yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
Please at least read the OP and the FAQ!

Not to be mean, but this has been discussed and explained and analyzed a bunch already.

"Best" does not exist. What is best for each person depends on many factors that only you will know. Read about all the choices in this thread and then try what seems best to you, if that does not work, try something else.

I use Google Voice -> voip.ms DID -> CSipSimple wifi (if registered) -> TMo phone (if not registered or no answer).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TheCuban:
I did read the entire OP, the FAQ (which was a couple posts lower), as well as posts in this thread (I won't lie and say I read them all ;) ), and various threads over the internet. I just wanted a [more recent] opinion on what people are currently finding to be really good (and work for them).

I am, however, going to try the Skype and see how it behaves with my setup, plus it would allow for calling through my computer when at home (though, I sure the same could of been done using GV).

One question, does Skype allow seamless transition from WiFi to 3G? Or will the call be dropped? Thanks again for the wonderful thread guys. :laugh:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] acegolfer:
Question to those who use sipdroid.

When the sipdroid rings while screen is locked (w/ pattern or PIN), do you see the sipdroid UI or do you have to unlock the screen first?

A weird thing is that my Nexus 4 requires unlock but Nexus 7 (also with pattern unlock) doesn't.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] j8048188:
@the Cuban:

Have you tried enabling echo cancelation in groove IP?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
Anyone using the native SIP.

Do you have problems on normal carrier (T-Mobile in my case) with getting connection timed out errors while dialing. Its registered and connected and I have full 3G/H+ signal but it still does it.

Any thoughts? I use Pbxes.org
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shawnifoley:
Are you using the WWW(number).pbexs.org closest to your location?

Mine usually times out on first try after changing networks. But only the first time.

Sent from my Nexus 7
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TheCuban:
Yes, the auto one.

Thoughts on Skype. Payed the 2.99$ for a month subscription. Called my GF on WiFi and 3G. She doesn't hear echos on her side, but on 3G my voice comes in stuttering, and on WiFi, my voice echos.

Not sure if it's worth the extra 2.99$ a month, plus 30$ extra a year for a number.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
No I wasn't aware of the direct connection to the server

Update - I switched it to sip.pbxes.org and it appears to have worked
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lildimsum7:
I gotta check this out. I'm on the cheap pay-as-you-go right now, so I could definitely live on 100 min / month easy. I believe I only used ~ 700 for the last year. Now that I have a job, $30/m is no big deal.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] austriker27:
I need to try this as mine keeps timing out as well. also my sipdroid doesnt work so ive just been dialing in the gmail browser window on my pc. i think i need to check over my pbxes.org settings or something
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
Ah, my apologies, I missed that you were just looking for more details. Thanks for not taking me the wrong way too. Good luck.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TheCuban:
Hey it's no problem, it is my fault for being too lazy to read the entire thread. :good:

I'm still doing my comparisons between Skype and GV, going to test with my mom today while at work (using work WiFi) and see what she says. My GF lives with me (she's visiting family out of town) so I was testing with her. Maybe, I won't echo when speaking to my mom.

Anyways, really, OP and others in this thread, thanks a lot. Saving 60$ a month is a big deal, and hopefully, one day, Wireless companies become just ISPs and VoIP can truly become a (cheap) reality. Until then, cheers. :highfive:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
One thing I for everyone to remember is that you still have 100 minutes to use. I don't know about everyone but that's usually more then enough for me. I am going to just burn through most of my minutes and then use a sip solution when I'm low on minutes.

Just enable call through Google Voice in the Voice app and it will automatically use your minutes and your Google Voice number.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lanbladez:
If I was going to use this setup:

Google Voice -> voip.ms DID -> CSipSimple wifi (if registered) -> TMo phone (if not registered or no answer).

If i get Voip.ms does it pass the caller id from google voice to my phone or do I need to get the "CallerID Name Lookup" option?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
Google voice passes caller ID as a number to you via voip.ms and if you have that number in your phone, CSipSimple and the native phone will give you caller name, otherwise you just see the calling number (unless they have CID blocked).

