[geeks] Voip options

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 01:14:56AM -0600, Dan Duncan wrote:
>I used Vonage for some time and went to a similar service from my cellphone
>provider but I will soon be changing providers and will lose the option so
>I'm looking for advice.  I don't know that I want to go into the VOIP
>business, hardware-wise, but I am looking for options.  Has anyone used
>Magic Jack and is it possible to seriously lock it down by running on a thin
>client or a VM?  (The thought of a windoze pc on my network makes me
>shudder.)

MagicJack is IMHO the worst of all the options.

1. They astroturf.
2. They closed their web forums when too many people complained about the 
    service. You can find alternate forums, look at them carefully.
3. They arbitrarily cut off service if you go over their hidden limit.
4. Their hardware sucks. It's just a a cheap USB sound card that works
    with a telephone, and the current versions fall apart quickly.
5. You need to have a pc open all the time, their original concept was to
    rent "eyeballs" for advertising. 

There are tons of other options, varying in price and support.

Sammy Ominsky (s at avoidant.org) from this list is the CTO of one of them,
you can contact him for info.


>My typical usage is hundreds of minutes a month on conference calls (mostly
>toll free numbers) and occasional spikes of long distance numbers (mostly on
>call pages and calls to field engineers, but also family) and I already have
>analog phones throughout the house so I'd like something that accomodates
>that.  If not, I guess I can go back to vonage.  Is skype practical for that
>sort of usage?

SKYPE does not accomdate analog phones. There are third party devices that
do, such as a USB box with (D-Link and others made them) that allows you
to connect your analog phones to your computer (and passes through your
POTS line if you have one), but it's still a computer with SKYPE. 

There are also DECT cordless phone with USB ports and SKYPE shows up as a 
second line. They also require a computer.

There are also WiFi phones that support SKYPE, the ones I saw did not
have a web browser so you can't use them at places that have a click here
to ignore terms of service page before you get access, maybe newer ones do.

SKYPE also has a problem with the fact that it tries very hard to be
invisible. This makes it difficult, if not impossible to block. 

The flip side is that it makes it difficult, if not impossible to use
QOS routing or other traffic shapping to keep performance up. :-(

There are also versions for the iPod touch iPad and android. 

Sammy can set up a combination deal, but you will be paying for real service,
with real support, so don't confuse his much higher rates with SKYPE's
forum only support, or Vonage's guy in India who is reading a script.

Currently the cheapest roll your own service is free for incoming calls,
but you buy your own hardware and maintain your our own hardware. If you
want outgoing calls, you use Google voice to place them for you.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Making your enemy reliant on software you support is the best revenge.