Confused Newbie on VoIP Calls

[Keith_EE]

Hello,

I guess this newbie is missing something here.

I see on:

Voxalot - Getting Started

If I want to use my regular telephone to make and receive calls, it is suggested to sign up with a VSP and voxalot.

If I can sign up with a VSP, say, voipo.com to make and receive calls, and also have a SIP number, why would I bother to sign up with voxalot?

Thanks,
Keith

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by Keith_EE

If I can sign up with a VSP, say, voipo.com to make and receive calls, and also have a SIP number, why would I bother to sign up with voxalot?

The primary reason to combine Voxalot with a VoIP provider (or multiple VoIP providers) is to get the best features of both services. Voxalot does have a number of services (many of them free), that many VoIP providers don't have built into their service.

For example, while you need some other VoIP provider to make normal toll calls, Voxalot does let you call (and be called by) other VoIP users for free (although in some cases you have to enter special dialing codes to complete the free call). And if you use Voxalot with a VoIP provider, you can get the best of both worlds (your VoIP provider for toll calls, and free calls to other VoIP users).

Another useful thing about Voxalot, is that it has several customization features (for your phone service) that might otherwise not be available. For example, Voxalot lets you preconfigure how each call is completed, based upon patterns in the number you dial. One useful use of this feature, is to automatically route calls via the cheapest of your available options. So if you had multiple VoIP accounts, you could pick the one that is the cheapest to the area you are calling. Or you could also do things like force 411 to use a free information service (for example, automatically redirect 411 calls to the free 1-800-free-411 service).

[rayo]

I might just as well jump in on this thread.
I have setup voxalot for myself and some friends and its working well betweens us using au.voxalot.com
I can even use my iPhone to ring them subject to wifi access.
The question I want to ask, will I be able to ring them if I travel to USA and am in an area with wifi available?

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by rayo

The question I want to ask, will I be able to ring them if I travel to USA and am in an area with wifi available?

In most (but not all) cases, yes.

That's one of the advantages (that Voxalot gives you easy access to) of "pure VoIP" (VoIP that doesn't touch a traditional telco line at any point in the call). Since the traffic is all just computer data on the internet, its no more hard (or costly) to have a private "phone call" across international boarders than it would be to listen to an internet "radio station" that is "broadcasting" in a different country.

In both cases, if you have enough bandwidth, and there aren't any firewall/port restriction in place (and remember that if/when even one ISP in the entire chain between the two has such a port/VoIP restriction in place, it will kill the VoIP call), than you can talk all you want "for free" (actually for whatever bandwidth charges you pay to your ISP for the data you are sending/receiving between you).

While I haven't done so recently, I have (in the past) had long (up to 3 hours at a time) international "conference calls" via VoIP. And even though the "calls" were crossing country boarders, and had multiple people (at different locations) "on the line" at the same time, the cost to everyone involved was essentially zero. Technically, we probably all used (and paid for) a trivial amount electricity to power our VoIP and networking equipment. And we also all had to pay our ISPs for internet access to be able to send this computer data between us (from our perspective VoIP acts like a sound voice line, but from the internet's perspective it is all just computer data). However, if (like many of us) you just pay a fixed fee for your monthly internet access, you don't even have an extra charge for the computer data, and effectively you don't have any extra costs (beyond the trivial amount for electricity) for "pure VoIP" calls no matter how much you chat (or how many countries boarders you cross to make that "phone call").

[dariusvayne]

Originally Posted by rayo

I might just as well jump in on this thread.
I have setup voxalot for myself and some friends and its working well betweens us using au.voxalot.com
I can even use my iPhone to ring them subject to wifi access.
The question I want to ask, will I be able to ring them if I travel to USA and am in an area with wifi available?

I think it is possible with the use of an application. I read some thread using Opera Mini in making WiFi calls.

[JustinBarley]

Originally Posted by dariusvayne

I think it is possible with the use of an application. I read some thread using Opera Mini in making WiFi calls.

+1 (agreed)