The "CallerID Name Lookup" option at voip.ms is to give you all the names of numbers that it can. I do not use it, but we have it on the phones at work, so it shows the names on our regular business phones, with some limitations, of course.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] piskr:
As I found this forum the best voip knowledge base around, I'd like to put one question myself. I've got the somehow specific phone Razri, which has Intel processor. I don't know if it is the cause of my troubles but let me describe exactly what happens:

The native sip frame has been removed from ICS by producer.

Whatever sip client I run (tried Csipsimple, Sipdroid, Keyyo, Utalk-Csipsimple clons; and the provider's dialer), I experience the following behaviour:

voip runs flawlessly through 3g or edge except when the signal is really weak;

trying to apply voip via wifi (either wifi- at least two different have been tried regarding location, equipment and settings), the sound is perfect but every now and then the voice become distorted in the manner that could be observed when you listen bad AM station on the radio (it is heard as a modulation occurs). I've never experienced such behaviour with my previous phone (Motorola Defy+).

Could someone find an explanation for that issue? Thanks.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BootloopedMillennials:
For you guys that switched to this plan from another Tmobile plan (classic plan). Is this the process you took? Cancel current account, activate Monthly 4G and get new account, port over old number. Thats what Tmobile is saying I have to do?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kozmo21:
If you cancel your account, you will lose your #.

Activate new account on this plan, then ask to have old # ported to this plan Once you port a #, it will terminate your old plan. Just have to find the right rep.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BootloopedMillennials:
Okay I just contacted customer support chat. They said the new SIM is activated with the plan, number is ported, and old account and plan is terminated. They said I have to create a new my.tmobile account.

Its weird I didn't call since the last chat, where they said I had to call and cancel my postpaid (classic plan) account for them to port the number to prepaid. They said the only way to cancel the old account is to call in.

Alot of confusion.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] acegolfer:
I learned a lot from this thread.

I posted a guide in Nexus 4 forum on how to make/receive free GV calls using iLBC codec, which is said to be very efficient on 3g connection.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2057887
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lanbladez:
Can anyone help me with this problem with Csipsimple, when I select to make a call through the dialer two options come up, one is my pbxes sip, and the other is my mobile. Pbxes works mediocre for right now, call quality is not great for the person receiving my call, but when i try to choose mobile it just loops back to the selection menu between those two choices. How do I call out using my cell number instead of the sip?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
Do you have wifi on and airplane mode active, vis Tasker or AutoAP when trying to do this?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kyoteqwik:
This may help.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=35628791
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] marty331:
I'm very interested in this as well. Why not just port my number to the $30/mn plan. Then use gv from my PC to make calls or from groveip on my N4?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] post-mortem:
Most people are not fully satisfied with the voice quality when using GrooveIP. With other solutions, you have the choice of changing the codec used.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ericshmerick:
Every single time I use GrooveIP the other person complains about hearing themselves echo. And I've tried nearly every echo setting to no avail.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lanbladez:
To get around had to disable integrate with android,

and in User Interface to set "Integrate privileged intent" and make sure the above option is disabled.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] q711179:
Article regarding VOIP

The more mainstream VOIP moves, the better for all. Here is an interesting read, worth considering what we are doing with our phones finally becoming aware to the public.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100334769
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] woody296:
Good read, i hope it comes true.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
Because then you'd have two phone numbers, which is a nightmare to explain to non-techy friends.

Porting to GV allows you to send and receive from one phone number, whether it be over cellular lines or data/VoIP.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] PixelMover:
For what it's worth, I tried this yesterday and was given the feedback from my caller that this method (Google Voice -> Callcentric DID forward -> PBXes -> CSipSimple) sounded better than the [Google Voice -> Google Chat -> PBXes -> CSipSimple] method, and I attributed that to the iLBC codec.

