Voip vs regular phone mainly related to Australia



Posted: Saturday, December 31, 2005

by Wayne Skewes
Alpha Mortgage Solutions PTY LTD

Voip stands for Voice over internet protocol, which basically means to make a phone call over the internet. There is a fast trend towards this type of service for various reasons the most obvious being

  1. Cost saving
  2. Free calls
  3. Some provide video conference
  4. Much cheaper national and international calls
  5. Some are now providing capped calls
  6. You dont get that big bill at the end as is paid upfront
The 3 main Voip providers in Austalia are Ipez, Freshtel and Engine to find the others you can always do a google search. Free calls are provided for those that are customers of the same service for example an Ipez user to another Ipez user is a free call this can be said for most Voip companies, though these are Austalian companies they provide a world wide service.

It is important to know the extra service that each company provides e.g. do they provide

The free calls are a bonus you can have your family and friends join they will be the free calls. However don't stop there your other calls can also save you heaps. Compare the rates between the servers find what best suites your needs. Whether it be Ipez, Engine, Freshtel or another provider I have chosen these 3 as they seem to be the most popular in Australia.

Do your research into what each service provides, compare the rates compare with your standard landline and see how much can be saved.

I guess its time to start to talk about the disadvantages of Voip as yes some do find that there are draw backs, be assured these are being resolved at an alarming rate.

  1. You need to be connected to the internet
  2. Some services you have to be connected to the computer
  3. You cannot carry your computer around in your pocket
  4. Although dial up is good with the phone side of things, with video conference you really require ADSL.
This is an interesting point, you should also enquire from the provider, what band width do they use. This can range from 12-14bps to 64bps. This is important to know, obviously the less download used the less demand from your ISP, secondly will be the quality of the call, the lower bps used the call will be much clearer. Ipez is the only one that I am aware of in Australia that uses between 12-14bps.

Moving back to point 2 of the drawbacks, there are now USB devices that can be used so that the user can freely move from 1 computer to another computer. These devices once plugged into the USB drive, release a soft phone onto the computer being used (an earpiece and mike plugs in the back). You can then enter your user ID and password and call from the computer you are docked at, great for the travellor. Check to see if the provider also provides the roaming phone book, this means your address book will be hosted by the provider, less you have to take with you when on the go.



It would seem that with technology growing all the time, the Voip services are set to make big indents into the telephony industry. It provides a much cheaper network for both business and the ordinary consumers to take advantage of.

Remember to do your homework, and ask questions to the provider if they do not respond this may be an indication of the service they provide. Be sure to provide some time for them to get back to you though. I hope this has provided some thought for when you seek a provider for your needs.

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by John Shulz
from U.S. 6 years 127 days ago.
I found this article quite interesting it was easy to follow providing the information needed to consider using Voip. Though it was directed mainly to Australia it would not take much to use the information here in the U.S. Thanks
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