Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
If you can't find an answer to your questions below, give us a call and we'll help you out!

What is VoIP?
Terminology: What is an Extension?
Terminology: What is a Line?
Terminology: What is a DID?
Which DID locations are available?
What is an Information Line?
How reliable is VoIP?
How secure is your service?
Which codecs do you allow?
What are the minimum requirements to use Maxo Telecommunications VoIP?
What do you need to get started?
Why should I join Maxo Telecommunications VoIP?
Help! How do I set up my VoIP Device?
How do I setup Voicemail?
How do I setup Asterisk?
Where are the setup guides?
How quickly can I use my account?
What are the shared indial access numbers
What are the calling card & callback numbers?
What are the internal service numbers and emergency numbers?
Help! I didn't receive an activation email!
Help! I have forgotten my username or password!
I have encountered an error, 50X

If you have any other questions, please dont hesitate to contact us, and we might add it to the list.

 


What is VoIP?

VoIP is a general word describing conversations that happen over the internet. It stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP is commonly referred to as 'Voice over Internet' and 'Voice over broadband' as well. VoIP lowers the overheads for providers, resulting in really cheap phone calls for you, and free calls between you and other VoIP users!

Technical Stuff:
Voice over Internet Protocol, is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or through any other IP-based network. The service we offer at Maxo Telecommunications offers a VoIP to PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) gateway, allowing you to dial regular PSTN numbers from your internet connection!

Maxo Telecommunications VoIP is a Voice Service Provider or VSP. With a VSP, you dont need to know the IP address of a VoIP phone to call it, you just have to know it's extension number on that VSP.

What is an Extension?

An extension is the number your SIP (internet) phone is assigned when it registers to (logs onto) the Maxo Telecommunications VoIP service. Each SIP device on Maxo Telecommunications has a unique 5 digit extension number, and you can call other Maxo Telecommunications extensions for free! (Including extensions on other people's Maxo Telecommunications accounts - so that you can ring your friends for free if they have an Maxo Telecommunications account). You can have more than one extension for example one at your house, and one at your business - you can make calls between them for free.

You can set the outgoing caller ID (CLIP) of each extension individually, or have it default to a value you select for all extensions on your account. You can also choose to divert your extension to a phone number or voicemail if it is busy or after a number of rings. Between all of the extensions on your account, the maximum number of simultaneous calls you can make or receive is governed by the number of lines that your account has.

What is a Line?

The number of Lines you choose is the number of simultaneous calls you can have active at once, incoming and outgoing.

What is a DID?

A DID (Direct InDial) number is one that exists on the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and can be connected to the Maxo Telecommunications's VoIP to PSTN gateway to allow you to receive calls through that number via your Maxo Telecommunications Extension. You can set the destination of your DID to an extension, a voicemail box, an external phone number, a fax inbox or an infoline!.

Currently Maxo Telecommunications offers DID's in all of the capital cities, and in some regional locations.

Which DID locations are available?

* Brisbane
* Sydney
* Melbourne
* Toowoomba
* Canberra
* Hobart
* Adelaide
* Perth
* Cairns
* Gold Coast
* Newcastle
* Port Macquarie
* Sunshine Coast

What is an Information line?

An infoline simply plays a message and then hangs up. You can forwards DIDs to an infoline, as well as diverting extensions to an infoline. For example, you could have a message which says "We are currently re-locating our office. During this time we ask that you submit sales enquiries and support tickets directly through our website. Thank you.". This message could be played when someone dials one of your DID numbers. Another example is if you have an extension going to your office PBX. You can Divert on Busy/Unavailable to an infoline, so that if your PBX declines a call, or if your PBX is unreachable at the time of the call, your caller could hear a message like "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties, please try calling again later."

How reliable is VoIP?

The reliability and quality of each call you make or receive can depend on many factors. The most important is the internet connection between your VoIP phone and our gateway. If your ISP is experiencing problems or your internet has been slowed due to exceeding your quota, then your call quality may be affected. Every now and then Maxo Telecommunications will perform off-peak maintenance in the early hours of the morning which could cause your service to be offline during a maintenance session. You will be notified at least 24 hours before maintenance occurs, unless it is emergency maintenance (eg: Something has broken!).

