TekSavvy → Re: VOIP providers in Ontario?

What's the best one in terms of line quality for calling to the US intl?

And also fairly easy to set-up. It's not the setup that's the tough part, I could maybe set up voip.ms but if it goes down and one of the other members of the household has to trouble shoot it then....

From my experience, Vonage has them all beat in that department. The only thing I don't like about them is their inability to support more advanced networking. For most users though, this isn't a problem. It's only if you're "special" like me and have more specific requirements (like a static /29 subnet with 6 IP addresses and 5 computers before the Vonage adapter) that it can get a little sticky. Aside from that, they're GREAT!

 
What about whether they will offer you a number which is local to you and your local friends and family ?

Also will they port in such a number if you already have one ?

OK, how about the same for Kingston and Cornwall, and even smaller centres ?

THAT's where Vonage, Primus, Skype, and MagicJerk (all established VoIP providers to Canada) all fall apart.

I have yet to have any issue with that either. I have a number of virtual numbers, and they all seem to work GREAT. The only thing that I've noticed change since I made the move from Bell to Vonage is the phone bill. Everything else seems to work just the same, without issue. Even with virtual numbers, there doesn't really seem to be a down side on that front.

 
Maybe Kitchener is just large enough to get their respect (all 4 companies which I named above).

You (and all readers) could save even more though, and not be locked out of adjusting your ATA, if you chose any of several respected BYOD VoIP providers which are popular and frequently discussed here : »VOIP Tech Chat

For more info about some of them, see this DSLR page : »/gbu

on voip.ms you can pick the area code you want or port your current number.

 
Yes, and so can CallCentric, Anveo, and several others for a large part of Canada - and all of these providers are frequently mentioned in VoIP Tech Chat forum.

But the point I was making is that when you get to smaller cities such as Kingston and Cornwall, and even smaller communities such as mine, THAT's where every one of Vonage, Primus, Skype, and MagicJerk (all of which brag about being established VoIP providers to Canada) falls short.

Most providers have locale choices for your number(s) including international. Your choice where and how many you want. If you have someone like a mother or customer that you'd like to give a local number to for calling you that's another nice feature. Toll free, all kinds of options. At around $1/mth for each CID that's a good deal.

Nothing stops you from using multiple providers if one has a location for CID that you want and another doesn't. With SIP URL (most of the decent companies have that) you can pass calls between providers at little or no cost so your phone only needs to connect to one.

Lots of fun tricks. Just for fun I built a PBX out of a Raspberry Pi ($35 computer board). it isn't my usual PBX since I already one but it works well enough to run a house full of users.

I have TekTalk as main line and now two voip.ms lines. Both work ok, there have been times TekTalk been down, i find voip.ms more reliable. Two reasons while i'm still with TekTalk-- voip.ms did not work with alarm system, tektalk did and included free incoming/outgoing local calls.
One more odd thing, if sometimes goes wrong with internet, tektalk will take long time to reconnect, .ms right away, within seconds. I have been thru all settings with teksavvy tech and they weren't able to fix it either.

Yeah there's a lot of options and things that can go right and wrong. I think the OP only wants a phone line that acts like POTS but we can still geek out a bit.

Having your own PBX on a low power device is tons of fun and you can build your own failover schemes. The no cost incoming is nice if you get a lot of calls but what's nice about voip.ms et al is that paying for every call can work out really cheap. $5/mth with some bells and whistles. I have more ways to contact me than I get actual calls. I still keep an old Nokia N800 as a house phone and it works fantastic. And the SIP enabled smart phone, and a cordless, etc....

to the OP, with a standards based SIP account you can do things like add SIP to your smart phone and never call long distance over your voice plan.

You shouldn't go ahead and assume that all of us would save. As I said already, my phone line is used heavily daily. An unlimited plan fits my scenario much better.

What do you mean by a number local to yourself and local to friends in family?

I live in London, originally the Vonage account had a Kingston area number (a POTS line from TekSavvy was used for local calling) for calling a family member that went to live up there for 2 years.

Voip.ms and FPL do not suit everyone's needs.

 
What screen name were you using when you "said already" ? (not the current one)

I mean a local number which other nearby folks about whom you care can call you without it being a long distance call for THEM, preferably the Bell number which you already have - which means that the provider needs to support porting-in for that city.

Anyway, I will prove this to you - go here : »www.vonage.ca/

Type in a local Bell phone number from Kingston into their 'Keep your existing number' checker.

I used 613-542-1234 , and 542 has been a Bell landline downtown Kingston exchange since the 1970's or longer.

It says "NO".

Try the same for 931 of Cornwall, also a long time Bell exchange.

Same answer.

