VoIP guide: Voice over IP in Australia

By Ian Grayson on 08 August 2007

Making phone calls over the Internet isn't just for the tech savvy anymore. Using VoIP (or Voice over Internet Protocol) is easier than ever before, with several services out there that can help drastically reduce your phone bill. Here's everything you need to know about VoIP in Australia.

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What is VoIP?

Since it first appeared in the home market about five years ago, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has been helping people make big savings on their phone bills. Yet many users are still unsure about exactly how it works and what you need to get started.

In essence, VoIP allows a broadband Internet connection to be used to make and receive phone calls. Because the calls travel over the Internet rather than the copper wire networks of the major phone companies, VoIP service providers can offer rates way below those of traditional carriers. In some cases calls can even be free.

To achieve this feat, VoIP technology converts sound waves (a human voice) into data. During this conversion, the voice is sampled thousands of times each second with the samples being converted to electronic packets. These packets are then streamed over the Internet in the same way as everything from emails to web pages.

Because the voice stream has to find its way through the complex web of networks that make up the Internet, each packet is labelled with the destination address of the person being called. So, even if some of the packets take a different path or arrive out of order, they can still be reassembled into voice sound waves when they arrive. When this process happens in two directions, you have a phone call.

Early usage of VoIP was constrained by slow Internet links which led to poor voice quality and call drop-outs. But, as more and more people moved to broadband connections such as ADSL or cable, the quality and reliability of VoIP calls has improved significantly.

Topics: australia, guide, explained, telephony, voip, voice over ip, skype, engin, mynetfone, gotalk

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Comments (48)

  • Techno Newby commented on 17/06/2009 11:02 Report abuse

    I am seeing reviews here with extreme good/bad with regard to all VoIP providers, and thought I should add my own bit with regard to my experience with VoIP – with PennyTel. I have been using PennyTel for nearly a year now and my experience has generally been positive. I use the “Free Access Untimed” plan and find it to be terrific value. There is no monthly commitment and calls to Australian Landlines and many countries like US, UK, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore at 8c for a call of any length. I purchased a “Traditional” number some time ago ($15 for3 years) so that my Pennytel number can be reached like an ordinary phone. Later on I ported my mobile connection to Pennysim. The main reasons were the really good call rates (8c flagfall + 8c per half minute), ability to take calls using my pennytel account (at landline rates) and being able to call home (and other Pennytel users) free of charge. My experience with Pennytel was not entirely free of glitches. When my mobile number was being ported, there was a scare when the existing SIM stopped working, but the new SIM card did not pick up the line immediately. There was a delay of about a day for the new SIM to get activated. I had to call customer support a few times, specially when I was trying to get my “Smartdial” working. My calls to the customer support line did go to their voice mail system and I did receive a call back from them, and there was no undue delay. In one occasion the customer support guy could not sort it out and had to raise a “ticket” to their technical team and they got in touch with me fairly quickly and sorted things out within a few days. Obviously I would have been happier if I did not have to go through the trouble of calling the customer support and wait some time to get solutions. But it seems a fair price to pay for the terrific savings you can make with Pennytel!. I have also had no issues with billing or call quality (except for an occasional choppy voices)

  • deafasacuckoo commented on 14/06/2009 14:11 Report abuse

    Has anyone had any experience with a Siemens Gigaset C470IP IP/DECT cordless phone system ?? This is offered in the Voip offer made to me, supposedly because of good sound quality. Being deafasacuckoo I want to try this out( $199 risk)on that copper wire landline first( where most other phones fail to give CLEAR voice) .

  • Siemen commented on 14/06/2009 04:52 Report abuse

    I have been with Vocaltone for obe r a year now. My wife got another PennyTel line and we soon understood Vocaltone quality is unmatchable. Vocaltone works with Faxes and also they are the only provider I know who provides access to weather networks, directory assistance and live call connections

  • paddles commented on 08/06/2009 11:01 Report abuse

    Have read diligently through all the above posts and they have confirmed my "gut" feeling that my moderate costing bundled telcom services are not worth disturbing for technology that appears to cause so many problems and contain financial pitfalls for the unwary.

  • syd_bloke commented on 30/05/2009 14:54 Report abuse

    Anyone who is praising Pennytel are talking lot of crap, absolutely crap service, rip off billing, and not talk about their customer service. The word PENNYTEL suits them.

  • has2bcn commented on 15/05/2009 21:31 Report abuse

    ive been using pennytel at home for a couple of years now, and have no complaints. in more recent times, i have tried their PennySim, which is a remarkable concept! VoIP rates on your mobile.. ingenious!!!

  • Pennytel vs Engin vs iinet commented on 28/04/2009 12:38 Report abuse

    Engin are indeed total rip offs with their stupid box and tyheir rates. iinet rates put them in the class of total wankers for landline and voip - but they have the best adsl2 rates. Pennytel has the best rates around but it has absolutely no service.

  • Timo commented on 10/04/2009 11:48 Report abuse

    We are in trials at the moment for Australia and have been setting up in 19 countries. We should be up and running here around sept09. If you give me an email at spot.on.computers@gmail.com around that date our Internation company will be doing some promotional deals. Should be able to get you in on the ground floor as they will be looking for Telecommunication reps as well because they own and make the video phone. I havent seen any other company that makes a product like this. Its going to be futuristic stuff. UK and USA already up and going. After Australia we will going into the Asian market. IF your interested in being a rep you will need a Telecommunications licence which cost me $495. But a lot of money on the table. Talking $10,000 a month now.Elvis pressley money

  • midnight commented on 10/04/2009 11:35 Report abuse

    Where can I get one of these videophone from

  • Timo commented on 10/04/2009 11:28 Report abuse

    New voip service coming out in Sept based in Sydney. No off shore stuff. offering a video voip phone. no setup needed. Will cost apox $30 month with video phone. test tried out from Aus to uk 0.25s lag in video. perfect picture. Able to plug into wide screen and act as Dig picture frame when not in use. awesome. Excellent for confrence calls. really good front end service as based in sydney. Talk to an Aussy. Will be a 24month plan with videophone. Comes with sip code so you can program mobils with Wifi to switch to voip when in range of home base access points. Fantastic for farms with no mobil coverage but have adsl. Can set up repeaters around farms so that mobils can use voip if they have wifi. I'm using a nokia E65 with wifi and can make perfect voip calls in a mobil black spot area. Awesome

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