How secure is your service?

Our website has a high grade 256 bit SSL encryption engine using our certificate from RapidSSL. We use this encryption for access to the control panel, and payment pages to ensure your information is kept secure. All credit card payments are processed by St George Bank, using a proprietary encryption protocol designed by St George Bank.

Which codecs do you allow?

We allow these codecs: G729;ulaw;alaw (G711).
Our preferred codec is G729 because it offers the highest compression and works on all internet connections, however G711 is available because it offers the highest quality speech.

What are the minimum requirements to use Maxo Telecommunications VoIP?

You need a broadband ADSL connection with a minimum speed of 256/64. If you plan to use a software based phone on your computer, you will have to check that your PC meets the minimum requirements for that software. If you are going to use an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) eg SPA2000, then all you need is a broadband ADSL and you are all ready to go!

What do I need to get started?

Your broadband needs to meet the minimum requirements above, and then you will need to choose how you will connect to Maxo Telecommunications. You can use a software phone on your computer with a headset or microphone & speakers to make calls with virtually no setup cost. For more serious VoIP users, you can purchase some hardware so that you can make & receive calls without using your computer. For that you can get a VoIP phone which plugs straight into your broadband connection/computer network, or a VoIP analogue telephone adapter (ATA) which plugs straight into your broadband connection/computer network and then you plug a regular telephone (or even a cordless telephone) into the ATA. Take a look at our VoIP shop to buy hardware and for more information.

Why should I join Maxo Telecommunications VoIP?

Save up to 50% on your phone bill!
No lock-in contracts.
Instant Credit Card topups. You can set the threshold for automatic topups.
Prepaid only. This means that you never run up a phone bill!*
SIP Compatible Only - most VoIP systems speak in "SIP"
Easy Configuration Guides - Setup your phone or asterisk server in minutes!
Full refunds of unused credit when you cancel your account.
Make free calls to anyone else on Maxo Telecommunications VoIP when you dial their internal number.

*Due to the resource-intensive nature of per second billing, we may not be able to cut your call on the second that you run out of credit. This means you could run up a maximum of 1 minute (per active line past negative balance) of call charges into a negative balance. You are required to pay this balance back within 10 days, otherwise your account will be cancelled, and you may be banned from using this service again.

Help! How do I setup my VoIP Device?

You should go to our setup guides section to learn how to set up some of the major devices currently available on the market. It is actually quite easy to set up your VoIP device, it is usually the firewall that gives you problems, so make sure you have forwarded those ports!

How do I setup voicemail?

Our control panel is a little daunting at first, but it is really quite simple. Just click on the Services link at the top centre of the page, and then click on the Voicemail Tab. Add a new voicemail mailbox and take note of its number.

Now click on the extensions tab and select the mailbox. This will give your phone a Message Waiting Indicator or stutter dialtone when you have new messages. Now you must turn on Divert for Busy/30s (30s = 30 seconds, you can pick a different value if you wish). Then choose "Mailbox: x" for Divert to.

Now if your phone is busy, or it is unanswered for 30s, the caller will be sent to your voicemail box!

How do I setup Asterisk?

Asterisk is fully compatible with Maxo Telecommunications VoIP. You can click here to view the setup guide.

Remember to tick the checkbox with an * (asterisk) above it for any extensions that you register to with an Asterisk PBX. This will cause our servers to pass DID information onto your asterisk PBX.

Note: If you tick the checkbox with an *, and then use a regular phone to connect to that extension, you may be unable to receive calls.

Where are the setup guides?

View them right here!

X-Lite wont Connect!

Remember, X-Lite requires the port number on the end of the address you are registering to (eg: sip.maxo.com.au:5060 - read the guide here.)

