VOIP over satellite

[insect]

I have a client on a farm (80 years old but still sharp as a nail) he needs a phone just for calls, internet would be nice for whatsapps etc - but mainly the phone.

His farmhouse is situated in a valley surrounded by "koppies" so he is in a bit of a dead spot - they tried signal boosters, built a mast of about 15m but still couldn't make a call.

Only option I can think of is Satellite. I got a quote from Morclick for R1270/month for a 5mbps service with VOIP or R850 without.

He is willing to go to about R900/month as he won't be using the internet much so most of that part will be a waste.

Any providers that do just voip over sattelite without the isp part? Or maybe a cheaper capped solution? Any other options?

edit: I suppose the latency will just kill a normal voip phone (600ms+) but I am curious what do they add for that extra R420 a month that makes voip viable on satellite?

 

[Gambit]

If they not going to be making a lot of calls. Maybe look into getting an iridium satellite phone and a 1 year airtime voucher.

SATELLITE PHONES | Satellite Comms Iridium Inmarsat Thuraya

Satellite Phones provide comms anywhere in the world. Iridium Inmarsat and Thuraya and the 3 main service providers. We are an authorized reseller in South Africa

www.satcomms.co.za

 

[Johnatan56]

If they not going to be making a lot of calls. Maybe look into getting an iridium satellite phone and a 1 year airtime voucher.

SATELLITE PHONES | Satellite Comms Iridium Inmarsat Thuraya

Satellite Phones provide comms anywhere in the world. Iridium Inmarsat and Thuraya and the 3 main service providers. We are an authorized reseller in South Africa

www.satcomms.co.za

Note the prices there are in dollars and you have to get the 500 minute package.

Satellite is quite expensive, does he not have a hill on his property where he can build a mast to and run power/line to that? By that I mean not 15m at his house, but drive around the property until you find some signal and see if you can build a mast there.

 

[Gambit]

Note the prices there are in dollars and you have to get the 500 minute package.

Satellite is quite expensive, does he not have a hill on his property where he can build a mast to and run power/line to that? By that I mean not 15m at his house, but drive around the property until you find some signal and see if you can build a mast there.

Did you have a look at the iridium Africa package?

 

[Johnatan56]

Did you have a look at the iridium Africa package?

You're going to have to buy 500 minutes at least, and each minute is around ~R18.

EDIT: And note latency, will be around 0.3-0.5s for a call, it will be annoying.

 

[netstrider]

MTN has helped my dad with signal boosters free of charge at two of his properties, although I suspect in this case that won't be enough. Perhaps they could lobby for an MNO to install a tower on the property?