Voice over ADSL?

MarkR

Can you use broadband with a mike or something to make calls?

PhoenixRising

Yep, if you have Windows XP you can use Netmeeting, you'll find a folder called NetMeeting in Program Files and the executable is in there. I find it pretty good.

There are lots of other programs available which do the same thing, try a Google search or have a look at http://www.download.com and you'll probably find something.

[EDIT] Or the other obvious one I forgot to mention is MSN Messenger. You can have both audio and video on that too like Netmeeting. You can get it from http://www.msn.com.

Moriarty

Skype is probably the best client around for chatting. Excellent sound quality, perfectly free and it doesnt clog your system up with unneeded stuff.

OfflerCrocGod

You mean VOIP?, you need a provider and that means paying. Messaging is free on the other hand Net Meeting Gnome Meeting etc....

crowbar

nope skype is definitely free to use atm, it's supposed to use voip technologies. though both parties have to have the skype client installed. if you want to call someone that's on a landline, then you'll have to pay for a service that allows it, like vonage, though that one particularly is difficult to get it here as you need a us billing address.

Mutant_Fruit

just make sure you are getting constant pings off your ISP. VOIP suffers badly when pings are erratic. Its completely unusable on my IBB connection.

OfflerCrocGod

Skype will be going pay it's the aim of the company it's not a charity:).

Moriarty

Its the aim of 90% of companys. Doesnt stop you using it while its free though. Espically when theyve got the quality/bandwith ratio beaten better than ive seen anywhere else.

eth0_

Originally posted by OfflerCrocGod
Skype will be going pay it's the aim of the company it's not a charity:).

No it's not. For computer to computer voice calls, it'll be free, but soon you'll be able to call fixed line numbers on it, and you'll have to pay to access that service.

BTW, BT have launched a VOIP convertor box for residential use, it just plugs into your adsl socket and you get unlimited off peak calls within the UK for £7 per month

http://www.btbroadbandvoice.com/broadband_voice/bb_voice_home.html

Capt'n Midnight

Is there any product you could use over Cable eg: NTL
that would allow you to be contactable by someone with a phone.
ie. INSTEAD of eircom ?

(Pager/mobile + dial back would be messy)

eth0_

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
Is there any product you could use over Cable eg: NTL
that would allow you to be contactable by someone with a phone.
ie. INSTEAD of eircom ?

(Pager/mobile + dial back would be messy)

That thing I mentioned in my last post will work over cable.
You could wait till SkyPe launch their premium service I suppose!

muffen

Net2Phone should work for calling a phone from a computer.

If you wanna talk to someone else, both of you using the mic, just use something like teamspeak. It's really cool, especially if you are more than 2 ppl talking.

Also, you can talk to other people with the mic using MSN messenger, or ICQ.

Nitrox

Skype is the best, dont even need ADSL, i called my friend who was then on 56K (bad line) and the quality was still far better than any phone, no lack no problems.

iwb

To answer the question directly, from experience, I use a few different VoIP methods regularly on Eircom Solo. Once in a while it suffers degradation of signal, usually around 6pm. I assume that is because other DSL users are going online.
The other party is more likely to suffer than me, as the 128k upstream is not a whole lot of bandwidth. Sometimes when I am on a conference call using Ciscos Softphone, I forget and send an email or send a file. The other side then gets little but broken clips for the duration. A symmetrical service would be great for this kind of thing.
I also use Skype and have used MSN, Netmeeting and Yahoo. Skype is by far the best.
it is a huge area to discuss in a post. Talking about VoIP in a general way is hard as like the internet, it means so many things. VoIP itself is just a general catchall. There are many different technologies and many different ways of using it.
Most computer to computer calls are free to use, once the connection to the internet is looked after. Also, most of the clients will work on a dialup modem.
When calling from a computer to a phone, a charge will apply, as a service provider is involved. There are many providers and plans.
By the way, if anyone wants to contribute an article to my site on VoIP, I would welcome it. It is hard to find the time to write all the stuff myself.
Regards, iwb.

tomk

Just saw an ad for the V-IP Netphone on the DART this morning. It's an Irish outfit called Aeon Solutions, who claim to be registered with Comreg. It seems they supply a USB handset and connectivity to an IP/Phone gateway, which you can then use just like a normal phone. The handset is $100, and you prepay call credit.

