Slingshot i-talk and Skype together

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liamnznp

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Topic # 109957 30-Sep-2012 20:29

Hello, we are shortly moving back to NZ and I am seriously considering the Slingshot Naked Broadband + italk. I understand that I wont have a landline per say, and that I need to buy an ATA or VOIP phone to make calls over italk.

Now here is the fun part. As my parents are in the UK, and dont have an option to go to VOIP (yet due to contracts), I was thinking of buying them a skype phone http://shop.skype.com/intl/en-gb/phones/cordless-router/rtx-dualphone-4088-white/

This phone lets you connect to your normal landline, make calls to skype usernames for free and when you make a normal call you select use landline and it uses your normal carrier.

In the UK they would have a landline for normal POTS calls, skype phone connected to the broadband, and they could either call me on skype for free or select use landline on the skype phone and use their normal carrier.

In NZ I would have: slingshot naked broadband, italk account, ATA and a phone. I would then like to have a skype phone as well http://shop.skype.com/intl/en-gb/phones/cordless-router/rtx-dualphone-4088-white/ so my parents could do skype to skype phone calls for free anytime of the day.

Big question is will they all play nicely together in NZ?

1. Can I use the skype phone http://shop.skype.com/intl/en-gb/phones/cordless-router/rtx-dualphone-4088-white/ as my italk phone too? as far as I can see in the manual it only lets you select skype or landline as the call route, if I select landline will this use italk?

2. If i cant use same phone, could I have a phone and ATA for italk calls, and the skype phone http://shop.skype.com/intl/en-gb/phones/cordless-router/rtx-dualphone-4088-white/ connected to same router, parents calls me on skype phone and all other calls are on the ATA phone?

Hope that explains it well :)

Thanks in advance.

freitasm

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Reply # 693752 30-Sep-2012 20:37

liamnznp: Can I use the skype phone http://shop.skype.com/intl/en-gb/phones/cordless-router/rtx-dualphone-4088-white/ as my italk phone too? as far as I can see in the manual it only lets you select skype or landline as the call route, if I select landline will this use italk?

If you have an ATA then just plug the handset to the phone out, plug the ethernet to the router and you have both. It will work just fine.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

liamnznp

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Reply # 693782 30-Sep-2012 21:28

Thanks for your reply - so I would need both an ATA and the Skype VOIP phone? I was under the impression that if you had a VOIP phone you didnt need the ATA? Or is it needed because of what I need to do, i.e. when I press Skype on the phone it will use the Ethernet/Skype, and when I select landline on the phone it will direct the call to the ATA which will then ensure it routes via italk?

ajobbins

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Reply # 693791 30-Sep-2012 21:57

Have you looked into getting a local VoIP account/number in the UK where they live?

I live in Melbourne but have a local number with 2talk in both Napier and Auckland. Allows our friends and family in NZ to call us from their landline as a local call, and us to make 'local' calls our in those regions too.

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freitasm

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Reply # 693795 30-Sep-2012 22:02

liamnznp: Thanks for your reply - so I would need both an ATA and the Skype VOIP phone? I was under the impression that if you had a VOIP phone you didnt need the ATA? Or is it needed because of what I need to do, i.e. when I press Skype on the phone it will use the Ethernet/Skype, and when I select landline on the phone it will direct the call to the ATA which will then ensure it routes via italk?

The RTX DUALphone is a Skype phone and a POTS handset. It means it will connect to Skype via ethernet and to the landline via phone port.

IT IS NOT A SIP CLIENT.

The name "Skype VOIP phone" is misleading, it should be "Skype phone".

You will need an ATA to acta as the SIP client for iTalk and then you plug the RTX DUALphone to the ATA for SIP calls and to the router for Skype calls.

I know. I had two RTX models here for review before.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

liamnznp

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Reply # 693814 30-Sep-2012 22:43

Thanks for your replies guys. Makes sense now. I havent looked too hard into a local number for my parents to ring in the UK, I did have a quick look on skype and it was about $100 NZD a year or something like that. Figures it may be easier to give them a skype phone on their internet connection.

