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[Fido] 2GB LTE Data Plan $15, BYOD, no contract, + tablet with 2 yr contract (Read OP & Thread Summary 1st)

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Sr. Member
Mar 26, 2007
589 posts
273 upvotes
Scarborough
My friend signed up Tuesday and his SIM card locked with the LG pad. Unable to use data on his phone but the LG pad. That is strange cause mine is working fine in my phone.
Deal Expert
Jan 7, 2002
29711 posts
29133 upvotes
Waterloo, ON
sbobcat wrote: his SIM card locked with the LG pad
Unless Fido changed their policy very recently that's not the case. It's more likely that your friend needs to make some APN settings adjustment on his phone. The Fido data SIM works without any settings changes on most phones, but some do require a bit of tweaking.
veni, vidi, Visa
Deal Fanatic
Mar 30, 2011
7270 posts
719 upvotes
netusername wrote: Why would it not tell you anything about the quality of your calls? It literally plays back how the voice comes across the other side. What quality metrics are you looking for?

Sound volume
Latency
Skipped and dropped audio
What else? I'm interested in knowing and testing.
it tells you about one particular call and could mean nothing.
just give you an example, I use voip.ms to call to many 1-800#(on PC, home internet), while the conversation may be perfectly fine, some of them have really choppy music-on-hold. So can I judge the quality just because of the music-on-hold ?
another case, I call to overseas(same number mostly same time of day, very high quality landline on the other end for sure) yet 2 out of 10 times, there can be problems. So what does that say about the quality ? In fact, in many case if I hang up and dial again the problem is gone.
Banned
Apr 11, 2012
870 posts
245 upvotes
Toronto
TheHutt wrote: What is your preferred setup: 1) iOS + fongo or 2) Android + VoIP.ms ?

*What are finding to be more reliable; better quality? Pros and Cons?

What softphone were you using on the Android + VoIP.ms?

Thanks in advance.
My calls are very reliable on jailbroken iOS fongo in the GTA.

My android calls were garbage and unusable even on wifi. I used all of the apps on android including csipsimple, zoiper, media5, etc. I ended up preferring csipsimple because of its capability to increase microphone volume +plus some other benefits.
Banned
Apr 11, 2012
870 posts
245 upvotes
Toronto
chimp wrote: it tells you about one particular call and could mean nothing.
just give you an example, I use voip.ms to call to many 1-800#(on PC, home internet), while the conversation may be perfectly fine, some of them have really choppy music-on-hold. So can I judge the quality just because of the music-on-hold ?
another case, I call to overseas(same number mostly same time of day, very high quality landline on the other end for sure) yet 2 out of 10 times, there can be problems. So what does that say about the quality ? In fact, in many case if I hang up and dial again the problem is gone.
That's because voip.ms is not good in my personal opinion. I still have voip.ms credits left over. I never understood why people on rfd praise it so much. It has much higher latency and worse call quality on iOS and android for me on fido and wifi (im in gta)

And a second problem you have is that you are on android where voip is not as refined as iOS leading to audio messups.

edit: thirdly, the call center music you hear has intermittent problems because that is voip too and has the same problems if you had called via normal cell calls.
Last edited by netusername on Mar 2nd, 2017 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Banned
Apr 11, 2012
870 posts
245 upvotes
Toronto
bylo wrote: It does tell you about audio quality because, as you say, it echos what you say to the server. But that could be misleading when you talk to others. For example I'm in Waterloo, where Fongo and presumably their VoIP system is located. So for me this is a very short loop-back. I'm also close to an LTE cell tower and my phone is only a couple of metres from a broadband router so data speeds are unlikely to be an issue.

But that tells me little about the actual latency and audio quality in real usage when I'm not at home. For example, suppose I call someone in Vancouver while I'm travelling in Europe. Even if I use a local LTE data SIM or fast WiFi connection the path is much longer in this case so latency, packet loss, and other degradation of call quality are likely to be greater, maybe much greater.
I tried the other numbers in this post and the call quality is the same as the echo test. In any case, I've done numerous real calls and they are very similar as the echo test.

