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Can cost as little as R1,000.00 for setup and hardware you save 30-40% on local and cellphone calls, you save 60% on International calls!
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Questions and Answers about VoIP in South Africa |
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How do I use the VoIP hardware once I have it?
After purchasing some hardware, if you want to use it for SIP VoIP applications
(ie., dialing other VoIP users, or dialing out to the public telephone network),
you will need to sign up with a service provider. There are many providers out
there offering an array of features - depending on whether you plan on making a
lot of PC-Phone calls or just PC-PC calls.
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What software do I need for VoIP?
In order to use voice over IP you require a VoIP client - this can be either
software or hardware. Stand-alone IP phones or adapters do not require any
software on your computer in order to operate (in fact, they don't even require
you to have a computer!) They plug into a spare Ethernet port on your
router/switch, and operate totally independently from your computer.
Software for use with voice over IP is known as a soft-phone. Instead of using a
stand-alone device for VoIP, you can use an application on your computer. You
then require a speaker and microphone (or a handset or headset) to connect to
your computer. To connect to SIP based VoIP providers, such as the ones you can
connect to with the stand-alone hardware, you need to use SIP compatible
hardware.
Some soft-phones are not SIP compatible, but still fall into the category of a
voice over IP application. These also allow voice conversations, but are limited
to the proprietary environment they operate in. Examples include the 'talk'
feature on MSN Messenger, 'talking' on AOL Instant Messenger and Skype.
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Can VoIP be used over a dialup connection?
Although it recommended that you have a broadband connection in order to use
VoIP applications, VoIP can work just fine over a dialup connection. Remember,
that it requires two people to use VoIP, you and the person you're calling - the
quality of the audio in the conversation will be determined by the person with
the lower quality connection.
Skype, for example, appears to have good quality over a dialup modem. Whilst SIP
based VoIP is affected more by the speed of the connection. The quality of the
audio is determined by the codec used (CODer, EnCoder). The codec used for a
given conversation is determined by the two parties in the conversation upon
initialisation. The 'best' codec that both parties can use, will be used. If one
party is on a dialup connection, their VoIP application will only 'offer' a
codec which can manage high compression - which implies, lower quality.
So in short - if your dialup connection is 56K, and you are happy to not use
other Internet applications while on the Internet phone, then it is worth giving
it a try, even if only just to test it out. In the long term though, you really
will need broadband in order to experience good quality calls without any
jitters, jumps and so forth.
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Does VoIP work if I am behind a firewall/NAT?
Like most Internet application, VoIP was not designed specifically to work
behind network address translators. The reason for this is that VoIP relies
heavily on UDP traffic - both incoming and outgoing. That being said, given that
most home networks are behind NATs SIP has had features added to it to make it
work in these situations. In most cases there is a way to get around your
router's firewall and NAT. Mostly this is accomplished by the end device (your
SIP hardware, of soft-phone) and the server it connects to, but sometimes you
need to make changes to your router.
The use of STUN and outbound proxies are two common methods of getting around
NATs. Using an outbound proxy involves relaying all traffic via a third party.
STUN on the other hand is used by the SIP device to discover what sort of router
you have and what the public IP address of your router is. Both of these methods
are transparent to the user and should not be of much concern.
Some routers that offer stateful packet inspection (SPI) are smart enough to
know when you have a SIP device on your local network, and will be able to deal
with the traffic quite well, without requiring any special settings or
configurations. If you have trouble using VoIP on your home network, it is
generally advised to make sure you have the latest firmware running on your
router (please consult your router's manual to find out how to update the
firmware). As VoIP gains in popularity, many router manufacturers are making
sure their routers are compatible, and often this means releasing firmware
updates.
If you are faced with a router which appears to give you endless trouble when
trying to use VoIP, a last resort is to set up port forwarding. The first effect
of this is ensuring that the firewall does not block traffic on certain ports
from coming in to your network. The second effect is to ensure that all traffic
coming in on specific ports is forwarded to the IP address of your SIP device.
The standard ports used by SIP are 5004 and 5060 for UDP traffic (a few
providers use non-standard ports). Please consult your router's user manual if
you are unsure how to set up port forwarding.
