Rum & Dal

This is an article on the reasoning why I opted to use Sipgate for my VoIP services. The following are my personal experiences on setup and use. I haven’t gone into too much depth in this article because I am using Sipgate as a basic service, allowing me to call from Oz and allowing others who do not have an internet connection to call me at a local call rate. Please visit Sipgate for full details on costing and use.

So you know by now that I’m emigrating to Oz but how do my tenants keep in touch with me? And more to the more point how do I keep in touch with them, from across the world, without paying crazy prices.

Well recently there has been much talk about these VoIP methods of communication. After investigating various providers with their advantages and disadvantages I decided to give Sipgate a go, after all it doesn’t cost anything to register. Now these guys have given me a local number free of charge, yes that’s right free. Other providers will charge e.g Skype and this was the main incentive behind my decision.

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Calls

My tenants or friends and family without Internet connection can ring this number at local call charges and get in touch with me in Melbourne. If I am online with Sipgates softphone package, then I can answer the call and talk to them as you would with a “normal” telephone exchange service. If however I am not online then the caller can leave a message. Nothing too difficult about that. NOTE I have not yet tried this over distance, I’ve only tried it in the UK.

Now this is the good part. I can call people in the UK on their landline numbers or mobile numbers for the same cost (and a little cheaper than BT) as if I was calling them from my home town in Telford.  The internet call from Melbourne to Telford is free. NOTE you do have to have money in your account to do this. Calls to other Sipgate customers are free, even to some other VoIP networks.

Voicemail

You can retrieve these has you would with a mobile, dialling a number and entering your PIN. Depending on the method you use to retrieve your messages you could be charged.  To get your voicemail free, log on to your softphone installed on your PC or log on to your account at Sipgate.  Messages left can also be forwarded to your email with an attached wav file. I have tried and tested this and quality of the voicemail is excellent.

Text messages

This facility is also available but you must have credit in your account.

Software

Once registered with Sipgate they provide a softphone software package for downloading. When installed, it automatically sets all the necessary fields so you can start making calls straight away. Using the software is similar to MSN, dial your number and talk via your connected microphone this could be from your webcam, headset or standalone desktop microphone.

My only problem was that the software or at least the version I installed at the time was not compatible with Vista 64bit.  Having contacted customer support about this matter I received an email within the hour telling me to install X-Lite Version 3.0 (build 34025) created by CounterPath.  This software required setting up certain parameters, with the help of customer support and a tutorial I was up and running within the hour. 

Conclusion

I haven’t yet used Sipgate as intended but I registered here in Telford, UK so that I would get a local telephone number. I only want to use Sipgate for a basic service, which enables me to call from Oz and to be contacted via a telephone number for those who do not have an internet connection. I doubt I would ever call others on a VoIP networks, my friends and family are all using MSN with their webcams.

Leaving and retrieving messages works well and I have phoned various free phone numbers when getting insurance quotations. The quality of the line is excellent, lets hope it is when I call from Oz (will let you know once I am there). Sipgate have been around for a while and seem to know what they are doing, they provide customers with a quality product and helpful and reliable customer service. For the local calls that I will be making they seem very competitive.

Sipgate have many other services and facilities, if I was staying in the UK I would have probably switched to them and disconnected my landline service with Virgin media. Well at least given them a go.