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[VladS]

Originally Posted by ronwi

I understand that. But, a price differential at the retail level usually suggests that there is also a differential at the wholesale level.

It's just latency in the marketplace. Your short term solution would be to port a number from O2/Vodafone/Orange over to your Lyca/Toggle or Telna/Piranha SIM(s) and the problem is gone.

Going back to wholesale termination, calls to one of the Telna/Piranha numbering ranges (+44-7418-5xxxxxx) is $0.21/minute with Google Voice (as quoted by davidtheprof in another topic) while a low volume wholesale TDM grade interconnect to the same range is US$0.0162.

[ronwi]

It's more of an academic question for me - as much easier than porting in another UK number is simply to activate a French number which Localphone bills at 3.9 US cents per minute.

I am aware that their are other companies that do not charge extra for calls to Lyca - for example, Voipyo, a Betamax company, charges .5 Euro cents per minute. However, they do not offer DIDs with easy forwarding, and even if I set up a forward with my Asterisk it would not carry the CID information.

However, I still have to assume it is not latency/inertia in the marketplace. I wrote to Localphone about the Lyca rates, and they reduced them a bit.

My working hypothesis is that the regulated mobile termination rates only apply to certain types of call (perhaps mobile only) and that some of the carriers can route their calls to be eligible for the regulated rates (or appear to eligible for the rates), and some cannot.

Originally Posted by VladS

It's just latency in the marketplace. Your short term solution would be to port a number from O2/Vodafone/Orange over to your Lyca/Toggle or Telna/Piranha SIM(s) and the problem is gone.

Going back to wholesale termination, calls to one of the Telna/Piranha numbering ranges (+44-7418-5xxxxxx) is $0.21/minute with Google Voice (as quoted by davidtheprof in another topic) while a low volume wholesale TDM grade interconnect to the same range is US$0.0162.

[ChrisNeedsToKnow]

Originally Posted by ronwi

...if I set up a forward with my Asterisk it would not carry the CID information...

That´s possible, I do just that.

Go to Betamax´s application (cannot be done through the website), tools --> options. Here you set "forward" "always" to the desired mobile#.

Now have Asterisk redirect calls to username@sip.provider.com

Result: CID is passed through

On another note, actually a question: Why doesn´t Toggle allow porting numbers from multiple countries onto one SIM? As far as I understand any given mobile# is associated to an IMSI. As such this should, in principle, be possible. What´s the holdup here?

Next thing that leaves me wondering big time: Why do they "threaten" to disconnect SIMs which haven´t been used for (only) 3 months? Wouldn´t it be more customer-friendly AND more business-oriented to charge a non-usage fee, as long as there´s credit (which might even get topped up through auto-recharge)?

My last wish, Data packages for each/all IMSIs seems to be in the making

However, without MNP and the fear of disconnection, I find the offer far from professional. As such I´ll keep using this as a supplementary "nice to have" gadget, rather than turning this into my one-and-only main card.

[VladS]

Originally Posted by ronwi

I am aware that their are other companies that do not charge extra for calls to Lyca - for example, Voipyo, a Betamax company, charges .5 Euro cents per minute. However, they do not offer DIDs with easy forwarding, and even if I set up a forward with my Asterisk it would not carry the CID information.

Betamax retail brands are outbound CID locked - you can either use pre-registered outbound CIDs or no CID, there's no option for per call outbound CID. Even some of their semi-wholesale brands, such as Siptraffic are inconsistent when it comes to CID.

Look around for a provider with either TDM or quality IP interconnects and your CID will work fine.

Originally Posted by ronwi

My working hypothesis is that the regulated mobile termination rates only apply to certain types of call (perhaps mobile only) and that some of the carriers can route their calls to be eligible for the regulated rates (or appear to eligible for the rates), and some cannot.

Here's the Ofcom regulated prices page: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/analysts/regulated-prices/

For these rates to apply, you need wholesalers with direct local interconnect. Those using third party or international interconnects will obviously be higher.

