XT Mobile Data and VoIP

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code15

190 posts

Master Geek

# 34815 29-May-2009 18:29

Hi everyone,

I'm looking at the option of VoIP on a new mobile to get cheaper calling rates. Searching through many VoIP providers i came across 2talk, a NZ based provider with rates at 25 cents a minute to mobiles or 3 cents a minute to landlines + you get 15 minutes of landline calls for free each month.

My plan was to get a symbian (so I can get a VoIP client app) XT mobile, pay $12 for the 120Mb plan and use VoIP to make my calls.

Is this possible and will telecom even let you use VoIP over its network?

Cheers

harrylin

326 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 219436 29-May-2009 18:38

Do you think 120mb a month is enough to make voip call?? How many calls do You wanna make in a month? One minute of voip call will use about 500kb. Btw, telecom won't restrict voip. Their terms and conditions is b*llsh**

harrylin

326 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 219439 29-May-2009 18:45

Why do you not use Skype? Free nationwide calls for 10 dollars, or 25 dollars for worldwide free calls. XT signal strength should be pretty stable, so you won't have trouble maintaining a good quality phone calls. Just need to sign up to a bigger data plan such as 1 or 2GB. I use will 120 mb on voip in 2 day

cokemaster

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# 219440 29-May-2009 18:45

Harrylin, there is no need for that language.

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harrylin

326 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 219442 29-May-2009 18:47

Windows mobile palm treo pro also support skypein. Skypein is only natively supported on windows mobile. Not sure symbian support skypein or not.

code15

190 posts

Master Geek

# 219451 29-May-2009 19:06

Thanks for the info, so telecom will allow it or just won't block it? I would probably call mobiles more than landlines and that $10 unlimited call thing is only for landlines. Has anyone got VoIP working on there mobile? I think I would use VoIP for calls I make and just receive calls to my normal telecom number.

sbiddle

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# 219495 29-May-2009 20:13

I spent well over 2 hours on VoIP calls last weekend on XT both stationary and drive tests using an E71 around Wellington.

VoIP quality is satisfactory at best - it is certainly far superior on Vodafone than on XT with significant jitter at times and possible UDP packet loss. To be honest I was disappointed, particularly on an unloaded network.

So yes it will work - but in my testing if you want VoIP over 3G then Vodafone is the best option right now.

I'll hopefully get a chance in the coming days to do some testing with Asterisk 1.6 using VoIP over TCP rather than UDP and see if quality is any better and whether their are core network issues affecting UDP traffic that are causing the issues.

You do also need to be aware that VoIP over 3G is *not* a replacement for circuit switched voice. You will encounter voice issues incl jitter even on Vodafone. Maybe when the Rel 7 UMTS upgrades are rolled out (presumably before Xmas on both VF and Telecom) we'll see significant improvements.

coffeebaron

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# 220220 31-May-2009 21:57

sbiddle: I spent well over 2 hours on VoIP calls last weekend on XT both stationary and drive tests using an E71 around Wellington.

VoIP quality is satisfactory at best - it is certainly far superior on Vodafone than on XT with significant jitter at times and possible UDP packet loss. To be honest I was disappointed, particularly on an unloaded network.

Keep us posted on your testing - VoIP usability is certainly a significant factor for rolling out 3G in the rural areas.

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acsonline

179 posts

Master Geek

# 220237 31-May-2009 22:51

have you thought about using something like sip broker? and nominating their auckland or wellington number as a favourite? combine that with voxalot or your own trixbox setup (and another favourite here) and you're free from the vagaries of voip on 3G.

also check out iskoot. they have an nz number. for skypeout.

Zeon

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# 220257 1-Jun-2009 00:24

I'm sure Telecom/VF will move to reduce the QoS on VOIP if it becomes too popular. I wonder how long it will take for people to realize that the only thing a cellphone is for is connection to the cloud and the only thing the providers can charge for is the bandwidth and maybe their own VOIP/email etc. offerings.

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sbiddle

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# 220265 1-Jun-2009 06:40

Zeon: I'm sure Telecom/VF will move to reduce the QoS on VOIP if it becomes too popular. I wonder how long it will take for people to realize that the only thing a cellphone is for is connection to the cloud and the only thing the providers can charge for is the bandwidth and maybe their own VOIP/email etc. offerings.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, at least from the Vodafone perspective. You never know what services that may have planned for the future.

VoIP over 3G is currently not a replacement for circuit switched voice. You simply cannot rely on it to give a quality calling experience everywhere you go. UMTS Rel7 also introduces many new features such as better QoS that should make the VoIP experience over 3G far better than it is now.

jjnz1

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# 220374 1-Jun-2009 13:41

I use texter 600 plan + 100off peak mins + 100MB for $10, nokia N82 and 2talk voip.
The N82 has builtin voip client which makes calling using voip just like normal.

I have to be stationary otherwise voip connection is crap (50% of time). Also need to have more than 2 bars of 3g signal.
This set up works fine for me, quality is awesome, and when signal is low, just use my 30 free anytime minutes.

Would recommend it to anyone, i have saved lots, especially peak landline calling -only 4 cents?

Just dont use as primary method of calling.

coffeebaron

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# 220377 1-Jun-2009 13:49

acsonline: have you thought about using something like sip broker? and nominating their auckland or wellington number as a favourite? combine that with voxalot or your own trixbox setup (and another favourite here) and you're free from the vagaries of voip on 3G.

also check out iskoot. they have an nz number. for skypeout.

I have a GSM gateway, but I find just straight VoIP is more convienent. The other senario where this falls down is when your mobile connection is not a phone, it's a router with an IP phone or ATA attached.

But, yea, plenty of different ways of making calls, that's for sure :)

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