Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

Anyone got any recommendations for voice and/or video conferencing software or services? What do you use? Are there standard protocols? (H323/H263? VoIP?) Do I need to run a server? Or are they peer to peer?


Categories: Memories.

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2 comments

  1. dan_lane

    If I ever have the need to do Video conferencing I just use iChat as most of my friends have switched to Macs.

    For voice I use VoIP, I have a Sipura ATA connected to an Asterisk PBX that allows me to make or receive calls using my home BT line or call any SIP phone via the ADSL… for a bit of extra connectivity I have an extension on the PBX that routes out via GossipTEL which lets me call internationally and recieve calls on an extra 0845 number.

    Chances are you’ll never really need to know much about VoIP standards beyond SIP and perhaps STUN (for traversing NAT routers) as SIP phones will negotiate which audio codec to use when they connect.

    SIP phones usually use a directory server to initiate calls but unless you use a proxy (to bypass NAT) the actual voice is peer to peer, you don’t need to run a server, there are dozens of free providers (take a look at Free World Dialup or GossipTEL) and a bunch of commercial pay-for services along the lines of Vonage in the US.

    There is always Skype, it’s free and very simple to use but it’s riding on hype based around “P2P” (it’s from the creators of Kazaa and claimes to use P2P technology to make calls) I honestly believe that it is generally not good for the world to go with a proprietory technology for VoIP, a lot of good people are starting to do some very cool things with more open VoIP standards and Skype becoming popular would jepardise future innovation… it would seem that I am not alone as the GnomeMeeting developers have a few words to say about this on their site.

    Speaking of which, I hear good things about GnomeMeeting but have never used it.

    BTW, are you going to Whitby? I promise not to mention anything about Timmy Mallet if I see you ;)

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  2. ex_lark_asc

    I use skype – http://www.skype.com . Free and reasonable VoIP software,free tu call other Skype users, you pay to call real phone numbers. Also does conference calls. Lag’s a bit of a problem and line quality is occasionally poor, but hell, that’s TCP/IP for you :)

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