Worthwhile VOiP providers

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JohnStarr

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Morning All,

We use Liquid Telecom for VOiP, and I know Vox offers the same service.
Who else is out there who can handle business VoiP properly? Decent service, costs that won't break the bank etc.
Teams for now, although I'd like to look at this, isn't an option at the moment.

Thanks!
 
Good Morning John,

We are also looking at getting business VOIP. Did you make a choice ?
 
I can also recommend Switchtel. We have a hosted pbx with 6 extension running smoothly on "home fiber".
 
Half_Frog said:
We also supply hosted PBX and physical boxes

www.mqn.co.za
Click to expand...
Can you provide more info on your services. We moved from Telkom on premise PBX to PBX hosted by a provider I won't mention now.

It's a total disaster. Customers can't hear us, calls are all broken up (regardless of WiFi or Cellular LTE connection)

On our corporate network , it's never works despite us trying everything , replacing firewalls ,etc. Our internet line is not heavily used, 40mbps out of 150mbps.


Our needs are simple.

50 users
Call attendant :- just two options to route to two extensions or then reception.
100 number DID range
0861 number coming to the main line

We only want soft phones (mobile apps)

How can we test your service? It needs to work on our network and mobile phones reliably.

Thx
 
InternetLuddite said:
We only want soft phones (mobile apps)
Click to expand...
Besides only using 40megs of your available 150 there should be some QoS in place as well. Having said that we could not get mobile apps, and even desktop apps to work 100% reliably and consistently. Everybody now has Ethernet SIP phones, or SIP DECT phones, and no more anomalies. Its different at home, or small office when you have the occasional bad call, but when you have multiple people on calls every minute of the day you cant sacrifice any voice quality.
 
yogidabear said:
Besides only using 40megs of your available 150 there should be some QoS in place as well. Having said that we could not get mobile apps, and even desktop apps to work 100% reliably and consistently. Everybody now has Ethernet SIP phones, or SIP DECT phones, and no more anomalies. Its different at home, or small office when you have the occasional bad call, but when you have multiple people on calls every minute of the day you cant sacrifice any voice quality.
Click to expand...

Have asked our ISP to look at implementing QoS if any on their network. I thought QoS only comes into play if the line is under heavy contention. Definitely none of those issues on our internal or ISP network but now you have me thinking that it could be further down the line.

I think the issue is there. We have been hoping not to give out desk phones due home working and hot desking and we were told the mobile app would be fine. Obviously not. Have dropped a mail to the switch telecom guys in the meantime.

I guess the question is also what needs to be done on firewall? I allowed all traffic between our internal range to the VOIP provider range. I don't care too much about the internal range as it is a dedicated network just for mobile phones to get a wifi connection.
 
InternetLuddite said:
Have asked our ISP to look at implementing QoS if any on their network.
We have been hoping not to give out desk phones due home working and hot desking and we were told the mobile app would be fine. Obviously not.
Click to expand...
Your ISP will be doing QoS already, and if not, find a new one. The QoS I refer to is on your network to make sure there is no delay getting the VoIP packets out the gateway first. Even though your not utilising your line to the max we want all jitter avoided, and its probably something your existing router can easily do, or may even be doing already.

The mobile apps can work well enough for those occasional calls, but if you have some staff on the phone a lot start with them and buy a few SIP desktop, or DECT phones and judge the difference for yourself.
 
Hi InternetLuddite

I would like to setup a test account for you to try.

I will send you a pm.

Thanks
 
InternetLuddite said:
Can you provide more info on your services. We moved from Telkom on premise PBX to PBX hosted by a provider I won't mention now.

It's a total disaster. Customers can't hear us, calls are all broken up (regardless of WiFi or Cellular LTE connection)

On our corporate network , it's never works despite us trying everything , replacing firewalls ,etc. Our internet line is not heavily used, 40mbps out of 150mbps.


Our needs are simple.

50 users
Call attendant :- just two options to route to two extensions or then reception.
100 number DID range
0861 number coming to the main line

We only want soft phones (mobile apps)

How can we test your service? It needs to work on our network and mobile phones reliably.

Thx
Click to expand...

Hi

We have 2 options

First is we offer a mobile PBX that works on the MTN network, this s a option that will work on remote sites and you do not need any special app. You will still have the full functionality of a hosted/physical PBX

Second is a app we can install on the phone, the issue here is it is not compatible with older phones and as with any app there is sometimes issues depending on the network connectivity
 
InternetLuddite said:
Have asked our ISP to look at implementing QoS if any on their network. I thought QoS only comes into play if the line is under heavy contention. Definitely none of those issues on our internal or ISP network but now you have me thinking that it could be further down the line.

