hca
Hi folks, I have spent a long time as a mail reader and fence sitter but maybe this is something that I can throw in of use to some forum members but definitely not all. I have seen over time plenty of posts about internet and telephone solutions. Briefly I will describe what I have been doing for some years.
I am not going into the pros and cons of Bali internet, I assume you have some decent and workable of a fixed nature.
Many have seen fancy phones in offices and the like but maybe not realised they are voip phones and run on a normal computer network. Most have heard of voip but many may not have heard of SIP. Sip voip has been around a while but cost effective connection to the old world of land line phones and mobiles was high and some what cumbersome. Also the phones were expensive and often need conversion from corporate phone protocols to the free SIP protocol.
Things have changes somewhat, voip phones have dropped in price and new manufacturers have moved into the market which was previously dominated by Cisco. Today these high tech phones can be obtained in Aust from 60aud up. The cost depends on how fancy you desire. For many years now Sip voip has provided a family and friend free call, world wide, phone network for us.
The other thing that has changed is the cost and complexity of connection to the public land line and mobile networks. Today one can connect one with free calls to land lines in about 13 major countries and very cheap to mobiles, as cheap as 12c a minute.
First off you need reasonable internet, We started using one on a rather variable 128/128 wireless supplied internet which rarely made 128k. Nearly always the phone was very clear without drop outs. Now on a 1mbit speedy adsl connection it can run multiple call connections and hardly ever have data loss.
As examples check out "mynetfone" in au and "inasolutions" in au for yealink voip, or google sip providers and sip phones there are options all around the world these days. You can have a dial in number any where in au for as low as $5 per year, land line calls for 10c unlimited, Au mobiles for 15c per minute, dirt cheap to most global destinations and basic phones start quite cheap.
If you like to be computer bound there is an xlite free sip client for your PC. down load it, configure a provider and away you go, but like skype your stuck with calls using a computer. Not so good with local staff either.
The advantage of sip with a sip phone is mainly no computer required, its a normal phone. You can plug one of these to the net anywhere in the world and you are the same as sitting at home. Call international on one of these and just on clarity you will throw the mobile and calling card in the bin.
Some cons,
Some sip voip providers require a credit card, and verify a local in country address by calling you on a land line, like my netfone, on the other hand their FAQ says take your phone world wide when you travel. Others like voipcheap don't care and you can use paypal.
I have not seen any Sip voip providers in Indo with low cost calls.
I have not as yet found any one in Remo or else where in Bali selling SIP phones. Obviously Ciscos can be sourced in Jakarta, so I guess the cheaper ones are available as well.
You do need 64k as a barest minimum, and a fairly steady good quality 64k at that in both directions.
Some pros,
If you have reasonable speed its as simple to install as plug it to your router, enter a few configuration items and thats it.
Normal phone can be used by anybody, no point expecting your pembantu to answer skype calls when your out of the house
Cost depending on were you call to, the cost is very low.
The call quality is very high, better than local mobiles or landlines, especially on international.
I have not done it but i see no reason a sip softphone client would not work on a lappy with a gsm usb stick in the side, or plug a phone to the lappy and bridge the gsm to the Ethernet port.
You can have plain old telephone number where you have friends or family overseas with the phone physically in Bali. They can call you on a local call.
You can use different codecs to apply higher compression at lower voice quality which use less band with.
The cost of reasonable internet can be offset with savings in international calls.
This is the most modest use of this voip technology, it is vastly expandable.
Hope this is food for thought for those who can benefit from it.
