Best practice international GSM setup

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by MBK

I am paying for my calls, how much other people pay for their calls in not my concerns (friends/family I give my local dual-SIM number).

I think this is where many of us differ. We do care about how much it cost other people to get a hold of us.

The many options and variants you have described are a valid addition to the knowledge base here.
In fact, I can think of no other place on this planet where these would be more useful and likely to be used by some of the users than here.

Thank you also for your research on the +371 using group of providers.

[ckh]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

I think this is where many of us differ. We do care about how much it cost other people to get a hold of us.

Hello MBK,

I must agree with rfranzq on this aspect. Nevertheless I'm still very interested in xxsim. The main reason is 'best of both worlds'.

Great worldwide coverage and a normal US number for free, permanent.
So for 15 eurocent I'm done. Or even lower in combination with VOIP.

2 additions to the KB on travelsim providers:

- Why not directly at travelsim? They do not offer extra numbers
- Is the US number at xxsim permanent and free. Yes, you can even get more additional number for free such as germany and united kingdom.

At all readers:

I would like to connect my international sims to Google Voice. The issue (as decribed in the thread) is however that Google Voice goes to voicemail after 25 second and building up the connection international can sometimes take long.

So I have 2 options:
- Rebuild the whole Google Voice setup myself at Anveo (which offers US numbers with SMS and can forward sms to all numbers worldwide, for 2 dollars a month) - but then with voicemail picking up after 60 seconds.
- Have a VOIP provider "pick up" the line on time, provide a notification and then try to connect to multiple international sims - and thus bypassing voicemail.

Does anyone have experience with these kind of setups? Or suggestion for easier anternatives?

[MBK]

Originally Posted by ckh

Hello MBK,

I must agree with rfranzq on this aspect. Nevertheless I'm still very interested in xxsim. The main reason is 'best of both worlds'.

Great worldwide coverage and a normal US number for free, permanent.
So for 15 eurocent I'm done. Or even lower in combination with VOIP.

This is what I am thinking as well.

Originally Posted by ckh

2 additions to the KB on travelsim providers:

- Why not directly at travelsim? They do not offer extra numbers

Oh, right! (unfortunately I can't edit the comparison post anymore).

Originally Posted by ckh

- Is the US number at xxsim permanent and free. Yes, you can even get more additional number for free such as germany and united kingdom.

This is a great option, indeed!

Originally Posted by ckh

At all readers:

I would like to connect my international sims to Google Voice. The issue (as decribed in the thread) is however that Google Voice goes to voicemail after 25 second and building up the connection international can sometimes take long.

I am surprised you can't change this in the GV settings, but so be it.

Originally Posted by ckh

So I have 2 options:
- Rebuild the whole Google Voice setup myself at Anveo (which offers US numbers with SMS and can forward sms to all numbers worldwide, for 2 dollars a month) - but then with voicemail picking up after 60 seconds.

The Callcentric delay is also 60 seconds.

I have been looking at the SMS issue and have tested several providers. I haven't tested Anveo enough with SMS, but to me it seems to be the only one that might be able to do it properly. All the others I tried had issues delivering messages to certain countries.

Please report back with your findings.

Originally Posted by ckh

- Have a VOIP provider "pick up" the line on time, provide a notification and then try to connect to multiple international sims - and thus bypassing voicemail.

Anveo, Voip.ms and callcentric all can do this, and divert back to voicemail after everything else fails / doesn't pickup if you don't press a defined key to answer the call (i.ex: you hear :"Incoming call from number xxxxxxx, press 1 to take this call". If you don't press 1 it goes back to voicemail, or continues ringing other phones, as you wish).

The simplest and most convenient to use, while also being one of the top quality voip providers with highest reliability is callcentric (look for the "call treatments tab" which does what you want).

Callcentic offers less options and fine tuning than Anveo or Voip.ms, but I think it has the best interface as is easier to use for most users. (it doesn't handle SMS incoming though, but can send SMS alerts i.ex on new voicemail).

