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VoIP at $15 a Pop
AndersBrownworth writes: "Creative has released what they are calling the VoIP Blaster, a $15 USB device (2 for $20) that lets you plug in a normal POTS type telephone and make Voice-over-IP calls to anyone on the Internet. Creative has some closed source software with it that they manage to sneak per call charges in with, but ignoring that one can install the open source fobbit software and do point-to-point unmetered VoIP calls to anyone else with a G.723.1 codec VoIP phone. I just got off a NC to CA call placed from behind a firewall and the quality rocked. It sounded far better than a cell phone. The Fobbit software is fairly solid on FreeBSD and Windows with a couple bugs in the Linux port." This device has been out for a while now, with mixed reviews, at least with the included software, but it's nice to see this effort to turn off the meter.
I'm still waiting for true IP-phones and autonomous adapters to become affordable. One key argument against VoIP is the high reliability of POTS which is hard to achieve when one computer per end-user device comes into the equation. USB adapters don't change that, but the autonomous devices which are designed for the one purpose of providing telephone connectivity do.
Hopefully the general public won't be scared away from VoIP because of the ease in which anybody can record a very clear conversation with considerable ease. Also, wouldn't anybody be able to pose as someone else by manipulating their IP address?
So I'm eager to get one of these things and add some encryption to it. Since it's USB, it should even work with a laptop.
Has anyone experimented with wiring one of these into their home telephone wiring? I'm contemplating wiring one of these to the second pair in my home wiring, and then picking up a couple of 2-line phones. Could make it a lot more useful, but I'm not sure it would support too many devices.
A quote from the open source driver site...
Also please be advised that this software is probably worth exactly what you paid for it (nothing!), so if it destroys you computer I can't be held responsible. It is mainly a learning exercise for me, so use it at your own risk.
Nice huh?
The device has a high quality DSP and echo cancellation onboard. High quality sound, multiple units on a single machine, this thing is worthwhile.
I have 4 VB's on a hub, running as a PBX and a POTS gateway. Complete PBX with h323 integration. for under $50
-daemon
Does fobbit support VOIP -> POTS calls? If not, then it is only good for using the VB in a shared connection or behind a firewall. If it does support VOIP -> POTS, then I'm running out to buy a few of these beasts before they vanish into the ether. I didn't see anything about whether or not VOIP -> POTS was supported on fobbit's site, but the site was running really slow.... Anyway, if anyone knows, I'd love to know, too.
Love,
Jay and Silent Bob
Not to promote or trash VoIP or promote Qwest, but why would I want intermittent connections of VoIP when land-line POTS companies offer the same deal? Qwest does $0.05/min for any state-to-state call at any time, and I don't pay a monthly fee (auto-billed CC). I also don't have to turn on my computer to make the phone call.
Note that I have no affiliation whatsoever with Qwest, I'm just trying to make a point that I've never had connections of the same quality of POTS with any "over IP" voice connection. The only exception would be my Cisco IP phone at work, but that isn't hopping across the country's routers, either..
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
I work in telecom and we have a VOIP product. I have had an ethernet phone hooked up to my DSL for a long time. The only gateway that I have access to, is in Dallas, so I can only make local calls here, but I call a good friend of mine in Mexico everyday on this thing (We put a phone on her cable modem) and it works perfectly. Once in a while you will get some jitter or lost packets, but mostly it is just like talking on a real phone. When the quality starts to degrade it will be more like a cell phone and if the net is really messed up it will be unusuable. But 99% of the time we talk with no problems. I have also talked to someone from singapore on it, and that was crystal clear, they had no idea that I wasn't in the office and that I was at home. This is the future. Of course I don't think people will be running it over the standard internet, just because there is no QOS, but if all the backbone providers started prioritizing voice traffic people could do that. Also yeah it is easy to record a conversation like this, we have used a Radcom sniffer that we have and it will play back the audio stream. For encryption though I think it would be stupid to add it to the phone, people would be better off to setup an IPSec link between the people they want to call, just cause these phones are already expensive enough and they don't really have enough power to handle crypto onboard.
The existing voice telephone system works and works very well. There is absolutly no business justification for moving voice from a stable, reliable, cost-effective voice network to an unstable, unreliable, increasing-cost data network. None whatsoever, except to pump up the earnings of Cisco.
The reason people are going to VOIP is that it costs less than circuit switched telephones. When you see the big phone companies roll this out, they won't be running it over the internet, they will be running it over private wans, and it will cost less than circuit switched calls, and the end user won't even know that this is happening. There are already long distance providers that are routing thier calls over IP.
useless only to those that dont have a use for it already. I just ordered 20 of these things and I am placing one,a P-200 box with a floppy linux solution, and a el-cheapo phone at eacho of my T-1 Z ends. Voila... FREE telco lines to every location for technical phone calls to deal with the hardware at the other end back to master-control.
