VoIP virtual numbers in Japan

[Craig Fryer]

I am trying to find a company in Japan that will provide a virtual number (a local standard phone number for Tokyo) that we can route through to our SIP phone in Australia.

Lingo have such a service but they use their own hardware or software. I think the same goes for Skype. This should be a common thing, but searching in English and Japanese on the web we have not found anything. This type of thing is available in the USA, UK, most parts of Europe and Australia.

 

[headsupcustoms]

Probably won't help you much, but in regards to VoIP, I plan on bringing my Vonage account with me when I go to Japan to teach. All I need to do is hook it up to broadband, and I have unlimited back and forth calling to home (USA). Hopefully getting broadband won't be too much of a hassle. Still need to research this more, but it will help out with staying in touch.

 

[Craig Fryer]

Doing that sort of thing is straight forward, however I think you will find that it is outside the terms and conditions of Vonage service. I saw this mentioned on other forums.

 

[openup]

I'm not sure if I understood your concern properly, but Japanese ISPs do provide VoIP telephony services and they give you a number begins with "050" when signed up. You can call this number from any phone, and vise versa. But not sure if VoIP phones can dial emergency numbers...

 

[GaijinPunch]

I don't think your'e understandnig quite right. He wants a local Japanese (Tokyo probably) number that Japanese clients can call, which will be routed over IP to his office somewhere else.

I don't know who offers this. We needed this solution before moving abroad (away from Japan) and came up w/ our own solution, which entailed renting a small server rack in Japan. :/

 

[openup]

There are services available, but not sure if they forward the calls over VoIP to Australia. That's generally a service for Japan ONLY...

 

[Ewok85]

If it can go from Local PSTN call -> VOIP then it should be easy to do the Jpn-Aus link really, but you might need to setup your own hardware in Japan to do the redirect.

 

[GaijinPunch]

I think that's the point. He wants an already existing network to piggy-back on, and pay a monthly subscription fee for X amount of bandwidth + a fee for the local number (I'm pretty sure). If he had to buy his own hardware in Tokyo, then he'd likely have to rent a T1 (or higher) to Aus as well, and hire someone to monitor the hardware.

 

[Silverpoint]

Skype is becoming more known in Japan than it used to be. I think at some point in the not so distant future they'll probably provide Japanese Skype-in numbers. I realise this doesn't help you in the short-term, but it'll probably be the lowest cost option eventually.

 

[Ewok85]

I think that's the point. He wants an already existing network to piggy-back on, and pay a monthly subscription fee for X amount of bandwidth + a fee for the local number (I'm pretty sure). If he had to buy his own hardware in Tokyo, then he'd likely have to rent a T1 (or higher) to Aus as well, and hire someone to monitor the hardware.

Someone to monitor it eh? Is that an offer?

Meanwhile I did some searching cause the idea is interesting, I work for an ISP that is experimenting with VoIP and am wondering how they do it over in Japan.

http://www.poweredcom.net/service/ipbusiness/index.html

ﾂ坂?壺?堋｢窶｢iﾅｽﾂｿﾅ?ﾃｮﾂ鞘ぎ窶堙ｰ窶毒ｾ窶堋ｽ窶堋ｵ窶堋ｽIP窶彭ﾋ彙窶堋ｾ窶堋ｯ窶堙俄?ｹ窶凪?ｰﾃや?堋ｳ窶堙ｪ窶堙ｩﾂ「03-xxxx-xxxxﾂ」窶堙??堋｢窶堙≫?堋ｽﾋ?ｪ窶敕岩?堙娯?彭ﾋ彙窶敕板坂??ﾂ（0ABﾂ〜J窶敕板坂??ﾂ）窶堋ｪ窶藩懌?廃窶堙??堋ｫ窶堙懌?堋ｷﾂ。

Which I interpret to be "high quality IP phones are allowed to use the 03-xxxx-xxxx number range".

I'm going to have a think about this and do some more searching, I reckon I can crack it.

Ps. I just looked at the OPs name, love it. Kind of an inside Australian joke

 

[GaijinPunch]

Someone to monitor it eh? Is that an offer?

Unfortuantely, no.

I'm sure there is this service somewhere in Japan. There are lots of offsite server rooms you can lease. Skype may have something soon, but I would never run a business line through Skype. It relies on their software. For a business, you would want two Cisco routers doing the work, with IP phones on the recieving end.

 

[headsupcustoms]

Actually, in regards to Vonage...it was a vonage customer service rep that suggested it to me lol

 

[Craig Fryer]

The volume of calls we would be receiving from Japan would be relatively low, so if we set up the hardware ourselves the connection speed would not need to be great. It is more the hassle/cost of having someone monitor it.

Lingo do have this sort of service, but they don't use standard hardware or software. We really want to use SIP.

I have found a few more companies in Japan that appear to offer the service and we are going to call them next week.

 

[headsupcustoms]

please post what you find

 

[Craig Fryer]

I found a couple of options, but some useful information first.

It seems the best number to have is a 05XXX number as people can call from anywhere in Japan for around the cost of a local call. If you have a Tokyo number then some people may not want to call because of the cost. Then again you may want a Tokyo number for the suggestion that you can afford a Tokyo office.

www.gphone.com
Could do half the story, but would route the call via PSTN from the USA to Australia making this a more expensive and less flexible option. My biggest concern was the quality of the call because of the delay caused by going via the USA then to Australia. They offer a range of numbers in Japan including Tokyo and 05XX, but the rates to vary. The rates seem ok, but nothing special.

www.voxbone.com
Only offered Tokyo numbers, but will work with SIP. Their setup is a little complicated and you would really need an Asterisk or other PBX to work with them. They don't have a contact phone number and they did not reply to my email.