[TelstraClear] What are TelstraClear's plans for offering Voip services

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] What are TelstraClear's plans for offering Voip services

geek4me

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#14884 25-Jul-2007 10:41

Does anyone know if/when TelstraClear are planning to offer voip services. A search for voip on their website produces 0 hits. I have TelstraClear cable and am looking at what voip services are available. Xnet, iTalk and even Skype are contenders all now offering local voip phone numbers in NZ. How far away are TCL in offering the same on their cable network and what would the charges be - perhaps someone from TCL would care to comment?

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#79559 25-Jul-2007 10:50

All these are good questions, and rumours are going around... But as most sensitive information you will be lucky to get any information out of those parties before the time is right...

As for the options you mentioned, I am now using XNET VFX and I am happy with that.

nzealander

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#79564 25-Jul-2007 11:07

I think it will be very hard to get an official or even unofficial response to that. It would be a bit like asking "So what are the new mobile services Voda are looking at launching?".

The fringe players are happy to speak about such things because they are trying to gain customers whatever the cost. The larger players are looking at delivering mass-market, solid solutions even if they do want to crank things out sooner rather than later.

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#79606 25-Jul-2007 13:49

I second the VFX option. Just looking at the Geekzone WorldxChange Forum should give you some ideas on what it is like. I would never consider using Telstra for VOIP even if they did offer it as a service. Not when you have the likes of WxC around which offer real service and a top notch product.

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#79607 25-Jul-2007 14:09

I think both Telecom and TCL (and Vodafone) should look at VFX on how they well they handle their customers' request. I hope all major telcos will learn something and wise up with their (lack of) customer services.

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#79629 25-Jul-2007 16:00

I am just wondering what compelling motivation would TCL to offer VoIP service? I guess only to those who have their broadband service (especially cable subscribers) who have a Telecom land line and want to move to VoIP. Certainly for folks like me who have TCL landline service, offering a VoIP service is not something that would help their revenue?

And for my own part, I can't see any compelling reason to move to VoIP at this time - the hassle of having the network setup around the house so I could service all the rooms that currently have landline is just way too much hassle for me

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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#79634 25-Jul-2007 16:16

lchiu7: I am just wondering what compelling motivation would TCL to offer VoIP service? I guess only to those who have their broadband service (especially cable subscribers) who have a Telecom land line and want to move to VoIP. Certainly for folks like me who have TCL landline service, offering a VoIP service is not something that would help their revenue?

And for my own part, I can't see any compelling reason to move to VoIP at this time - the hassle of having the network setup around the house so I could service all the rooms that currently have landline is just way too much hassle for me

Motivation.. people will start moving to VOIP. If Telstra don't want to loose those customers all together then they need to have an offering.

As for compelling reasons, for me slashing the monthly cost of having a "land line" to $11.25 with more services then Telstra offer (which Telstra expect you to pay more for) is a fairly compelling reason.

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#79635 25-Jul-2007 16:18

lchiu7: ...the hassle of having the network setup around the house so I could service all the rooms that currently have landline is just way too much hassle for me

It's actually very easy...

1) Open up the Point-of-Entry box where your landline enters the house.

2) Snip the wires that come into the box from the street.

3) Plug the connection from your ATA into a handy phone jackpoint.

4) Voila! Your VoIP service is now available at every jackpoint around the house, the same way the landline was

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#79644 25-Jul-2007 17:05

lchiu7: I am just wondering what compelling motivation would TCL to offer VoIP service? I guess only to those who have their broadband service (especially cable subscribers) who have a Telecom land line and want to move to VoIP. Certainly for folks like me who have TCL landline service, offering a VoIP service is not something that would help their revenue?

And for my own part, I can't see any compelling reason to move to VoIP at this time - the hassle of having the network setup around the house so I could service all the rooms that currently have landline is just way too much hassle for me

Compelling reasons....

