Phone Calls Over WiFi

scottalanmiller

Running your own PBX for home is an awesome way to build up a lot of experience that carries right over to business.

wirestyle22

@scottalanmiller said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

Running your own PBX for home is an awesome way to build up a lot of experience that carries right over to business.

That is my intent. Sorry for not being more clear ^_^ Any recommendations in regards to hardware for home?

scottalanmiller

@wirestyle22 said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@scottalanmiller said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

Running your own PBX for home is an awesome way to build up a lot of experience that carries right over to business.

That is my intent. Sorry for not being more clear ^_^ Any recommendations in regards to hardware for home?

Ideally you want to run something on a hosting platform. Vultr is really good for this. FreePBX is better than Elastix these days.

Alex Sage

@BRRABill I have this exact setup.

I have a flowroute account connected to the Yealink Phone, but it could easily be a ATA gateway. This would allow you to use a standard phone.

Dashrender

@coliver said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@BRRABill said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

I was thinking about a service such as Google Voice. I know Google Voice can be set up (MAGIC!) to basically do what I am asking about, but I do not know if that process would work outside the US.

I assume you could just turn off your cell data, and it would work, but not being out of the country for a while, I was just wondering.

Has anyone used Google Voice in such a way? Can it be used JUST with WiFI?

I know Skype can also magically make phone calls, but there is a cost to that. (I don't care so much about the cost at this point, just seeing what is out there.) I also don't know if there are non-US issues with Skype.

I can't imagine there would be any issues with either of these since they are over WiFi. But I've learned it's better not to assume.

No, Google Voice routes calls using your cell service. There are options to use it as a SIP trunk but only if you have a PBX in place already.

GV does what? Don't you just use the GV app on your phone and it goes over whatever data network you provide it?

JaredBusch

@Dashrender said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@coliver said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@BRRABill said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

I was thinking about a service such as Google Voice. I know Google Voice can be set up (MAGIC!) to basically do what I am asking about, but I do not know if that process would work outside the US.

I assume you could just turn off your cell data, and it would work, but not being out of the country for a while, I was just wondering.

Has anyone used Google Voice in such a way? Can it be used JUST with WiFI?

I know Skype can also magically make phone calls, but there is a cost to that. (I don't care so much about the cost at this point, just seeing what is out there.) I also don't know if there are non-US issues with Skype.

I can't imagine there would be any issues with either of these since they are over WiFi. But I've learned it's better not to assume.

No, Google Voice routes calls using your cell service. There are options to use it as a SIP trunk but only if you have a PBX in place already.

GV does what? Don't you just use the GV app on your phone and it goes over whatever data network you provide it?

It can do that also, but that is not the core implementation of GV. GV has always been a forwarding service.

BRRABill

I am kind of in the same boat as @wirestyle22, looking to eventually find out more about this stuff.

I currently manage most our VOIP service here, but it is a proprietary system (Allworx), and the "sausage making" of the SIP trunks is done by our provider.

@JaredBusch ... @scottalanmiller has also mentioned VOIP.MS to me.

I have not looked into it, but gave it a quick lookover just now.

See, to me, all kidding aside that does indeed seem like magic, AKA, too good to be true.

I mean, it really just that simple and cheap?

BRRABill

@scottalanmiller said

Over the Internet, you mean. From what I can tell, GV is US only. Skype is paid, so works anywhere but isn't very important as it doesn't solve any real issue that a new SIM card would not fix in a more standard way.

Perhaps this is another American myth, but isn't cell/data service while travelling abroad expensive?

BRRABill

@JaredBusch said

It can do that also, but that is not the core implementation of GV. GV has always been a forwarding service.

That's why I was wondering if you just turned off your cell service, would GV just use WiFi?

I don't see how they could block that, but I have read this does not work.

scottalanmiller

@BRRABill said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@scottalanmiller said

Over the Internet, you mean. From what I can tell, GV is US only. Skype is paid, so works anywhere but isn't very important as it doesn't solve any real issue that a new SIM card would not fix in a more standard way.

