Table of Contents
Selecting a Service Provider
Unless you have purchased an ATA that has been provided by a particular VoIP Service Provider VSP, you will have to select a service provider that will meet your needs. Things you should consider are quality of calls, customer service and support, fixed costs, call rates and your call usage.Some summary details of various providers are provided below (feel free to add to this list on this site). Alternatively you can refer to the VoIP whitepages of VSPs at http://www.sipbroker.com/sipbroker/action/providerWhitePages
If you are looking for a VSP based on price, then have a look at this site http://www.ozinternetphones.com/
You can also get quick access to a reference on VSPs at the Whirlpool VoIP Provider Wiki
This new website was developed by The Elite Geek at Whirlpool http://www.ozvoipstatus.com/?page=stats and it shows you the availablity of various VoIP service providers.
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Recommended Options for Consideration
Based on information posted on various forums, these seem to some of the more frequent choices for using VoIP.- Line rental: $18.50 per month with Telstra Homeline Budget plan
- Local and STD calls: Astratel (untimed) or Pennytel (2 cents per minute - good for quick calls!)
- Mobile calls: Pennytel
- Plug and Go: Engin - but you are locked into use them unless you pay to $33 to leave.
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Astratel
http://www.astratel.com.au/
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BBPGlobal
http://www.bbpglobal.com/aust/Back to Top
Delacon
http://www.delacon.com.au/Back to Top
Engin
The Engin Broadband
Phone Company http://www.engin.com.au operates 2 types
of service. You can either be an Engin customer by
purchasing a specially configured and locked Engin Voice Box, or you can
be a VoIPer customer and use any ATA box you like.
Important before you choose: If you buy an Engin Box and connect it to the network, you will be automatically set up as an Engin customer. Alternatively you can purchase an Engin box and be set up as a VoIPER customer, but you have to ring them and tell them this BEFORE you configure the box. You will get the $100 cash back regardless of which approach you take, however if you start as an Engin customer first, it will cost you $33 to unlock the box and move to VoIPER (if you want to do this in the first 3 months). Engin is happy to make the change, but it will cost you to do this. The downside of unlocking your box is you don't get telephone support from Engin however the upside is that you have full access to configure your ATA as you see fit.
Tips before you start
Engin has a $100 cash back offer on the purchase of its Engin Voice Box 1 and Voice Box 2 that is currently due to expire at the end of March 2006. This offer has been extended twice already.
Choice of Voice Box
The up front cost of a voice box 1 is about $20 (with cashback offer) whereas the Voice Box 2 is about $120 (with the cashback offer). The difference between them is that the Voice Box 1 is a dedicated VOIP ATA whereas the Voice Box 2 is a combined PSTN and VOIP ATA. So what I hear you ask.
Why you would buy a voice box 1?
- You are brave and want to abandon the big telcos and go for pure VoIP.
- You want a second phone line and are happy to operate this as a separate service.
- If you want to keep your current telephone line (and phone number), and want all incoming and outgoing calls to go through the same telephone handset. Incoming calls will come through your existing telephone number, and outgoing calls will go through your discount VSP.
- If you want to try out VoIP before you commit yourself to quitting your current telco line.
- If you don't want to quit your current phone number.
- If you are not prepared to accept that the internet (or power) will fail every now and then and you could be without a telephone.
Call Rates
Monthly Access Fee: $9.95 per month ($5.00 for your DID and $4.95 access fee)Calls around Australia: 10 cents untimed
Calls to mobiles: 27 cents per minute
Calls Engin to Engin (including VoIPER): Free
If you are a heavy user, you can go onto a $29.95 plan which basically gives you $25.00 worth of free calls (conditions apply - refer to https://www.engin.com.au/public/plansfeatures.htm. All VSPs have to pay Telstra $5 per month for a DID and they always pass this on to the user (ie you). So after you get your $25 worth of free calls, you effectively end up paying nothing for user access.
VoIPer
If you are a VoIPer customer, you will need to configure your ATA yourself. To do this you will need to find the relevant settings from your Engin Account. First login to Engin using your phone number and password sent to you by Engin when you first signed up.
Click on the summary tab at the top of the page, and you will see your connection details on the right hand side of the screen (something like this).
You need to add these settings into your configuration settings for the ATA. If you have a SPA-3000, the set up proceedures are covered in the section SPA-3000.
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FaktorTel
FaktorTel was one of Australia's first residential and business VOIP providers. Since conception FaktorTel has developed an Australia wide VOIP network giving it the ability to place calls anywhere in Australia and in most other countries across the world. FaktorTel also received a government grant from the Australian Federal Government to further VOIP development into rural areas.FaktorTel supports both the IAX and SIP protocols for both Asterisk and standard VOIP usage.
Details
Website: www.faktortel.com.au
SIP Server: sip.faktortel.com.au
IAX Server: iax.faktortel.com.au (not enabled by default but can be turned on if requested)
Stun Server: stun1.faktortel.com.au
Registration Required: No. Initially it seemed they did but recently it has been reported that registration is not required.