Do you know if Slingshot offer any UK based landline numbers or are they all NZ based? And do they recommend or sell any VOIP phones that are compatible with italk rather than buying an ATA. I may end up just putting Viber on my parents smart phone and just using italk for NZ calls.

farcus

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Reply # 693831 1-Oct-2012 00:00

If what you are after is a cheap option for your UK based parents to be able to call you in NZ - you could sign up your parents for a 2talk number in the local calling area where you will be based (approx $11.50 per month) and put an sip client onto their smartphone(sipdroid is a good one for android - I'm sure there would be something for the apple products as well). Then they can call your NZ based line from their NZ based line and vice versa.

edit: 2talk actually have an iphone app so that could be an option if they have that flavour smartphone

sbiddle

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Reply # 693850 1-Oct-2012 07:02

A UK number is really only an option if they have an unlimited calling plan in the UK. Local calling isn't free in 99% of the countries in the world!

liamnznp

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Wannabe Geek

Reply # 694583 2-Oct-2012 00:52

Thanks guys for your advice. I think the best and most suitable option is to simply buy a skype phone x 2, one connected to my parents router in the UK who have unlimited internet, one connected to my router in NZ and I too will have unlimited internet, then we can both call each other from a landline using skype over the internet for free, no on going charges etc. Or I could just stick with viber to viber on our smart phones each with wireless internet access in our homes.
thanks again for your help appreciate it.

We are moving to New PLymouth Taranaki, I am thinking of Slingshot naked unlimited internet for $95 per month, then italk 500 minutes worldwide anytime for $11 = total $106 per month for unlimited internet and 8 hours of free VOIP calling worldwide anytime. Our main aim is unlimited internet and NZ national calling and UK calling for as cheap as possible. Am I missing something that is out there is does this sound like a reasonable deal?

farcus

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Reply # 694592 2-Oct-2012 01:48

one thing I'd mention about italk - I used to be an italk customer (only - not any other slingshot services) and while I never had a problem with local or national calls I did occasionally (verging on often) have problems with international calls.
Whenever it happened I'd call the help desk and they could usually sort the issue within a couple of days but the same issue would reappear a few weeks down the track ( as I understand it the problem was with their international connection partners and I guess wouldn't effect calls to all countries).
Ultimately it was the reason I stopped using italk.

This was a couple of years ago now though so things may have changed. Current customers may like to comment.
If you are using skype for your international calling and not relying on italk then I guess it wont be an issue.

webwat

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Reply # 697348 7-Oct-2012 03:37

Another option is to buy 2 italk phone numbers from slingshot, get your parents to setup a ip-phone/ATA with the slingshot details or send them one thats already setup. Probably more variable than getting a UK voip service since the traffic wouldn't get any priority between the UK and Slingshot, but might still be better than Skype.

There is no reason to go with Skype unless you really want to use Skype instead of SIP for your voip. Ideally your parents can just sign up with any local voip provider in the UK and get that provider to sort out the hardware. Just as long as your parents ISP and modem don't block the SIP traffic. Usually there is some kind of "keep alive" function that keeps the modem aware of SIP traffic so that incoming calls can always get through.

Qualified in business, certified in fibre, stuck in copper, have to keep going ^_^

AKT

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Reply # 697419 7-Oct-2012 11:36

This is our set-up, we have the same issue as you (friends & family in the UK). It works just fine and there are advantages to it over a UK VOIP

naked broadband
VFX NZ number ATA & POTS
Skype world unlimited
Skype to go (outgoing international)
SkypeIn number (UK number for incoming calls forwarded to our landline or multiple landlines if you like)

I move each year for work so I have the same phone number and it takes no setting up when I move. Skype is good for UK based calls and I can transfer the number to wherever I am in the world. It’s software based so I don’t need to carry any hardware.

It works for us. The other set-ups described would work too and I have considered changing things round but ended up coming to the conclusion that this is best for us at the moment (although not perfect).

HTH
Cheers

Andy

badbadmonkey

29 posts

Geek

Reply # 703318 19-Oct-2012 02:00

The dual phone sounds interesting.

I use an old Android cellphone, with no SIM, running Skype for Android and a VOIP app simultaneously, and have it configured to be permanently connected to wi-fi. It's not as ideal as a dedicated full size phone run to ethernet but it allows both apps on the same device and lots of flexibility. (Clever things [relative to landlines] such as automatically adjusting ring volume according to a schedule, etc).

Also: The thing to know about Italk is that you can't connect multiple devices to the account. Only the most recently logged-in device will ring. So no "extensions" around the home, PC clients, or mobiles either at home or out. 2talk and probably others have a service that allows more than one to work properly.