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 What is the difference between PSTN and VoIP?
What kind of internet connection do I need?
Is sound quality of VOIP same as PSTN?
What kind of a phone do I need to purchase to use Voice over IP technology?
What is the difference between an IP phone, ATA and a PBX?
What is VoIP router? Is it good to have VoIP router over ATA?
What is ITSP or VSP?
Which one I take? IP phone, ATA, Softphone, USB phone, Voip router or PBX.
What happens if my power goes down and my Internet Connection is unavailable?
Am I required to keep my computer on all the time?
Can I use suitable softphone for XDA over a GPRS connection?
What is the upload/download limits required to use VoIP technology?
Upload and download Data calculation for VoIP calls
What is this Follow me feature?
What Plans does K5 offer?
I believe there may be some cheaper plans out on the Internet from European or US companies. Is K5 comparable?
Does K5 supports calling to FWD or other ITSP’s networks?
Can I receive my PSTN and VoIP calls on the same handset or Phone?
Do I need to keep my landline phone from my local telecom Provider?
Can I call 000?
Can I get a real PSTN number from any city of Australia and Worldwide?
Can I divert my incoming calls from VoIP to my mobile or other landline number and what’s the cost?
Is it necessary for me to buy the suitable hardware from K5 in order to use your service?
Am I putting myself into a contract with K5? Can I cancel it at anytime?
Can I port my existing house landline or office number to my new VoIP phone?
Can I make my house landline or office number to appear for all my outbound calls?
How can I use features of K5 services such as Call forwarding, Voicemail and Music on Hold, IVR etc?
What is the difference between PSTN and VoIP?
PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone network which is the technology in use for over 100 years now and VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol which has been around for more than a decade. PSTN is the traditional service that you have in your home from your local telephone service provider such as Telstra or Optus. With a PSTN based network you are not required to have any internet connectivity in order to make phone calls because it is a circuit based network and your call from your phone to the destination phone will be handled purely on circuits through your telecom provider. But in the case of Voice over IP your call is traveling to the destination through your existing internet connection. With the invention of high speed internet technology for the home it is very easy for you to take advantage of this broadband and use internet telephony - VoIP.
What kind of internet connection do I need?
We always recommend a high speed internet connection such as ADSL or Cable with a minimum bandwidth of 128Kbps upload and 128Kbps download. For business users if you are looking to have 5 IP telephonic conversations happening at the one time then you can calculate your bandwidth requirement by multiplying 5 x 128kps. Dialup or simple residential grade ADSL/Cable is not suitable and not recommended but you can still use as long as the ISP offer better contention ratio. For residential plans we do not offer any gaurantee on Voice quality due to customer using ordinary ADSL connection but for Business users who buy business VoIP grade SHDSL connections from K5, they can expect better quality and reliablity from our service. The codec controls the quality of Voice, the better the codec the more bandwidth is used. You can preselect the codec you wish to use at your modem, keep in mind that your service provider must also provide services in this same codec you choose. Is Sound Quality of VoIP same as PSTN?
As mentioned above, Sound quality always depends on the quality of internet connection at your home or business. Only for business users with SHDSL based Internet from K5, we offer better quality whereas for home users we do not offer any guarantee. Assuming that you have very good ADSL or Cable connection the voice quality depends on what kind of codec you are using in your phone system. If you are using the high quality codec such as G711u or G711a then you will have the same experience as PSTN and sometimes you may feel it to be better than PSTN. But G711u or G711a codec requires you to have better bandwidth available. We recommend you to have at least a 256kbps/128kbps based broadband connection so you can have a very good sound quality in place. But usually overseas calls go with G729 which is another codec of less bandwidth demand and in this case you will have a very good conversation but it will not be like a replacement of PSTN. But if you have less broadband bandwidth such as 128kbps/64kbps then you can always switch your IP phone to use lower a bandwidth hungry codec such as G729 or G723. What kind of a phone do I need to purchase to use Voice over IP technology?
It’s not very necessary to use a hardware IP phone to start using VoIP. You can always use a Softphone which is a piece of software that you can install in your PC, you can make outgoing calls and receive calls as well. But on the other hand it does not give you the convenience of having a real phone in your hand. IP phones usually come with special cards called DSP's. Digital Signaling Processing card these basically enhance your experience of sound quality where as with a Softphone or similar software you are relying on a speaker, headphone and mic etc. It is widely understood that your experience is not as great with a Softphone compared to a real IP phone. What is the difference between an IP phone, ATA and a PBX?
