VOIP / VOIP hardware

Praetorian

I'm looking for peoples recommendations on VOIP phones. Our company has two offices in Dublin, and the phone bill between the two offices is ridiculously high. Both offices have fast broadband lines.

Is it possible to get a wireless handset, for computer to computer communication that will never cost a cent? We have no immediate plans to use VOIP to call landlines or mobiles. Will I have to use SKYPE or is there some other similar software?

Ideally if it works out, I’d like to get our offices in Germany connected too. Is there an issue with latency withVOIP making longer distance communication over broadband troublesome?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

JoyPad

Try FWD. Free registration will give you phone numbers. You can use a software phone (pulver, SJphone, Xlite), or buy yourself some hardware.
I'm currently using SJphone for FWD and it's great. I also have a Grandstream Handytone 286 ATA which lets me connect a regular phone to another VoIP service I subscribed to.
For office use, there's heavier stuff (see recently-acquired-by-Cisco Sipura). Not 100% sure how they work, I haven't paid proper attention to the stories

I can come back with more helpful links, from the home PC.


Cheers,
JP

EDIT: forgot to tell you about my VoIP experience. I'm using the HT286 to call landlines in Europe. No latency, no problems whatsoever. And with SJphone/FWD you can call other SIP phones, regardless of provider.

JoyPad

Jeff Pulver, the guy behind FWD, asked the following:
> "...Please forward examples where someone was helped by having Free World Dialup as an alternative to the telephone company."

Here's the best reply he had (in my opinion):

The short answer is keeping our family in touch with each other and a
handful of friends through the following scenarios;

1. I use FreeWorld dialup with a Sipura 3000/Asterisk to dial through
FreeWorld Dialup to my mother. Mom has a Sipura 3000/FreeWorld Dialup. I
save $20-$30/month for this in state call.

2. My sister calls mom through a locally provided phone number (IM connect
- Point One) to mom's FreeWorld Dialup number. She saves $30-$40/month.

3. I gave my both my daughters a port on an SPA-2000 for their phones. My
youngest calls her friend with FreeWorld Dialup. This doesn't tie up my
phone line and also saves local long distance charges for a <10 mile call.
This probably saves anywhere from $10-$30/month in local long distance.

4. My oldest daughter will be going to college next year. I'll give her a
Dell Axion device with XTen PocketPC VoIP software and a Motorola HS850.
Through the campus wireless system she will use SIP to access our asterisk
system at home for both FWD and PSTN calls. This will also make her home
FWD number portable. Since this saves $40/month or $480/year in cell phone
fees, the equipment will pay for itself in one year. She'll also be able to
answer the "phone" with the Axion still in her purse (magic of having an
HS850). Wish I could use a Palm device instead for better
stability/reliability.

5. My dad found many camp sites this year have WiFi. He called here using
FWD several times while he is out snow-birding. He's been showing off his
laptop setup to the other campers. One fellow from Germany said the sound
quality was better than his experience with Skype.

6. My aunt and uncle recently moved out of the country. I suggested they
get Packet8. We talk to each other for free through the FWD/Packet8
gateway. They've since recommended Packet8 to many of their new friends.

7. My son can talk to his friends while he is gaming on his computer.
Again, not tying up my PSTN line.

8. I'll be adding Broadvoice to Asterisk shortly. This will give my
Asterisk server a better bridge to my PSTN VoIP service. The bridge
currently goes out through a Sipura 3000 FXO port to a Lingo box for Lingo
service. Latency and call quality should be improved when I switch to
Broadvoice. This will give my daughter (#4) a full featured WiFi phone
service with much better call quality than a cell phone. The parent of the
little buddy in #3 has Broadvoice on the other SPA-2000 port and call
quality is much better than Lingo. This is probably because of the SPA-2000

I don't know if this is interesting enough, but this is how I/we are using
FWD to our advantage. #6 is what started it all.

oscarBravo

Praetorian wrote:

I'm looking for peoples recommendations on VOIP phones. Our company has two offices in Dublin, and the phone bill between the two offices is ridiculously high. Both offices have fast broadband lines.

Is it possible to get a wireless handset, for computer to computer communication that will never cost a cent? We have no immediate plans to use VOIP to call landlines or mobiles. Will I have to use SKYPE or is there some other similar software?

I'd be unhappy about deploying Skype in a corporate environment. Check this analysis out.

Praetorian wrote:

Ideally if it works out, I’d like to get our offices in Germany connected too. Is there an issue with latency withVOIP making longer distance communication over broadband troublesome?

I'd look into Asterisk. I'd set up an Asterisk server in each office - Dublin and Germany - and get them talking to each other using IAX. Takes a bit of setting up, but well worth it.

As to handsets, you can get PCI cards for the Asterisk servers that will let you plug normal handsets - corded or cordless - into them, and use them as normal.

JDxtra

Praetorian wrote:

I'm looking for peoples recommendations on VOIP phones. Our company has two offices in Dublin, and the phone bill between the two offices is ridiculously high. Both offices have fast broadband lines.

How big are the offices, and are there existing PABX's on site?