Published on July 7, 2006
in iTalk.
VoIP stands for Voice over IP (internet protocol). It means using an internet connection for voice data, a.k.a. using the internet for making phone calls / voice communications. The much talked about Skype is one example of software based VoIP. In New Zealand Slingshot have a service called iTalk. This service costs $10 a month and provides some fantastic benefits. The main benefits I see are:
- Your phone number doesn’t need to change when you move home / office
This has always pissed me off with the way Telecom has their system set up. If I move house within Auckland (where I live) my phone number changes. The reason is that Auckland is split up into a large number of phone exchanges that provide service to the surrounding allocated area. That’s why each area has its own number format (372 xxxx is Waiheke Island, 846 xxxx is Mt Albert, 575 xxxx is St Heliers, etc.). If the area you move to in on a different exchange from where you came from your number will change. If you have business cards with this number on them, well… it can be rather annoying and expensive.
- You get a full range of telco features at this low price.
Features include call-forwarding when busy, call-forwarding when no answer, call-waiting, voice-mail, do not disturb (call blocking). You also get caller ID so that you can see what number an incoming call is coming from. Adding all these features to a Telecom phone line would cast a lot.
- You can make and answer calls any where in the world!
Because your calls come over the internet you can access your phone line (voice mail, incoming and outgoing calls) from anywhere that you have broadband access. If you load the free iTalk Soft-phone application onto your laptop and you have wireless, then walking into any wireless broadband hotspot will give you phone access as if you are sitting with your phone back at home. Outgoing calls will originate from your iTalk number location (Auckland originally, but now there are other options in New Zealand). That means you could be in Singapore (where the whole city has free wireless broadband) and you can call an Auckland number free. You can call a NZ mobile for 30c a minute. You can call anywhere in the world at the normal iTalk rates. People calling your NZ iTalk number will get through to your sitting there in Singapore, at no additional cost. Nice huh?
- Drop Telecom out of the picture
Once the Telecom unbundling process is complete, it will be possible to have iTalk with no Telecom phone account in place. At present to get ADSL to your house / office you must have an expensive Telecom phone account / line. Soon, that will no longer be required and your phone services will cost only $10 a month, with all these features (saving you at least $60 a month).
- The outgoing call rates are some of the lowest I’ve seen.
iTalk Rates are as follows:
Local Calls: FREE
National Calls: 5 cents per minute
Land to NZ Mobile Calls: 30 cents per minute
International Calls
| 5¢ per min |
10¢ per min |
15¢ per min |
30¢ per min |
| Australia |
Bangladesh |
Botswana |
Australia Mobile |
| Belgium |
Indonesia |
Bulgaria |
Fiji |
| Brazil |
Korea (Sth) Mobile |
Colombia |
Fiji Mobile |
| China |
Peru |
Mexico |
India |
| Germany |
Poland |
Namibia |
India Mobile |
| Japan |
Portugal |
Panama |
Indonesia Mobile |
| Korea (Sth) |
Russia |
Romania |
NZ Mobile |
| National (NZ) |
Slovenia |
Swaziland |
Pakistan |
| Norway |
South Africa |
Taiwan Mobile |
Philippines |
| Singapore |
Thailand |
Ukraine |
Sri Lanka |
| UK |
Thailand Mobile |
Uruguay |
Turkey |
| USA |
Zimbabwe |
Zambia |
Zimbabwe Mobile |
If the international destination you desire is not listed above please see the full list of iTalk rates by clicking here.
Check out iTalk here: www.italk.co.nz
If you have a SonyEricsson mobile I suggest checking out the free Float Mobile Agent (FMA) from http://fma.sourceforge.net/. I understand it is not fully compatible / functional with all models of SonyEricsson phones, but it certainly adds some grunt to those it works with. I have been using FMA for nearly two years now and have always wondered why SonyEricsson have never bothered to include it as a standard part of their PC based phone software.
Check it out…
http://fma.sourceforge.net/
For a small business in New Zealand exporting the USA it may be a great asset to have a direct telecommunication link with your customers abroad—such as a toll-free number in the USA the directs through to your New Zealand phone line. Setting up this sort of service using the common channels (such as via a New Zealand telco company) is expensive—actually it’s a total rip off when compared with the other options.
Here I provide some links to various companies providing telecommunication services that may be of value to the small New Zealand business wanting to establish a presence in the USA. This list will expand over time.
- Kall8 - provides toll free numbers in the USA that will forward to your NZ land-line at a rate of 6.9c US per minute. Can also forward to a NZ mobile, although until the NZ mobile industry gets on par with the rest of the developed world the rates are relatively high, at 38c US. You can, of course, have this US number follow you to any location in the world at varying rates.
If you would like me to assist you in setting up any of these above mentioned services please give me a call or fire an email my way. I have many years of experience in this field and I would be happy to assist.
My clients and customers in the United Kingdom have two local options for contacting me. They can call my UK mobile number (free if their mobile plan covers this, or the normal cost to call a UK mobile which is about 20-50p) and the call will reach me on my mobile phone here in New Zealand. They can also call my local UK phone number (costing them about 5p a minute) and they will reach me on whatever New Zealand land-line number I choose to forward the call to. The cost to me? Nothing at all.
I am in fact able to have as many phone numbers, in different regions/areas of the UK as I like, and all at no cost. Of course I have no need for anything more than one land-line and one mobile number there, so that’s what I’ve got. The companies providing these services take a small cut of the money the caller pays to phone the UK based number, and that is how they cover their low costs and make a profit. Someone living in NZ and use to the sort of insane rates we pay for calls might wonder how these UK companies afford to cover the call redirection costs to a New Zealand phone number. Well, the truth is that the costs involved are tiny. As far as I know it costs Telecom NZ a few dollars a day (for 24 hours) to rent the lines they use to channel NZ outbound international calls through to countries like USA, UK, Australia, etc. Yet it was only a year or two ago that they charged over $1 per minute to each and every person making a call to these countries.
So how do I achieve this phone set up?
There are two telecommunications companies I have come across that provide these sorts of services in the UK. I am on the prowl for similar services from the USA. I suggest you check out their websites to find out more:
- OpenTelecom (is the one I use at present)
OpenTelecom provides a great range of UK based communication services including fax-to-email numbers, Global Roaming mobile SIM cards, toll-free UK numbers, and more.
- Simwood eSMS Limited (is another one I have checked out recently)
- dmClub - I suspect this company is now owned by (or at least closely affiliated with) OpenTelecom because there is a link to their user control panel on the OT site. You may, however, wish to check them out. They provide a similar line-up of services to the above two sites.
If you need a hand setting up any of these services let me know. It is, however, fairly straightforward.
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