VoIP for the individual

porchrat

porchrat

Honorary Master
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Messages
42,327
Reaction score
18,514
Location
/\/¯¯¯¯¯\/\
Telkom are driving me nuts. Billing for stuff that never happened and I am really getting tired of the mess.

I was hoping VoIP might be a viable alternative but the more I look the more it seems VoIP solutions are geared more towards companies than they are the individual. I'm finding it rather difficult to see the wood for the trees here.

Anyone know of a company that caters more for home users and not companies wanting all the bells and whistles?
 
porchrat said:
Telkom are driving me nuts. Billing for stuff that never happened and I am really getting tired of the mess.

I was hoping VoIP might be a viable alternative but the more I look the more it seems VoIP solutions are geared more towards companies than they are the individual. I'm finding it rather difficult to see the wood for the trees here.

Anyone know of a company that caters more for home users and not companies wanting all the bells and whistles?
Click to expand...

Neotel.
 
I used Skype with pre-paid credit for a long time in the past. Phoning landlines and cellphones was very cheap, don't now how the cost is today. Maybe try that. I had a wireless Skype phone, the base was connected to my PC and all phone numbers stored on there. For me it was better than a Telkom line.
 
porchrat said:
Telkom are driving me nuts. Billing for stuff that never happened and I am really getting tired of the mess.

I was hoping VoIP might be a viable alternative but the more I look the more it seems VoIP solutions are geared more towards companies than they are the individual. I'm finding it rather difficult to see the wood for the trees here.

Anyone know of a company that caters more for home users and not companies wanting all the bells and whistles?
Click to expand...

I can assist you. PM me with what you're looking to get out of VOIP and we can take it from there. :)
 
porchrat said:
Telkom are driving me nuts. Billing for stuff that never happened and I am really getting tired of the mess.

I was hoping VoIP might be a viable alternative but the more I look the more it seems VoIP solutions are geared more towards companies than they are the individual. I'm finding it rather difficult to see the wood for the trees here.

Anyone know of a company that caters more for home users and not companies wanting all the bells and whistles?
Click to expand...

Do you want to quit telkom completely or just get a pre-paid voip on your adsl line?
 
onerb said:
Do you want to quit telkom completely or just get a pre-paid voip on your adsl line?
Click to expand...
I get my interwebz wirelessly now. Whenever it rained I would lose the ADSL and it took ages to get someone out to resolve it (just opened the cover and dried out that octopus-looking thing that holds all the wires). Drove me nuts.

So the only thing Telkom is running now is the phone line. Keeping the phone line with them means I have to put up with their kak billing.

On a related note Telkom have now agreed to credit for the stuff that was total bullschit. I will believe it when I see it frankly.
 
beans100 said:
I used Skype with pre-paid credit for a long time in the past. Phoning landlines and cellphones was very cheap, don't now how the cost is today. Maybe try that. I had a wireless Skype phone, the base was connected to my PC and all phone numbers stored on there. For me it was better than a Telkom line.
Click to expand...
This is not a bad idea. Does it set you up with a phone number that folks from normal phones can call?
 
porchrat said:
I get my interwebz wirelessly now. Whenever it rained I would lose the ADSL and it took ages to get someone out to resolve it (just opened the cover and dried out that octopus-looking thing that holds all the wires). Drove me nuts.

So the only thing Telkom is running now is the phone line. Keeping the phone line with them means I have to put up with their kak billing.

On a related note Telkom have now agreed to credit for the stuff that was total bullschit. I will believe it when I see it frankly.
Click to expand...

Just change your account to a prepaid line(+- R60 per month + calls). Alternatively buy another cheap cellphone with an 8ta simcard. Their calls to landlines are R 0.65 per minute so it will work out cheaper than having to fork out R 60 odd rand for a line that will do the same thing.

If you have android or ios smartphone you can install an app called Viber, it works like skype but from your phone so you can call anyone that has the app installed for free(data charges only).
 
porchrat said:
This is not a bad idea. Does it set you up with a phone number that folks from normal phones can call?
Click to expand...

I had a number as well,but I mainly used the phone for business purposes (phoning customers and dealers/suppliers). People was used to phone me on my cellphone, so I never gave out the Skype number. The last time I used it was in 2008. I use to buy a R100 worth of Skype credit at a time and it lasted a long time.

Vox also had a Voip option. The base of the phone is a ADSL router. And back then, you get money back on incoming calls. Also, Vox to Vox call is free (Handy for a business with branches). I never had one, but know of people who had. And they were happy with it.
 
Just opened skype now. Still have 48c on there, so I sms'd my wife with it. And it still shows 48c.... I think it is 5c to sms, if not mistaken.
 
I use voipstunt for all overseas calls to house phones and find it very good. 10 euros gets you 120 free days and then starts coming off your 10 euros at about 0.02 euros per min. Used it for years on my desktop and now on my iPad.
 
porchrat said:
Telkom are driving me nuts. Billing for stuff that never happened and I am really getting tired of the mess.

I was hoping VoIP might be a viable alternative but the more I look the more it seems VoIP solutions are geared more towards companies than they are the individual. I'm finding it rather difficult to see the wood for the trees here.

Anyone know of a company that caters more for home users and not companies wanting all the bells and whistles?
Click to expand...

It’s not that VOIP is used mostly for home. I have been using VOIP services for home. I am using a Hosted PBX system with three extensions, one for home, one for office and one for my wife’s phone. If I have to talk to my wife, I can talk without any expenses since extension to extension calling is free of cost. When I have to call outside, for that, I am charged on a per-minute basis. They offer full support and many other options as well but since you don’t need a lavish phone system, it would definitely satisfy your basic needs. I have been taking VOIP services from The Real PBX and it is working well. You can check out their services with http://www.therealpbx.com/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X