Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
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System Name | Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load) |
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Processor | Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core) |
Motherboard | Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded) |
Cooling | Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate |
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Software | Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware! |
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What is Voip? said:Voice over IP (internet protocol). Using a data network to carry digitised telephone calls
There are a few variants of VOIP - the most common one people know of is skype, as well as other programs doing similar to that such as Gtalk, and some chat programs having the feature to call regular phones. I shall refer to these as 'closed' VOIP systems.
The other (superior) option is what i shall call 'open' VOIP networks. a brief summary of the difference is outlined below:
Closed VOIP: Often very simple to setup, just start a PC program, pay for credit and away you go. simple to use and setup, assuming you already have a headset on your PC.
Open voip: instead of being tied to any one program, you are given a set of details much like the ones your ISP would give you for putting into your modem/router. You can connect this up with software like eyebeam, or into hardware devices - in my case i use my nokia N95 8GB, Open 812L and linksys PAP2T.
While the first is obviously my mobile phone, the latter two may confuse some people. They're called ATA's, and their purpose is simple: it converts a regular phone (corded or cordless) to work with VOIP via your broadband connection.
In order to explain this better, i took a picture.

Modem/Router on the left connects to the voip ATA with an inexpensive ethernet cable, which then connects to the phone of your choice. Making calls is exactly the same as if you were on a regular landline - just dial and enjoy.
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cost benefits
massively cheap awesomesauce rates.
Mynetfone (my VOIP provider) offers some hidden away plans
for a quick comparison between a regular phone rate and the MNF rates, i have the following:
Telstra:
39 cent flagfall - even if you hang up upon reaching voicemail, you STILL get charged this.
30 cent flat rate, untimed
STD rate (anywhere but your hometown): $3 for 2 hours
mobile phones: 39c flagfall, 21c per 30 seconds (if your call is 31 seconds long, you get charged for 1 minute. total cost of 81 cents)
MNF:
no flagfall
10C untimed
no STD - all landlines at same rate
mobiles: 15 cent per minute, billed per second - 31 second call costs you under 8 cents
you can see there that a brief mobile call can cost you 1/10th the rate of a regular landline phone, local calls are 1/3 the cost and STD rates are 1/300th the rate. This doesnt even cover the fact that the plans i covered are $20.95 a month for telstra, and $0 a month for MNF.
Voip is a metric crapton cheaper than regular phone rates - at least in australia.
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there are some other bonuses as well, to VOIP. Even if you live in america, if you used mynetfone you would still have the same rates as living here - that means you'd get the untimed/dirt cheap calls to australian landline phones from anywhere in the world, so long as you have broadband.
You can of course apply this to whatever country you want - VOIP is beneficial here so long as the internet costs are less than the cost of the phone call through any other means.
(read: if you use 3G/nextG roaming broadband, it may cost you too much on the data rates to bother)
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The downsides to voip are fairly simple.
Closed voip:
requires broadband
Requires a PC
requires specific software (which you may not like, or have compatibility issues with)
not as cheap as open voip
open voip:
requires broadband
requires either software or hardware devices to use it
some setup may be required.
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Incoming calls:
It should be noted that VOIP can be tricky for incoming calls. the following are notes i've made over time, regarding this.
- incoming calls often cost an extra charge from the provider, so that your VOIP phone has an incoming number for people to dial.
- Port forwards may be required to your ATA device or PC (port 5060) from your routers settings, for incoming calls to connect
- Without a SIP proxy (in your router), you can only have one VOIP device accepting incoming calls on your network at any given time.
In summary, i reccomend the following for most users:
Get an open VOIP plan and a cheap hardware ATA device. use it for outgoing calls, and have other people call you on your landline or mobile phone numbers. You will save tons of money, and as you brag about it you may convert them as well.
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