1) VoIP has lower infrastructure costs. No DSP's required, your customers pay for their own.
2) VoIP doesn't require obtaining wholesale access to Telecom's analog network, only the DSL network.
3) Switching costs are lower in VoIP, because conceivably your customers could talk amongst themselves once address resolution has happened.
4) The traffic represented by voice is miniscule compared to your data traffic.
5) VoIP hardware is cheaper than a regular carrier switch.
6) VoIP offers a migration path to fixed/mobile convergence, including such very cool things as femto-cells and UMA.
7) Once it's a VoIP call, integration with international VoIP wholesalers is cheap and easy. The wholesale cost of international calls is something like .1c/min (probably less).
8) The software is simpler too. More happens in the edges of the network. This results in failures being more localised.
9) Service creation. It moves service creation out of the Telco tower and into general IT/WWW development. Compare SIP (runs on top of HTTP) with SS7.
10) Endpoints get more control of their calls. How would you like a tool on your PC that can re-direct calls to your mobile phone? How about writing that tool yourself?
11) You are selling a lot of VoIP lines to your business customers including government departments.

There are more, but I'm tired now. :)

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nzealander

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#79653 25-Jul-2007 17:53

I actually think the question, "why do customer want it" to be more intriguing... Generally, I believe it has to do with cost...

If the same price could be accomplished over PSTN I am not certain that VOIP would be such a big deal....

Feel free to flame away, I love playing devil's advocate :)

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#79657 25-Jul-2007 18:14

I agree, cost is currently the driver for a customer to move to VoIP. However, I have also seen VoIP providers create
interesting new services that can't be offered elsewhere. :) Some customers move for one reason, others for another.

When I switched, it was for the price. I was looking at a $50/month bill and thinking that what I got wasn't worth that much. I switched to Xnet, and the bill is now under $15. Since then, I've discovered that they have a tonne of cool features on the phone that I would love to use.

I think the evolution here is much like what happened when email moved off of the mainframe and onto UNIX servers. Now, I run an email server at home! I don't have to specify a "bang path" to get my email delivered!

I feel that voice is becoming a feature on top of your data service, instead of a service in it's own right. Google Talk, Skype and Phone Gnome are just going to continue pushing voice in that direction.

Jason

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#79658 25-Jul-2007 18:17

nzealander: I actually think the question, "why do customer want it" to be more intriguing... Generally, I believe it has to do with cost...

Initially it was cost, for sure...

But once I got VFX, I found all the extra features such as Voice Mail to E-mail and the cool web interface made it so much more than just a Telecom landline. I like VFX so much I have now replaced 3 Telecom landlines at our home and office. The savings are around $150 per month (due to low or zero line rental and much lower calling costs) and yet we are getting a far superior service with Caller ID on all 3 lines.

VoIP rocks

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#79661 25-Jul-2007 19:07

I've been advised by a TelstraClear sales rep that SIP trunking is coming, probably within 12 months. Rather loose I know, but it's probably a priority as there will be more money for Telstra to make out of selling a VOIP server than reselling Telecom NZ services (I realise a lot of TelstraClear customers run over their own network and they would lose revenue if those customers move to VOIP).

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#79664 25-Jul-2007 19:28

Grant17:
nzealander: I actually think the question, "why do customer want it" to be more intriguing... Generally, I believe it has to do with cost...

Initially it was cost, for sure...

But once I got VFX, I found all the extra features such as Voice Mail to E-mail and the cool web interface made it so much more than just a Telecom landline. I like VFX so much I have now replaced 3 Telecom landlines at our home and office. The savings are around $150 per month (due to low or zero line rental and much lower calling costs) and yet we are getting a far superior service with Caller ID on all 3 lines.

VoIP rocks

I have 5 phones in the house. Looking at the VFX offering it doesn't look that easy to replicate with their VoIP service since it appears to require that you need a VoIP phone and it needs to be connected to the router. While I do have a number of PC's on the network, most of them wireless, looks like I would need to have wireless enabled VoIP phones which is a major cost investment.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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#79678 25-Jul-2007 21:03

Telstra Clear have been doing things on the Corporate side for awhile, it just has not been successful at many levels.

jpollock:
lchiu7: I am just wondering what compelling motivation would TCL to offer VoIP service? I guess only to those who have their broadband service (especially cable subscribers) who have a Telecom land line and want to move to VoIP. Certainly for folks like me who have TCL landline service, offering a VoIP service is not something that would help their revenue?