Perhaps this is another American myth, but isn't cell/data service while travelling abroad expensive?

Well, there isn't one single answer to that. If you have Verizon, for example, then yes, roaming fees tend to be high (I could easily pay $100 extra per month while traveling outside of the US/Canada.)

But if you are on T-Mobile like I am now, now only is my monthly fee low, but I have zero data fees when outside of the US (with a few exceptions, but 140+ countries are 100% free for data and texting and both are unlimited.) Cell phone calls are expensive, but I can always get a local SIM for cheap calls if I want. Outside of the US, switching SIMs is an extremely typical and routine way to get cheap calling wherever you are.

stacksofplates

@BRRABill said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

I was thinking about a service such as Google Voice. I know Google Voice can be set up (MAGIC!) to basically do what I am asking about, but I do not know if that process would work outside the US.

I assume you could just turn off your cell data, and it would work, but not being out of the country for a while, I was just wondering.

Has anyone used Google Voice in such a way? Can it be used JUST with WiFI?

I know Skype can also magically make phone calls, but there is a cost to that. (I don't care so much about the cost at this point, just seeing what is out there.) I also don't know if there are non-US issues with Skype.

I can't imagine there would be any issues with either of these since they are over WiFi. But I've learned it's better not to assume.

For wifi calling you use hangouts dialer. It uses your GV number but will call over wifi or data only.

scottalanmiller

So, for example, while in Bulgaria yesterday, I had unlimited 3G data service with nearly perfect coverage all on my standard US cell phone. I didn't have to do anything, it just "worked" when I entered the country. The speed is good and the limit is simply... unlimited.

If I wanted to buy local data service, which is just a SIM card away, I last priced it out in Moldova just because I was interested. And 4G monthly service there is $8/mo to buy a SIM card charged up to pop into your existing device.

scottalanmiller

@BRRABill said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@JaredBusch said

It can do that also, but that is not the core implementation of GV. GV has always been a forwarding service.

That's why I was wondering if you just turned off your cell service, would GV just use WiFi?

I don't see how they could block that, but I have read this does not work.

I have no idea what they do with existing accounts, but the GV web page is entirely blocked in the EU. I can't even look at it for information.

thwr

@scottalanmiller said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@BRRABill said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@JaredBusch said

It can do that also, but that is not the core implementation of GV. GV has always been a forwarding service.

That's why I was wondering if you just turned off your cell service, would GV just use WiFi?

I don't see how they could block that, but I have read this does not work.

I have no idea what they do with existing accounts, but the GV web page is entirely blocked in the EU. I can't even look at it for information.

Seems to be available here in Germany: www.google.com/voice

BRRABill

@scottalanmiller said

I have no idea what they do with existing accounts, but the GV web page is entirely blocked in the EU. I can't even look at it for information.

But once you have a working account, is there any reason it wouldn't work?

I read an article aimed at travelers. It basically said to "borrow" a number to get it set up, then just remove the number.

scottalanmiller

@BRRABill said in Phone Calls Over WiFi:

@scottalanmiller said

I have no idea what they do with existing accounts, but the GV web page is entirely blocked in the EU. I can't even look at it for information.

But once you have a working account, is there any reason it wouldn't work?

I read an article aimed at travelers. It basically said to "borrow" a number to get it set up, then just remove the number.

No reason to assume that it would work. Could it? Certainly. But there is no reason to make that assumption. It's blocked in much of the world. Is it likely to work where it is blocked?

BRRABill

@scottalanmiller said

No reason to assume that it would work. Could it? Certainly. But there is no reason to make that assumption. It's blocked in much of the world. Is it likely to work where it is blocked?

But it's blocked for non-US users.

I would be a US user, just using WiFi in a non-US place.

But, I make no assumptions, and that is the reason I started this thread.