Summary: if GV is really limiting you at 25 seconds, and if you need incoming SMS forwarding, Anveo is your only reliable (?) and (relatively) simple option as far as I know.


Please come back to tell us how it works out.

[ckh]

Originally Posted by MBK

This is what I am thinking as well.



Oh, right! (unfortunately I can't edit the comparison post anymore).



This is a great option, indeed!



I am surprised you can't change this in the GV settings, but so be it.



The Callcentric delay is also 60 seconds.

I have been looking at the SMS issue and have tested several providers. I haven't tested Anveo enough with SMS, but to me it seems to be the only one that might be able to do it properly. All the others I tried had issues delivering messages to certain countries.

Please report back with your findings.



Anveo, Voip.ms and callcentric all can do this, and divert back to voicemail after everything else fails / doesn't pickup if you don't press a defined key to answer the call (i.ex: you hear :"Incoming call from number xxxxxxx, press 1 to take this call". If you don't press 1 it goes back to voicemail, or continues ringing other phones, as you wish).

The simplest and most convenient to use, while also being one of the top quality voip providers with highest reliability is callcentric (look for the "call treatments tab" which does what you want).

Callcentic offers less options and fine tuning than Anveo or Voip.ms, but I think it has the best interface as is easier to use for most users. (it doesn't handle SMS incoming though, but can send SMS alerts i.ex on new voicemail).

Summary: if GV is really limiting you at 25 seconds, and if you need incoming SMS forwarding, Anveo is your only reliable (?) and (relatively) simple option as far as I know.


Please come back to tell us how it works out.

Thanks for your tips! Great information!!

I'm currently trying to build the desired "call flow" in my anveo account, but it seems like transfering incoming sms is nog yet possible (created a support ticket).

So having my callcentric pick up my GV seems a good alternative to keep one number with sms. I only have only question as I'm familiar with callcentric:

- How do you force the incoming call to be "picked up" before starting call hunting?

And then a additional improvement point would be to have a good solid US number provider for sms with cheap forwarding to Estonia. Because now I have GV send an email for each incoming sms and forward email that to sms by email-to-sms of SMSmail (5cpm)

...and is MobileVoip btw not a cheaper version of callcentric.com/support/device/iphone/callcentric? Maybe that explanation can help others.

[MBK]

Originally Posted by ckh

Thanks for your tips! Great information!!

I'm currently trying to build the desired "call flow" in my anveo account, but it seems like transfering incoming sms is nog yet possible (created a support ticket).

You should be able to forward the SMS with Anveo like this:

You get the variables ($[from]$, $[to]$, $[message]$) from the incoming SMS:
Anveo.com - Receive SMS over HTTP Gateway

To send the new SMS out with Anveo (use the variable from incoming above in the http link):
Anveo.com - BulkSMS HTTP Gateway

Anveo charges $0.057 for the SMS to +372.

If you want, you can send it out cheaper with the betamax clones (€0.02 with Telbo, hotvoip is €0.04 - rates here: SMS Betamax ):

To send the new SMS with hotvoip (replace hotvoip with telbo in the URL to use telbo):

(use the $[from]$, $[to]$, $[message]$ variables from incoming)

https://www.hotvoip.com/myaccount/sendsms.php?username=xxxxxxxx&password=xxxxxxxx&from=00447xxxxxxxxx&to=00447xxxxxxxxx&text=Hello-

But the cheapest for forwarding is of course to use the onesimcard as you can send it for free to 372xxxx@sms.onesimcard.com.

[MBK]

Originally Posted by ckh

- How do you force the incoming call to be "picked up" before starting call hunting?

You mean, pick up the incoming call > Play some music or on hold message > start call hunting?

I don't think you can do this with callcentric (the caller's phone will ring (so they don't get charged) during the call hunting). So if GV limits you to 25 seconds this will send you back to using Anveo or Voip.ms.