And for my own part, I can't see any compelling reason to move to VoIP at this time - the hassle of having the network setup around the house so I could service all the rooms that currently have landline is just way too much hassle for me

Compelling reasons....

1) VoIP has lower infrastructure costs. No DSP's required, your customers pay for their own.
2) VoIP doesn't require obtaining wholesale access to Telecom's analog network, only the DSL network.
3) Switching costs are lower in VoIP, because conceivably your customers could talk amongst themselves once address resolution has happened.
4) The traffic represented by voice is miniscule compared to your data traffic.
5) VoIP hardware is cheaper than a regular carrier switch.
6) VoIP offers a migration path to fixed/mobile convergence, including such very cool things as femto-cells and UMA.
7) Once it's a VoIP call, integration with international VoIP wholesalers is cheap and easy. The wholesale cost of international calls is something like .1c/min (probably less).
8) The software is simpler too. More happens in the edges of the network. This results in failures being more localised.
9) Service creation. It moves service creation out of the Telco tower and into general IT/WWW development. Compare SIP (runs on top of HTTP) with SS7.
10) Endpoints get more control of their calls. How would you like a tool on your PC that can re-direct calls to your mobile phone? How about writing that tool yourself?
11) You are selling a lot of VoIP lines to your business customers including government departments.

There are more, but I'm tired now. :)

1) you still have to transcode at the telco side if the call is getting handed over to another network which is not supporting the codec transcode on the customer CPE.
2) it requires wholesale access to the data network or building your own, either way you need access to network be it data or analog.
3) Your terminology is a bit confused given this is circuit switched vs packet.
4) But a far higher pps rate meaning extra load on your network devices vs data.
5) Sure
6) Ditto.
7) I wouldn't say easy, maybe easier - generally the quality is somewhat more dubious also . Successful call terminations on a cheap calling card vs TCNZ would be case in point..
8) SS7 and TDM are pretty mature compared to most VoIP implementations it could be argued. As to the localization that is very much dependant on the network design. If you only have one STM interconnect with TCNZ for UBS/UBA traffic and this falls over I would argue this is far more centralized than TCNZ analog service?
9) Woah, ok...and so you need a whole new set of skills for SIP and SS7. SIP isn't exactly one easy RFC and SS7 will be around for awhile yet.
10) Yup, also makes things more complex for end users to some degree also. Flexibility and complexity often go hand in hand.
11) Great

Not saying I disagree with you, just saying you need a balanced argument.

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#79680 25-Jul-2007 21:34

lchiu7: I have 5 phones in the house. Looking at the VFX offering it doesn't look that easy to replicate with their VoIP service since it appears to require that you need a VoIP phone and it needs to be connected to the router...... looks like I would need to have wireless enabled VoIP phones which is a major cost investment.

No, you've got the wrong idea here Laurence. You don't need to have VoIP phones at all.

I'll explain it in more detail for you:

1) Buy a Linksys PAP2T unless you require faxing, in which case, buy a SPA2102 (these are both ATA devices costing $100 - $130 depending on which model you go for).

2) Connect it to a spare port on your router.

3) Open up the Point-of-Entry box where your landline enters the house.

4) Snip the wires that come into the box from the street.

5) Connect one of the ATA's phone ports (RJ11) to a nearby phone jackpoint using a standard RJ11 to BT cable.

6) Voila! Your VoIP service is now available at every jackpoint around the house, the same way the landline was.

You can continue using EXACTLY THE SAME phones you have currently plugged into those jackpoints.

Total installation cost is thus $100 to $130 assuming you can do the snipping of TCL's wires by yourself. If not, maybe allow $50 extra for a tame techy to help you out.

How's that for a blow-by-blow account of the process?

Does it make more sense now?

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