The headache of VOIP

[G-Train]

Hey Guys.

I should be moving into a new apartment soon (fingers crossed), and I'm deciding whether or not to go for a VOIP plan. Optus is out since they suck, so I was looking at iiNet, which offer a decent Broadband/Voip for around $50 a month.

Now, the ISP would have me beleive that all you need do is sign up and presto! Free calls. But I've done some research and turns out I need an ATA (Transcodes analgue signal into digital), which will run me about $100.

Also turns out the calls aren't *free* either, costs about the same as a normal phone, only thing thats free is IP to IP - which I can do for free with MSN or any other messenger service with a $10 microphone.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has VOIP and can reccomend whether its worth it or not. I'm only going to be saving like $5-$7 a month, since VOIP is an extra $10 and a phone line rental is like $15, yet I'm going to have to buy an ATA etc.

I've tried to sort through it and its rather complicated, but another option is IP phones, which hook into your comp via USB - maybe it's possible to just have Broadband and use that?

[Predator]

Still haven't got around to trying VOIP but we use it at work and it saves a packet.

You shouldn't need any separate ATA thingo, you just need a router that has built in VOIP stuff. Then you just plug in a regular phone, and it works then like a regular phone, with a regular number.

One of the main advantages is you can get a regular number anywhere in Aus you like, so calls from that number to anywhere in that city is a local call. So if you have friends interstate or overseas it can be much cheaper as a result.

Most of the ISP's give you a modem for the installation cost. If you do it cheap, and use your old modem you can save some of that cost (which is what I did). The cost of say a full wireless router/modem with VOIP is only about $200 anyhow.

[zen]

i believe the router has the ata built in - many new ones do
i havent played with it but yes we use it at work too
the cost savings for me as a light phone user dont outweigh the inconvenience of not have a hard line

[moodycj]

So what happens if your net gets shaped?

[zen]

it depends on the isp - they can put rules in place which do not shape voip traffic because they match specific protocol and port rulesets

[Predator]

VOIP is pretty low bandwidth anyhow, probably would work on 56kbps anyhow.

the cost savings for me as a light phone user dont outweigh the inconvenience of not have a hard line

I don't quite see the difference.. It works exactly like any normal phone, if you have your router permanently connected (as I do), and have a standard number connected to your VOIP it just works like a standard phone. Nobody would really know the difference, other than when the call quality goes dodge.

I don't have a landline at all in my new place, saving a bit.

[zen]

it doesnt - voip has some drawbacks such as emergency services not getting the correct location from your number if you call them since its from a pop which could be anywhere in the city
im not talking about voice or line quality - more like features that a hard line has as opposed to a virtual one (which is what voip is essentially)

if you dont have a landline what kind of net do you have?

[G-Train]

I'm a bit hesitant as:

A) what happens if your playing online and the phone rings? Does your bandwidth go to hell?
B) I already have a decent DLINK Wireless router, though it doesn't have a VOIP point, so I'd have to sell ti (which I'd get bugger all for) to get a VOIP one.
C) Land line costs about $20 a month on basic plans, VOIP costs $10 - doesn't really constitute the the extra effort, and I rarely use a landline anyway - If I'm gonna chat to someone interstate, I just use MSN.

I didn't think my town had ADSL2+ but apparently we do, it's just monopolised by Telstra. Dodo, Internode, iinet etc have great ADSL2 plans, they just don't have access to my town, lame.

[Predator]

I don't need emergency services, I've also, er, got a mobile believe it or not if there was an emergency.

I have naked DSL which requires no standard phone line (look it up if you are unfamiliar). It basically saves me $30/month, as I hardly ever used the landline in 2 years of having one. I was paying for something I never ever used, so why pay for it.

[zen]

it requires the physical phone line just not the telephone voice part to be hooked up
i have a mobile too, but sometimes its not charged
saving $10 a month or whatever is not that great a saving to me

[G-Train]

Well, after trolling every ISP I could think of (turns out I can't even get naked adsl in my area) I've narrowed it down to Dodo and Telstra. Never thought I'd go back to telstra, but they really do have some good bundle deals.

If I go with Dodo, I can get home phone + moderate speed adsl1 for about $60 a month. If I go with Telstra, apparently bundling home phone with adsl halves the price of the adsl plan (or so the salesman on the phone tells me, not too sure about it quite frankly) so if all goes well I should be able to get Telstra home phone + ADLS2, 12gb limit for $70 a month.

[moodycj]

Well, after trolling every ISP I could think of (turns out I can't even get naked adsl in my area) I've narrowed it down to Dodo and Telstra. Never thought I'd go back to telstra, but they really do have some good bundle deals.

If I go with Dodo, I can get home phone + moderate speed adsl1 for about $60 a month. If I go with Telstra, apparently bundling home phone with adsl halves the price of the adsl plan (or so the salesman on the phone tells me, not too sure about it quite frankly) so if all goes well I should be able to get Telstra home phone + ADLS2, 12gb limit for $70 a month.

I have heard people have been having real trouble with dodo not sure what but maybe you should look into it.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-threads.cfm?f=31&g=65

[zen]

dodo == shizer
telstra == slow overpriced shizer

but if there is absolutely positively no other choices, i would go telstra

[nshady]

Why are you against Optus?

[G-Train]

I'm not, would rather optus than telstra - but they have *no* coverage here.

