BajaNomad

VoIP

MrBillM - 1-4-2005 at 10:36 AM

Having just installed a DirecWay system, I'm trying to decide next on a VoIP Broadband Telco system. Many in this area are reporting satisfactory service with "Crystal Voice", but it is a one-way outgoing service. There are many providers advertising both incoming and outgoing service such as "Packet 8", " Viper, "iconnecthere.com", etc.
Is there anyone out there with Broadband Telco service who can share the Good, Bad or Ugly with said service ?

bajalou - 1-4-2005 at 07:26 PM

Skype is great for me and my wife and friends - and you can't beat the price - program free, comp to comp free and 2 cents a min to call phones is US or Europe.

:biggrin:

SkypeIn

bajalou - 4-14-2005 at 09:28 PM

Skype has a new service, SkypeIn. You have a phone no. in US or another country that folks can call to talk to you. Rings thru on your computer. 30Euros for 12 months. Includes voicemail.

"With SkypeIn, you can get your own, regular phone number. So if your friends who aren?t using Skype want to call you by dialing a regular number, you can still receive the call in Skype. No matter where you are.

So, if you have a Chicago-based SkypeIn number, but you?re living somewhere in the suburbs of Paris, your Chicago area friends - or anyone! - can just dial your SkypeIn number, and your Skype on the other side of the world starts ringing... and your friends are only paying whatever their phone company charges them for making a phone call to Chicago."

Interesting to say the least.

:biggrin:

Pompano - 4-15-2005 at 06:16 AM

We use Crystalvoice on our Direcway Internet service and buy subscription gifts for friends and relatives...or any others who 'we want' to call us. It makes for nuisance-free phone service. When our phone rings we know it's from someone we know and have okayed their call.

For every new subscription you initiate for Crystalvoice, the company gives you a $5 credit on your phone balance. The subscriptions are $20..really $15 in our case and is a very low cost, yet unique gift, plus the phone credits earned make for lots of phone time, which greatly pleases my wife.

The new updated phone service is exceptionally clear and almost instant. I call out to many businesses daily and experience no problems with switchboard operators, secretary's, etc.

bajalou - 4-15-2005 at 07:48 AM

I've called my home in San Felipe a couple times with no problems. The rate to call Mexico is .08E$ a min except Mex City and Monterey which is the same as all of the US and most of Europe .017 E$ a min (E$ meaning Euros) We use Skype computer to computer several times a day (these are free calls) and call US phones 3-4 times a week. Satisfied so far - had it since Dec.

:biggrin:

Voip

tehag - 4-15-2005 at 04:25 PM

None of it works on Telmex/Prodigy in Loreto right now. Upload speed is deliberately kept too slow for voice packets. Have heard similar about other locations.

bajalou - 4-15-2005 at 05:00 PM

I am using Telnor Progidy Aire at the slowest of their speeds. Our phones connect to Telnor via radio waves to their tower - no not cell - The Progidy Aire internet connection doesn't effect the telphone useage at all. Quite satisfied here. I have a router and my wife and I are on at the same times with our laptops quite often. I also listen to XM Radio's online programing without problems, even using the Skype while the radio is streaming.



:biggrin:

beercan - 4-15-2005 at 05:54 PM

Bill,
We are using Crystal Voice over direcway in Puertecitos and are satisfied. It has a slight delay, but once you're use to that , it works fine.
Cheap too.

Worth the Price

MrBillM - 4-15-2005 at 06:07 PM

No doubt about it. Crystal Voice is worth what we pay for it, but trying to make business calls on it as opposed to family is dependent on how brightly the bulb glows at the distant end. On one call to my Neurosurgeon's office, I finally had to give up and tell them I'd call right back on my Cellular. The lady at the distant end could not cope with the delay.

Bruce R Leech - 4-16-2005 at 07:58 AM

Skype works good for me and it is the cheapest one I think.

bajalou - 4-16-2005 at 09:05 AM

Well a slight correction Hose A

To dial SkypeOut you only have to dial + and the country code, Mexico is 52, the US is 1, Then the area code and telephone No.

To call me here in San Felipe it would be +526865760279

:biggrin:

PJC - 4-26-2005 at 10:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pompano
The new updated phone service is exceptionally clear and almost instant. I call out to many businesses daily and experience no problems with switchboard operators, secretary's, etc.


Pompano, when you say "instant" are you referring to the call setup time or a lack of the latency in the dupex nature of the call where yu used to have to end your words with "over"?

PJC - 4-26-2005 at 10:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by lencho
The ironic thing is that it costs 8 cents a minute to call Tijuana from San Diego some what, 30 miles away? I can call Spain or Israel for 4 cents a minute. Viva Telmex.


I buy Baja terminating minutes for $.0275 and sell them for $.035. We sell only wholesale though.
Quote:

I suspect the interconnection process to the different telcos is more complicated than we are aware. When I first got Vonage, I could call La Paz or Europe just fine, couldn't call Tijuana. Talked to tech support, and the next day it worked-- I assume they discovered a problem they'd been unaware of, and fixed it.


That could be intermitent. There are many dozens of what we telecom people call "black route carriers" that sell long Distance access to third world countries. Many of these outfits if not all, obtain local calling in to places like Ensenada illegaly. It is not uncommon to see a scenario where a office is rented, 10 phone lines and a DSL line ordered and a VoIP gateway as the only occupant of the office. The "black route carriers" routes calls to Ensenada over the public Internet, to the above mentioned gateway and out to the local phone network over the business lines. This allows them to avoid the "access termination charges" that TelNor and Telmex charge to deliver long distance traffic in local markets.

Vonage tends to try harder to avoid these routes.

BTW, our routes are all "white routes" and are legally connected and routed to Telmex, Telnor or the Telecom Concessionaire's in those locales.

PJC - 4-27-2005 at 09:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by lencho
Quote:
Originally posted by Baja Blackie
I buy Baja terminating minutes for $.0275 and sell them for $.035. We sell only wholesale though.


Interesting. Does that go south of Telnor land (To La Paz, for example)? Any idea why Vonage is charging so much when it's apparently possible to get better rates?


Everyone has to make a buck. That rate covers just about all of Baja and Mexico. My "golden triangle" rates are sub $.02 per minute. We mark that up a minimum of %35 and wholesale it to others.
Quote:

Quote:
BTW, our routes are all "white routes" and are legally connected and routed to Telmex, Telnor or the Telecom Concessionaire's in those locales.


So how's that work? You use local gateways or hop onto Telnor/Telmex at the border? Any idea of the going retail rates?


Pretty much what you see. Vonage is very aggresive.