For more information on using voice over IP applications behind network address
translators, see the VoIP-info Wiki.
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I am not very tech-savvy - will I be able to set up the VoIP hardware myself?
VoIP is a new technology, and no-one expects you to be able to set it up all by
yourself. Any product sold through VoIPsmart.co.za comes with the assurance that
we will help you get it up and running. If that means helping you over the
phone, or simply answering some questions over email, we will help you.
In some circumstances, the products will only need to be plugged in, and they
will work. But in some cases, extra configuration may be required (for example,
if you are using a SIP-unfriendly router). Either way, we will assist you until
you can make phone calls!
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My home network is wireless/wifi, can I still use VoIP with VoIPSmart.co.za
hardware?
Sure! If you want to purchase one of the self contained ATAs (analogue telephone
adapters), you just need to make sure your wireless router has Ethernet ports on
it - as the ATA will plug into one of those. It does not matter that the rest of
your network is wireless. Another option is to simply use a Wifi IP phone.
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How much bandwidth does a typical VoIP conversation use?
When you use VoIP, one of a number of encoding algorithms is used - depending on
the bandwidth available at each end. The 'benchmark' algorithm is the
uncompressed one - how standard phone calls are sent along the phone lines. This
takes up 64kbps in each direction. Adding overheads - it is approximately 80kbps
in each direction. Other algorithms (which are more commonly used with VoIP) are
indistinguishable in quality, but add compression (similar to how MP3s manage to
compress the music, without affecting the quality much). These encoding
algorithms generally reduce the bandwidth (including overheads) to between 12
and 36kbps. In addition to the encoding algorithm, VoIP does 'silence
suppression'. Since for much of the phone call, one (or both) parties are not
speaking, it is pointless to take up all that bandwidth transmitting silence -
so this part is not transmitted. As a general rule, you might say that 100% of
the time, one party isn't talking (in other words, each person doesn't talk for
50% of the time). This approximately halves the bandwidth usage.
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Can I use VoIP but stay with my existing Internet service provider?
It does not matter who your ISP is when you use VoIP. As a general rules, VoIP
providers do not offer ISP service (and vice versa). It it similar to using
Hotmail for your email, and Company X for your Internet connection - your
Internet connection is simply a means of accessing email, or VoIP - no matter
which provider you use.
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If I get VoIP, can I disconnect my phone line so I don't have to pay line
rental?
It is entirely up to you whether you cancel your landline and rely solely on
voice over IP. Please keep in mind that if you connect to the Internet using DSL
technology, you cannot cancel your landline as the connection is required for
your Internet connection.
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Can I keep my current phone number and use one of your VoIP providers?
If you choose to sign up with a full service voice over IP provider you will be
assigned a new phone number. Essentially it comes down to the fact that your
local phone number is linked to a particular exchange, the collection of phone
numbers owned by the VoIP provider, out of which they assign your number, may be
attached to a separate exchange (especially if you are located in a different
city). Consequently, due to the geographic nature in which phone numbers are
allocated in South Africa, there is no way to keep your phone number.
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Can I send faxes over VoIP?
Sending faxes over IP (or FoIP) is very different to voice over IP. One of the
premises of voice over IP is that if the sound is changed a little bit by the
network, it will not matter, because the human ear at the other end will still
be able to hear and understand. This is similar to the principle behind MP3s -
music is significantly compressed, but when played back to the human ear, it
often sounds indistinguishable from the original. With a voice conversation, if
very high frequencies get cut out, or if one part of the sentence arrives a few
milliseconds late, or if very quite sounds aren't transmitted at all, the
receiver is still able to understand perfectly what the other person is saying.
Faxes, however, work on a different principle. Like a dial-up modem, they
transmit data over the phone line, and in order for the computer (or fax
machine) at the other end to be able to interpret what they are saying, the
transmission needs to go through unaltered and uncompressed, otherwise it cannot
be interpreted properly at the other end. At the very least this means that
compression cannot be used for fax over IP. More generally though, faxing over
IP is possible, but has to be specifically supported. Many VoIP providers do not
support faxing, purely because it adds more overheads to their network, and the
benefits of FoIP are not as obvious as VoIP (namely, because there is no
compression, and because faxing does not usually involve long phone calls, the
savings are not as large).
