[WXC/VFX] Questions from a nubie

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Phin

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#11581 31-Jan-2007 17:18

Hi have been looking at Voip for a while now but am a newby as far as the technology goes. I have basically decided that Vfx will be the Voip I use if I continue but I have a few questions I need answered first.

1 Can the Linksys SPA3102 be configured to deal with local calls like the grandstream ht488. That is recognize a preprogrammed number or prefix (for example 235) and direct the call to the pstn network.

1a Will calls from telecom network (Fxo port ) ring the connected analog phone(fxs port)

2 If I live outside the Auckland telecom free calling area, can I have a Auckland number Thus allowing me to make local calls in Auckland. (At the moment just because of the way telecom has their exchange, my mate 1/2 Km away is a toll call! **** telecom)

3 How much does a second number/line cost?

4 In April if I like Vfx will I be able to move my telecom number to Vfx because of number portability.

Im sorry if some of these questions seem rudimentary but Xnet literature is vague and so is the Linksys website information.

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#59397 31-Jan-2007 17:50

Phin: 1) Can the Linksys SPA3102 be configured to deal with local calls like the grandstream ht488. That is recognize a preprogrammed number or prefix (for example 235) and direct the call to the pstn network.

First up -- Welcome to Geekzone

I have a Linksys SPA2102 which is very similar to 3102 and the answer is YES, you can program a Dial Plan to do that. However, it would be necessary to ask WorldxChange to do this for you as they lock down the setup and may or may not be willing to do it.

Phin: 1a) Will calls from telecom network (Fxo port ) ring the connected analog phone(fxs port)

So far as I know the 2 ports need something in between them, such as ASTERISK in order to do what you are wanting.

In fact, Asterisk would be the best answer to question (1) above as well, then you won't need to bother WorldxChange.

Phin: 2) If I live outside the Auckland telecom free calling area, can I have a Auckland number Thus allowing me to make local calls in Auckland. (At the moment just because of the way telecom has their exchange, my mate 1/2 Km away is a toll call!)

You need an address INSIDE the Auckland free calling area with which to sign up. But if you then move the equipment to another address, it is up to you to change your recorded address via the VFX Portal so that Emergency Services have your correct address. Get the idea

Phin: 3) How much does a second number/line cost?

$7.95 per month.

Phin: 4) In April if I like Vfx will I be able to move my telecom number to Vfx because of number portability.

YES, I just talked to them yesterday about this because that is my plan as well. You need to notify WxC of your wish to have your number reassigned from Telecom and they will take care of it. Note that you will need to provide your broadband connection through some other means such as Wireless in order to take advantage of this.

How's that? Easy eh

Cheers,
Grant.

maverick

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WorldxChange

#59403 31-Jan-2007 18:30

Hi the 3102 is going through a certification process at present and should be available to be connected to our network in the next few weeks, just sorting a few config issues at present, hence the delay

1. Yes , most likely
1a. Sorry Grant but the incoming call on the FXO port can be configured to ring the FXS port, it can also be configured to do a 2 stage dialing setup and is quite a powerful unit , we are still sorting out how we are going to deploy this so watch this space

2. Auckland Numbers are signed up with an Auckland billing address to follow the NAD Rules(Number Allocation Deed) , which basically states that Number ranges are tied to geographical areas, and WxC complies to this Rule.

3. Already covered

4. Yes, but unless Naked DSL is an option moving a porting a Telecom Number will collapse all services under it ie your DSL and line etc, Naked DSL we do not believe will available in April...Oh how we wish it was

Regards
Phil Moore
Operations Manager
WorldxChange Communications

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#61437 21-Feb-2007 13:40

2. Auckland Numbers are signed up with an Auckland billing address to follow the NAD Rules(Number Allocation Deed) , which basically states that Number ranges are tied to geographical areas, and WxC complies to this Rule.

Can you please explain the NAD rules ?

I want to receive inbound calls from my Auckland customers, and therefore want an Auckland number. Am I not allowed an Auckland number unless I have an office physically located in the Auckland ?

