This page is intended to exchange experiences with Nikotel and their VoIP service. Feel free to add your own experience. If you are Nikotel staff, please be reminded that this is a community site where members of the community exchange information. If the information provided doesn't suit you, you are free to add your comments, but you must not remove content. Censorship is a no go!

CAVEATS

What is the official line on Asterisk support?

Although Nikotel now state on their web site that Asterisk is compatible with their service, somebody has yet to teach their support staff about this. We used to recommend Nikotel to our customers and we continue to get reports that Nikotel refuses them support on the grounds that they "do not support Asterisk". So. before you decide to connect your Asterisk server to Nikotel, be aware that this may happen to you, too. It would be interesting to get an official statement from Nikotel on the status of Asterisk support.

Errant call charges - Nikotel: "We don't support Asterisk"

Nikotel have problems detecting whether a call has successfully been placed or not. Failed attempts to make a call all too often show up on your call statement as successful calls of 20 or 30 seconds duration and you get charged for them. While this is not a big problem for US domestic calls or other low cost destinations, it will add up substantially if you call expensive destinations. For example, ten unsuccessful call attempts to Egypt can easily cost you 2-3 USD. Nikotel used to reimburse the charges but nowadays, if you happen to use Asterisk, they will tell you "We do not support Asterisk" even if you can show that the problem persists when using a Grandstream phone directly connecting to their server, a phone they themselves promote and distribute.

Support takes ages to respond

Nikotel support is provided by email only, which is in itself not a problem, but they seem to be hopelessly overwhelmed with support requests as it often takes weeks or even months to get back to you. They also don't seem to be using any kind of support request ticketing system and all too often support requests don't get you any response at all.

opposing user experience
As far as support is concerned I have contrasting experience (German web site): If a support incidient is opened on their web site (this IS a ticketing system!) it takes 2-3 days to receive a competent reply.

Not Asterisk related

Java based softphones struggling

The nikotel4win & nikotel4mac softphones are based on Java. On most hardware they will struggle badly. This often results in severe latency, often in the order of seconds. Furthermore, the softphones lock up frequently. Better use X-Lite or a hardware phone.

WORKS WELL FOR ME

I can confirm that there are a number of issues when using Asterisk with nikotel, but most of them can be solved by using the proper configuration for asterisk (insecure=very, canreinvite=no). However, I strongly disagree with the comments above regarding their support. I am pleased with nikotel's technical support. Response time is usual < 24h and their technical staff is well trained regarding their own hardware and VOIP in general (not necessarily asterisk though). I still have the problem that outgoing calls get disconnected after 10 minutes, but otherwise I am very happy with nikotel.

another user experience
No problem here of the kind "disconnect after 10 minutes". This is likely to be a NAT/FW issue on the user side, I'd say. Also compared to earlier tests with sipgate.de I can state that Nikotel has offered a VERY reliable service so far, and that voice quality is/was clearly superior to sipgate.de that frequently had static on PSTN --> SIP calls.

For me too.

I am using Nikotel with asterisk for months. I am very satisfied.

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