what is the different between "from user" and "username" ?
 

refer in provider details page, in advanced mode
what is the different between " from user" and "usename", "from domain" and "sip proxy"? both fill in with same stuff.

To my knowledge the following is correct:

SIP Proxy can act as both server and client; normally it makes requests on behalf of other clients.

The "from user" is used when calling another SIP proxy this field specified the user to put in "from" field instead of callerid.

The "from domain" entry substitutes the domain entry when calling another SIP proxy.

Hi,
I'll try to make it an "real life example"...

You have a fixed phone line, which telephone number is +1 777 1234567.
For outgoing calls you have chosen an VSP, but the called party doesn't see your phone number in the display of his phone, but anything else the provider assigned to you or even nothing ("unknown") at all.

Some VSPs allow you to provide a "real" phone number to be shown on the called party's phone display as the "caller id".

Some providers require you to verify this phone number (like Voipbuster, VoipDiscount, FreeCalls, ... and all the other Betamaxes) before you can use it as "from user".
Other providers like VoiceTrading allow any phone number as "from user".

In these cases you would put 0017771234567 as the from number in the advanced provider settings and it would show on the called party's handset.
(This is correct for all Betamax VSPs. The required number format could be different with other VSPs.)

gambrinus

I have more than one "real" phone number verified with Voipdiscount. I set one of them in the "From user" field but would occasionally like to call "from" the other.

To solve this I have registered my Voipdiscount account twice in Voxalot, each with a different "From user" number. Then I set up dialplans for each
(i.e. dial 1*<destination number> for CID 1 and 2*<destination number> for CID 2).

It surprised me, but it seems to work well.

ataboy

Not really surprising, but exactly how this is supposed to work... :-)

BTW: I have setup VoXaLot accounts for all my family/friends and use one VSP (VoiceTrading, another Betamax clone with very competitive rates) for all of them.

Yes, you're right. I suppose what I meant is that it all seemed too easy somehow; I just expected some kind of hitch with Betamax.

But not as competitive as some of their Freeday offerings. . .

ataboy

Hi ataboy,

<offtopic>
Hmm, not really. The "freedays" are subsidized by quite high rates for mobile phone calls. Because you have to top up the account regurlarly to receive the freedays and use it up for more or less expensive mobile phone calls in the long run you pay more.

I have compared all phone calls in a one years period that were placed in an international translation bureau (so a good mix of destinations and mobile and fixed line calls) in an Excel Pivot. It turned out that VoiceTrading is still cheaper, even if I would have used multiple Betamax accounts to keep all land line calls almost free and use the Betamax clone with the lowest mobile rates for each destination.

Although the calls to mobile networks were only approx. 10% the amount of minutes to landlines - they caused 90% of the costs!

In the end nothing is really for free and the people at Betamax seem to calculate right. Play on the people's "greed" with "free calls" and make the real money with the calls to the non-free destinations and the calls outside the freedays period ... ;-)

Even if you use Betamax for free land line calls only - how do you use up the money in the account then?!?
</offtopic>

gambrinus

I guess it all depends on your pattern of usage. My mobile doesn't have bundled minutes, so cross-network rates for me are more expensive than Betamax rates. I make so few calls to mobiles (but need a specific CID when I do) that they all come out of my account.

The big bonus for me is the flexibility that I get from Voxalot in being able to use the "freeday" minutes from anywhere at little or no cost.

ataboy