hi wilson Did you see the post below from yesterday?
Very interesting I thought.
Cheers
Cabe
Subject voip
Posted 20/06/06 22:38 - 39 reads
Posted by rab
IP 203.87.xxx.xxx
Post #160592 - start of thread - splitview
QUESTION TIME
Author: GEORGE SKARBEK
Date: 23/05/2006
Words: 777
Source: AGE
Publication: The Age
Section: Computers
Page: 6
Q. I have read about using the internet to make cheap phone calls but there are conflicting reports about the hardware required. What do I need and is it worth trying?
K. Smith
A. It is certainly worth trying. Making phone calls to normal phones requires a microphone and your PC's speakers, or you can buy a headset.
Most notebooks have both built in. Headsets range in price from $10-$100, but there is little difference in sound quality.
You also need an account with a Voice over IP (VoIP) service and the usually free "softphone" software.
I used four softphones - Engin, MyNetFone, Freshtel and Skype - which transfer your voice as a data stream over the internet protocol. It was easy, feature-rich and had good voice quality.
The quality was better than calls to mobiles and my friends were unaware that I was talking over the internet for both local and interstate calls. Overseas quality is usually as good.
Skype is by far the most popular and offers video, whereas the other local vendors are voice only.
Although most providers have monthly plans, I will give costs for plans that have no minimum monthly costs but require a $10 up-front payment. Local phone calls cost 10 or 15 cents.
National calls to cities and most big towns (not all of Australia is covered) vary between 2.7 and 10 cents/minute, and Engin has a 15-cents untimed plan. Using Engin, you can talk to your friend in, say, Hobart for hours for just 15 cents. Calls to mobiles cost 29 to 35 cents/minute. You can view your account details immediately after the call.
If the other person has a computer, calls to users with the same VoIP provider as your own are free, just like email, even if they are overseas.
However, when speaking computer-to-computer (e.g., overseas), you might need to arrange that both are online so that one can call the other.
In estimating your data usage, you should allow 1MB of data for every two minutes of conversation - without using video. Using Skype and a two-way video, the data rate is about 4MB a minute but this depends on the resolution of the webcam used. This data usage with long calls may be a concern if you have a monthly volume limit with your local ISP.
I have found little variation in quality with all but MyNetFone, which refused to keep the Audio Wizard settings. This resulted in the incoming voice sounding like Donald Duck. Despite good tech support, this problem was not resolved and I will wait for a software update. Other reviewers have rated this product highly, so obviously success depends on your hardware. Freshtel took the longest time to activate my account - one working day compared to minutes for the others. Two of my clients were able to be operational within minutes using Engin but two suffered from very poor quality and required several phone calls over two days to resolve .
Although these services are designed for a broadband service, I conducted a few tests using dial-up. These results were amazing. My friends could not tell the difference between dial-up and using my normal phone when using Engin and Freshtel. Skype voice quality was slightly poorer over dial-up and unstable when video was used. However, my conclusion is that even using dial-up you can save a lot of money on phone calls with little loss in quality.
You can buy additional hardware such as a real phone handset that plugs into the ethernet port in the broadband router, which lets you make and receive calls even while the computer is turned off. However, I have restricted my discussion to the lowest cost entry point. If you make many calls, then a plan that costs $6 to $10 a month will result in even lower call charges. To use Engin without monthly charges, you must buy their pre-paid starter pack for $9.95 from places such as Dick Smith. This includes a CD, earphone and a cheap microphone plus several hours of free overseas or national calls.
In my opinion, if you ring someone interstate on a regular basis, even once a month, you will save money by using a VoIP solution. To find out if you can use VoIP from your computer click on testyourvoip.com and choose Sydney as a call destination.
For more information see below:
? www2.engin.com.au/process/ portal/prepaid/session/index or
? www.mynetfone.com.au/plans/ or
? www.freshtel.net/firefly/signup/?reset=true&t=promo or
? www.skype.com/products/skypeout/ for Engin, MyNetFone, Freshtel and Skype respectively.
[email protected]
George Skarbek's latest book based on these columns is available from www.skarbek.com.au.
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