Advice needed from home VoIP users

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cronjec

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Hi,

I recently gave up my Telkom landline when my FTTH line was installed. I opted for a Switchtel VoIP line and softphone option (Zoiper) running on my cellphone. Unfortunately my experience with this solution has been quite disappointing. The audio on my side is quite muted an hollow even at top volume. The people I call complain of the same as well as breaks in the audio.

I have in the meantime tested another VoIP service (Freshphone) as well as other softphone options (i.e. MicroSIP on my PC and multiple Android options on my cellphone). Switching my data connection between my FTTH, 3G and LTE resulted in pretty much the same outcome. With Switchtel you can also change your codecs between medium and high bandwidth quality - this made almost no difference except for a slight increase in the volume on the higher option.

My next step would be to invest in a physical VoIP handset for my home office, but I am worried the bad call quality will persist.

Any advice from other VoIP users? What is your experience with these single line VoIP services?

Thanks.
 
I have a single line voip service from Cool ideas, with a dect cordless phone and voip base station. Call quality is 100 percent. I can highly recommend.
 
@cronjec

I also use FreshPhone with my Zoiper app on an iPhone6s, its works perfectly, I did, however, purchase the G729 Codec.
It was worth it in the end. I also have a Yealink W52P (Base and cordless Dect phone) It has the G729 codec included and it works perfectly with great range from the base.
 
EtienneT said:
@cronjec

I also use FreshPhone with my Zoiper app on an iPhone6s, its works perfectly, I did, however, purchase the G729 Codec.
It was worth it in the end. I also have a Yealink W52P (Base and cordless Dect phone) It has the G729 codec included and it works perfectly with great range from the base.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. You mention purchasing the G729 codec - what do you mean by that (is it a separate purchase with Zoiper)?

Services like Whatsapp voice calls and Skype calls sound fine on my Samsung handset.
 
Sinbad said:
I have a single line voip service from Cool ideas, with a dect cordless phone and voip base station. Call quality is 100 percent. I can highly recommend.
Click to expand...

What brand/model dect phone are you using?
 
cronjec said:
Thanks for the feedback. You mention purchasing the G729 codec - what do you mean by that (is it a separate purchase with Zoiper)?

Services like Whatsapp voice calls and Skype calls sound fine on my Samsung handset.
Click to expand...

If at first you download Zoiper its free mainly relying on the GMS codec - This is not ideal for VoIP.
If you navigate within Zoiper to "Premium Features" you can purchase the G729 codec from there.

But as an added note: I reccomend having a fixed device at your home for everyday use especially if you are thinking of using the setup as an office eventually, and to make use of your Zoiper application when you are on the move.

I found FreshPhone's forum to be quite helpful and responsive, plus the don't charge any fees other than my calling credit.
 
I use Blink on my laptop, I don't generally need to take calls at home but if I do calls from my voip solution forwards the call to my cellphone, that being over a gsm network means I don't have to worry if I am in an LTE area or not. Voip rates are pretty good so this solution works for me.

Bare in mind Blink is a super light weight app so it doesn't have premium functionality, I suggest you try this to compare to Zoiper and or Bria before you invest R130 in the G729 codec. When using Blink I tend to use iLBC.

http://icanblink.com/

Hope this helps :)
 
MicroSIP didn't work well for me, but Zoiper does. I am using it on PC and on iPhone 4. Quality depends on network connection. I use two SIP servers in Europe. One gives excellent voice quality, but you need local ID and proof of residence (RICA-like) to use this service. The other is very cheap, calls to South Africa cost flat 0.005 UKP (landline and mobile), per minute billing [credits to cavedog]. Voice quality is much lower, but you can try: http://discountvoip.co.uk

If you are on a stable fiber connection, select G911a/u law, for the best voice quality. Landline exchanges use this codec. On cellular connection GSM codec works OK. Discountvoip (part of Betamax) gives a free client called MobileVoip which can use G279 codec, but user have no control on it. I use this client on my phone as it displays billing rate for the current destignation.
 
Last edited:
Just a follow up and some feedback. I eventually gave in and bought an IP desk phone. Using the same SIP account I tried via the softphone option (Zoiper). Wow - what a difference. Only been using it for a few days now, but so far the difference in audio quality is amazing and well worth the money.

Grandstream GXP2135 phone with Switchtel SIP. Nice feature of the desk phone is that it can sync with Google contacts which syncs with my Android cellphone so all my contacts are managed in one place.
 
AsteriskUser said:
I think the issue is the iPhone 4? it doesnt support LTE? call quality would be terrible!
Click to expand...
iPhone 4 worked for me sometime ago, but now 3G is even more congested. In addition Apple has killed lot of functionality of this phone by upgrading to iOS7. Still using SIP on iPhone 4, but only on WiFi connection.
 
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