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If I purchase an IP phone/ATA, is that all I need to use VoIP?
Although you can purchase an IP phone or ATA, plug it into your broadband
router, and make VoIP calls, this is not the ideal situation. VoIP calls made in
this manner are IP-IP calls. In other words, to call someone else, you need to
dial their IP address directly. This may work fine in a controlled environment,
but has a number of drawbacks:
Many Internet users have dynamic IP addresses - to dial by IP address you need
to know the IP address of the other user's IP phone at the time you want to call
them. Imagine having to send emails to IP addresses rather than email addresses!
You can only call other VoIP users, and only those ones behind VoIP-friendly
firewalls and routers.
A much better option is to use a VoIP provider. Your IP phone or ATA can be
configured to register with the provider using a unique identification number.
Other VoIP users can then call you using this ID number rather than having to
know your IP address, as the provider is able to 'find' you based on this
number. Your IP phone registering with a provider is analagous to your email
program on your PC connecting to the server - once connected, the server knows
where to deliver your email! Additionally, many providers offer the ability to
call the PSTN as well as other VoIP users (this is generally how the providers
make their money). By using a provider, you will often receive other features
such as voicemail (eg., for when your Internet connection is down) and
conference calling.
Note that not all IP phones and ATAs support direct IP-IP dialling. In other
words, some IP phones and ATAs will not work at all unless you have them
register with a suitable VoIP provider.
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What is a 'codec'?
The word 'codec' is a joining of encoder/decoder. With respect to voice over IP,
a codec is an algorithm used to encode and potentially compress the analogue
voice signal into digital form to be transmitted over the Internet. At the
remote end, that same codec is then used to decode and decompress the digital
signal in order to reproduce the original analogue signal. There are a variety
of different codecs available that offer varying levels of compression and
quality. Mostly, the end user does not have to be concerned about codec
selection as it is done automatically by your VoIP client and that of the person
you are talking to (or the provider if you are calling the PSTN.
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How can I, using provider A, call my friend who is also on VoIP, but using
provider B?
Calling between SIP based VoIP providers is possible only if the provider you
are calling has a policy which allows incoming calls from non-members. Many VoIP
providers (but not all) have this policy. To make such a call, you need to dial
into your IP phone <phone_number>@othersipprovider.com. This notation is easy to
enter when using a softphone as it can be typed in using a keyboard, however, it
is not easy from a standard telephone! For this reason, many providers support
peering whereby they set up certain prefixes which you can dial to get through
to another provider. For example, if you use ATP, you can call a SIPPhone user
directly simply by dialling their SIPPhone number (wich always begins with 1747
- this is the part that identifies it to ATP as being a SIPPhone number).
Given the number of providers, not all providers peer directly (by having
prefixes to dial) with all other providers. This dilemma has been solved by SIP
Broker - an independent and free service that enables people using different
providers to call each other, even if the providers do not support peering
prefixes directly.
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Is your online credit card payment facility secure?
Online credit card payments are taken through our secure gateway which
interfaces directly with the Banks Internet Payment Gateway. Your credit card
details are not stored on our server at any time, but are passed directly to the
bank via a dedicated link to secure verification and processing.
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What are the ongoing costs associated with using VoIP?
Once you have all the equipment, you will be able to make free calls (the only
cost is that of having your Internet connection) to other VoIP users using a SIP
service provider. A SIP service provider acts as a proxy between you and the
person you want to call. Once the call is established, the data is sent between
you and the person you called, not through the SIP provider.
Many SIP providers offer the ability to call VoIP users who have registered with
a different SIP provider.
Some SIP providers make money through advertising on their website, and by
offering customers premium packages which give you the option of making calls
from your computer, to normal telephone lines - the prices of which are
generally cheaper than traditional telephone companies, even for STD calls in
South Africa
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Do prices on this site include tax? What if I do not live in South Africa?
Since we target our products and services at South African residents, all prices
mentioned on the VoIPSmart.co.za website include 14% VAT unless stated
otherwise.
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What currency are the prices in?
All prices specified on the VoIPSmart.co.za website are in South African Rands
unless explicitly stated otherwise.
