VOIP for FIFO and Remote Site Workers in Australia

This guide covers VOIP phone options for Australian FIFO (fly-in fly-out) businesses, remote mining and resources operations, offshore facilities, and any business where staff move between a remote site and a metro base. It covers softphone apps for mobile workers, VOIP over satellite connections, site-to-HQ calling, and why hosted VOIP is better suited to this environment than any on-premise phone system.

The FIFO Phone Problem

A standard office phone system assumes staff are in one place. A FIFO business has the opposite reality: a worker might be at a Perth head office one week, at a Pilbara mine site the next, then back in Perth. Their phone needs to follow them without requiring IT support at the remote end or a separate number for each location.

Most FIFO businesses solve this badly. Workers use their personal mobiles for business calls, which means: the business has no record of the call, the client has the worker's personal number rather than the company number, and when the worker leaves the company the business contact history leaves with them. There is a better setup, and it runs on software the worker already has on their phone.

Softphone Apps: Your Phone Number Follows You

A softphone is a phone application that runs on a mobile or laptop and connects to a hosted VOIP service the same way a desk phone does. The worker installs the app on their personal or company mobile. When they make or receive calls through the app, the company's business number appears -- not their personal number. They can be in Perth, at a Bowen Basin mine site, or offshore, and callers see the same business number and reach the same extension.

Softphone apps require only a data connection -- mobile data, Wi-Fi, or satellite broadband. Most AU VOIP providers include a softphone app in their standard plan at no additional cost. For a FIFO workforce, this means zero hardware at remote sites: the worker's mobile is the phone.

VOIP Over Satellite: What You Need to Know

Geostationary satellite connections (the older Ku-band and Ka-band systems) introduce 500 to 800 milliseconds of round-trip latency. VOIP calls on a high-latency connection suffer from echo, talk-over, and clipping. This is manageable with the right configuration but requires attention.

Starlink low earth orbit satellite has reduced latency significantly -- typically 25 to 60 milliseconds -- and is now widely deployed at Australian remote sites. VOIP quality over Starlink is generally very good and comparable to a standard NBN connection. If your remote site is on Starlink, standard VOIP configuration applies with no special adjustments needed.

Codec Selection for High-Latency Links

A codec is the algorithm that compresses voice audio for transmission over the internet. The two most common in Australian VOIP deployments are G.711 (uncompressed, high bandwidth, best quality) and G.729 (compressed, lower bandwidth, slightly lower quality but very usable). On a geostationary satellite link where bandwidth is limited and latency is already high, G.729 is the better choice: it uses less than one-quarter of the bandwidth of G.711 and performs better under constrained conditions.

Codec selection is configured on the phone or softphone app, not on the VOIP service. Your VOIP provider can advise on the correct codec setting for your connection type. For Starlink connections, G.711 is usually fine. For older geostationary satellite, request G.729 support from your provider.

VOIP Over 4G and 5G for Remote Sites

Modern 4G LTE networks carry VOIP calls well. A softphone app using 4G data delivers call quality comparable to a standard office VOIP call for most workers in regional Australia with 4G coverage. 5G improves this further with lower latency and higher bandwidth, though 5G coverage at remote mining or resources sites is limited in 2025.

Where 4G coverage is available at the remote site, 4G is typically a simpler and cheaper option than satellite for VOIP calls. The softphone app switches automatically between Wi-Fi and mobile data based on signal quality. Workers do not need to do anything differently -- the app manages the connection.

Site-to-HQ Calling: Free Internal Calls Between Locations

On a hosted VOIP system, all extensions are on the same platform regardless of physical location. A worker at a remote site calling the Perth HQ dials an internal extension, not a geographic number. The call uses the internet connection at both ends and is included in the plan at no per-call cost. For operations that involve frequent coordination between field staff and HQ, this removes a meaningful cost and simplifies communication.

The same applies to calls between different remote sites. If two sites are both connected via Starlink or 4G and both have the VOIP app installed, site-to-site calls are internal extensions and cost nothing per call. Compare this to mobile-to-mobile calls at full mobile rate for the same communication.

Why Hosted VOIP Beats On-Premise for Remote Operations

A traditional on-premise PBX (private branch exchange) -- the system that routes calls between your phones and the outside world -- requires a physical server at each site that needs to be maintained, backed up, and replaced when it fails. At a remote mining or resources site, hardware maintenance is expensive and slow. A failed on-premise PBX at a remote site can knock out communications for days while parts and technicians are sourced.

Hosted VOIP requires no hardware at the remote site beyond a router and the devices staff already have. The PBX is in the cloud, maintained by the provider. Failover, software updates, and feature changes happen automatically. There is no on-site equipment to fail, maintain, or replace.

Handling Roster Changes: Staff Moving Between Sites

On a hosted VOIP system, reassigning a worker to a different site requires no phone system reconfiguration. The worker takes their mobile with the softphone app to the new location, connects to the site Wi-Fi or uses mobile data, and their extension works identically to how it worked at the previous site. No number changes, no hardware moves, no IT involvement.

When a FIFO worker rotates off site and back to a home office or Perth base, the same applies: they are reachable on the same extension via the app on their mobile, or they pick up a desk phone at the HQ that is registered to their extension. The system does not know or care where they are physically located.

What Most FIFO Businesses Get Wrong

The most common mistake is running two separate communication systems: a traditional office phone system at HQ and mobile phones for all site staff. This means no common call record, no internal transfers between HQ and sites, and no way to route calls to site workers on a business number. A single hosted VOIP platform covers both environments from day one.

The second mistake is assuming VOIP will not work on satellite because of earlier bad experiences with high-latency geostationary satellite. Starlink has changed the calculus. For operations already on Starlink, VOIP call quality is very good and the objection is no longer valid. Test with a softphone app on a Starlink connection before concluding VOIP is not suitable.

The third mistake is not separating business calls from personal calls for site workers. A worker using their personal mobile for all business calls has no call history visible to the employer, no recording for compliance, and no clear separation between work and personal communication. A softphone app with a dedicated business extension fixes this without requiring a separate work mobile.

Your Next Steps

Confirm the connectivity type at each remote site: Starlink, older satellite, 4G, or a fixed link. For Starlink or 4G, standard hosted VOIP configuration works with no special adjustments. For older geostationary satellite, ask your VOIP provider about G.729 codec support and jitter buffer settings. Then set up a hosted VOIP plan, assign extensions to each worker, install the softphone app, and test a call from the remote site to HQ. Most setups are functional in under a day.

For a guide to VOIP call quality on NBN and remote connections, see our VOIP call quality guide. For a comparison of hosted VOIP vs on-premise systems, see our cloud vs on-premise phone system guide.