The money I spent on the devices+computers+time to setup is less than ONE real VoIP phone... I'm gonna get another Outstanding Perfoemance award this quarter all due to linux.. (Yes, I mention that at the meeting, it pisses off the MCSE's that have yet to get One OPA)
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
> why would I want intermittent connections of VoIP > when land-line POTS companies offer the same > deal? You don't, but you do want it for international calls. I'm in Holland and using this service I will also pay $0.05 wich is hard to beat over land lines. When you check out the rates for other countries and compare it with what you pay using POTS
But the main use will be PC-to-PC calls and this unit allows you to connect you POT to your PC and use it for voip. Basically this makes Telephone + PC = IP phone. Since I own the phone and the PC already it's a way cheaper deal then buying a IP Phone...
end user? no way in HELL. it's for use by my tech teams and no the equipment isnt unreliable what I deal with is unreliable.. Adjusting a Sattelite reciever,decoder,inserter,whatever. instead of having the guys try and use a cellphone inside a shielded building. (Funny how cellphones dont work inside a faraday cage) Dont get me started on how broadcast networks have super crappy video+audio and never even try ot send a calibrated signal...
as for having to troubleshoot a floppylinux solution+elcheapo phone.. Linux doesnt fail, so no worries there.. (I have a floppy solution that hasn't even been looked at for 3 years and has worked perfectly the entire time outside of power outages.) elcheapo phone.. oh well.. have a second phone in the box in the guy's vans.. possible problem solved...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
A good chunk of international traffic is already converted to IP. All of the major US carriers have contracts with ITXC (http://www.itxc.com) which sends your voice traffic over the internet, and then attaches to local network at the destination. They constantly test a variety of paths to keep QoS at levels where you (the user) have no idea it's not circuit-switched. So VoIP with QoS is not only possible, it's already here and in use. And the best testiment to the quality of the product is the fact you can't tell when you are using it. Not exactly a great marketing slogan...
There are a few projects running to provide Linux support for these things aside from the Fobbit driver. The effort I'm involved with is at https://sourceforge.net/projects/voip-blaster/. The focus of our effort is to get support for the VoIP Blaster written into OpenH323. So far, the Windows client (OpenPhone) work with the device and the Linux code is pretty close to working.
For those of you who don't know about it, OpenH323 has several pieces including a VoIP -> PSTN gateway, answering machine, and MCU for 'conference' calls (although this doesn't work with the VB due to license restrictions on G723.1). There's also the Asterisk project - a Linux-based PBX system which I've heard also has support for the VB.
Rob
Personlly, I am happy I have a 1940's era phone cable and am within 5,000 yards of a Bell CO - at least I have some hope of maintaining some kind of communications!
sPh
I think more along the lines of what you are talking about is this voip solution, it's just what you are talking about. Yeah you have to pay a monthly fee but it's really not that bad. Linksys also makes something that plugs directly into the phone and your cable modem. It uses the net2phone service.
It seems the downfall (at least for me) for the creative unit and the linksys is that I want to have an incoming number for these things. Having to mess with multiple phone lines to make long distance calls seems like switching phone companies all the time to get the lowest rate. A pain in the keister.
Make me wonder if there could not be a free long distance service that works like Seti. Everyone that is on the service "lets" other people use there computer to make local calles using a voice modem. You could then use someone elses modem to make your call. You would have to have a space phoneline, a modem that would do voice, and a broadband connection. Then of course there would be the legal issues. But it could be fun.
Let me give you an idea how lousy cell phones are here. SprintPCS has been running ads for about a year now talking up their PCS network. The common thread in their commercials is someone who has been yelling over his/her cell phone to be heard, or someone who wasn't heard properly, with tragic results. They then emphasize the idea that with Sprint, calls are clearer.
As a current Sprint customer, and a user of Verizon (supplied by the office) (yes, I'm a two-phone geek), I'd say that Sprint's commercials seem to have some basis in fact, but they aren't that much to crow about either.
Verizon has a tendency to drop calls and have a sort of hiss in the background (then again, maybe it's the cheap pos phone). Sprint is definitely about as clear as a standard phone, but the coverage seems spotty.
If anyone's got a good reccomendation for a new provider when my service agreement expires in November (I think), I'd be interested. I live in the Raleigh area, so personal experience there weighs pretty heavily.
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