VOIP, Vonage, and other startups.

Ok so I got on as a beta tester for a new VOIP company. They also do alot of webhosting too. So Ive been testing out what they call a softphone. Its a software that you run on your computer that emulates a SIP phone. Right now I can make all calls for free, even international during the testing period possibly permanently for being a tester) Ill be making the move to add an adaptor and hooking it into my second line that runs throughout the house shortly. The quality is superb I must say.

With the softphone there are some really cool features. One that I really like is I have it installed on my laptop also, so while we were in PA for Christmas I was able to make and receive calls as if I was at home. They also added a 1800 number for the beta testers to use also. So I am able to give that out to family and friends to call me for free.

A few other things that are coming up, and available now, are.

1. A wireless phone that is able to automatically connect to open wireless networks and go online to let you make and receive calls while out and about, and within range of a wireless network. So cities such as San Fransico and others that are implementing free community wireless networks will make this technology very wanted.

2. An affilate program where you can have your own virtual storefront online, or an actual store if you wanted the overhead, where you can sell the phones and the service they provide.

3. If you run a business where you have employees from across the country, or the world you can have one number for your customers to call in at, and you can seamlessly transfer the caller to your employee in another state or another country with the caller not even being aware it happened. This could make telecommuiting even more accessabile.

Add in your comments, and whether you have considered switching to Vonage or some other service.

Edit: Said wep above, meant wireless networks.

 

Moved into Networking & Wireless per Brian's request.

 

Thank you!

 

I would love to try Vonage, but I'm in one of the few areas where they haven't tried to offer it yet, Cincinnati is a rough place to be sometimes. Road Runner offers phone service as well, tried to change to that but they couldn't set it up in our house. So, I'm stuck on regular old copper.

 

Brian,

Why couldn't they hook it up in your house. I have never been to a house that I couldn't get working on VOIP. I might have to but down on the number of jacks, but that is about it.

 

Hmm well company Im with can do it anywhere you can receive broadband, only downside being you may not keep your existing number. Im going to run both for while until I get my new number to everyone that I want to have it. Thus ending anymore telemarketers, and donation beggers from calling for awhile. WOOT! lol The copperlines in your house should work fine with and adapter btw.

 

Ya if they can splice in near your modem they should be able to feed the phone signal to all your standard lan phones.

 

Not only that, but with that cell/wireless phone dealy that is coming you dont even need a laptop if your hotel has free wireless, or the person you are visiting, or city, or heck a neighbor with a non encrypted connection running. lol

 

I found this video last night. For those of you that were fans of the show The Screen Savers on TechTv you will like this. Its Kevin Rose that was one of the hosts. He has a underground internet show. Here is the episode they did on VOIP and Asteriks voip setup. http://revision3.com/systm/asterisk/

Will give you a bit of insight into the overall function of things.


http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/switchingvoip/

Some of the oreilly books will help you understand further what is possible with this technology.

 

Vonage just isn't available. RR could have done it but they wanted to run a cable around the outside of my house, and that was not going to happen.

 

Wow...maybe I should just come down and hook up your cable. I don't see why they would have to run a cable around your house. I could do it way better.

Time Warner is just weird when it comes to installs.

 

Thats really weird. As long as you have a cable modem you should be able to get it to at least your desk without any extra wiring. If you have a phone in that same room you only would need to run a phone line from the adapter to the phone jack, and tie it into the existing phone wiring which should get it into your whole house. Doesnt make sense to me why Vonage cant do it there too. Maybe you mean just not available as far as area code, or a local number?

 

Little bump. Surely more people have, or want to have vonage, or some other voip.

 

This is way too far down lol, Well starting on my research into what voip adapter I need to expand from my softphone software and patch into the second line of my house. If the transition is smooth enough, and have little problems with quality of calls, consistent uptime, etc., then Ill drop my landlines and goto all voip and cellular.

My local phone company is ridiculous with all their taxes and federal charges, plus a higher than normal local bill. So I will spend the next few days finding either a compatible new wireless router, or a seperate adapter that will plug in off my existing modem. This is the future folks, start embracing it now.

 

What's wrong w/ Skype?

- 'Softphone' (via IM-style PC app - Windows, Linux, or Mac)
- Windows Mobile / PocketPC client, so if your PocketPC has WiFi or any data connection, you can call.
- Handsets / speakerphones / other hardware compatibility.
- Free! (Plus cost of calls.)

www.skype.com

 

Can I call you on a regular phone when you use skype? Well you can, but can you hook skype up to your regular land line?

 

"Can I call you on a regular phone when you use skype?"

Not sure what you're asking. I use a xv6600 Pocket PC phone, and run the Skype PocketPC version on it. I can use Skype or my normal cellular service. When I'm home, or have my laptop plugged in at a hotel/hotspot, I can log into Skype and make/recieve calls via the laptop.

"Well you can, but can you hook skype up to your regular land line?"
You can't hook Vonage up to a 'regular landline' either. It requires a broadband connection, such as DSL or cable. You can connect a 'regular' landline phone to the Vonage box, but you can do that with Skype as well using the boxes at the bottom of the "other hardware" link I provided, just like Vonage, or you can use a Skype handset like the Cordless Dualphone (first item in the "other hardware" link) to connect your regular phone line to while still being able to make/recieve Skype calls.

I don't mean to sound pushy, but when I compare a VOIP service like Vonage to Skype, I don't see the benefit of the VOIP service...

 

By landline Im referring to your standard home telephone system. Which mine is tied into, and on desktop comp, and laptop. Also able to get a handheld wireless phone that will hop onto any available wireless connection. The clarity is also superb on the company Im with.

 

I can call any telephone # from Skype, and you can call me from any phone. If I had a box like one of those from my link, I could connect any standard wired or cordless phone to Skype and use it to answer the call, so I think the answer to your question ("Can I call you on a regular phone when you use skype?") is "yes".

"Also able to get a handheld wireless phone that will hop onto any available wireless connection."

That sounds pretty cool... it's basically a WiFi-enabled handset that connects to any WiFi network? Who's your VOIP provider? I may need to look into this... Logitech makes a wireless Skype handset, but it needs a basestation to be connected to a PC via USB to work, it's not 'portable' in that you can take it anywhere and have it 'roam' from hotspot to hotspot.

<Edit> I just went to Netgear's site looking for something completely different and saw this:
http://tools.netgear.com/skype/#
Neat!

 

The difference between the Skype one, and what Im talking about (as far as the wireless voip phone) is it works like a cell phone. If you are in a city, that has a free wireless network, or in an area that you can connect to one, it will log you on, and you can send and receive calls using your home number. The other thing with Skype is its just not as reliable, and the quality from what I hear isnt as good as a vonage type or other dedicated provider will give you. The provider I use isnt public yet. Im a beta tester for the network. They are hoping to go public with in by the end of this month. Ill be selling plans as an affiliate its looking like. I talked to the owner today. Ill update this thread as more information presents itself.