One solution is for me to have an 0800 number for my Auckland customers to call, but I'd still want it to terminal at an Auckland number to keep my per minute cost down.

maverick

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WorldxChange

#61455 21-Feb-2007 14:52

Can you please explain the NAD rules ?

Do you have a while

, these have been discussed in other places but the basics of it are this, Each number Block eg 09 95x xxxx is assigned to a Carrier and a Geographical Region ie in this case the region is Auckland Auckland this is done by the NAD who control the numbers for New Zealand what this means is that these numbers need to be assigned to that region only, the way we do this is based on billing address, if we didn't follow these rules then the Number Plan would go out the door and then numbers would be used any where in any location, some carriers may be doinng it but we believe it breaks these rules so will not be doing it until a change in rules.

I want to receive inbound calls from my Auckland customers, and therefore want an Auckland number. Am I not allowed an Auckland number unless I have an office physically located in the Auckland ?

- A billing address in Auckland is okay, how you move your number around is up to you as VOIP is a portable Technology, we believe we comply to the NAD rules by billing to Auckland address it's up to the user to keep his details up to date for physicial location

One solution is for me to have an 0800 number for my Auckland customers to call, but I'd still want it to terminal at an Auckland number to keep my per minute cost down.

Thats an option as well

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

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Kraven

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#61555 22-Feb-2007 12:11

Are 0800 numbers an option on a VFX line? If so, what's involved?

maverick

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WorldxChange

#61561 22-Feb-2007 12:26

Kraven: Are 0800 numbers an option on a VFX line? If so, what's involved?

Yes you can terminate 0800 to VFX lines no problem at all, all thats required is you have the 0800 terminated to the VFX number you require ...should be no issue whatsoever

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

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coffeebaron

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#61636 22-Feb-2007 20:00

maverick:
One solution is for me to have an 0800 number for my Auckland customers to call, but I'd still want it to terminal at an Auckland number to keep my per minute cost down.

Thats an option as well

Phil, you were looking into an option of having a second VFX number from any region in New Zealand that would terminate on your local VFX number. This would be a better solution than 0800 number.

How is this idea progressing?

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maverick

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WorldxChange

#61644 22-Feb-2007 21:08

coffeebaron:
maverick:
One solution is for me to have an 0800 number for my Auckland customers to call, but I'd still want it to terminal at an Auckland number to keep my per minute cost down.

Thats an option as well

Phil, you were looking into an option of having a second VFX number from any region in New Zealand that would terminate on your local VFX number. This would be a better solution than 0800 number.

How is this idea progressing?

Funny this is the 3rd time I have been asked this in 2 days

, we do have a option where you can have a Mailbox only from different areas, but we are discussing a option of a virtual number to work in conjunction with your VFX Number, i.e. allow inbound calls to a virtual VFX with call diversion to ONLY VFX numbers, this may allow us to fit within the guidelines of the NAD.

Please note this is only being discussed at present but looks pretty positive

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

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gchiu

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#61684 23-Feb-2007 07:37

I'm a newbie too, and have a couple of questions.

I have two lines at present, one for voice, and one for fax/eftpos.

Should I keep one line for eftpos?

I have the same line connected to a Hylafax server. If I change both lines, would my Hylafax setup still work okay? Would I automatically get CID ?

Also, what charges are there to international calls to me?

Are there options to provide a 1800 US based number that comes to me?

Thanks,

maverick

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WorldxChange

#61685 23-Feb-2007 07:52

gchiu: I'm a newbie too, and have a couple of questions.

I have two lines at present, one for voice, and one for fax/eftpos.

Should I keep one line for eftpos?

I have the same line connected to a Hylafax server. If I change both lines, would my Hylafax setup still work okay? Would I automatically get CID ?

Also, what charges are there to international calls to me?

Are there options to provide a 1800 US based number that comes to me?

Thanks,

Eftpos, always a hard one this , we have EFTPOS running over the service at a few locations but it can have issues, generally due to line / adsl condtions, best bet is to trial it from you location to see if it works for you.

Not being familiar with this Hylafax ? it will once again come to to perhaps testing it we generally have very good success with FAX on the network ,however FAX / Modem over IP is extremly hard due to a number of variables , Fax and Modems actually transmit completely differently, so it can be difficult on occassions to get FAX, Modems , EFTPOS working.

