VoIP Australia - Voice Over Internet Protocol

How does VoIP work ?

Use VoIP like you use any telephone - you pick up the phone, hear the dial tone and dial the telephone number of your choice. There are no extra numbers to dial and no special routines to follow. You don't have to be a tech wizard to use our service, only someone who wants a great price and great features from their phone company every day.

And if you'd like to surf the web and use your VoIP service at the same time, the phone adapter can share your Broadband Internet connection with your computer. Talk on the phone and surf the net with ease. (Depending on your home network setup, this may require additional equipment.)

VoIP Requirements - What do I need ?

Broadband Internet: Telephony requires (1) a sufficiently fast and reliable data connection, and (2) always on connection (because you don't know when people want to call you). Modern Broadband Internet connections (ADSL or Cable) provide your home with the perfect environment for a telephone service. VoIP can work over dialup or ISDN lines, but is not recommended because of the lower bandwidth.

Click Here to test your internet speed at www.testmynetspeed.com . For optimal voice quality we recommend connection speed of 1.5Mb or higher.

NAT router / firewall: At your end of the broadband connection you will need a modem, router and/or firewall. These are often combined in an all-in-one box providing Internet connection sharing (using NAT) and firewall functions. Alternatively you could use a broadband modem connected to a PC running router and firewall software; though this not so convenient. Either way you will need to configure your NAT/router/firewall device to direct any incoming calls to your VoIP device.

VoIP Device: There are several types of VoIP device on the market today, including:

• ATA (Analogue Telephone Adaptor) devices allow you to connect a standard telephone to your LAN. Examples include the DrayTek VigorTalk, Sipura.
• All-in-one modem/router with integrated VoIP, such as the DrayTek 2100V, 2500V, 2600V or 2900V models.
• IP phones combine the ATA circuitry into the telephone handset
• Soft-phones allow you to use speakers and microphone connected to your PC as a telephone. Often these can be downloaded for free, but they are not as intuitive to use as a telephone handset. Examples include MSN Messenger, X-Lite.

As long as it uses the industry-standard SIP protocol, it can be used with VoIP.

We recommend that any Voice over IP service should be used with an Ethernet hardware phone connected via a broadband 1.5Mb Internet connection such as the Business Grade IP Phone for optimal voice quality.

What ISP and modem/router requirements ?

ISP & Internet connection

We recommend ADSL or Cable ISP connections with 128Kbps or greater upstream bandwidth. If your modem/router provides QoS, you can use a minimum 64Kbps upstream bandwidth (e.g. a basic 256/64 ADSL) - though you may still noice poor voice quality on calls when the G.711 codec is used.

Note that VoIP conversations are data on your ISP account, and count towards data limits. Depending on the codec used, a VoIP call can take up to 64Kbps or almost 1MB per 2 minutes !  Because ISP bandwidth throttling (after monthly allowance reached) will affect your VoIP service, we recommend that you monitor your bandwidth usage, and change to a plan with more included bandwidth if necesssary. See Codecs for info on how much data is used for a VoIP call.

ISP blocking ports may affect the VoIP service.

NAT / router / firewall device requirements / Compatibility issues

Your NAT router / firewall needs to allow voice calls to pass through, and redirect them to your VoIP device. This is achieved by several methods:

1. STUN is supported by some router/firewalls, and is recommended because you don't need to Open/forward ports, and supports more than one VoIP device on your LAN.
2. Outbound Proxy method
3. Opening or Forwarding Ports (sometimes referred to as Virtual server).

What Service Standards / quality can I expect ?

Normally VoIP call quality can be as good as a PSTN or mobile call, but at times it's less perfect due to deteriorated network conditions.

Internet protocols are designed to be fault-tolerant - if a particular path is unavailable or overly congested, packets may find another path. When "surfing" this can result in pages taking longer than usual to display - but still displaying.  However voice conversation is time-critical, and any delay may result in some packets arriving too late, and so being dropped from audio being played at the other end.

Note that all Internet access is provided on a "best effort" basis. No one person, company or organisation owns or operates the Internet - instead the Internet is made up of a lot of privately owned networks which are interlinked. While each provider does their best, sometimes faults do occur, and these can have a ripple affect causing congestion on other routes.

Quality of Service (QoS) support is desirable, because this can give your VoIP packets priority over other data packets, and so minimises the effects of data congestion on your VoIP service.

