The procedures for obtaining our phone service can be found by clicking on the "VoIP Accounts" menu. This is the starting place for obtaining your equipment and subscribing to our service. More information about our Combined Home and Mobile offering can be found under "VoIP Sales" then the "Combined Home & Mobile" menus.

Most VoIP service companies send you an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) for use with their service. This device is pre-configured to register with their phone servers and allow you to start making calls. These companies allow the registration of only one device (your ATA). Because you are only allowed one device registration, you cannot use another device to register and then make phone calls using the same service.

AusTex VoIP is different! We allow the registration of two devices. This allows you to use an ATA, and use a SIP client in your smartphone to make another registration. By having both devices registered, you can receive incoming phone calls to both your home phone, and your smartphone at the same time. Outgoing calls can be made from either device. When using one device, the other device can make or receive phone calls at the same time.

We set your devices up as extensions, similar in nature to a business phone system. Because of this, there are a lot of features normally reserved for companies, that can be incorporated into your residential service. Need to call home from your mobile phone? Just dial the extension and it's done.

A SIP client is an application you intsall on your smartphone to enable it to register with a VoIP phone server and make calls using VoIP technology. When you use the SIP client to make calls, you can choose to make the calls over your wireless carrier's 3G data service, or using any available Wi-Fi connection. This gives you the ability to make VoIP calls from any location you could normally make using your wireless carrier's 3G voice plan and then some.

Calls made using your SIP client over 3G data or Wi-Fi do not count against your available wireless minutes. Using this method may allow you to lower your monthly cell minutes and reduce your bill. With the addition of data only plans on smartphones from carriers such as T-Mobile, it is possible to make calls without a voice plan.

Call quality using a SIP client can vary. Calls made using 3G data are subject to wireless signal strength from the tower, as well as latency and jitter effects. Calls over 3G can range from poor to very good. Calls over a good Wi-Fi connection are generally excellent, and much better than those you get when you use your carrier's 3G voice connection.

We've used a lot of different SIP applications and between our actual use, and reports from others that use them frequently, we can make a couple of recommendations. Our favorites for the Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch are Acrobits Softphone, or Media5-fone. Although, there are currently many apps for SIP in the Apple app store, these two seem to shine in difficult situations. Their voice quality seems to stand up well even in degraded signal conditions.

For an Android based device, there is really only one good choice at the moment. This is the Sipdroid application. We downloaded and tested this application on a G1 device, and it worked very well. We downloaded the "non market" version, as market version supposedly did not work over 3G data. In our tests, the non market version workd fine with Verizon's 3G data.

Unfortunately, there are no good SIP apps for Blackberry devices. This may be changing soon, and if it does, we'll let you know. We have 3 Blackberry devices around here, and are eagerly awaiting a good app.

Acrobits' also makes a more advanced version of their softphone called Groundwire, which adds functions more in line with a business application, such as call transfer, multi-line, conference calls and more. Here are the iTune links to these apps:

Acrobits Softphone

Acrobits Groundwire

Media5-fone

Most internet services that are referred to as "High Speed" will work with VoIP. Cable, DSL, FIOS, U-Verse, etc. will work fine in most cases. Most internet service providers give you plenty of download speed, but VoIP uses both download and upload bandwidth during a phone call.

Upload speeds will generally be the limiting factor. A single phone conversation will use approximately 92 Kbps of bandwidth in both directions. If you have an upload limitation of say 256K, then you could have two phone calls going as long as you were not uploading files at the same time.

Dial up service will not work at all, and satellite service will either not work, or the call quality will be poor due to very high latency, jitter, and packet loss. Wireless technologies can work if latency and jitter are low.

The new CLEAR WiMAX service can work very well if you get a good strong signal, and know a little about networking. CLEAR's modems need special set ups between the modem and a router to play nice with VoIP. Of course, as both a VoIP company and a reseller of CLEAR WiMAX service, we've become pretty good at getting these two technologies to work together.

We have a special telephone number you can call to see for yourself. This number is running on a CLEAR CPEi 150 modem, through a Linksys WRT150N router, and out to a Snom IP phone, an analog phone on a PAP2T adapter, and our iPod Touch. If you are interested in both VoIP service, and CLEAR's Internet service, give us a call and check out the quality of CLEAR and VoIP working together. That phone number is (512) 692-3793. This number is not always available, as we tear down this set up to take it out on demos.

The standard codec used in VoIP calls is the G711, or u-law codec. This codec provides high quality sound with the least amount of compression. This codec can vary in requirements, but the maximum bandwidth needed would be about 92 Kbps in both download and upload speeds. With these requirements, most high speed internet these days can handle multiple calls with no problem.

Yes, you can transfer your number to us. This is know as a local number porting or LNP and there is a $25.00 one time charge. Before you initiate an LNP, we suggest you try us out for a short while to see how you like the service. Once you are satisfied, you can then request the LNP. We will issue a temporary telephone number for you to use when you initially sign up for our service. Once the LNP is complete, we will remove the temporary number.

BEFORE YOU START THE PORTING PROCEDURE, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE ON YOUR COMPUTER:

• A scan of your latest invoice/statement in PDF, MS Word or as an Image file, SIGNED on a blank part. Do not sign it over any lines or graphics.

