Need some advice on VOIP calling overseas

[macdoodl]

I currently live in Australia and use PennyTel as a VOIP provider for all my phone calls here. I have a PennyTel phone number associated with this account that rings my home phone.

I have family and friends in South Africa who wish to call me at home without having to pay Telkom's rates. Problem is, they are not on broadband and my Mom isn't even connected to the internet.

My question is, "Is there a way for my Mom (for example) to call a local Jo'burg number which will allow the call to be relayed via VOIP to my PennyTel number"?

I would assume the Jo'burg number would need to be a VOIP provider's number and there would obviously be a cost implication (over and above the local call).

Does anyone know of any company offering a service such as this? Remember that there is no internet connectivity in place - just a Telkom landline.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated (especially by my Mom!)

 

[Yotch]

I don't know if this helps but two of the Betamax services currently allow free landline calls to SA - www.voipraider.com and www.12voip.com. I think they also offer a 1 hour free trial - just fill in the two phone numbers in the trial option on voipraider's home page to test out the service. Alternatively your friends and family in SA could also make use of the service to call Australia by connecting to the Voipraider/12Voip website either using dialup or via GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA through a cell phone *just* to initiate the call. If using a dialup internet connection they would need to disconnect the modem immediately after sending through the request so that the same line is ready to accept the incoming Voip call.

Currently the cheapest Telkom rate to Australia is 72c per minute (with a Closer 3 subscription @ R300 per month) which might even be cheaper than an off network call to a 087 Voip number in SA.
http://www.telkom.co.za/athome/services/closer/optionthree.html

 

[ambo]

Does anyone know of any company offering a service such as this? Remember that there is no internet connectivity in place - just a Telkom landline.

I would suggest you sign up for a SIP account with one of the 087 providers (Telfree, Vox, etc) They probably won't forward your calls for you but there is no reason that you can setup those SIP accounts as extensions on your own SIP phone in OZ and have a ZA phone number right there on your desk in Australia

 

[!!DV!!]

I would suggest you sign up for a SIP account with one of the 087 providers (Telfree, Vox, etc) They probably won't forward your calls for you but there is no reason that you can setup those SIP accounts as extensions on your own SIP phone in OZ and have a ZA phone number right there on your desk in Australia

This could work, but latency will be a killer for the SIP session.
Had a couple of IP Phones in AUS connected to a PBX in SA , latency was bad during office hours, but they did work well enough

 

[ColinR]

I have my SPA3102 currently configured for by FWD account, and the call quality on my shaped DSL-384 is outstanding, calling the echo test service - I hear myself repeated back instantly, even very faint sounds are not dropped, and come back clearly.

I have a voip-raider account - which doesn't seem anywhere near in comparison - bad quality, sounds highly compressed.

Is a large portion of a sip call dependent on the provider quality, or the clients internet access?