An IP phone is a phone very similar to your normal PSTN phone. The only difference is that normal phones connect to RJ11 wires coming from your Wall socket where as an IP phone connects to your Data cable RJ45 which might be coming from your Switch which in turn is connected to your home DSL or Broadband router. An IP phone comes with standard buttons and functions that you normally expect in your usual home phone. IP phones are commonly used in business because in business every staff usually has a phone next to them with all necessary functions such as Voicemail, Transfer, Conference etc. where as at home we don’t expect to be using these functions. Usually we don’t get as many different models, functions or types of IP phones like standard phones. Home users are now purchasing IP Phones and are taking advantage of all these features, particularly the homes users who also have a home office. ATA devices are the most popular VoIP device for residential use. ATA stands for Analogue Telephone Adapter which can convert your normal house phone into an IP phone. This means you can just plug your normal house phone into the phone Interface of your ATA device which in turn uses a data cable to connect with your switch and this way you can use your favourite house cordless phone / existing phone to act as an IP phone for you. That is the reason ATAs are more popular with home users. PBX systems are commonly used within a business. For example if a user has one account with K5 then you can always make an outgoing call and receive calls on your IP phone and there is no need for a PBX system. But if a business has more than one user a PBX is needed to service these multiple users. To use a PBX with K5 a business registers one account to their PBX and the PBX then connects to the K5 IP phone system. Using this account all staff are able to make outbound calls and receive calls. Channels must be purchased to accommodate multiple users, these are inexpensive but enable many users to use the one account. Business users also use PBX systems for call conferencing, call transfer and all standard PBX features. Business users can buy a hardware PBX or can install a software PBX system in their office. For more information on integration of a PBX system for your business, please read our FAQ - VoIP For Business. What is a VoIP router? Are VoIP routers better than ATA's?
VoIP routers are usually the broadband/DSL or cable routers which are like standard home routers to connect your house network to the internet and they have additional functions attached to them such as 1 or 2 IP phone ports. This means you can attach your cordless phone directly into this router and it will act as an IP phone and connect directly to the K5 network. The majority of VoIP routers today offer 2 VoIP ports this means you can have 2 VoIP accounts with 2 different VoIP providers. The best thing about these VoIP routers is that you will not have any distortion when you are downloading or uploading something from your home PC because these VoIP routers are designed to automatically prioritize your voice communication (IP telephony packets) compared to your standard data packets. Because of this prioritization when you are making calls using your IP phone and if you are downloading something from the net at the same time, you will not have any distortion, however you might get a slight delay in your conversation if you are downloading many things at one time. Another good thing about VoIP routers is that they usually come with a PSTN life line port. This gives you full redundancy for your home phone service, the life line port kicks in if your internet connection goes down all calls will then use your traditional provider ie Telstra or Optus. All you need to do is ensure that your normal line (ie Telstra, Optus) is also connected to your VoIP Router. What is an ITSP or VSP?
ITSP stands for Internet Telephony Service provider and VSP stands for Voice over IP Service provider these companies that provide an IP telephony service. So all you need to do is to have an IP phone or ATA or PBX or VoIP router in your hand and then sign up with K, you can sign up at www.k5.com.au. Once your account is setup, you can configure your device using the instructions on our FAQ - Configuring Your Device page and start making and receiving calls. Please read the terms & conditions during sign up process Which one I take? IP phone, ATA, Softphone, USB phone, Voip router or PBX.
If you are a home user we suggest you to use an ATA as it is convenient to plug your existing house phone or favourite cordless phone into this ATA. If you are a new user and have some budget for we recommend you buy a suitable VoIP router that you can also use for your broadband/DSL connection. The reason for this is that a VoIP router will give you better results in long run especially if you are using your PC for internet browsing and IP telephony. If you are a frequent traveler and always need to receive/make calls using your same account while traveling anywhere then we suggest you to use a softphone or a USB phone which is quite flexible when it comes to traveling however the quality is not as good as an VoIP Router, IP Phone or ATA device. If you are a business user then we always suggest buying a suitable IP phone with the necessary PBX features for all staff to use such as call conferencing, hold, transfer etc. Staff can also take their IP Phones home and plug this phone into their home broadband connection and they will be able to use the same number for incoming and outgoing calls. Wherever you go your phone number goes with you. What happens if my power goes down and my Internet Connection is unavailable?
If your power goes down or your Internet is down then all of your outgoing and incoming calls will stop working. As you know VoIP is dependent on an Internet connection in order to make and receive calls. However if you are using a VoIP router with a PSTN life line support then you will be able to make and receive calls using your home PSTN line and that is the reason we encourage customers to buy a VoIP router and that reason is: to maintain full redundancy. Am I required to keep my computer on all the time?
