iTalk with nDSL - anyone used it?

Forums › Slingshot and CallPlus › iTalk with nDSL - anyone used it?

cjmack

162 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 58338 9-Mar-2010 20:06

Hi,

I am looking at changing ISP's as my contract has expired with VF. I currently have home phone, 20GB broadband, and national calling with VF.

I am looking at the nDSL plan with SS, and putting the basic iTalk plan on it, as that should cover our needs.

Anyone done a setup like this? Also were you charged transfer and porting costs, and does iTalk count towards your total data use?

Thanks.

nickb800

1993 posts

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+1 received by user: 331

Trusted

Reply # 305781 9-Mar-2010 20:21

Ive got their just broadband plan with the free italk.
I wasnt charged any porting fees, there weren't any upfront costs at all. As you saw in the other forum, if you dont have an active phone line your up for a $90ish charge from telecom.
Im unsure if the italk data counts, but it should be negligble.

Only issue to consider is of moving to voip - you are at the mercy of your modem/router/ata setup. We have a dodgy router at the moment, and its prety annoying. Otherwise its great and one of the best value plans out!

cjmack

162 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 305782 9-Mar-2010 20:28

Thanks, sounds good. The weakest part of the network is a Thomson DSL modem, everything else is rock solid. I currently have a phone line, so that solves that, just have to pay for a VOIP box.

I'm just sick of slow upload speeds, takes forever to put anything online, and this plan gives me more data for a lower total cost.

sarahot

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 306221 11-Mar-2010 11:45

been using italk on NDSL in Albany for a year- brilliant. If you go into the website there are great features you can set up like follow-ne where incoming calls can also ring your mobile, ddi etc.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

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+1 received by user: 286
Inactive user

Reply # 306253 11-Mar-2010 12:49

Been using italk on Snap Naked DSL for a while. Really great, $10 a month for 500minutes of calls to many countries in the world (including my family in SA) is just grand. Would not recomend anything else

Aaroona

:)
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Subscriber

Reply # 306255 11-Mar-2010 12:54

I must ask though. What are your upload/download stats.

The reason I ask is because, when I last used iTalk (or any VOIP service for that matter), there was an annoying amount of lag on the line.

And im not exactly (or at least I Wasnt at the time) on slow internet.

I was getting 15-16mbps down, and around 800kbps up.

So if I was having issues with this kind of speeds, what speeds are you getting that allow it to be a great service?

Klipspringer

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Reply # 306257 11-Mar-2010 13:13

Aaroona: I must ask though. What are your upload/download stats.

The reason I ask is because, when I last used iTalk (or any VOIP service for that matter), there was an annoying amount of lag on the line.

And im not exactly (or at least I Wasnt at the time) on slow internet.

I was getting 15-16mbps down, and around 800kbps up.

So if I was having issues with this kind of speeds, what speeds are you getting that allow it to be a great service?

With Snap, and the last time I checked my upload speed was about 1mbps, download 6-7mbps. So not really that fast. The speed of your connection does not really matter, most broadband plans will do, even the plans which don't have max upload (256kbps) for example. Its more a case of the quality of the service, Ie a very fast plan of bad service quality will be far worse. I have successfully run italk on broadband (128kbps upload) before. No problem there.

However, when calling overseas there will of course be a slight lag. This still happens currently when i call SA. But I was using a world card prior to italk and in fact the lag was much worse then.

I have also had bad expeiences runningitalk over wifi.

cjmack

162 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 306642 12-Mar-2010 14:40

Thanks guys, sounds pretty good so far. One more question, do you know if I can use a 3rd part VOIP adapter (RJ45 to RJ11) other than the one Slingshot sells? I want to have a look on trademe for a cheaper one if I can, but only if it is going to work!!

nickb800

1993 posts

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Reply # 306647 12-Mar-2010 14:45

cjmack: Thanks guys, sounds pretty good so far. One more question, do you know if I can use a 3rd part VOIP adapter (RJ45 to RJ11) other than the one Slingshot sells? I want to have a look on trademe for a cheaper one if I can, but only if it is going to work!!

Yup you should be fine with any adaptor that supports the SIP protocol i.e. most on the market. I think its only WxC that requires specific devices.

cjmack

162 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 306699 12-Mar-2010 17:39

Awesome, sounds good. Next payday I might buy an adapter, and then look at changing accounts. Will save about $150 a year and get a better product for that amount too.

cjmack

162 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 314286 2-Apr-2010 22:12

Well I have bought the VoIP box. A grandstream handytone-486 for $50.

Rand VF and my contract actually expires on 1st July, so have to sit and wait for a bit. It was my mobile contract that had exspired, so I have ported that to another provider.

What I was thinking, was dropping the National Calling on my VF plan that is an additional $20/mth, and getting a VOiP account in the meantime, then setup nDSL and port the phone across when ready. That way I will save $10/month and can still call nationwide on the VoIP.

Good idea or nah?

drinkie9128

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 320455 19-Apr-2010 21:16

Ive been using italk for 3 months now in chch on just broadband. I have found it excellent. I am using the handytone-486 ($50 on trademe) its working very well. The voice quality is the same as a normal phone and there is no lag. I have tested using the phone while downloading files at line speed, and the voice quality is still great. This could be down to the QOS built into the ata. The ndsl plan is good too, great torrent speeds (over 1mbyte/s!, when coming from the slingshot cache).

Alex

semigeek

1524 posts

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Reply # 321139 21-Apr-2010 09:14

Probably a silly question, but the italk free minutes, do they count towards data usage? I'm looking at changing from Xnet where I have Voip already, but calls on their voip dont count towards data usage.

drinkie9128

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 321384 21-Apr-2010 17:02

Yes, the data is counted towards your quota. However it is only about 500mb a month for the 500 mintues plan.

Alex

Buttonmash

361 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 1

Reply # 321391 21-Apr-2010 17:15

drinkie9128: Yes, the data is counted towards your quota. However it is only about 500mb a month for the 500 mintues plan.

Alex

Or about 50c out of the 50GB for $50 block.