DiscountVoIP

[sajunky]

I noticed this week that voice quality of this SIP service has improved.
I complained before that voice quality was barely understandable. Now connections are clear, free of noise and artefacts, much better than a typical cellular GSM connection. Using their MobileVOIP app on iOS over WiFi, but Internet feed is coming from Huawei B315s, Cell C Giga 100 package on LTE.

As it is the cheapest VoIP service provider for call to South Africa, it deserves a separate thread, please post your experience here.

Many thanks to cavedog who posted the first time about DiscountVoIP, it is saving lot of money in my pocket.

Details:
Part of Betamax family, you can expect a bite, then prices go up.
http://discountvoip.co.uk

Features:
- Prepaid service, minimum payment is UKP10, airtime credit do not expire.
- No monthly service fees.
- No ads in the app
- No DID number, but Caller ID can be setup on the Website to show your real phone number, so people know who is calling.
- Short number calling. Setup your default location to SA, then 082xxxxxxx will call a number in South Africa.
- Flat rate to landlines and mobile numbers in South Africa UKP0.005 = R0.08 at current exchange rate, yes: 8c per minute (per minute billing).
- I didn't phone SA special numbers yet (typically are more expensive), but MobileVOIP app has a nice feature; it does display current charging rate to the number you are dialing, so everything is under your control.
- International rates are good, cost to the US and most of European countries UKP0.001 per minute to the landline. Mobile rates can be 10 times more expensive than landlines.
- Connection fee may apply to some destignations, not to the numbers I called yet.
- They do also offer Call Back, Local Access and SMS services (didn't use yet).

 

[cavedog]

Also using it. Caller ID set with my cellphone number so if I make calls people see it's me calling and when they call back the call will obviously go to my cellphone. You can also set the caller id to a land line number if you want.

Android app working fine too. No ads. I mainly use it with my B315 with Telkom Uncapped LTE and it works great. No noticeable delay or anything.

Been using it for a while now and prices has yet to change. Credits also does not expire which is very nice.

8c per minute to any network any time you can't beat that. To put this in perspective let's take the cheapest local calling option. MTN to MTN 60min unlimited voice for R5 for 1 hour.

Calling any network with this service for 1 hour will cost a mere R4.80 cheaper than the cheapest on net calling bundle.

Calls are unfortunately charged at per minute rates so 10 sec call is 8c and a 1min 2sec call will be 16c.

 

[BuckRogers]

cavedog/sajunky - thanks for this info. I'm keen to give them a try.
1> Is there any currency conversion charges/fees when buying credit with a ccard.
2> What is the current voice quality like - comparable to gsm ?
ta

 

[infscrtyrisk]

Thanks to OP I have also signed up.

cavedog/sajunky - thanks for this info. I'm keen to give them a try.
1> Is there any currency conversion charges/fees when buying credit with a ccard.
2> What is the current voice quality like - comparable to gsm ?
ta

1) There is a dazzling array of payment options, each give you a different rate. Bitcoin seems cheapest at .5% (£ 0.05 per £ 10.00), VISA / MC is 4% (£ 00.40 per £ 10.00). You can also elect to see this in your local currency.
2) Haven't done much testing, but I'd say that voice quality is slightly worse than GSM, using VOIPConnect service (not SIP) to Telkom landline. Not in Wire or Skype's league, but quite useable.

Looks like good value for now, time will tell.

 

[cavedog]

Well still using it via the app mainly but also has it setup on my fibre router and it's acceptable call quality. Mainly use it for long calls or calls to call centres. @ 8c per minute to any SA network it's even cheaper than these vodacom to vodacom voice bundles.