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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.
Whats the point in this product ?, all you need is a PC + soundcard + 10 pound headset (0 pence for me, I all ready have one..) from somewhere like Game or EB.
Then go download some free VoIP software from the web, theres plenty of them.
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?
"that lets you plug in a normal POTS type telephone"
That's the big deal here. I wish I'd had one of these in college when I was making long distance phone calls to my girlfriend. We used IRC and other chat things sometimes, but the good old telephone was much prefered.
We would have saved almost $1k in those days.
So if I use fobbit to circumvent Creative's own software, is that like using bnetd to circumvent Battle.net?
Here come the lawsuits... :P
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.
It looks like charges are for calls to ordinary phones, where someone has to provide the interface to the POT system.
According to the Creative website, you are only charged if you try to call a POTS line. This is handled by a third party service that can connect you to pots lines all around the world. Currently long distance calls to US pots lines are $0.05 per minute. Mexico City is $0.15.
The main problem with the VB is that it is only an FXS (foreign exchange service), not an FXO (foreign exchange office). Which means that it cannot be connected to a pots line without blowing up the unit. I am working on a way to create a software based FXO using the VB and fobbit. For the unoficial fobbit faq and more info on other projects, go to:
t ml
-d4emon
http://www.omikrontech.net/madmax/mai/fobbitfaq.h
"Grandma? Can you hear me? GRANDMA! ITS ME! YEAH!NO IM USING THE INTERNET TO CALL YOU... THE INTERNET! THE I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T!!!!"
Fortunatley this wasnt a VOIP quality issue, grandmas hearing aid had just went out.
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.
So that would take care of the usual audio quality problem of "sounds like you're talking from the bottom of a garbage can."
I'm more concerned with "choppy"-ness. There IS a solution to this. The Telcos have been doing "voice over IP" multiplexing on their own X.25 packet trunk lines for years.
I'm less concerned about encryption than most (Its a lousy way to maintain security anyway unless you're using biometric keys [double encrypt with the receiver's and the sender's keys for really private conversations]) which is a lot of work to ask my machine to do just to talk with the ex-wife once or twice a month.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Why use USB?
When considering the rise of broadband technology and the convergent devices and the emergence of IP based DTV/VOD Systems the logical conclusion would be to use a network technology (i.e Ethernet) rather than USB. This offers the practical advantage of allowing the POTS phone(s) to be plugged directly into a broadband connection, without the requirement of a PC next to the phone.
Regarding call charges, these are probably break-out charges from the Internet into the Telephone network. A necessary service for this device to be used practically, i.e. calling an ordinary Phone.
Sure, read commercial software licenses. It's
:)
pretty much the same but in a more formal manner
expressed.
I agree that this paragraph is really
to flashy as an opening. It keeps people
back and should not be displayed that way
Nevertheless.. I'm considering buying some
VoIPs and use the risky soft. X Window System
comes also with the warning it can blow your
monitor..
Geert
The target audience doesn't know anything more about ethernet except "Hmm, I can plug the phone modem cord into either hole, but the big fat cord from the cable modem only fits into this one, so it must go this way".
The technical support required to get something like this set up in an "Ethernet. Etherwhat? What's that?" environment would be costly, and make the product less attractive to users.
"What? Of course I have a switch! How the hell do you think I turn my lights on?"
"Hub? Don't you hubba-hubba me, buster, or I'll call the cops. Now tell me where to plug this fuckin' thing in!"
Think about it. This is NOT a toy marketed at geeks.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Creative has some closed source software with it...
Is this really necessary? Do the editors have point out that certain software is "closed source"? What conclusions are we to draw from that...
Personally, I use this information as a synonym of "forget official support for linux, you'll be forced to use windows.". I.e., since I'm almost always under linux it means "don't buy it unless you find first an open-source project supporting it".
Does anybody know of anywhere that sells it in the UK? It doesn't appear to be on the UK Creative website...
So is it phone sex or cybersex? ;)
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
Who, come to think of it, is one of the biggest boosters of VoIP. Hmmm...
sPh
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.
What kind of cell phones do you got in the US? VoIP phone sounds better than a cell phone? Atleast in Europe, the GSM-900 and GSM1800 (G3 UMTS - under testing) the quality rocks. Either its good quality or no connection.
Maybe the people in the US need to switch from the old, now defunct smoke signals to digital cell phones?
Europe, Asia and Australia have had it for quite a time already.
NumB http://www.engvig.net
what bugs, does it affect quality or connection?
will it work well w/someone using a 56k dialup w/AOL (other than the obvious problems w/AOL)?
Anyone have more info? I have checked the SF site but I do not have the device myself. If I am going to save some money (and pay for two) then I need more info.
Thanks in advance.
Without QoS this just will not work. Typical RTD throught the Internet is in excess of 200 ms. For anything near PSTN voice quality, you would need something around 50 ms. ...sorry, you can't call the fire department, your ISP is down
About a week ago someone told us about this device that Vonage is putting out for $20/month.
You don't have to have any special software, just a high-speed connection. Just plug in the Cisco voice router and go. Plus you get voice mail, call forwarding, online accounting, free long distance, and a real phone #. I've gotten mine and I've only lost a call once. That call was to a person in the boonies who was using a bad cell phone. 'Nuff said.
