Voip

Keithk

Keithk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Messages
185
Reaction score
17
Location
South Africa
I have been browsing to find the best call price for VoIP and came on to Switchtel and Ecotel, their call rates seem the same but each cent makes a difference.
Then I found Switchtel charges R150.00 to Port a number, I ask myself why if I want to use their services.
I am waiting for a reply from Ecotel om their porting costs.
Now my question to forum members... Can anyone recommend a good service provider with cheap call rates, free number porting that I could look up.
As with Switchtel they have free calls to 0800 and emergency numbers which is a good point.
 
Swichtel service is amazing if I may chime in... Never had a network issue and their portal is very good for self service. I'd say the R150 is worth it...
 
I use Greydot mobile and Freshphone at home. Both are prepaid services and do not have any monthly fees . Freshphone is my backup service for Greydot.

Greydot charges 0.29 (Mtn, Vodacom) up to 0.35 (Telkom, CellC) per call and the voice quality in my opinion is better than Freshphone. The service works without issues on my fibre connection, but disconnects after 3 minutes when my parents try to use it on their Telkom LTE connection. I have given up on trying to resolve the issue, but it is worth testing it with a minimal amount of airtime.

Freshphone does not suffer from the 3 minute disconnection problem. Their call charges are 0.39 for landline calls and 0.69 for calls to mobile networks. As far as I know they also charge around R150 for porting numbers.

Porting is a once off cost and it is still cheaper than what you are paying Telkom for line rental alone per month.
 
  • If you want to keep your Telkom or geographic number, you have 3 options as far as I know. 1) You can get one of the two Telkom FLLA phone services. a) One of Telkom's FLLA phone services is a cellphone that looks like a landline phone (but you can put its sim into any cellphone), b) The other Telkom FLLA phone is just your analogue/landline phone, or a VOIP phone that you will have to buy, that Telkom plugs into the back of a Telkom-provided router linked to the internent via fibre or cellular LTE. I don't think Telkom charges for porting your number to either of these two FLLA options if they are migrating you from copper and you accept their "migration specials". 2) The third option is to port your phone number to a VOIP service. I don't know if any of the VOIP providers do the number porting for free, but some, eg Vox, are indicating there will be specials this week due to Black Friday on 29/11/2019.
  • If you do not want to keep your number, but want VOIP, a VOIP provider will assign you an 087-number.
  • If you don't want to keep your number, and don't necessarily need VOIP, look at Cell C's several prepaid Anynet call plans. I recently tried the R200 plan, lasts 30 days, 15 hours of calls (22c/minute), works for any type of phone number in South Africa, toll free & emergency calls are free. Does not allow overseas calls, which I did via Whatsapp. It worked well for me..
  • There are several threads on this forum about VOIP (you can search for them using the search icon at the top of any forum page).
 
Keithk said:
I have been browsing to find the best call price for VoIP and came on to Switchtel and Ecotel, their call rates seem the same but each cent makes a difference.
Then I found Switchtel charges R150.00 to Port a number, I ask myself why if I want to use their services.
I am waiting for a reply from Ecotel om their porting costs.
Now my question to forum members... Can anyone recommend a good service provider with cheap call rates, free number porting that I could look up.
As with Switchtel they have free calls to 0800 and emergency numbers which is a good point.
Click to expand...

Is R150 for porting a number, seriously a deal breaker for you??
 
bobcpt said:
I use Greydot mobile and Freshphone at home. Both are prepaid services and do not have any monthly fees . Freshphone is my backup service for Greydot.

Greydot charges 0.29 (Mtn, Vodacom) up to 0.35 (Telkom, CellC) per call and the voice quality in my opinion is better than Freshphone. The service works without issues on my fibre connection, but disconnects after 3 minutes when my parents try to use it on their Telkom LTE connection. I have given up on trying to resolve the issue, but it is worth testing it with a minimal amount of airtime.

Freshphone does not suffer from the 3 minute disconnection problem. Their call charges are 0.39 for landline calls and 0.69 for calls to mobile networks. As far as I know they also charge around R150 for porting numbers.

Porting is a once off cost and it is still cheaper than what you are paying Telkom for line rental alone per month.
Click to expand...
I'm curious about Greydot - this is the first I hear of them. Are you happy with the service?
 
newby_investor said:
I'm curious about Greydot - this is the first I hear of them. Are you happy with the service?
Click to expand...

I have been using it for the last year and have not heard complaints about sound quality etc from people that I phone. They have an app, but i use it with a gigaset voip phone at home.

Sign up is free and I would recommend buying the minimum amount of airtime to see if it works for you.
 
powermzii said:
Swichtel service is amazing if I may chime in... Never had a network issue and their portal is very good for self service. I'd say the R150 is worth it...
Click to expand...
Keithk said:
I have been browsing to find the best call price for VoIP and came on to Switchtel and Ecotel, their call rates seem the same but each cent makes a difference.
Then I found Switchtel charges R150.00 to Port a number, I ask myself why if I want to use their services.
I am waiting for a reply from Ecotel om their porting costs.
Now my question to forum members... Can anyone recommend a good service provider with cheap call rates, free number porting that I could look up.
As with Switchtel they have free calls to 0800 and emergency numbers which is a good point.
Click to expand...
I have done more browsing and Switchtel seems the best option and they have free calls on 0800 and emergency numbers, so yes the once off of R150.00 for porting is worth it
 
Keithk said:
I have done more browsing and Switchtel seems the best option and they have free calls on 0800 and emergency numbers, so yes the once off of R150.00 for porting is worth it
Click to expand...
Thanks for all your feedback guys
 
argh said:
  • If you want to keep your Telkom or geographic number, you have 3 options as far as I know. 1) You can get one of the two Telkom FLLA phone services. a) One of Telkom's FLLA phone services is a cellphone that looks like a landline phone (but you can put its sim into any cellphone), b) The other Telkom FLLA phone is just your analogue/landline phone, or a VOIP phone that you will have to buy, that Telkom plugs into the back of a Telkom-provided router linked to the internent via fibre or cellular LTE. I don't think Telkom charges for porting your number to either of these two FLLA options if they are migrating you from copper and you accept their "migration specials". 2) The third option is to port your phone number to a VOIP service. I don't know if any of the VOIP providers do the number porting for free, but some, eg Vox, are indicating there will be specials this week due to Black Friday on 29/11/2019.
  • If you do not want to keep your number, but want VOIP, a VOIP provider will assign you an 087-number.
  • If you don't want to keep your number, and don't necessarily need VOIP, look at Cell C's several prepaid Anynet call plans. I recently tried the R200 plan, lasts 30 days, 15 hours of calls (22c/minute), works for any type of phone number in South Africa, toll free & emergency calls are free. Does not allow overseas calls, which I did via Whatsapp. It worked well for me..
  • There are several threads on this forum about VOIP (you can search for them using the search icon at the top of any forum page).
Click to expand...
I need to rid myself of Telkom...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X