I haven't yet taken the VOIP.ms DID plunge, but now I am very curious how this experience compares to that of using G729 and the Google Voice -> VOIP.ms DID -> CSipSimple routing others in this thread are using... Anyone?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zAlbee:
Woke up this morning to find a red dot beside Sipdroid (registration fail/timeout). No change to my setup. Anyone else or just me?

EDIT: Also unable to login to pbxes.org website - it timeouts =/

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] austriker27:
Mines still golden with the green dot. (Although it times out when I try and call someone)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zAlbee:
Are you able to login to the pbxes website?

EDIT: Wow. Just tried to post to their support forums but "New posts can only be created by paid accounts." This service is so sketchy.

So the website is redirecting me to https://www2.pbxes.com/index.php and that seems to be down. :(
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zAlbee:
It's up now.

@austriker after playing with the server settings, I'm 99% sure that your problem is a password issue. There appear to be 3 passwords related to PBXes:

1. PBXes website/account login

2. Extension password (for Sipdroid or CSipSimple or other SIP client)

3. Trunk password (GTALK/Google password)

If (2) is wrong, then registration will fail with "401 Unauthorized" and you get a red dot. If (3) is wrong, then you still see a green dot, but calls won't connect after dialing. I suggest generating a new app-specific password from your Google account to give to PBXes.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] austriker27:
Thanks!!

I think you might be right. It would appear the gmail app specific password I was using for sipdroid was last used on dec 7 (bout the time when my sipdroid stopped working).

Now I added a new app specific password, and put it into pbxes.org trunk password although Im getting red dotted.

EDIT: J/k I seems you have to back out of the settings for the color to go green..

---------- Post added at 05:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 PM ----------

Or your parents, haha they are so confused by my setup and they arent all that old.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TheCuban:
I decided to take the Skype plunge. The reason being that Skype is so ubiquitous and is generally supported everywhere (even TVs!). I got a Skype number at 50% off and a year subscription which works out to about 5.50$ extra which is not bad. Call quality over 3G was left to be desired, but over WiFi its a lot better than GrooveIP.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] marty331:
I am porting my number to Google voice, hopefully it will work as I had already ported to StraightTalk. When I started the porting process it pulled my number as ATT still, do I put my old ATT account number in. Has anyone else done this, ported from StraightTalk?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Ci-Fi:
Would it be feasible to go all in with VoIP now (GV#/Sipdroid/PBXes with a data plan with no minutes included) or would I have issues with data coverage? What other problems would you encounter? Has anyone made the leap?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
In my opinion it is not safe to go all in for VoIP. Landline VOIP is there already, but mobile VOIP is not. I would wait until Google releases its own full VOIP solution through Google Voice.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] acegolfer:
I have a good tmo coverage in my city. I'm 100% VoIP. I'm using ilbc codec on 3g.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shawnifoley:
Its nice having the 100 minutes in case I need to make a call when only edge or less is available.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mgamerz:
I just won an lg mach from brief mobile and it'll make an excellent VoIP phone. Can't wait till my contract ends in may.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
For me personally in have a

All my calls redirected to my T-Mobile number. The reason I do so is because it saves battery from a sip client maintaining a connection. If I'm home and on WiFi ill call them back using VOIP, otherwise for me I don't talk enough on the phone to deal with Sip all the time...

What I hope for is a push system similar to a messaging or gmail client that enables sip on push so it doesn't drain as much battery.... I really hope Google cranks it to 10 on the next Android update :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] acegolfer:
Too bad.

I still have 25% battery left with constant sip connection and 3+ hr screen time after a day use. I did lots of research and testing to ensure the most battery efficient sip connection.

This is a good read.

http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/wiki/NewStandbyTechnique

---------- Post added at 08:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:25 PM ----------

I made the leap.

I'm so satisfied with my VoIP setup that I disabled gv forwarding to my cell number. My cell rings only via VoIP.