What are the advantages?

Cost . Calls from SIP device to SIP device over the Internet are essentially FREE. VoIP calls are just packets of data going through your Internet connection; so as long as you don't go over your ISP data allocation there is no additional charge.

Also International, National and even Local calls can often be made using the VoIP Provider's PSTN gateway for a fraction of telco charges

While VoIP initially looks "too good to be true" ... there are disadvantages, but they are unlikely to be much of an impediment to the average user. Disadvantages are:

Generally you can expect the same quality as a conventional telephone or cell phone call; though this depends on available bandwidth and the devices used at the endpoints.

All but the slowest Broadband speeds offer sufficient bandwidth to support high quality VoIP telephone calls. Coupled with the appropriate interface devices, these calls are indistinguishable from a traditional telephone call.

To get good quality voice the telecom carriers that the VoIP Providers uses shoud be within Australia.

• Emergency 000 calls : VoIP service providers are unable to pass your street address details to emergency services at this point in time..
• Some VoIP provider do not support calls to Australian 1800, 1900 or 13 numbers.
• Power failure at your location will almost certainly render your Internet modem and VoIP device inoperable. Some VoIP devices (e.g. DrayTek 2100 and 2500) can make PSTN calls during power failure.
• Network outages: As mentioned above, there is no guarantee of availability or 100% quality, due to communication outages or congestion beyond VoIP's control.

You need to enter correct configuration details of your account and device, so VoIP server accepts your registration and assign access to you.  These details include: your VoIP number, your password, the VoIP server URL (sip.VoIP.com), the port numbers (TCP 5060, RTP/UDP 10050 – 10500) or STUN server (e.g., stun.voip.net).

With some Australian VoIP Providers you cannot to call Australian 1800, 1900 or 13 numbers; or toll-free numbers in other countries.

How are call charges calculated ?

Prices change from provider to provider.

Calls to any Australian landline (i.e. not cell phones) are normaly charged at 10c flat rate (untimed) or 2c per minute.

All other call are charged at the published rate on the provider website. If your balance runs out during a call, the call will be terminated.

How can I check my account and/or balance ?

If it it a prepaid account, you can check from the providers website.  If you have not yet recharged your VoIP account, or if the balance has reached zero then you will get a Not Available (i.e. Busy) tone.

To check your account transactions, login to the VoIP website and your recent transactions should appear. 

How can I recharge my account ?

Login to the VoIP website, click on the "Recharge My Credit" and enter your credit card details when requested.

if the VoIP website is run from a secure web service then yes, you should notice the lock symbol in the browsers status bar, and that https: protocol is used. 

There are many VoIP providers, and more starting each week. Factors which you should consider include:

• What type of calls do you expect to make ? On-net, Local, National and International ? Compare call costs, for the destinations you frequently call.
  
• Which features do you require ? E.g. VoiceMail, PSTN gateway (for outgoing calls), DID (local PSTN phone number), Caller ID. 
  
  VoIP has been providing low cost National and International PSTN calls since it started.  We have recently (Dec'05) added Voicemail, and DID is planned for January '06.
  
• Cost of calls ? The providers association with Australian's major Telecom carriers (Optus, AAPT, Telstra and any other they may use) means they can pass the benefits of huge buying power on to their customers in the form of everyday low call rates.
• To get good quality voice the telecom carriers that the VoIP Providers uses shoud be within Australia.
  
• Quality of calls ?  On-net calls travel directly between your VoIP phone and the callee's VoIP device, so are outside VoIP's direct control.  For calls to PSTN numbers, VoIP uses premium-grade connections through Optus, AAPT and Telstra. 

VoIP uses the SIP standard, so should work with all VoIP hardware and softphones.  Note however that some VoIP providers “lock” the devices they sell to prevent you from changing to another provider.

Remember that the usefulness of any phone is directly related to the number of people you can call with it. For instance there's not much point having a phone connected to an on-net-only provider (e.g. IPTel.org) if you don't know anyone else who is an IPTel.org member. Similarly if many of your contacts are already using Skype, then Skype must be a strong contender, even if Skype doesn't provide Australian local calls.

Can I connect to several VoIP Providers?

Some SIP devices allow for simultaneous connection to multiple VoIP providers; unfortunately most do not. Another method would be to use an IP PBX, such as an Asterisk server.

But with one provider with low call rates and high call quality, is another VoIP provider really required?