Top 5 VoIP Myths

By Asher Moses on 04 July 2006

Asher Moses, CNET.com.aucommentary Since publishing our "Is it time to ditch your landline" feature, which takes a look at Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and its viability as a regular landline replacement, a number of general misconceptions have been brought to our attention. This was particularly apparent when we took part in a recent radio segment on the subject for ABC radio, during which questions from confused listeners were fielded by CNET.com.au.

Below are our top five VoIP misconceptions and why they're wrong:

  1. VoIP calls are free - While VoIP calls between two PCs are free, if you're looking to call a landline phone, you'll have to pony up. Fortunately, this is much cheaper than a fixed line rate; on average, VoIP local/STD calls are untimed and cost just 10 cents, while a similar Telstra fixed line call will set you back approximately 20c per minute.

  2. VoIP lines can survive electrical blackouts - Unlike your regular telephone line, when the electricity to your home cuts out, so too does your Internet connection and thus, your VoIP line.

  3. Landline numbers are easily ported over to a VoIP service - If you decide to take the plunge to VoIP, chances are you'll need to live with using a new phone number. Each VoIP user is provided with a unique telephone number, however, relationships between traditional fixed line vendors and VoIP providers are far from strong, so porting numbers is difficult.

  4. Calls can only be made from in front of a computer - Although this was the case when VoIP first emerged, the recent emergence of wireless VoIP handsets and telephone adaptors provides VoIP users with just as much freedom as they'd have with a fixed line phone.

  5. Dial-up Internet is sufficient - If you want call quality to be anywhere near the level of your regular landline, the low bandwidth of a dialup connection just won't cut it. At least a 512kbps broadband plan is preferable, and if you're looking to ditch your landline, a cable, satellite or wireless broadband solution should be picked over ADSL.

A more thorough explanation of VoIP in Australia can be found in our "VoiP explained" feature.

Have you taken the plunge to VoIP yet? If so, is it a viable landline replacement? If not, why not? Talk back to us below.

Topics: voip, engin, freshtel, mynetphone, voice-over-ip, skype, landline

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Comments (10)

  • patientlady commented on 01/10/2008 15:20 Report abuse

    I've been with Adam Talk for 3 months now and boy, what an odyssee this was! Anything that could go wrong went wrong and until TODAY I could not get calls because they couldn't hear me, then the echo was so strong on one side, then calls would be directed immediatly to the voice mail, and and the problem was mostly the program my son used to down/upload stuff. It used almost all the bandwidth there was, even when it wasn't downloading it would interfere. So, between the software company and the server and heaps of expensive mobile phone calls it was finally solved! Now, to eliminate the echo for the caller I thought about getting an ATA when I realised the modem only has one ethernet port! I hate headphones which would eliminate the echo (but strangely when using Skype there's no echo). So, what to do? I am just glad the thing works. Would I do it again? Not so sure. Haven't saved a cent so far, due to heavy use of mobile phone. I hope all of this will work itself out now.

  • jack_frost_esq commented on 29/07/2008 21:24 Report abuse

    Skype now has a $5.95 AU per month service that allows free calls to land lines within australia. Found it works great as I have the same account on my home computer and on my pda. Cheap as chips.

  • Bazzel commented on 24/06/2008 14:32 Report abuse

    simvegas... exactly my point!

  • simvegas commented on 04/03/2008 17:49 Report abuse

    hahaha at#5. yep try making a voip call on satellite and tell me how ugo.

  • D commented on 18/10/2007 13:43 Report abuse

    Point 2 is somewhat fixable. If you're really worried about making phone calls when the power is out you can attach the broadband modem and other VOIP devices to a UPS. UPS's aren't all that expensive these days. http://daedalus-geek.freehostia.com

  • Plastic Druid commented on 15/08/2007 20:01 Report abuse

    It's true that you can't make VoIP calls in a power cut but if you have a mobile what's the problem? We have two teenage kids and our household has four mobiles. We ditched our landline six months ago and don't miss it at all. In fact, getting a new telephone number was great because the telemarketers don't bother us anymore.

  • Mike commented on 08/03/2007 10:36 Report abuse

    Engin is not all it's cracked up to be. Our analysis shows we saved exactly $4 on our average $400 monthly bill, not worth the hassle!!! Calls to mobiles are more expensive then the rate we had with Telstra. Calls to their own customer service (a so called local call rate 1300 number) are charged at 28cents. You cannot block caller ID (explaination from Engin: "we have some problems with that at the moment" 5 weeks??!!!) Record wait for customer service = 34 minutes, and were then referred to website, the info wasn't there, back to customer service (19 min wait), "oh, that's right we changed that page.") Because of the 2 numbers (landline and engin) heaps of missed calls on the landline number... and so it goes on. Back to Telstra for landline and Go-Talk for overseas.

  • Terry Donnelly commented on 12/11/2006 13:13 Report abuse

    I have been using Freshtel for some months now on the cheapest plan. Most of the time it works well but long calls invariably start breaking up and eventually drop out altogether. This is true with both the softphone and the telephone adaptor linked with a Uniden cordless phone. The softphone is a little more reliable but nowhere as convenient. I am using an Exetel plan with 512 download.

  • Dale Kimball commented on 21/08/2006 19:19 Report abuse

    I have recently started using Yahoo VoIP and I think its great. I speak with relatives in Queensland PC to PC and PC to Phone. Pc to Phone costs me about 1 cent a minute (US) so its great value.There is a small time delay with PC to Phone but no worse than an international call. I am now looking toward using it as my home phone system due to a move to a remote area, coupling it with wireless internet. I say bring it on and put companies like Telstra on notice,"get better or get out".

  • dontsendspamhere@gmail.com commented on 05/07/2006 16:41 Report abuse

    Points 2 and 3 dont take into account PSTN 'lifelines' which infact allow the keeping of the same number for calling in and emergency calling out if one keeps a landline. Keeping a landline is very feasable considering the need of one for DSL services. I feel this should have got a mention in this article as it is of signifigant impact to many considering this service.

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