I can't get: Naked ADSL period - iiNet/optus/Dodo ADSL2/foxtel etc anyone who offers net and home phone. I can get internode and dod ADSL 1 only - or telstra, who can offer me ADSL2 *ver* cheap.

I've been with telstra before, and got mega-ripped off, almost took them to court over a $500 bill. So I really don't want to signup with them - but as I said, I can get a home phone line and ADSL2 for $70 a month, 12GB limit. No one else can give me ADSL 2, and I'd pay atleast $65 for the cheapest ADSL1, which is dodo who offer a whopping 256/64 and 5GB.

[nshady]

Oh okay, misunderstood what you said at the beginning. Sounds like Telstra is your only choice.

[moodycj]

I'm not, would rather optus than telstra - but they have *no* coverage here.

I can't get: Naked ADSL period - iiNet/optus/Dodo ADSL2/foxtel etc anyone who offers net and home phone. I can get internode and dod ADSL 1 only - or telstra, who can offer me ADSL2 *ver* cheap.

I've been with telstra before, and got mega-ripped off, almost took them to court over a $500 bill. So I really don't want to signup with them - but as I said, I can get a home phone line and ADSL2 for $70 a month, 12GB limit. No one else can give me ADSL 2, and I'd pay atleast $65 for the cheapest ADSL1, which is dodo who offer a whopping 256/64 and 5GB.

We get 20GB ADSL 2 for 55 a month on Adam. What price does internode have on ADSL for you?

[G-Train]

$40 a month for 512/128 so Im Latin an extra $10 for the new plan really.

[G-Train]

Well, I've had an interesting couple of days.

I called Telstra to signup for home phone/ADSL2 - after 30mins on hold, I got through to an American, who took about 1hr to connect my home phone. Afterward I arranged my ADSL plan, to find something interesting:

Heres the deal I was offered on Friday:
12 Month Contract
$20 Home Phone plan
1/2 Price internet on an plan when I bundle that Home Phone plan into one bill.

After the call centre woman put me on a 24month contract, and didn't know how to change it to the 12month one I requested, I asked to speak to the super - who informed me the contract actually states:

-Only Wireless broadband is on a 12month contract, all others are 24month (despite the internet site plainly stating in bold letters "ALL our broadband ADSL plans have a 12 or 24 month contract)
-I need to be on a $35+ home line to recieve the half price deal
-Its only half price for the first 6 months, on a 24month.

At this point I demanded a site address with the full details of their contract (as required by law), they don't have one.


I could abuse Telstra for hours here, but in short - the TIO got a call and I'm lodging a complaint against Telstra for faulse advertising, and failing to provide contractual notice. If telstra ever go under - I'm going to dance on their ashes.

[nshady]

Yeah that's shady as.

We moved out of our home for a bit while we were renovating, and we paid a monthly fee with Optus so that we could redirect all calls to the home number to a mobile, and then bring it back when we were done with the reno. After paying for eight months, we moved back, called Optus, and they told us that the plan had changed, and they could no longer transfer over our number. Never bothered to tell us when it changed, and we paid for the service still. Very reluctantly had to go back to Telstra, who could do it.

[moodycj]

My gf was getting a bill from telstra charging her for 2 plans a month for about 6 or 7 months this year. She had to go into the telstra store once a month to get them to credit one of the plans. It was cool though because it gave her double the internet download and she didn't have to pay.

[Predator]

Welcome to the headache of Telstra

We  are having a hell of time.. as our ADSL doesn't work at work, and have had massive problems since the big storms the other week. Yet have to jump through so many hoops just to even speak to a non-Philippino and get them to actually log it as a fault. You expect that when you deal with Telstra, being the largest ISP, and paying the often large premium for their services, you get the best service. But this is far from the truth.

go with somebody else if at all possible.. although I think you said your choices were between telstra, and dodo. I really pity your situation It's like a choice between being burned alive, or having your limbs torn off one by one.

[G-Train]

Well - I finally found that Netspace has phone and adsl in my region.

I read some reviews of Dodo, and *everyone* said in bold print "Do Not Get Dodo!", so I rang Netspace and got 512/128 ADSL (I can upgrade to 1,500 for free if I like for another $10 a month), and a $30 home phone line. So I'm paying $60 a month for just about the most basic internet in the world. I'm just glad I spend most of my game time on WoW, I've given up on ever getting a decent ping on a FPS. I red bar 9/10 COD4 games, even aussie servers I get 3/5 bars and have to feed someone my gun to actually hit them.

When I get the new PC, I will try to get the old ver of NS, it's better than the new ver anyway and the low speed won't be a problem with HL1 code.

[zen]

where do you live out of curiosity?
i will make sure never to live there!

[karaoke queen]

Bah,you wouldn't want to move to Taree then. lol

It turns out that there is no Optus coverage up there(who we've always been with for as long as I can remember) so now we've had to go with Telstra instead.
We will get half price for nine months and then end up paying $19 a month for landline( have to get the phone line for the net ADSL) & $79 a month for 25 gig. 

[G-Train]

You can't get half price on the $19P/M landline - which I found out *after* signing up.

You have to be on atleast their "pro" plan which is $30 a month.

And I live in Warrnambool - on the coast about 3/5hrs drive south-west of Melbourne.