Here's my setup.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=35744466
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phychmasher:
How are you guys dealing with audio lag? It's only about half a second, but it makes all of my phone conversations kind of awkward. I'm using the PBXes/GV/SIPdroid setup from the OP.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
GV/voip.ms/CSipSimple advanced settings, and vonVideo's low latency and loudness patches. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1777261

I am on JB 4.1.2 because this works so well for me that I do not want to loose any this functionality. Where I live, cell service is so poor I cannot talk in the house (the only downside of coastal rural California).

With VoIP, I can use my wifi for incoming and outgoing calls, so I have worked through the CSipSimple advanced settings and my router QoS settings posted earlier in the thread to optimize voice, and keep latency low and minimize echo. It took plenty of reading, tweaking, and testing, but it is solid for me.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
I notice you mentioned you had issues with the Miami server.. I used it as well and csip was losing registration. I wonder if that is what I was missing calls.

What server are you using now?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] csaket:
I keep running into issues with registration using CSipSimple. I am using the Dec 25th nightly.

It looks like when the phone is not used for a while, then the registration is lost.

Also when switching from 3G to WIFI or back registration is lost.

I have to manually reregister for incoming/outgoing calls to work.

The error message I get when the registration is lost is "407 proxy authentication required".

Any idea how to fix this?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
What is the basic opinion on voip.ms vs pbxes.org via csipsimple? I'm nowhere near any of pbxes' servers, but voip.ms has one within 100 miles of me. I'm curious as to what the actual benefits could possibly be other then the better latency. I'd just try it out and find out for myself, but $25 feels like a bigger investment then it really is when it's almost the total cost of my cell phone bill.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] whitedragonz83:
Try pbxes.org first since it is free (usually the app used is SipDroid, though CSipSimple should work too just might be a little more cumbersome to setup)

If pbxes.org doesn't work reliably, or well enough, try paid options like VOIP.MS or Skype for example. I use voip.ms and love it personally, but not everyone will/needs it.

CSipSimple is an app to connect to these services (like SipDroid). So using this is just preference vs SipDroid or even built-in SIP support (which is pretty poor since you can't configure voice codecs).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
I'm using CSipSimple with pbxes.org right now using the GSM codec (I want it to remain reliable even on EDGE when traveling). The latency isn't the best, nor is the quality, but I'd call it passable. I'm in the midwest, though, and pbxes' closest server is New York. I have to wonder if that's part of why the quality/latency isn't the best.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
I started voip.ms premium in August with $25, I pay $1/mo for a DID there, and my balance is over $13. So in four months it has cost be about $12; I only buy refills from CallingMart at 5% off, so that $28 + $3 to voip.ms is just over $33/mo still. I use about 80 cell minutes and about 200 VoIP minutes per month.

Sound is better on voip.ms / CSipsimple because of the codecs, and the call routing is far easier. My GV voicemail takes all messages, and TMo VM is off.

Mine is GV -> voip.ms DID -> CSipsimple (if registered) -> TMo cellular (if not registered / no answer).

My cell service at home if very poor, cannot hold a call indoors, only upstairs outside on the deck (all carriers - small rural town). I use VoIP exclusively at home for incoming and outgoing calls. When I get home, I turn phone screen on, wifi connects, CSip registers, and my phone calls are all GV -> voip.ms -> CSipsimple VoIP.

When I leave, CSip looses registration, so all calls come to my phone via GV -> voip.ms -> TMo cellular.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] whitedragonz83:
I actually liked their Speex Codec better. Try that for a little while. I forget if I had it work over Edge though well. I know I can get VOIP.MS with g729 to work on Edge, but it still isn't perfect. I usually reserve my 100 minutes for edge calls.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
Yeah I don't expect TOO much on EDGE. I get a strong signal at the main place I go to with EDGE though (my Dad's) so, as long as I'm stationary, GSM still seems okay. I might give Speex a try later tonight.