[ChrisNeedsToKnow]

Originally Posted by VladS

Betamax retail brands are outbound CID locked - you can either use pre-registered outbound CIDs or no CID, there's no option for per call outbound CID...

Either I´m totally off topic, or that´s not correct.

As I describe >>here<<, I use Betamax (freevoipdeal) with my Asterisk, and passing the original CID through is not a problem.

More specific scenario: I have a German sipgate.de#, my Asterisk forwards incoming calls on this number to username@sip.freevoipdeal.com, in freevoipdeal I have an "always forward" to my German Toggle# @ 0.5c/Minute, and the calls reach me, in Switzerland, with their original CID.

[VladS]

Originally Posted by ChrisNeedsToKnow

Either I´m totally off topic, or that´s not correct.

As I describe >>here<<, I use Betamax (freevoipdeal) with my Asterisk, and passing the original CID through is not a problem.

Fair enough, this works, however you're locked to one MSISDN per Betamax account. If on the other hand you used the Betamax trunk in Asterisk to place outbound calls to multiple numbers, your CID will not pass through.

[ChrisNeedsToKnow]

Originally Posted by VladS

Fair enough, this works, however you're locked to one MSISDN per Betamax account. If on the other hand you used the Betamax trunk in Asterisk to place outbound calls to multiple numbers, your CID will not pass through.

You mean using the account to place calls from your local phone with custom CID to other numbers? Possible!

First, verify the numbers through the website or application. Both possible. The verified numbers can now be used as CID.

I verified my German(sipgate) and Swiss(netvoip) numbers, and installed two trunks for netvoipdeal: One with German CID, one with Swiss CID. With corresponding dialrules I show up with my German CID when calling Germany, and my Swiss CID when calling any other destination.

Totally off-topic for Toggle-Thread: Using Swiss netvoip to call German 0180x numbers, charges the "normal" international tariff to those numbers (0.02CHF), which are overprices within Germany. Same thing the other way around: Swiss 0848... called from German sipgate are charged at the "normal" rate to Switzerland. So I "cross country" those in the dialplan, actually using sipgate and netvoip for those calls

Rgds, Christian

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by ChrisNeedsToKnow

Totally off-topic for Toggle-Thread: Using Swiss netvoip to call German 0180x numbers, charges the "normal" international tariff to those numbers (0.02CHF), which are overprices within Germany.

totally OT reply and then lets go back to the real topic:
fortunately the expensive 0180-5 numbers are nearly extinguished now by new law (illegal to have a payed call when you are in a waiting loop). So most companies either swap to normal landlines or the new 0180-6 prefix which is 20ct per call, no matter how long it takes.

Christian

[ronwi]

Originally Posted by ChrisNeedsToKnow

Either I´m totally off topic, or that´s not correct.

As I describe >>here<<, I use Betamax (freevoipdeal) with my Asterisk, and passing the original CID through is not a problem.

More specific scenario: I have a German sipgate.de#, my Asterisk forwards incoming calls on this number to username@sip.freevoipdeal.com, in freevoipdeal I have an "always forward" to my German Toggle# @ 0.5c/Minute, and the calls reach me, in Switzerland, with their original CID.

I'd like to try that. Could you be a bit more specific as to where you set up the forward in the Betamax application? I am using Voipyo, and I have looked in the Voipyo Android app as well as Mobilevoip and I don't see a place to set up a forward.

[ronwi]

Originally Posted by ronwi

I'd like to try that. Could you be a bit more specific as to where you set up the forward in the Betamax application? I am using Voipyo, and I have looked in the Voipyo Android app as well as Mobilevoip and I don't see a place to set up a forward.

Answering my own question - I see that Freevoipdeal has a Windows application with a forwarding option. Voipyo does not have a Windows application, so I'll need to get another Betamax account if I want to try this. However, I expect that the voice quality would not be as good as Localphone, as with the Localphone forward there is less bouncing around - the call comes in to their number and gets forwarded directly by Localphone, rather than coming into a DID, then to my Asterisk box, then out again to the Betamax carrier.