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What happens with the personal information I enter when making a purchase at
VoIPSmart.co.za?
All personal information collected during the purchase process is used solely to
process your order, and provide you with a positive customer experience, in
short, you can expect to not receive any junk mail (electronic or otherwise)
from us or any third party as a result of providing us with your contact
details.
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Which hardware should I buy?
Broadly speaking, voice over IP hardware breaks down into two categories; those
which are telephones in themselves, and adapters which allow you to use a
standard telephone for VoIP. At VoIPSmart.co.za, most of our products are of the
adapter type as they provide the greatest flexibility, allowing you to use any
telephone handset you like - including a cordless phone. If you purchase a
'complete VoIP phone unit', you have no choice but to use the handset that forms
part of the phone.
Within these two categories, one can get fully self contained units, and PC
peripheral units. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of either
type:
Fully Self Contained Units PC Based Units
Connects to An Ethernet port on a router, switch or hub. A USB port on your
computer.
PC requirements to use VoIP Does not require your PC to be on while making or
receiving VoIP phone calls. Requires your PC to be turned on in order to make or
receive VoIP phone calls. In general, you use a soft-phone to dial and receive
calls, the hardware is simply used for the conversation part of the call.
Power source Requires an additional power source (included in product). Gets
power from your PC through the USB port.
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Where can I found out more about voice over IP?
Articles on voice over IP are beginning to appear in many computer magaines and
even in the mainstream media, with the growing popularity of VoIP, a lot of
consumer oriented sites are springing up. Here is a list of sites that contain
useful information about Internet telephony - both for new and experienced
users.
A multitude of resources for beginners and experts alike
Explanations of the various voice over IP protocols
A Practical VoIP Cookbook/Guide/FAQ
The VOIP Wiki - a reference guide to all things VOIP
Another VOIP wiki
Public ENUM server - register a PSTN phone number so it can be called using VOIP
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) - at the Wikipedia
Voxilla - A User's Guide to the VoIP Revolution
Carrier grade voice over IP technology from AudioCodes
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What is Asterisk? And what can I do with it?
Asterisk is a fully functional PBX in software that runs on Linux. It does voice
over IP and can inter-operate with legacy telephony equipment to provide an
extremely comprehensive PBX solution which includes advanced features such as
voicemail, interactive voice response and more. We recommend you check out the
following links to learn more about Asterisk:
Asterisk Open-Source PABX (official homepage)
Getting Started With Asterisk. This easy to follow guide written by Andy Powell
will show you how to put an old PC to good use. This site also provides a
bootable CD image with Asterisk ready to go!
Asterisk@Home provides a complete Linux+Asterisk installation from a single CD
complete with a web interface for controlling the system. An easy way to get a
basic Asterisk installation going.
Australian Based Guide to setting up Asterisk
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If I use VoIP, can I only call other people using VoIP?
Not necessarily. To use VoIP you would generally sign up a VoIP provider. Some
providers give you the ability to only call other VoIP users, some providers
allow you to only call standard telephones, and some allow you to call both. Any
time you use a provider that allows you to call standard telephones, you will
have to pay, however VoIP-VoIP calls are generally free. The key is to sign up
with a provider that suits your needs most, so you do not end up paying for
something you do not need (eg., a monthly service fee if you never plan on
making calls to the PSTN!)
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What can voice over IP do for me?
Every person is different, and so is every situation. Different people use VoIP
for different reasons - although the common theme is saving money. Have a look
at the services we offer and see if any of them sound like something you might
want.
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What are the benefits of voice over IP for businesses?
Many companies are currently replacing their old fashioned PABX's with newer
software based systems. These soft-PABX's turn an office telephone network into
an IP network, and even allow companies to use the same wiring for their
computer and telephone network. Companies are starting to save vast amounts of
money by doing this since voice conversations are carried over the same network
as their data, and this data can be then sent across the Internet to offices
across the country, or across the world, for the cost of Internet access. By
bypassing the telephone companies for long distance phone calls, companies are
saving themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in inter-office calling.
Additionally, by having a phone system based on software, rather than hardware,
upgrades can be made quickly and cheaply, new features can be easily
implemented, and office workers can even connect to the PABX remotely!
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