VoIP call rates

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › VoIP call rates

rb99

3423 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#155946 13-Nov-2014 22:52

Hi,
Am quite impressed with MyRepublic, and registered for the trial whenever we get UFB, but am wondering a bit about the VoIP prices, these landline ones for example

MyRepublic to Australia 20c/min, rival A 6c/min, rival B 2c/min
MyRepublic to USA 20c/min, rival A 6c/min, rival B 2c/min
MyRepublic to UK 20c/min, rival A 6c/min, rival B 1c/min
MyRepublic to South Africa 50c/min, rival A 7c/min, rival B 8c/min

It would help if these could be somewhat lower...

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

3423 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1177319 17-Nov-2014 12:43

Also thinking that with Spark's 0161 rates (via POTS) being 15c/min to South Africa and 8c/min to Aus, UK and US, MyRepublics prices are a bit much for VoIP. Maybe its just me ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

sbiddle

30853 posts

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Retired Mod

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1177330 17-Nov-2014 13:06

Why do you associate VoIP calls as having to be cheaper?

It doesn't matter how a call is connected, whether it be from a POTS line, mobile or VoIP provider - it uses pretty much the exact same upstream interconnects to get there. You could ask the very sane questions as to why Telecom offer 0661 at different prices to a regular call when they take exactly the same path.

At the end of the day MyRepublic are offering a dirt cheap product - they have to make money somewhere. IMHO if you're uphappy with the product offering or price then it's a competitive market with plenty of competition, and a market where cheaper isn't always better.

rb99

3423 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1177344 17-Nov-2014 13:39

sbiddle: Why do you associate VoIP calls as having to be cheaper?

It doesn't matter how a call is connected, whether it be from a POTS line, mobile or VoIP provider - it uses pretty much the exact same upstream interconnects to get there. You could ask the very sane questions as to why Telecom offer 0661 at different prices to a regular call when they take exactly the same path.

At the end of the day MyRepublic are offering a dirt cheap product - they have to make money somewhere. IMHO if you're uphappy with the product offering or price then it's a competitive market with plenty of competition, and a market where cheaper isn't always better.

I tend to think VoIP is cheaper simply because of the prices quoted by competition. When some companies charge maybe a fifth of MyRepublics figures and when others like 2Talk can offer so many included minutes, including overseas, for $10pm+gst, it makes MyRepublic look expensive. True MyRepublic can charge what they wish, and their Fibre plans are very good and very tempting, especially with free trials and routers, etc. I'm simply shopping around.

Its also true that cheaper isn't always better, but I would say that more expensive may just be that, more expensive and not necessarily better (if that makes sense).

(Spark 0161 numbers are cheaper as it says the call quality isn't as good).

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

Whinery

104 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#1177362 17-Nov-2014 14:18

We are new. We just launched about a month ago. The initial focus was on the best network in NZ. To focus on that, we rely on OTT. Get your email OTT. We don't have customer email. Get your video OTT, we geo-unblock, but don't provide any subscription or other services. If you don't like the few things we do include (can't sell Internet as naked-only and get the subscriber numbers we are aiming for), then feel free to look to other providers of the same services. As we grow subscriber numbers, we'll add on features customers want (so long as they make sense, I doubt we'll ever have a free Monkey with every connection, no matter how much customers want one).

I haven't gone through the rates for comparison, but I was told that they are similar to the big players, but worse than the little guys. We can't give better service than Telecom at prices lower than 2Talk. So we are aiming for the best service we can give, with the lowest price under that constraint. We won't always be the cheapest, we shouldn't ever be the most expensive, but we aim to always have the best service.

I'll talk to the voice guys and see if we can get some better international agreements, but when I looked before, most of the cheaper ones have poorer voice quality. If you are happy to give up quality for price, there are a number of other solutions out there (calling cards, other SIP providers, Skype and other chat programs). We'll make sure they run as well as possible. We don't own legacy voice infrastructure (beyond necessary for interconnection), and are happy providing the best Internet connection you can get.

rb99

3423 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1177806 18-Nov-2014 10:41

Thanks Marc for your comments. Don't have any issue with anything you've said. As I mentioned, am pretty impressed with MyRepublic and what you have to offer, just wanted to raise that one thing, so I did.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99