How quickly can I use my account? (Delivery of Service)

The account setup process is completely automatic, although every account is manually reviewed shortly after it is created. After you sign up you must make a payment to initialise your prepaid balance. From there, you can choose a plan. The pro-rata plan fee will be deducted from your initial balance. After you have added funds to your account, you are all set to make calls. On your first call, you will be automatically redirected to a verification program which will record you saying your name, address and landline number. This is for verification purposes and must be done - if you do not complete the verification procedure correctly, your account may be suspended. You cannot make a call until you have done this verification procedure.

The entire process takes less than 5 minutes, and the verification only happens once.

What are the shared indial access numbers?

Your friends and family can call your Maxo Telecommunications extension using the shared access numbers below. You can also use the shared indials for your customers to participate in a conference.

08 7123 2900 ADELAIDE
07 3123 5333 BRISBANE
07 4015 3462 CARINS
02 6108 4500 CANBERRA
07 5607 1267 GOLD COAST
03 6105 0241 HOBART
03 9001 6900 MELBOURNE
02 4001 0508 NEWCASTLE
08 6365 4577 PERTH
02 6516 2202 PORT MACQUARIE
07 5306 1909 SUNSHINE COAST
02 9037 4320 SYDNEY
07 4646 4222 TOOWOOMBA

They will be charged the cost of a local call by their telco if they live in one of the areas listed above. It is free for another Maxo Telecommunications customer to call you via Maxo Telecommunications VoIP, so get all of your friends on our VoIP for maximum savings!

What are the callback/callingcard numbers?

Just dial 02 8071 4000 from any landline or mobile in Australia, and you will be called back within 10 seconds (if you have configured your account to call you back). It will even call you back if your caller id is restricted.

Alternatively to use our calling card service without callback, you can dial our national calling card number:
1800 251 081 (This number is charged at 6c per minute)

or dial a local calling card number without access fees:

08 7123 2669 ADELAIDE
07 3123 5332 BRISBANE
07 4015 3465 CARINS
02 6108 4501 CANBERRA
07 5607 1266 GOLD COAST
03 6105 0242 HOBART
03 9001 6903 MELBOURNE
02 4001 0509 NEWCASTLE
08 6365 4578 PERTH
02 6516 2203 PORT MACQUARIE
07 5306 1908 SUNSHINE COAST
02 9037 4322 SYDNEY
07 4646 4221 TOOWOOMBA

Just enter your 5 digit calling card number (An extension on your account), and your calling card password and off you go! Remember, you can press * during a call or at any time to return to the main calling card menu to make another call, or check your balance - even after the person you've called has hung up.

If you are having trouble logging into the calling card service, try dialing the digits slowly.

What are the internal service numbers and emergency numbers?

60001 - Maxo Telecommunications VoIP
50001 - Check account balance
50002 - Check voicemail linked to your extension
50003 - Check a different voicemail account
50004 - Add funds using stored credit card from the website.
50005 - Record an Infoline

000 - Connects directly to emergency services. You are advised to call 000 from a real landline phone, and not your VoIP phone. Your Maxo Telecommunications VoIP service is a supplementary service designed to co-exist with your landline or mobile phone. Due to the nature of the internet, there are many outside factors that can cause calls to go wrong or not connect at all. For this reason, you are strongly advised to dial emergency numbers only from your mobile phone or landline phone.

Help! I didn't receive an activation email!

If you haven't received an activation email after signing up, please click here to have it resent, or contact support.

Help! I have forgotten my username or password!

Please contact support and after a few questions, we'll have you remembering it again :-)

I have encountered an error, 50X

If you hear a coded error message, it is usually due to an internal error and it should be reported to Maxo Telecommunications Support as soon as possible.

However, there are a couple of common ones that are encountered regularly:

503 - No Plan selected.
512 - The person you are calling has their VoIP phone switched off, or it is unreachable.
514 - The phone number you have dialed doesn't exist.
508 - [Anonymous SIP] If you get this error, your phone may not be authenticated with our servers.


If you hear a different error code, or dont understand an error message, please contact support.