Hi. We are a medium sized company currently using Voip. We spend about R25000 on cell calls per month. Voip quality is not good so we are considering moving outgoing calls back to Telkom. The Telkom rep told us that we can achieve the same savings with Supremecall and Cellsaver. What do you think? Should we move? Thanks.
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Voip vs Telkom
- Thread starter nadeem01
- Start date
XConnect
Active Member
There is no reason why VoIP can't give you high quality calls. Quality issues are normally caused by poor bandwidth, a poor quality service provider or the fact that your calls may be terminated using SIM-boxes (Premicells).
As a medium sized company you need a responsive service provider who understands your needs and can respond and fix these issues. If you private mail me, or mail me at [email protected] I can give you a list of service providers we believe are excellent and have fixed connections rather than SIM-boxes.
As a medium sized company you need a responsive service provider who understands your needs and can respond and fix these issues. If you private mail me, or mail me at [email protected] I can give you a list of service providers we believe are excellent and have fixed connections rather than SIM-boxes.
InfinityMVS
Well-Known Member
Hi Nadeem.
I'm afraid the telkom rep does not know what's potting...there is no way you could achieve the same saving with supremecall and cellsaver for the following reasons:
The only way you are going to improve your call quality is to ensure that the SP you are dealing with:
Regards,
Eugene Meyer
InfinityMVS
I'm afraid the telkom rep does not know what's potting...there is no way you could achieve the same saving with supremecall and cellsaver for the following reasons:
- Supreme call is simply per second billing from telkom, I can not see why you want to commit yourself to to telkom for x amount every month only to get per second billing, even if you were to take the supremecall 300 000 package from telkom, the best they can do on mobile calls is R1.22 where the average price in the market is R0.95
- Cellsaver was telkom's attempt to pull the wool over everyones eyes when premicells were still viable, the billing increment is still 60/30 with a standard 22% discount if you spend more than R2500.00, the reason the rep suggested supremecall and cellsaver was to cover their butts in case they get the supremecall package wrong, with supremecall you pre-pay telkom for the privilege of getting per second calls, if you were to take a supremecall R1000.00, the first R1000.00 worth of calls (all destinations) are billed per second, after the package has been depleted the standard rates kick in, so if they got it horribly wrong and suggested the wrong package and it was depleted quicker than anticipated, the cellsaver will also give you some kind of saving, but only on cell calls, the other destinations would be charged at the standard rates.
The only way you are going to improve your call quality is to ensure that the SP you are dealing with:
- Has the proper interconnects in place, and not a simfarm
- Uses the correct codecs and equipment.
- and that you have the correct bandwidth and type of access.
Regards,
Eugene Meyer
InfinityMVS
If you are looking for something that works and offers the same quality calls as a telkom, with better service you can pop me a mail at [email protected]
We can investigate what will work best for you and also do a proposal with cost savings, cause premicells are now redundant due to interconnect rates dropping.
Please pop me a mail and ill have a chat with you.
We can investigate what will work best for you and also do a proposal with cost savings, cause premicells are now redundant due to interconnect rates dropping.
Please pop me a mail and ill have a chat with you.
If you are looking for high quality calls and the highest possible uptime, then Telkom would be your best bet. Their Primary rate service is the most stable offering out there.
Take it from me, I worked very closely to south african VOIP SP's and sure some of them have great speech quality but downtime can become a problem.
Take it from me, I worked very closely to south african VOIP SP's and sure some of them have great speech quality but downtime can become a problem.
InfinityMVS
Well-Known Member
...only drawback is it costs R32 000.00 to install and R4500.00 a month, and you have not even made one call
gmza
Well-Known Member
ISDN PRI is not faultless either. Like all Telkom lines, cable theft can be a major issue resulting in large amounts of downtime.
We had a client whose PRI was down for almost a month. Thankfully Telkom were able to divert the PRI number to the number we provide them and they were good to go.
Ironic then that their VoIP service has proven more stable over the past 12 months then their PRI.
We had a client whose PRI was down for almost a month. Thankfully Telkom were able to divert the PRI number to the number we provide them and they were good to go.
Ironic then that their VoIP service has proven more stable over the past 12 months then their PRI.
I don't believe cable theft could be classified as a fault.
All valid points I never said it would be the cheaper option
Just more stable.
Downtime is also a BIG telkom issue. The only difference is that voip providers work far harder to get you up again.
Recently had a telkom line down for 3 weeks. Hard to get an intelligible response. Went to Telkom Direct and the person infront of me had the same issue. Assistant there said there was a backlog because so many lines were down in the area. The call centre said the same thing. You absolutely know, as well, that when they say a technician has gone out to sort you out, and its Friday 3pm, you are #$%$% until Monday afternoon at least! Most VoIP providers would be out there Friday night and Saturday.
