Pennytel Alternative for Calling Overseas

• 

  Gunther on 05/01/2015 - 17:33

  What countries are you calling?

  TPG has unlimited international calls to up to 80 countries as part of their Home Phone Bundle Packages
  http://www.tpg.com.au/products_services/home-phone-bundle/su…

• 

  [Deactivated] on 05/01/2015 - 17:43

  viber

• 

  bonezAU on 05/01/2015 - 17:45

  +1

  I use Didlogic. They don't have their own app, but there are plenty of apps for both Android and iOS that are very easy to use and configure.

  Call quality is brilliant compared to about 6-7 other vSP's I've tried over the years.

  • 

    Lurker on 05/01/2015 - 19:57

    Hi bonezAU ,

    Thank you very much for your suggestion.

    I have a few questions about the use of DIDlogic and I hope you have the time to answer.

    ……….Current set up I have on my computer and at my home office in Australia:

    Skype on my computer and my mobile phone.

    Internet speed at home office is ADSL2 . Not the best, but not the worst either.

    Has an Australian mobile phone number with a local telecom company, i.e. Optus.

    Has a landline phone number with Telstra.

    ……….Requirements :
    Will call 2 mobile phone number overseas: one an Australian mobile phone number, the other a local overseas mobile phone number.

    Voice quality needs to be better than what Viber or Skype on wifi in Australia can provide.

    ……….Questions I have:
    Can DIDlogic provide better voice quality than Viber or Skype using the current set up I have mentioned in Australia?

    Thanks a million.

• 

  bonezAU on 06/01/2015 - 01:55

  +1

  It all depends on what you call overseas.
  In some countries, internet is good, in others it is bad. If you can give me more info I will try to answer your questions.

  Better call quality than Viber and Skype is absolutely do-able, it just depends on all the surrounding circumstances.

  Eg, for me, my wife calls Indonesia daily and the internet is crap there. Skype and Viber aren't an option due to unreliable quality and mum not knowing how to use a computer or smartphone, so direct calling to landlines and mobiles are a necessity. Your case could be different. Just fill me in and I can try to help.

  • 

    Lurker on 06/01/2015 - 05:27

    Thanks for the reply.

    I call Penang, Malaysia from Australia.

    Internet connection in Penang is worse than ADSL2 in Australia.

    Penang internet is not much better than dial up.

    I call 2 mobile phone numbers in Penang using Skype and Viber these days.

    One is a Penang local mobile phone number.

    The other is an Australian mobile phone number (with Optus) being used in Penang.

    I presume I have to get a hardware of some sort to make use of DIDlogic in Australia in order to have call quality better than Skype in Australia,
    and also hardware in Penang ?

    Thanks a million.

    • 

      bonezAU on 06/01/2015 - 11:11

      +1

      I call Indonesia daily with Didlogic. The quality is far better than any other provider, as I have already mentioned.

      If you already have a smartphone (iPhone, Android, Windows etc) then there is no need for additional hardware. You can simply download an app and configure it then use it to make calls, which will go out via your WiFi connection, not over the mobile network.

      It really helps if you have WiFi at home (from your ADSL, cable or NBN connection). It doesn't perform too well over 3G/4G.

      Let me know what sort of phone you have and I'm more than happy to recommend an app and help you get started.

      • 

        Lurker on 06/01/2015 - 13:51

        Thanks a million for your answers.

        Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 in Penang

        Samsung Galaxy Note 2 in Australia

      • 

        bonezAU on 06/01/2015 - 15:10

        +1

        @Lurker:

        You can download an app for free from the Google Play store called CSipSimple. There's also a codec pack to go along with it.

        You can then sign up for a Didlogic account, create an extension and add some credit. Once you get to setting up the app, just choose the basic wizard (under "Other provider"), enter your SIP extension and password, as well as the server name, which for Australia is sip.au.didlogic.net, and for Malaysia I would use the Singapore server, which is sip.sg.didlogic.net

        Once you have got that up and going you can dial normal numbers all over the world using the official international format.

        Eg an Australian number that is 02 9999 9999 becomes 61299999999

• 

  scorrrpioo on 06/01/2015 - 09:57

  Thanks for the suggestion guys.

  Skype and Viber are only secondary option as the call quality is not reliable. In fact i have found that facetime is more reliable. But not everyone has an apple device.

  I generally call US, UK and India. There are few numbers in India which i have to direct dial instead of relying on Viber, skype etc… and for that i was using Penny Tel.

  bonezAU i'll check out DIDlogic thanks for the suggestion.

  Gunther I cannot use TPG as i already have a home line and internet with Optus