Also, for wifi, you will have better results with bell than cable such as rogers.
Deal Fanatic
Mar 30, 2011
7270 posts
719 upvotes
netusername wrote: That's because voip.ms is not good in my personal opinion. I still have voip.ms credits left over. I never understood why people on rfd praise it so much. It has much higher latency and worse call quality on iOS and android for me on fido and wifi (im in gta)

And a second problem you have is that you are on android where voip is not as refined as iOS leading to audio messups.
and that is what I tried to say. one test or even multiple test is not going to tell you anything. I was talking about desktop application, not on mobile. The OS(and hardware) plays a significant role in voip. desktop is always the best then newer iphone then older iphone/WP and android the worst(don't have high power android device though).
Banned
Sep 5, 2016
344 posts
370 upvotes
in theory if somebody want to prevent latency

use phone number from www.voxbeam.com
&
Endpoint is
www.sipsorcery.com

voxbeam DID >>> ###@sipsorcery.com >> csipsimple with G729 codec

the reason for these services because both are not coming in between audio media. So technically your call directly comes from CLEC DID provider (iristel) to your cell phone

this combination is perfect for reliable incoming call.
Satisfied Customer from these providers :-
Koodo Mobile
Public Mobile
Tangerine Bank
Banned
Apr 11, 2012
870 posts
245 upvotes
Toronto
chimp wrote: and that is what I tried to say. one test or even multiple test is not going to tell you anything. I was talking about desktop application, not on mobile. The OS(and hardware) plays a significant role in voip. desktop is always the best then newer iphone then older iphone/WP and android the worst(don't have high power android device though).
Yes, I agree with everything you said. However, we can gauge usefulness from these tests. I was about to ditch voip completely if fongo+ios had not been the saviors for me.
One more edit that I did to my post before is that the call center music you hear has intermittent problems because that is voip too and has the same problems if you had called via a normal cell call.

So far, if voip had not worked out for me then I would be with koodo and selling new phones every quarter to offset the increased monthly bill compared to fido data only. However, I was also sick of android in general and so far I;m much more satisfied with a jailbroken iphone. The experience is so much better on the other side than xiaomi, samsung, lg etc.

I feel android is nothing compared to iphone and i dont even have imessage and facetime turned on. If you can find a way to not pay the full apple tax (used, etc), then you will be much more satisfied with an iphone and the apps it offers.
Deal Addict
Dec 9, 2014
2033 posts
1013 upvotes
chimp wrote: The OS(and hardware) plays a significant role in voip. desktop is always the best then newer iphone then older iphone/WP and android the worst(don't have high power android device though).
netusername wrote: And a second problem you have is that you are on android where voip is not as refined as iOS leading to audio messups.
Sources, please
Deal Fanatic
Mar 30, 2011
7270 posts
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G0DKING wrote: Sources, please
I am the source but of course only my own experience.
same voip.ms service, same location(home), mostly the same destinations and same voip application(thus the gut of the software is basically the same). My PC usually have no problems. my iphone 4 was kind of ok but 4s better and 6 even better. wp 8.1 kind of the same level as iphone 4s and 6. Android, I would not want to use it but that is on a N7 running 5.1.1 and lower spec ones is completely unacceptable.

edit:
I wrote software for highly latency sensitive protocol in the past and have some experiences with the various OS(Linux, NT etc.) and Android really is just Linux.
Deal Fanatic
Mar 30, 2011
7270 posts
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netusername wrote: I feel android is nothing compared to iphone and i dont even have imessage and facetime turned on. If you can find a way to not pay the full apple tax (used, etc), then you will be much more satisfied with an iphone and the apps it offers.
I can't foresee me buying another android unless I can get something like the G5 class for less than 100 CAD(and it would only be given to relatives, not my own use). prior gen iphone would be money better spent
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Apr 11, 2012
870 posts
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G0DKING wrote: Sources, please
The main one is personal experience. Also, it will be extremely hard for you to find someone who will say otherwise. You can try searching voip threads all over RFD. I did do extensive searching.
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Dec 9, 2014
2033 posts
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netusername wrote: The main one is personal experience. Also, it will be extremely hard for you to find someone who will say otherwise. You can try searching voip threads all over RFD. I did do extensive searching.
Searching online, all I can find is "both Android and iOS support VoIP (since it is largely based on modern IP technology)" (https://voipstudio.com/android-or-iphon ... esnt-care/) and similar

I understand the consensus is that for Fongo, specifically, it's better on iOS than Android ─ aside from that (and the obvious VoIP-integration features that iOS 10 brought, which Android will soon have), I haven't come across anything that shows iOS supports VoIP better than Android does

Reason I asked was because the way you guys said it didn't seem like you were simply speaking from anecdotal evidence
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Mar 30, 2011
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so if I put up a website and say the same thing, you would think it is more convincing ? Anyway, I explained it, if you don't believe it, it is your choice.

we are talking SIP here, it doesn't need specific OS support(and I doubt there is any no matter what OS it is, Android seems to have some form of 'default' implementation since a given version in its dialer but that is still 'implementation').