If you are using a softphone software such as X-lite in order to make and receive calls then yes you must keep your computer ON in order to receive calls and make calls. But if you are using a VoIP router or ATA or hardware IP phone then you do not need to keep your computer on you can receive/make calls at any time using your IP phone. Can I use suitable softphone for XDA over a GPRS connection?
Usually results are not very good. Our tests have shown un-reliable results so far. Sometimes you may have good results and sometimes bad. For this you require the G729 codec which is a low demanding low bandwidth codec compared to G711 and your GPRS will be approximately 40Kbps. K5 is testing many mobile devices and we are always interested in hearing successful test from K5 customers also you can emial us your experiences with mobile VoIP at
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and we will do our best to assist you.
What is the upload/download speed required to use VoIP technology?
Many customers usually have low end plans from their ISPs and their internet connection usually capped and comes down to a low speed once they reach a certain download limit. So it is very important for you to understand that VoIP calls are in fact from our ISP point of you are like upload/download data. ISP's treat this data just like normal data going up and down instead of treating it like a phone call. So you must understand that by using VoIP technology your data download will increase. To understand how much data will be downloaded or how much will be uploaded please ask one of our K5 customer service representatives you can reach them on 1300 266 797 or read the below FAQ. Upload and download Data calculation for VoIP calls
Please note that these are all approximate figures and we do not take responsiblity for any accuracy of information here. If you are making a call using G711 codec which is a superior codec and demands more bandwidth then you will be transferring 85kb/s upload and 85kb/s download at the very least using your existing internet connection. The G711 codec media stream is usually at 64Kbps but we have certain IP overheads also associated with these calls so we consider it going up to 85Kbps maximum to have a smooth conversation. In other words you require to have 10.62 Kilobytes of Data upload/download happening each second which means for one minute of conversation your total data download/upload will be 637.5 Kilobytes. And for 1 hour of conversation it will be 38 Megabytes. So now you can see that if you are having an approximate talk time of 20 hours each month then you are looking at uploading and downloading at least 760MB of data. But in case of overseas calls which are based on G729 codec (most times) your download/upload will be less than G711 codec. G729 media + IP overhead is usually around 32Kbps which means 4 Kilobytes per second and 1 hour of G729 based conversation will require you to download/upload at least 14 MB compared to 38MB required by G711 codec. So you can see that if you make more overseas calls and your talk time is approximately 20 hours each month then your download requirement will be approximately 280 MB of data. What is this Follow me feature?
The Follow me feature is a great feature that you can use while using IP telephony technology. For example lets say you are at home and you have an IP phone or ATA connected with your switch and you are receiving and making outbound calls using your IP phone. Now you are about to travel for 2 weeks to the UK and you wish to keep receiving your calls on the same IP phone. You can just carry your IP phone or ATA with you to UK or even if you don’t carry it physically, you can always use a softphone installed in your PC with the same user configuration to start receiving your calls right on your PC. So in fact it doesn’t matter wherever you are in the world as long as you are using a softphone or hardphone and it’s connected to the internet and it registers with the K5 network you will receive calls wherever you go and you can always make outbound calls just like you are sitting in Australia. Many business people or frequent travelers love this K5 feature of IP telephony technology. What Plans does K5 offer?
K5 offers 2 types of plans at the moment. Residential Plan which costs $9 per month including GST and Business Plan which cost $33 for 3 PBX extensions or $49 for 5 PBX extensions. For Residential plan there is no guarantee given on quality becuase customer relies solely on the type of their residential home internet connection whereas Business customers are required to buy K5 based DSL connections which are closely linked to K5 internal network and will offer better quality and we offer up to 85% PSTN equivalent quality and reliablity. You receive an Australian number and an ability to purchase any number from the 35+ countries that we offer and link these numbers to our account. This plan gives unlimited calling to a K5 customer to another K5 customer for free. I believe there may be some cheaper plans out on the Internet from European or US companies. Is K5 comparable?
Our pricing is very competitive, if you come across a cheaper service please let us know. We are not in the business of competing with pricing. Going for an cheap overseas VoIP provider means compromising on sound quality as your calls have to go through their network in order to reach your neighbour's phone next door. With overseas providers it's hard to get G711 sound codec (superior quality) because this requires you to have upwards of 85Kbps of bandwidth. That is the reason Australians always want to go for a local VoIP provider instead of an overseas provider to avoid any delay in conversation or compromise in sound quality. You can check the distance from your PC to the SIP Server of K5 or SIP Server of an overseas provider by performing a constant Ping using your PC and look at the response time in Milliseconds. On the other hand if you believe there are cheaper service providers within Australia then you should try them and confirm if you are getting the sound quality that you deserve. We are here to compare Apples with Apples only. And we believe in winning customers by providing the best of breed quality of service and support instead of selling a product for the cheapest rates to win customers. Does K5 supports calling to FWD or other ITSP’s networks?