The sound quality is about 95% of a regular phone line. My only compliant about the system is that there's just under a quarter second lag between what someone says and what you hear, but that could because of my ISP.
Plus if I'm going out of town I just find a hotel with high speed Internet and plug my device in. Bomb I have an instant direct line back to the office or wife and kids(if I had a wife and kids, which I don't but that a different story). And no annoying hotel phone bills.
Web appliances are the way to go! Now if we could just get IPv6 in use and get rid of NAT we could get rid of telephones numbers. We could have IP # or domain names instead.
fone://commandertaco.slashdot.org could be the future.
[VoIP/Web Appliance evangelical rant complete, have a nice day]
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Wow. Mine only weighs an ounce or so. Must be that crappy British made stuff.
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...
Only for VoIP-to-PSTN calls, that require servers to handle the switching.
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.
Which are free with the Creative software. This software won't save anyone a dime in call charges.
What it adds is support for firewalls, and allows you to use the device without registering with a credit card. It loses the ability to do PSTN calls.
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.
You're telling me your equipment is so unreliable that you're installing 20 P200 boxes with a USB phones to save money on end user support calls?!? Here's a better idea: save the money & time you're going to spend implementing this phone network and put it into making your real equipment more reliable.
And besides, I can just see it: you start out troubleshooting a network problem, and next thing you know, you're trying to troubleshoot a floppy linux solution and an "el-cheapo phone". Keep it simple....
What's your damage, Heather?
I assume the VOIP blaster comes with a license to run G.723.1 inside the device, but these patents would impede the development of free software that could use the data stream from VOIP blasters for purposes other than talking to other G.723.1 hardware devices.
It sure would be nice if the VOIP blaster had a mode where it could just transmit and receive raw audio samples (preferably by the standard USB audio class interface).
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?
Its just a more blunt way of saying exactly the same thing Microsoft says with any product you buy from them: namely that the product you buy may not be suitable for any purpose, and that the manufacturer (Microsoft in that case) absolves themselves of any and all damages their product may cause.
This particular free software product chooses to state that in more obvious terms. Personally, I find the honesty a breath of much needed fresh air.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
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.
That VoIP/POTS gateway seems to be what you're paying for, when you really get down to brass tacks.
I kind of wonder what the economics and politics are of getting such gateways in different localities. How much do they charge, and is it in line with real cost of the service?
In one way, providing the IP->POTS service could be new business line for many of the little mom n pop Internet Service Providers. All they'd have to do is to change some modems to call out instead of just waiting for incoming calls. The incoming calls could be destined for long distance service for voice input instead of just computers talking to computers.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
I was looking around on the creative site, and I could only find a link to voip from the US site. Also, the call charges are all in dollars and only from calls originating from the US.
:)
Can voip be bought and used in Europe? If not, can an american version be bought in the US and used in Europe?
To me, this sounds really good. It sounds way better that normal PC-PC calls, since you can make PC-Phone calls.
I'm just waiting for the day I can hook up a normal phone to my computer, pick it up and get a dialtone, and dial a normal number... that would be cool... wouldn't it?
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
Perhaps Innosphere would actually be supportive of open source and other third party software to connect to their network. They are, after all, just charging for use. The more usage the network gets, the more money they should make. At only $0.15/minute to call China, I'd sure like to use their service.
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.
There must be a million little utilities for generating touch tones, but you probably don't even have to bother with that. If your computer is connected to the phone line by a modem that understands the AT command set, ending the phone number with a ";" will tell your modem to just dial a phone number and leave the line open without trying to negotiate a data connection. For example, "ATDT16505551212;" will dial 1-650-555-1212 and hold the line open. "ATH" will hang up the line.
[...] OpenH323 has [...] a VoIP -> PSTN gateway [...]
Perhaps a bunch of volunteers or entrepreneurs could set up home servers to allow incoming H323 connections to make local phone calls.
There was an effort to allow for free fax transmissions this way a few years ago. It used DNS as the mechanism for keeping track of which servers could make local calls to which phone number prefixes. However, I haven't heard about that project in a long time.
My VoIP Blasters just arrived last night, and I had a few hours to play with one of them.
:)
The long and short of it is, if your only making calls in North America (from North America) its a waste of time and money. Theres enough flat rate/unlimited calling plans that will be cheaper, and better quality. I have a 1.5mbit/640kbit DSL line and making a call 400km's away up here in Canada was not that great. I would guess the latency was around 150-200ms, and even though I could hear the other party crystal clear 99.9% of the time, they complained my voice was "choppy" and it would miss the first/last bit of whatever I said. (silence detection I assume)
The Windows software is a little clumsy as well, it seemed difficult to control it entirely from the phone, without touching the computer. I'm guessing PC to PC calls (less latency,and not gateways in between trying to minimize network bandwidth) would be much better with this device, as I think the main problem was with InnoSpheres network.
There is something really cool about your cordless phone being plugged in to your computer and dialing 192#168#1#1, only to have the phone connected to that computer ring.