Cannot port in numbers - WHAT GOOD IS THAT ?

All of YOUR other savings are moot if friends and family have to pay extra to talk to you, right ?

EDIT : I just noticed that you say that a separate POTS number was used for some folks to call you ?

Well THERE's an extra twenty-something a month !

If you REALLY want to save on phone service, do not mind VoIP and the fact that it rides on your Internet, then there are plenty of better solutions than Vonage, even if your usage is heavy.

And most of them let you port in your number or choose a new one in Ontario municipalities of all sizes.

They start at $2.80 per month including 911 service, with all incoming calls free, and charge half a cent per minute for outgoing calls to almost all of Canada.

This includes all of the calling features you could want, and they only take a cent per call to lookup the name for an incoming number if it is not in your contact list with them.

Are you suggesting that Vonage does all of that for less, AND supports the phone numbers of smaller communities ?

Actually I don't have a POTS line anymore and as I said it originally was assigned a number in Kingston so that my family member there could call us without incurring long distance charges.

Please learn to read before you make assumptions. And whether another solution is actually better is completely subjective, dont banter your opinion as fact.

And neither voip.ms or FPL would save me anything (they would actualy cost me more) based on the usage my line currently gets. Unless I've calculated it wrong 7000+ minutes average the line gets use a month would be at $0.005 comes to $35-ish a month. Not including any long distance calls that are also lengthy.

 
OK, I'll admit that 7000 minutes is a lot, and is likely the exception rather than the rule for most folks' usages.

But let me ask you then :

Are you saying that ALL of those 7000 minutes would be for outgoing calls, or what % ?

And what sort of long distance calling would that be ? Overseas, or just North America ?

I'm not sure how many are incoming vs outgoing, I'd wager at least 75% since the majority of the time my mother is calling back when she gets home from her jobs. The 7000 is just an average as well of 4 hours / day, Ive seen my mother spend whole afternoons on the phone.

As for countries, they would be Spain, Australia, El Salvador and Honduras.

 
OK, so if we estimated that HALF were incoming, then that would be 3500 minutes outgoing = $17.50-ish if to Canada.

But the outside of Canada/US calls - I have not checked any of the providers about which I was speaking very much about such rates - so Vonage has decent rates to those countries ?

BTW, I have not suggested voip.ms nor FPL by name (I have not mentioned FPL at all), though you have mentioned both of them twice as unsuitable for you.

EDIT : I have checked further and it looks like Vonage will issue a new Kingston number, but not Cornwall, and will not port in existing numbers from either, let alone even DREAMING about them properly servicing a city of 30K like Brockville.

I said 75%, not 50%, and the 7000 is just an average.

The calls to Spain & Australia are unlimited and free, the calls to El Salvador & Honduras are $0.16/minute. These calls are definitely all outgoing and lengthy ones as well.

I mentioned voip.ms and FPL because they are the providers that have been vouched for the most in this thread. as being cheaper alternatives.

My point is that whether these pay as you go VoIP providers are cheaper or not is subjective the how much usage the line actually gets.

Ah well calling to Honduras got cheaper than it was 2 years ago. Most VoIP provider have pretty much the same rates to all countries, so I wouldn't save much if anything on the calls to Central America.

Using flat rate providers or pay as you go providers is like choosing between TekSavvy's 300GB or Unlimited caps on their internet packages, you decide based on your usage.

There is also the added bonus that I didn't have to pay for the ATA device. And it does everything I need it to out of the box.

 
I agree with that - just that I did not expect such a level of usage.

And yes, I was curious enought to look up the LDX rates too.

BTW, I chose 50% as I was not sure which direction you meant as the 75%.

Also, if the outgoing calls are to outside Canada (even to USA), the cost per minute generally rises with PAYG BYOD VoIP providers. - Mind you, many of them allow having numbers in other countries, and though I have not investigated that very much, setting up some of those might be a way to cut costs for someone with the calling profile which you describe.

Well glad we cleared it up a bit then.

Hopefully the OP can make an informed choice now.

When I get my own place later this year, I might go the route of just not having a land line/VoIP line. I personally barely use anything but my mobile. And even then I've been forced by friends who refuse to use voice anymore to conduct the majority of my communication via texts (I'm lazy, calling is much easier haha).

 
Yes, I just noticed that Vonage includes a pre-configged device.

And my Internet usage would be better suited to the 300 plan in the case of TSI examples, though others might insist on unlimited.

Now that this has me going, I will check some LDX rates with my providers and report back....

Cheers !

 
Oh YES, the OP !

BTW, I am still curious where they could be, that has no DSL but does have cable.

It says Ottawa, ON under their username. Might be a new subdivision with no copper PSTN wiring?