But you can do this with Anveo and I'm pretty sure with Voip.ms too.

Originally Posted by ckh

And then a additional improvement point would be to have a good solid US number provider for sms with cheap forwarding to Estonia. Because now I have GV send an email for each incoming sms and forward email that to sms by email-to-sms of SMSmail (5cpm)

I think, if GV limits the call ring to 25 seconds (can't you just definitely forward the call by passing the call over without GV ringing it?), the best 2 options are:

1. Anveo > forward SMS out with Telbo for €0.02. (as per above post)
2. Anveo > forward SMS to 372xxxx@onesimcard.com for free (this is why I went with Onesimcard over the other +372)

Originally Posted by ckh

...and is MobileVoip btw not a cheaper version of callcentric.com/support/device/iphone/callcentric? Maybe that explanation can help others.

Yes, it is comparable (both are VOIP apps), but MobileVOIP uses all of the betamax clones (you can use only betamx clones with it), and it has more options:

• it can send SMS (all of the betamax clones support SMS sending)
• call out with callback
• call out with local access number (it automatically calls the local landline access number to call out)
• call out with WIFI/3G
• you can switch the multiple Caller IDs you want to set your outgoing call to use
• betamax clones have the lowest rates on the market (if you are calling many different countries you will use several of the clones to get the best rates everywhere)

The callcentric app on the other hand is really a SIP application with callcentric (and there a many other similar SIP applications, also with a broader range of SIP support), with the advantage that it can also use the callcentric callback and receive your callcentric incoming calls.

[MBK]

Some more info as you are using betamax clones:

If you want to be billed by the second and have the choice of 100% call quality, the professional betamax clones (you can use them in the same way as the others, also with MobileVOIP):

• have 1 sec. billing
• support an unlimited number of simultaneous call channels
• have 3 quality route rates (grey - standard - premium), grey being the cheapest with lowest call quality or connection success rates, standard is usually always good, premium is comparable to the top telecoms.

Example:

VoiceTrading. Wholesale VoIP solutions

A-Z Voip telecom Termination worldwide


edit: this also answers the comment of one of the above posters who didn't want to sometimes risk some little degraded call quality (doesn't happen often, mostly sometimes when calling some "exotic" countries); (use the standard or premium routes for this).

[fsotirop]

Originally Posted by MBK

Some more info as you are using betamax clones:

If you want to be billed by the second and have the choice of 100% call quality, the professional betamax clones (you can use them in the same way as the others, also with MobileVOIP):

• have 1 sec. billing
• support an unlimited number of simultaneous call channels
• have 3 quality route rates (grey - standard - premium), grey being the cheapest with lowest call quality or connection success rates, standard is usually always good, premium is comparable to the top telecoms.

Example:

VoiceTrading. Wholesale VoIP solutions

A-Z Voip telecom Termination worldwide


edit: this also answers the comment of one of the above posters who didn't want to sometimes risk some little degraded call quality (doesn't happen often, mostly sometimes when calling some "exotic" countries); (use the standard or premium routes for this).

Except callcentric which other voip providers with did numbers support sip uri forwarding?

[rfranzq]

It seems to me, one partial solution is to ask that people who want to talk with
you send you an SMS and say what time would be good time to call back?
Perhaps they can even include the topic and you can always reply that you
can 't [don't want to] get back to them.

[MBK]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

It seems to me, one partial solution is to ask that people who want to talk with
you send you an SMS and say what time would be good time to call back?
Perhaps they can even include the topic and you can always reply that you
can 't [don't want to] get back to them.

Do you mean, by explaining this to some/your closest contacts and giving everyone else the local US number which goes to a voicemail that asks them to call you at or to send an SMS to +372... (or any other number)?

This way the people who don't want to call an expensive foreign number will know that they can send you an SMS?

Yes, this wouldn't be as transparent or convenient for the caller as forwarding the call, but it would save you the forwarding costs (as well as saving you the whole bamboola of setting up an efficient forwarding system ) .