AS for charges on international see below

http://www.xnet.co.nz/pdfs/rates_xnet_vfx.pdf

1800 numbers ...sorry we do not have this service available, if you have this already you can terminate a 1800 number to a VFX number no problem

hope this answers your questions

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

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gchiu

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#61686 23-Feb-2007 08:13

Thanks.

I'm on a business telstraclear cable, and not adsl.

I will probably keep the fax/eftpos line because the cable internet outages in Wellington happen with great regularity

Rather than a 1800 number, what about a local number in say California that gets forwarded to me. Do you have gateways in the major US cities yet?

And are the charges different for business vs home users? I looked at your website and it didn't clearly distinguish these.

And on a different topic .. I have some users on woosh. I presume that this service over woosh is not a good idea. Is the quality much better than Woosh's voip?

maverick

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#61687 23-Feb-2007 08:28

gchiu: Thanks.

I'm on a business telstraclear cable, and not adsl.

I will probably keep the fax/eftpos line because the cable internet outages in Wellington happen with great regularity

Rather than a 1800 number, what about a local number in say California that gets forwarded to me. Do you have gateways in the major US cities yet?

And are the charges different for business vs home users? I looked at your website and it didn't clearly distinguish these.

And on a different topic .. I have some users on woosh. I presume that this service over woosh is not a good idea. Is the quality much better than Woosh's voip?

No sorry we do not have local numbers in the US either, something that is being looked at though.

Yes there is, and it will be for Local Calls , if you ring our sales line 0800123456 they can help you more on this.

As for Whoosh, we have looked at it and our opinion the network we have tested with is extremly poor for VOIP services and we would not recomend it all in any way shape or form, this may seem harsh but we don't want our service to be effect by poor preforming networks, VFX works well over most providers but Whoosh I'm afraid is extremly poor.

AS for quality...Once again I will be biased as I think it's great, so for unbiased opinions I will let other users answer on that.

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

https://www.facebook.com/wxccommunications

grant_k

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#61692 23-Feb-2007 09:10

gchiu: I will probably keep the fax/eftpos line because the cable internet outages in Wellington happen with great regularity

Hi Graham,

I can perhaps offer you the benefit of my experience here...

Over the past 2 or 3 weeks we have ported all our voice services to VFX from the Telecom lines we were using previously. Voice quality is brilliant, but for faxes or modems there are some provisos:

1) Sending faxes to numbers within NZ works perfectly over VFX in my experience
2) Sending international faxes is a different story -- it hardly ever works
3) Using a modem over VFX is very much try it and see e.g. The modem in MySky works but the 56k modem in my laptop doesn't

For this reason, we have retained just one Telecom line at our office as a dedicated fax line and also to carry ADSL.

gchiu: I presume that this service over woosh is not a good idea. Is the quality much better than Woosh's voip?

From what I have heard, the voice call quality over Woosh is patchy and variable at best.

VFX on the other hand is a perfect landline replacement so long as you meet a couple of provisos:

1) If on ADSL, go for a plan with Full-speed Upload and Download
2) If there is exceptionally heavy downloading going on, you might need to install a router with QoS

However, given that you are on TCL cable (with bandwidth to burn), I don't expect you would have any problem in this area.

sbiddle

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#61696 23-Feb-2007 09:39

gchiu: Are there options to provide a 1800 US based number that comes to me?

Thanks,

If you're wanting a 1800 number there are plenty of VoIP providers in the USA who will offer you one. To handle multiple VoIP providers however you're really going to need to run some PBX software like Asterisk to handle this. Unfortunately VFX doesn't support Asterisk yet so you couldnt run both together.

gchiu

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#61699 23-Feb-2007 09:51

Well, I've signed up so will see how things go. Haven't got any hardware yet though .. not sure what I will need.

I was looking for something like a Skype US based number - where US callers would be pushed to my skype phone.

Asterisk .. no experience with this, but I see some testing is under way with VCX.

Maybe I should download a vmware image to test it out?

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