One thing I don't have right now is a fallback if I miss the call on PBXes.org. I see the missed call pop up in my GV app, though, so I can call right back. I don't seem to have many issues with it losing registration, though, as I work/live in the city with strong HSPA+ in both places / for the short commute. Thus far, I've missed one call, and that was intentional ;)

Does VOIP.ms provide the functionality to fall back to the T-Mobile number if you miss it? Or is there some sort of Google Voice trickery?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
Yes, see my routing in my post above.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] woody296:
our free calling continues

google extended free calling through 2013...http://gmailblog.blogspot.ca/2012/12/free-calling-within-us-and-canada.html
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
Not much of an announcement... and why was it posted to the Gmail blog and not the Voice blog?

I sometimes worry about the future of Google Voice. I love the crap out of it and if they discontinue it or stop working on it I'll be pretty sad.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
From what I recall Google Voice is still a beta in house. I believe that once they finalize it, it will change into a VOIP system. There are rumors of Google working with carriers for data only packages and using Google voice for voice and text.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] woody296:
Please explain what "beta in house" means. Thanks in advance.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ericshmerick:
If google up and shuts off GV one day, they will have some angry people who trusted them and ported their main number to their service. I'm one of them.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] woody296:
I guess i look at it from the other side as in "I'm getting something nice for free" and we all new ahead of time it would be year to year. Have to be thankful for it and one year is a large chunk of time.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] acegolfer:
Google voice and free gmail calling are somewhat different matter.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
I'm trying out VoIP.ms using the native dialer at the moment. It seems to have MUCH MUCH MUCH better quality then the latest CSipSimple nightly, for me anyway. CSipSimple just lags and cuts out a lot.

Does anyone else experience this? Is there any sort of downside to using just the native dialer? I assume it won't work as well over EDGE since it probably doesn't support the same range of codecs, but typically I'm only in EDGE if I'm driving anyway (I very, very, very rarely talk and drive - stick shift and all).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BootloopedMillennials:
Im thinking about setting up PBXes with csipsimple. Is it as simple as setting up PBXes using Sipdroid (to get Google Voice trunk), "setting up" the created SipDroid extension, installing csipsimple and following the setup wizard?

I planned on going the route of the guide that uses callcentric for a DID number but I dont want to lie about living out of the US to get rid of the 911 monthly fee.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
After testing it with another person, inbound with the native dialer rules, whereas the other person... has a ton of echoing. Crap.

Is there some middle ground between the bad echoing of the native dialer and the bad quality of CSipSimple?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] whitedragonz83:
What codec for CSipSimple? I have no issues. I actually forgot the echo issue with native dialer.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] altimax98:
If I remember right Google still refers to Google Voice as a Beta
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Pkt_Lnt:
I just tried it on wifi, and it was garbled, mega echo, very very bad. I do have my router optimized with all port forwarding and QoS, for the UDP ports that work best for CSipSimple and voip.ms however. I have no idea what codec the native dialer uses for sip, but it was the worst VoIP wifi call I have ever made.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] whitedragonz83:
Native uses GSM OR g711. Maybe a third. I don't know how it picks. With VoIP.ms you could make a trunk with only the coded you want. Though I never could remove echo issue with native
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zAlbee:
After using SipDroid for months, I just did this (moved to CSipSimple) recently. It is really simple. Only thing you might have to do is change your extension password on pbxes.org -- by default I think a random one is generated for SipDroid.

Quality is fine. I even used it on the free WiFi at the Toronto airport, saving me from costly roaming charges, albeit the audio wasn't perfect, cutting out a bit as I walked across the terminal.

Battery life is worse than SipDroid, but I think it's because the TCP keep-alive is default to 180 seconds. I'm trying 600 secs right now. What are you guys using?

Sent from my Transformer TF101
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] c0LdFire:
I've tried GSM, G.729, and PCMU all with no luck. Even over strong WiFi (50mbps up/down fiber, very low latency, < 10ms to voip.ms) the calls sound garbled and terrible with all 3 codecs. There's gotta be some magical setting in CSipSimple that I'm missing? :(
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zAlbee:
You need to enable high performance WiFi widget and/or switch to TCP. See the FAQ. http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=25930018&postcount=6

Sent from my Transformer TF101