K5 is going to provide this feature very soon and our users will be able to call to other networks and receive calls from other ITSPs in Australia and overseas. Can I receive my PSTN and VoIP calls on the same handset or phone?
Yes you can do that if you are using an ATA which supports integrating your landline into it. So you just need to plug your phone into the phone socket and keep your landline plugged into the LINE socket of your ATA. If you are using a VoIP router you will usually see Phone1, Phone2 and a Line1 socket at the back of your router. You can plug your cordless or standard phone into Phone1 where you can configure your VoIP account and plug your house telephone line into the LINE1/PSTN jack of your VoIP router. This way you will start receiving your landline calls and your VoIP calls both into the same phone and for outgoing calls you can decide which one is to have a priority. Usually you will want to keep your VoIP phone on priority for all outbound calls to save your telephony cost and on the other hand in case of emergency such as power or internet failure your calls will be automatically routed out using your PSTN interface on your VoIP router. Do I need to keep my landline phone from my local telecom Provider?
Good question. Up to you. As we mentioned clearly that you cannot accept VoIP phone as a 100% replacement of PSTN. As long as you understand this fact and you are happy to accept it as a less than 100% replacement of your PSTN then it is up to you. Many customers who are on Cable instead of ADSL (which relies on a telephone line) disconnect their telephone lines and rely on VoIP all the time as their only telephone service. Usually these customers also have a mobile phone and can always rely on a mobile phone if an Internet failure or power failure occurs. You should look at your specific requirement and situation before making this decision, K5 cannot offer any recommendations here. Can I call 000?
Yes, you can call 000. However, due to VoIP technology it’s not necessary that your contact details are fully updated based on the number you are calling from. Many customers live in Victoria but in fact they have obtained a Sydney PSTN number and if you call 000 using this IP phone then your Sydney number will appear and will confuse the emergency authorities. This is the reason we strongly recommend you to use your mobile phone or landline phone for making 000 calls. Can I get a real PSTN numbers from any city of Australia and Worldwide?
You can get real Australian incoming PSTN numbers from all major capital cities at any time using our online service. For other small cities you can always put a request to K5. For international numbers you can always get numbers from over 35 countries available in our list. Our list is growing each week. You can purchase numbers from as many countries and cities you like and anyone calling those telephone numbers will always reach your VoIP telephone. Can I divert my incoming calls from VoIP to my mobile or other landline number and what’s the cost?
Yes you can. Imagine you have a local number from UK. Your friend from UK call this number in London, the call comes straight to your IP phone, but because you have configured forwarding using our self care website or on your IP phone itself, the call will be forwarded to your office number or mobile. Now the call charges here will be from your VoIP service to that landline or mobile and you will see this in your call history and your bill online. Is it necessary for me to buy the suitable hardware from K5 in order to use your service?
No. You can always bring your own hardware equipment at any time you like. K5 does not lock any hardware. K5 does not put firmware inside the hardware we sell. But if your equiment is not bought from K5 then K5 is not obliged to support your equipment but certainly K5 support team is always willing to help you. But if you buy equipment from K5 then K5 will take responsiblity to help you with any technical issues related to the hardware Am I putting myself into a contract with K5?
There are no contracts with K5. Plans are monthly and you pay monthly. You can disconnect your service at any time you like. For international DID's there is a procedure involved before you can cancel your account. We have to make sure that all dues are cleared and you need to understand how your billing works when canceling your account. Please read more on FAQ – International Numbers. Can I port my existing house landline or office number to my new VoIP phone?
Yes you can port over Telstra or Optus based phone number to your new VoIP account. We strongly recommend you to not do the number porting very quickly and first carefuly study and understand on how VoIP system works and then we encourage you try a VoIP based service for few weeks or months before taking a decision to port your home number to your VoIP account becuase not all individuals are always happy with VoIP. You may have good results or you you may be very disappointed becuase it all depends on many factors involved in this complex technology including your Internet bandwidth, your device compatiblity with our Network, Congestion on the network etc. Can I make my house landline or office number to appear for all my outbound calls?
Yes, this is possible for business users only who have a Hosted or On-Site PBX from K5. You will have to provide us sufficient proof that you are the owner of the number that you want to make appear on all your outbound calls. Many businesses require this feature to enable outbound calls to show their main office number. This allows people to call them back on the same number. We have to make sure that you are the real owner of the number in question. We have a checklist to complete for companies wanting to prove number ownership. Please note that there is an additional monthly cost associated with this feature.
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