I think the issue is there. We have been hoping not to give out desk phones due home working and hot desking and we were told the mobile app would be fine. Obviously not. Have dropped a mail to the switch telecom guys in the meantime.

I guess the question is also what needs to be done on firewall? I allowed all traffic between our internal range to the VOIP provider range. I don't care too much about the internal range as it is a dedicated network just for mobile phones to get a wifi connection.
Click to expand...

Dont use softphones rather get voip phones and implement vlans.Voip must go on a seperate vlan to the rest of the network and within that vlan have a dedicated internet connection for only voip.By doing it your way you cheaping out and thats the reason you having problems.
 
Has anyone found a rock solid voip solution for a home office enviroment yet (5 users)?
 
Speedster said:
Has anyone found a rock solid voip solution for a home office enviroment yet (5 users)?
Click to expand...
For sure been using VoIP for more years than I can remember now. Built my first asterisk box early 2000's.

Its like asking how to fry an egg, youll get loads of answers, but you always need heat, egg, pan.

1. Internet, fibres great, and QoS on your network really helps
2. Phone, hardware is better than softphones
3. VoIP provider I like this guys service https://www.abacustelecomm.co.za/

Its so easy to make VoIP work these days, and you can have loads of variations on the elements, just make sure they all implemented properly.
 
Hi guys,

Sorry it's moved fast but we switched to a 3cx platform - no changes made to network and everybody working now over softphone . Using a temp number range until our numbers get ported over.

I had started a discussion with switch telecom and they recommended some apps from the play/app store . One was called Zoiper or something. I installed one, and immediately decided I was not going to go through that **** again.

Asking my users to get an advanced degree in voip settings and in app purchases was a no go.

I wanted the front end and back end to be managed by one party (so no finger pointing, etc).

I remembered 3CX from a counterpart overseas and got a test system setup.

3CX is amazing. 2 seconds to setup extension on app after scanning QR code

Immediately worked on our networks at the office, our problematic users at their homes , where the other solution never worked without lots of bloody technical high jumps.

Customers can hear us and us them , regardless of their location (local, international

It's just wonderful.

Thanks to everyone that tried to help me, sorry I didn't get back in touch. Besides this, was overloaded on other topics

Unsure if I should name and shame the current (soon to be ex provider ) - they are to be avoided at all costs. Let's just say their name includes the protocol that runs on port 23
 
InternetLuddite said:
Hi guys,

Sorry it's moved fast but we switched to a 3cx platform - no changes made to network and everybody working now over softphone . Using a temp number range until our numbers get ported over.

I had started a discussion with switch telecom and they recommended some apps from the play/app store . One was called Zoiper or something. I installed one, and immediately decided I was not going to go through that **** again.

Asking my users to get an advanced degree in voip settings and in app purchases was a no go.

I wanted the front end and back end to be managed by one party (so no finger pointing, etc).

I remembered 3CX from a counterpart overseas and got a test system setup.

3CX is amazing. 2 seconds to setup extension on app after scanning QR code

Immediately worked on our networks at the office, our problematic users at their homes , where the other solution never worked without lots of bloody technical high jumps.

Customers can hear us and us them , regardless of their location (local, international

It's just wonderful.

Thanks to everyone that tried to help me, sorry I didn't get back in touch. Besides this, was overloaded on other topics

Unsure if I should name and shame the current (soon to be ex provider ) - they are to be avoided at all costs. Let's just say their name includes the protocol that runs on port 23
Click to expand...
Who are you working with locally? It seems 3cx don't provide services direct locally,
 
InternetLuddite said:
Unsure if I should name and shame the current (soon to be ex provider ) - they are to be avoided at all costs. Let's just say their name includes the protocol that runs on port 23
Click to expand...
Wow I am so sorry I advised you to look internally for the problem. Whenever somebody has an issue with VoIP it invariably turns out the network had an issue not their ITSP, and I incorrectly assumed you were the same.

In my defence there really should not be any bad ITSP's around any more, and unsure how they survive.

Still not convinced about softphones, but have never tried the 3cx, so please feed back after a few weeks of use. Glad you sorted!
 
yogidabear said:
Wow I am so sorry I advised you to look internally for the problem. Whenever somebody has an issue with VoIP it invariably turns out the network had an issue not their ITSP, and I incorrectly assumed you were the same.

In my defence there really should not be any bad ITSP's around any more, and unsure how they survive.

Still not convinced about softphones, but have never tried the 3cx, so please feed back after a few weeks of use. Glad you sorted!
Click to expand...

Correct , Even if the OP had a bad service provider and the new service provider is good , you should also follow best practices and get you Lan infrastructure optimized for voip ie use vlans and try avoid softphones.Just my 2 cents.Get back to basics and the rest will follow.
 
Had the rep from Kinetix over this afternoon and am seeing a Euphoria rep in the morning.
 
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