You also need to make sure the following conditions are met before starting a porting procedure to avoid any delay or rejection:

• Make sure you provide the exact information as it appear on Customer Service Record. This is usually your Service Address. Please note that the service address CAN be different from your billing address. Billing address will usually get rejected if it's not the same as your service address. If you are not sure what is the correct customer service record, please contact your current service provider before proceeding.
  
  
• There are no outstanding disputes with your current service provider/carrier.
  
  
• The number(s) must be ACTIVE and in working order. Carriers will automatically REJECT numbers that have been disconnected or cancelled.
  
  
• The number(s) must NOT be scheduled for cancellation with the current service provider. We will NOT expedite ports. We submit all port requests in a timely manner. Porting time can take from a few days to a few weeks depending on the losing carrier's response time and cooperation level.
  
  
• If you request the cancellation of a port, we'll verify if the losing carrier has established an FOC (firm order commitment) day with our carrier. If there's an FOC, we will not be able to refund the fee, and an additional fee from the carrier may occur, even in the case that no FOC date has been published on our portal.
  
  
• Make sure you have no contract or special services from the current service provider that will block the porting of your number(s).
  
  
• If you are not sure that your number(s) meet all the conditions, please contact your current provider.

You bet! When you first sign up for our service, we issue a temporary telephone number that you can keep if you're not porting over a current number, or have no telephone number to begin with. We even have a "Phone Number" menu that allows you to see what is available in your location (or others) and make a request to get that specific number.

Once you have submitted a request to have your current telephone number transferred to us, you can do one of two things:

1) Continue to use it in the same manner you have been. In other words...do nothing. We will notify you when your port request has completed, at which time, your number will be routed to your new service. If you have not already plugged a phone into the adapter we provided, you will need to do so at this time.

2) Forward your current number over to the temporary number we gave you at sign up, and hook a phone up to the analog telephone adapter we provided. If you choose this method, no further action is required.

Once we have notified you that your porting is complete, you can then cancel your service with your current provider. They may do this automatically when the number ports, but it's always best to follow up and make sure.

Yes, you can have as many numbers as you'd like. Additional numbers can be added to your account for a monthly charge of either $6.95 or $8.95 per month with unlimited inbound calling minutes. Most numbers are $6.95 per month, but some areas are higher. Check with us first to be sure.

You can choose to have multiple numbers in your local area code, or get a number in an area code somewhere else. You may want to get a number in an area where you have many family members and allow them to call that number instead of your local number. The calls are free, since it is a local number to them. This can be done with international numbers as well. We can provide those in over 30 countries. Rates for international numbers vary from $8.00 to $12.00 per month.

When you have multiple numbers, your outgoing caller id can be set to any one of the numbers in your account. Contact us if you would like it set to something other than your original number.

Yes, we offer international calling. When you first sign up for our service, international calling is turned OFF by default. In order to turn on this feature, you must first login to your account and deposit funds through the payment process within the customer portal. This payment process is for international funding only. The balance listed in the account is what is available to make international calls.

After you add funds to your account, contact us by email, phone, or contact form. Please provide the "Username" for the device or devices you would like to add international calling to. International calling can be turned on immediately during normal business hours.

Per minute rates to all destinations are available in the customer portal when logged in. All international calls are billed in 6 second intervals except for Mexico which is billed in 60 second intervals.

No, and we'll be very upfront about that. You get unlimited incoming minutes, however, the outgoing minutes are limited to 3000 per month. Although, your phone service will not be disconnected for going over your monthly limit on a first time basis, we do monitor accounts for excessive use. If the limit is exceeded on a regular basis, you may be asked to switch to a monthly service with a higher rate, or be billed for the minutes exceeding 3000. As a last resort, your service may be terminated.

Most VoIP providers advertising "Unlimited" service actually do have outoing limits. These limits are buried in the Terms of Service agreements (or elsewhere if you can find it), and many times do not state an actual number. Instead, they may use terms such as "average", "typical", or "fair use" to skirt around the fact that they do indeed have soft or hard limits with their "Unlimited" plan. We just want you to know that we do have an outgoing limit, and it is clearly stated.

Our upfront costs are a little higher than other VoIP providers. Many VoIP providers have come and gone. They try to make their money on per minute billiing and volume alone. This business model rarely works for the long term, so providers simply disappear. We are in it for the long run, and in addition, our services are a bit more unique than most other providers.

First, we sell you the Analog Telephone Adapter. This adapter is new, and yours to keep. It comes to you unlocked, which means you can access the administrator pages if desired. We advise you not to mess around with the settings while you are using our service, as we have optimized them to get the best performance. If, you ever decide to cancel our service, you could use this adapter with any other VoIP provider that allows you to bring your own device (BYOD).

Second, we provide features that are unique to our service, and require more support time to initially set up and maintain over time. This up front cost helps to offset the time required for set up and maintenance of the many features we have to offer. We give you features that are many times found only in business VoIP plans that cost $30-$50 per month, PER EXTENSION. The ability to use your service on a smartphone or other device is usually reserved only for those that have their own IP PBX phone servers, and the time to make it work.

Last, but not Least...we want to offer our customers the best support possible. We are available by email, online chat, and phone to answer your questions and help you with any issues. If you need help, we want to be able to offer assistance in a timely manner, from U.S support personnel, using a method you're most comfortable with. We think you'll be very pleased with our customer support overall.