But the OS and hardware affects how it can perform. In last century, PC based fax system used to be quite popular and at the time the best fax program(in terms of generic PC) was running on Windows 3.1/DOS and not the more complicated NT,Linux,OS/2 for the simple reason that DOS based program can take control of the whole machine to fulfill the tight timing requirement whereas a generic more powerful OS like Linux(multitask) doesn't allow you to do that.

Latency is not just a network thing.

We have similar issue in pro audio programs too, not all OS and hardware is good for that kind of usage.

edit:
this site may give you some more reading of what is wrong with android
http://superpowered.com/androidaudiopathlatency
Last edited by chimp on Mar 2nd, 2017 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Deal Fanatic
Mar 30, 2011
7270 posts
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actually, I am thinking about dumping voip.ms and just use hangout as the call rate is more or less the same for my destinations and given that google control both end(including the protocol use), it could end up better in terms of quality. the only problem is I don't have hangout on my WP but I rarely call with my WP so probably not a big deal.

too bad they don't have Canadian # so it doesn't work for the purpose of 'replace the mobile #', only for dialout.
Banned
Apr 11, 2012
870 posts
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Toronto
chimp wrote: actually, I am thinking about dumping voip.ms and just use hangout as the call rate is more or less the same for my destinations and given that google control both end(including the protocol use), it could end up better in terms of quality. the only problem is I don't have hangout on my WP but I rarely call with my WP so probably not a big deal.

too bad they don't have Canadian # so it doesn't work for the purpose of 'replace the mobile #', only for dialout.
I would strongly recommend testing hangouts first on your platform. Although the quality is good on hangouts I had noticeable latency with hangouts. Also, for dialling out you can actually have your real number visible on the receiving phone. There is an option to verify your number. Of course you can't receive phone calls to that via hangouts unless you port your number to google voice, which is not available in Canada.

Also, I tried windows phone. I liked the experience but won't go back because of the app gap. The gap is not a joke seriously and Microsoft doesn't really know what it's doing. For apps that are available, only basic features work with windows phone in my experience. My testing had been with both windows phone 8.1 and windows 10.

If you're calling international destinations, odds are you're probably calling family and WhatsApp has been solid in all three platforms.
Deal Addict
Nov 28, 2005
1821 posts
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netusername wrote: My calls are very reliable on jailbroken iOS fongo in the GTA.
If the iPhone is not jailbroken, some incoming calls won't come through, correct?

How about texts, they'll still come through reliably, yes? Or are both incoming calls and texts compromised?

I'm thinking about getting an iPhone, but don't want to jailbreak it.* My iPad mini 4 was solid when using Fongo and VoIP.ms with Media5-fone with iOS 10.

Thanks again
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Apr 11, 2012
870 posts
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Toronto
TheHutt wrote: If the iPhone is not jailbroken, some incoming calls won't come through, correct?

How about texts, they'll still come through reliably, yes? Or are both incoming calls and texts compromised?

I'm thinking about getting an iPhone, but don't want to jailbreak it.

Thanks again
On non jailbroken iPhone with no backgrounding tweak, calls didn't come through sometimes. Especially after a long idle period and you have run lots of apps except Fongo and then switching iPhone to use data instead of wifi...

Meanwhile, the texts came through in my limited testing.

I don't know if they fixed the incoming calls after long idle in the newest versions so it's all a trial. People are posting positive reviews on he latest version so I guess you can give it a try. I mean the Fongo iOS devs definitely try their best but some things you just can't overcome because apples restrictions without being jailbroken.

Me personally, if I didn't have a jailbroken iPhone I'd sell it asap and cancel my fido line and port my number to a regular provider because I don't want to miss any calls.

Bonus tip while buying an iPhone, try to buy old stock so you get a jailbreakable iOS version preinstalled and don't update.

Obviously lots of hurdles, but the information is out here. There are also some androids that people are having a great experience with on Fongo so a decent experience is not completely iOS exclusive.
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Mar 30, 2011
7270 posts
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netusername wrote: I would strongly recommend testing hangouts first on your platform. Although the quality is good on hangouts I had noticeable latency with hangouts. Also, for dialling out you can actually have your real number visible on the receiving phone. There is an option to verify your number. Of course you can't receive phone calls to that via hangouts unless you port your number to google voice, which is not available in Canada.

Also, I tried windows phone. I liked the experience but won't go back because of the app gap. The gap is not a joke seriously and Microsoft doesn't really know what it's doing. For apps that are available, only basic features work with windows phone in my experience. My testing had been with both windows phone 8.1 and windows 10.

If you're calling international destinations, odds are you're probably calling family and WhatsApp has been solid in all three platforms.
yup, mostly whatsapp nowadays and only a few cases that still call landlines :-)

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