your phone line follow you any where... Lots of fun things to do, so little time. |
ughnz (8297) | ||
| 760346 | 2009-03-29 08:30:00 | Chill and ughnz So I assume the adaptor would be used on the phone which is the furthest to the wireless router/modem(voip). You'd take whatever phone is currently plugged into your second line now, and plug it into the HT-486 Adapter Say first line is home office; that one gets pluged into the "new" wireless router/modem(voip); and the second phone is private phone which would be connected with the adapter, is that right? What is the xtra plan which is similar to the 2talk500? I would like to keep both phone numbers(1 private, 1 office) Need approx. 20GB of broadband Fax would continue as a mail to fax and versa Thanks a lot! |
notechyet (4479) | ||
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