SIP Numbers: 09xxxxxx
Dial Rules: 0NXXXXXXXX, 0011XXXXXXXX
Codecs: Default is iLBC & g729 only. (ulaw, alaw, g726.1 and gsm also available). (voipinfo.faktortel.com.a...highlight=codecs
and www.faktortel.com.au/support-codecs.shtml ) . Others can be enabled if you ask but not g723.1
Pros: Cheap Rates (10c untimed calls to landlines on the $9.50 plan) Good Support. Support 0198 numbers.
Cons:
Asterisk quirks: voipinfo.faktortel.com.a...35&highlight=iax
Peering: None
Test Numbers: time = 123
echo = 600
support/billing = 900
all 1800 numbers work
DID: 1 Free DID on $9.50/month plans
Brisbane - $9.50/month
Gold Coast - $9.50/month
Sydney - $9.50/month
Melbourne - $9.50/month
Canberra - $9.50/month
Adelaide - $9.50/month
Perth - $9.50/month
New Zealand: Auckland - $15/month
Ireland: All Regions VOIP range - $15/month
www.faktortel.com.au/products-dids.shtml
CID: Incoming works. Outgoing currently blocked.
DTMF: Yes
Voicemail: Free and enabled on all 09502xxx accounts by default. (Others ie 09500xxx can request it be activated by emailing support). Charged at 10c to call it.
Aus Rates: www.faktortel.com.au/rates.shtml
Int'l Rates: www.faktortel.com.au/rates.shtml
Forums: voipinfo.faktortel.com.au/index.php
Min. monthly fee for PSTN calls: $5. Includes $5 of calls.
1300/1800: 1800 Free, 13/1300 "" 23.5c
000 Support: You can call 000 but your location will not be passed to the operator
Gateways: No provider based ones. 1300 Gateway compatible. See below.
Charging methods (pre/post paid, CC, BPAY, etc): Currently CC only. BPAY on the way.
Other: must use register expires = 300
1300 Gateway: An australian 1300 number can be used to call Faktortel numbers. The prefix is 325.
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Fonebox
Fonebox is a carrier-grade VoIP communications provider based in Queensland, Australia, offering broadband phone services to residential and business customers. The Fonebox carrier-grade VoIP network allows customers to call other Fonebox services at no charge, and to call public fixed and mobile phones both nationally and internationally at comparatively low rates.
Fonebox"™s national network is built on best-of-breed technology, offering quality VoIP telephony that is complaint with the requirements of 000 emergency calling, legal intercept, and number portability.
http://www.fonebox.com.au
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Freshtel
http://www.freshtel.net/
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Free World Dialup
http://www.freeworlddialup.comBack to Top
GoTalk
http://www.gotalk.com.auBack to Top
iinetphone
http://iinet.net.auBack to Top
iPrimus
http://www.iprimus.com.auDetails on iPrimus supply of a configured adaptor http://www.iprimus.com.au/talkbroadband/
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Karim Online
http://www.karimonline.com.auBack to Top
KoalaTelecom
http://www.koalatelecom.com.auBack to Top
MyNetFone
http://www.mynetfone.com.auBack to Top
Mytel
Provider Summary
Mytel has a reputation for providing high quality call terminations together with premium support services.Services offerings are focused towards small to medium enterprises. Choice of offerings includes standard calling plans (rates - 10c untimed calls Australia wide and 26c p.m. Aust Mobiles) and other services such as:
Advanced Services
- Online Store for VoIP hardware
- Hosted PBX / IP Centrix Service
- Hosted Teleconferencing Service
- Asterisk Consulting and Asterisk IP PBX build & deployment service
- Optional Interconnect via private WAN (NEC Nextep TLAN)
Residential Plans
- Fair Go ($9.50 per month - 1 x Indial - 10c untimed calls Australia and 26c p.m. Aust Mobiles)
- SOHO Connect ($5.95 month - $19 min call spend - 1 x Indial - 10c untimed calls Australia)
Business Plans
- IP Office (for an individual IP handset)
- PBX Connect (to connect an Asterisk or other PBX with capacity for multiple simultaneous calls)
- Call Centre Connect (per minute billing suited to a call centre)
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Nehos
http://www.nehos.netNehos uses a novel approach to help you set up your hardware. You log on and enter a few details about your setup, and Nehos remotely configures your hardware for you.
http://www.nehos.net/install_guides/nehos_system_funtions.html
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NodePhone
http://www.internode.on.net/nodephoneBack to Top
Oztell
http://www.oztell.comBack to Top
Pennytel
http://www.pennytel.com
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Sipme
http://www.sipme.com.auBack to Top
Siphone
http://www.sipphone.comBack to Top
SPANtalk
http://www.spantalk.com.auBack to Top
Voipbuster
http://www.voipbuster.comBack to Top
Voise
http://www.voise.com.auDetails about Voise Plug and Play hardware solution here http://www.voise.com.au/prod_hardware.htm
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