So it appears to answer you question, Capt'n - use this over your NTL, and €ircon will be out of your life! ( as long as it works.........)

eth0_

Originally posted by tomk
Just saw an ad for the V-IP Netphone on the DART this morning.

There call rates aren't anything special, are they? And no free local/national calls either...

crowbar

plus it doesn't look like you can receive calls from the pstn network either - only from other v-ip phones.

OfflerCrocGod

Originally posted by eth0_
No it's not. For computer to computer voice calls, it'll be free

That's not VOIP; VOIP is phone conversations (handsets) over IP(internet), what you describe is MSN Messenger on steroids

Originally posted by eth0_

but soon you'll be able to call fixed line numbers on it, and you'll have to pay to access that service.

QED

Capt'n Midnight

while the ESB may never roll out BB over power cables into the home, voice should be possible

rmooney25

On the subject of the Broadband for voice-calls, I signed up with VIPNetphone just after Christmas. I paid 54 euro for the USB handset.

When you sign up, you get a free account and pay for calls on a prepay basis (like ready-to-go/speakeasy). There seems to be 3 options when making a call with these guys :

1) If you know the desitinations IP address:
You can IP->IP for free but not across NAT (Network address translation).

2) If you dont know the destination IP and the destination has a VIP Phone.
If you are using NAT then you can ring another VIP customer for 2c/min worldwide.

3) If you are ringing a regular landline you are charged on the destinations location. I found this quite good. In other words when they quote the price of 3c for Ireland that means you can ring Ireland from anywhere internationally for 3c.

I didnt notice any differnce in call quality between them and my regular phone. Anyway I am happy enough with them....anyone else using these guys ?

silent

http://www.mywebcalls.com/ - has a .10sec delay however it is quite cheap, around half the cost of standard voice calls with vartec telecom
they even support hardware devices like the cisco ata or some voip phones

The Brigadier

Originally posted by rmooney25
On the subject of the Broadband for voice-calls, I signed up with VIPNetphone just after Christmas. I paid 54 euro for the USB handset.

When you sign up, you get a free account and pay for calls on a prepay basis (like ready-to-go/speakeasy). There seems to be 3 options when making a call with these guys :

1) If you know the desitinations IP address:
You can IP->IP for free but not across NAT (Network address translation).

2) If you dont know the destination IP and the destination has a VIP Phone.
If you are using NAT then you can ring another VIP customer for 2c/min worldwide.

3) If you are ringing a regular landline you are charged on the destinations location. I found this quite good. In other words when they quote the price of 3c for Ireland that means you can ring Ireland from anywhere internationally for 3c.

I didnt notice any differnce in call quality between them and my regular phone. Anyway I am happy enough with them....anyone else using these guys ?

1st Post pimping??

Rumblefish

I use Windows Messenger for both voice and video calls over my Esat BT BB connection - works fine to BT BB customers in UK. The Logitech 'Messenger' webcam has a plugin for Windows Messenger. This Application also comes badged as MSN Messenger. free to use, but again suspect MS will start to charge once they get people hooked. Only the XP version of Messenger support the required VOIP protocol - SIP, other OS version do not - so are IM text chat only.

download @ http://messenger.microsoft.com

Other interesting VOIP development to start watching is VOIP clients for mobile devices - this means that your voice goes over GPRS mobile data. Mobile networks currently charge GPRS on volume, but are moving to either flat data fees (like landline) or per event charging (eg. data traffic free, but you pay for services onthis pipe - eg. music downloads, emails, ringtones etc.). Once this happens then if you downloaded a 3rd party VOIP (SIP) app on yopur mobile you'd get the voice call for free, as the underlying data is free and the mobile operator knows nothing of the VOIP app you're running over it.

po0k

They'll flag the packets and charge you