Thread: Voip

Lot's of cheap providers, but depends what you want. Do you need an inbound number reachable from the PSTN (Normal phone network) or just cheap outbound calls? Pennytel and BBPGlobal are two that I use, and both can do optional inbound numbers. Avoid Engin, as in my personal opinion, cust service sucks big time, and the service was nowhere near the cheapest, nor was it better to justify the cost.

HOWEVER, Satellite is going to be interesting. In the business world, we say VoIP services must be on a low latency line with less than a 150ms round trip time...this doesn't mean good bandwidth per se (A voice call is 80k worst ways, and much less with compressed codecs which most suppliers and devices support), but does mean consistently available and non-delayed bandwidth.

I have never had a decent connection over satellite, but some newer services (Notably things like MS's Live Messenger and Skype) are better at handling it than more traditional offerings. You will almost certainly get that double talk problem though, like on some cellphone connections, where there is a noticeable delay and you end up over talking each other.

I'd download a free soft phone from one of the providers I mentioned (Goes on computer as opposed to physical phone) and test it with a headset before parting with money for a VoIP phone or VoIP adapter. If it runs OK, we'll go from there....

Originally Posted by Disco300Tdi

I am looking at VOIP, can anyone tell me ..
are there any good deals going around?
I am satellite broadband thru an avtiv8 dish (ipstar), does that make a difference?

Any info would be great

Are you satellite going up or is the outbound comms handled by a dial up modem?

There are heaps of good broadband/voip deals. Check Whirlpool.

I think Dave (Inc) had a good deal that he could offer too.

I'm running 4 business lines on MyNetFone and seems to be working well

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Are you satellite going up or is the outbound comms handled by a dial up modem?

There are heaps of good broadband/voip deals. Check Whirlpool.

I think Dave (Inc) had a good deal that he could offer too.

My net conection is via satellite,
Am I able to run voip thru this,,the satellite modem has a large comms plug which connects to the computer(cant remember the name) and a usb connection (not used)

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

There are heaps of good broadband/voip deals. Check Whirlpool.

I second the Captain's advice. That's where I get my user feedback on stuff before committing.

I've got VoIP (use outbound only) using an ADSL modem/router with QoS and an FXO port so my wife can use it like a normal phone. $178 inc freight on eBay. Worlddialpoint is my provider (Whirlpool forum recommendation 8 months ago). Only really get latency / echo on calls to mobile. Beware low-cost bandwidth providers with corresponding high contention rates and therefore latency at peak times.

From my research I got the impression each voice conversation requires 128kbs for top call quality (upload and download). YMMV though.

Having a second phone as a VoIP handset is a godsend given we have a 14 yo daughter in the house. At least the rest of us can still get calls.

Chris

Originally Posted by Disco300Tdi

My net conection is via satellite,
Am I able to run voip thru this,,the satellite modem has a large comms plug which connects to the computer(cant remember the name) and a usb connection (not used)

If you're question is can you do voip with something like skype then i'm sure the answer is yes. Have a look at this as they have skype out which enables you to ring real numbers. You can also buy a phone number, and a handset to plug into your pc. I'd be quite confident you could get this working.

However if you mean voip like all the normal deals... well I've only seen those running through ADSL. No idea on this one ??

Originally Posted by LoveMyV8County

From my research I got the impression each voice conversation requires 128kbs for top call quality (upload and download). YMMV though.

The "standard" codec is G.711 which is 64k, but that translates to 80k when you figure in the overhead. While this is per direction, if you think about how you use the phone, it's very rare you both speak at the same time (Unless it's my wife trying to get a word in edgeways with her mother back in England!!).

Also, for most calls G.729 will suffice (and is an option on most ATA or VoIP phones, plus installable on Windows) and this is an 8k codec, which translates to 20k or so with overheads as most home routers can't do header compression.

Finally, newer codecs, such as RTA from Microsoft and the one Skype use are dynamic and will size according to line quality and usage patterns. They are also better (Though not great as you can't change the laws of physics!) over satellite.

On to of all of this, things like silence suppression will ensure you don't send a constant stream when there is no talking going on, so your actual bandwidth will average out much less over the course of a conversation BUT you still need the minimum figures above to be available at all times, and with low latency.

Hi,
I set up my Voip box initially over a sat link. The link was on OrionSat with 800k down and 256 up.

I was amazed as there was no echo. I rang the extension on the desk next to me so the data went up 20000k, down 20000K and through multiple Telco networks.

I use the SPA3000 box and like all units they come from the providers with default settings. You can play around and tweak the settings to achieve near perfect quailty.

Check out Internode for their deals. I have found them to be one of the better ISP's and they offer Nodephone. They are 18 cents a call with no monthly fee for VOIP connection.

http://www.internode.on.net