Sting
Ghost in the Machine
Are you saying that you have never seen a Telkom bakkie on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday?
Are you aware that Telkom has outsourced all their cable maintenance to outside companies?
You say VoIP providers would work the extended hours to ensure quicker fault resolution, this maybe true but remember VoIP providers still rely 90% of the time on Telkom infustructure in the first place.
I have seen a Telkom bakkie after hours - they do manage to get to some urgent work, but (after bitter personal experience) I would not agree that they rush to your home or business after hours after you log a call (unless you are a gold customer probably). If there's a 4-day long weekend, you can sommer just go without your phone!
One time I was told there was someone working on my case on a Saturday, but I was in all day and certainly didn't see anyone or get the problem sorted.
Not sure who is doing the maintenance but 3 weeks after I logged a fautly line call (and after I had been told that no less than 3 people had been sent out) there was still an actual old bird's next in our pole-mount connection box. I probably could have fixed the line myself except that I didn't want to remove the nest, and the obvious evidence that no one had actually been there - judging by the thick creepers around as well, for a couple of years.
No doubt that Telkom service has improved over the years.
However, Telkom does not offer redundancy. A VoIP provider can offer a Leased Line for regular calls, and if/when down, you can connect via Wireless until the leased line is repaired.
Furthermore, Telkom still offers Telephone 1.0. In todays time, we've moved on from saving just on Phone Calls. An increase in productivity is possible via Telephone 2.0 which only Cloud based VoIP providers can offer.
However, Telkom does not offer redundancy. A VoIP provider can offer a Leased Line for regular calls, and if/when down, you can connect via Wireless until the leased line is repaired.
Furthermore, Telkom still offers Telephone 1.0. In todays time, we've moved on from saving just on Phone Calls. An increase in productivity is possible via Telephone 2.0 which only Cloud based VoIP providers can offer.
The woes you mention about Telkom are mostly referring to residential customers, the service is different for SMME's as they are (surely?) higher priority customers. I'm sure Telkom can offer redundancy, you just need to speak with the right people...
Telkom cannot offer redundancy on their Analog lines, PRI or not. They can only offer SLA, which still means downtime until they get it fixed.
We deal with them at a high level daily...
Only Digital telephony can have multiple redundancy facilities as the voice goes over broadband, and there are multiple methods of broadband available in South Africa today.
EG: a Diginet line will give very high quality voice at similar prices to Telkoms PRI. The call saving is considerable over VoIP (although we should look at the other advantages). If the Diginet goes down, the client can always have the calls going through a backup wireless connection 'temporarily' until the Diginet is restored. The wireless will not have a clear voice like the Diginet, but it is passable for a short period. Some companies run VoIP only on wireless!
For smaller companies, a 3G connection would allow 4 to 5 concurrent calls on G729 as a temporary redundant solution.
dadiggle
Well-Known Member
Eh
OP who is your Internet provider?
OP who is your Internet provider?
bekdik
Honorary Master
If you don't have an ADSL line dedicated to VOIP, then this should be your first port of call.
VOIPSUPERMARKET.com
New Member
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Our suggestion
You might want to contact Bulk-Voip.com.
Send them your exact requirements and I'm sure they will offer you something that suits you.
Peter
You might want to contact Bulk-Voip.com.
Send them your exact requirements and I'm sure they will offer you something that suits you.
Peter
Amulicious
New Member
Hi Guys
I have a problem here. We are setting up a call center. The infrastructure is as follows:
1. One Pbx where a Telkom ISDN line is connected to (PBX has the FXO Module)
2. We have one reception phone plus six extensions
3. The internet has been split into data and voice each on 4 mbps
We recently found out that when you convert the telkom line into a digital line, we realized that we cannot make two calls at the same time and Telkom told us that it is because we have one line.
Here is my question:
If we divert the number to a VOIP number (Our Voip number has three channels) will more than one person be able to get call at the same time
I have a problem here. We are setting up a call center. The infrastructure is as follows:
1. One Pbx where a Telkom ISDN line is connected to (PBX has the FXO Module)
2. We have one reception phone plus six extensions
3. The internet has been split into data and voice each on 4 mbps
We recently found out that when you convert the telkom line into a digital line, we realized that we cannot make two calls at the same time and Telkom told us that it is because we have one line.
Here is my question:
If we divert the number to a VOIP number (Our Voip number has three channels) will more than one person be able to get call at the same time