Open Source Time and Attendance, Job Costing a
Let's see...
$1000 for the PC and hardware
$20 month for the 'Net connecction
$0.05/min for the phone call
Tech knowledge to set it up
Hassle of cranking up PC just to make a phone call (Call you right back, I gotta reboot my phone!)
all to replace $15, proven reliable hardware, and LD rates that can be had for $0.029/min from BigZoo.com.
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.
What is your Slash Rating?
It is 5 cents/min to the U.S., and 29 cents/min to Russia (which I call alot). With my AT&T plan I have now, I get the same rate domestically and 23 cents/min to Russia.
I also checked the international rates to other countries and they are higher too. Now why oh why would anyone use this?
I've been using the Creative VoIP for a while so let me share my experiences. I bought my first units >9 months ago and between me and my friends to whom I've recommended this we've purchased 25 units. (I'm not kidding.) Because it isn't available globally, I've had to personally purchase most of them and ship it to globally. It used to be $20 a unit then.
They are currently being used in the US, UK, India and Australia. Most of them are on POTS* 33.6 kbps Dial-up. I have a unit at home on DSL and one at work. Any one of my friends can connect to the net and call me. I also take one with e when I travel Internationally since it is cheaper to dial into the net locally and use this to make calls to the US!
The software allows you two modes of operation, PC to PC, which is between two VoIP units and PC-Phone which requires you to set up an account before you can proceed but allows you to call any POTS phone. The unit includes a Card for $5 worth of calls. although it says it expires on November 5th 2001, it still works. (Not a bad deal, if you consider you can purchase 2 for $20 and get $10 worth of calls)
When making PC-PC calls, there is very little lag. Occasionally, from the dial-up end, there will be a break of a second or two and the next bit will contain both the current and lapsed conversation overlaid together.
PC-Phone calls to the US are quite good, with a slightly higher lag. I often receive calls on my mobile phone and that increases the lag a bit, with compression on both ends! Calls to the UK are just as good. Calls to other countries are much more expensive and the lag is greater.
I've noticed several questions being asked why is this required, Why cant you use a headset/mic & free software.
Compared to any of the net services such as Net2Phone, Dialpad, etc., The quality is much better. I often get quality that is equal to long distance calls (figures, since the Telcos use compression to, some of the IP based). It is also much convenient to be speaking into a phone rather than a Headset/Mic. If you have broadband and are connected to the net always, you can use it like a regular phone. Pick-up and dial. anyone who wants to speak to you just has to call your number and it will ring. You have a choice of phones, I personally use it at home with a 2 line cordless, one for POTS and the other for VoIP. A friend I gave it to uses it connected to the office EPABX.
The unit is not perfect and has it's drawbacks. Although I've never had to call support, the word is it's bad. This could be because it's just an OEM product Creative re-brands. Email support, which I have used, is decent but takes 2-3 days for an answer. It's is handled by the OEM manufacturer InnoMedia. They also provide the PC-Phone service called Innosphere. Because it uses different ports each time it makes a connection, it is difficult to get it working behind a NAT/Router or a Firewall. When I need to use it in the Office, I temporarily open up the Firewall. It is not H.323 compliant. It works with Windows only. There is no driver for Linux or the Mac. Both users need the same hardware to talk**. And of course, your computer has to be on at all times.
There are other alternatives. Aplio (http://www.aplio.com/) makes a self contained unit which has an inbuilt Modem and Ethernet connection. No computer required, just a phone. It however costs $200 - $300. What would be nice is if all the different VoIP providers would standardize on a common interface to allow you to talk to using a different device. Just like email or POTS.
I have just started experimenting with Fobbit (http://www.fobbit.com/). A person I recommended VoIP to is using it (VoIP & Fobbit) to provide calls between two users across the company VPN. There is also a project for VoIP Blaster integration into Open H.323 at SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/voip-blaster/)
Spock
PS:-
*POTS - Plain Old Telephone Service
**InnoMedia, the manufacturers, have a software equivalent called BuddyTalk (http://www.buddytalk.com/). Although at launch time it was not compatible with the VoIP unit, when I contacted them last year, they told me that they were working on a new version of both the BuddyTalk and VoIP software that would allow communication between both platforms and also work behind NAT/Routers and Firewalls. It was to be out 'Real Soon Now'.
Even for foreigners 5c a min isn't a great rate to the US.
I pay ever so slightly less using a calling card FROM MY CELLPHONE in the UK to call the US. A rate like 1c a minute would catch my attention and I used dialpad a lot when it was free - but i'm not going to pay that kind of money, sorry creative.
The answer to your question is easy -- we have already seen the beginnings of it in the US.
It wasn't that long ago that the phone companies tried to destroy the ISP market: "These ISPs hog our phone lines, AND they use them to transmit data, some of which is ACTUALLY VOICE COMMUNICATION. Mr. Federal Gov't, we believe that all ISPs should be regulated as phone companies."
The regulations that phone carriers operate under are a lot more restrictive and expensive than those for ISPs. If this ever happened, it would run the smaller ISPs out of business, leaving... the phone companies as our only ISPs. And if that happened, how far would VoIP get?
The telcos also tried this for software that allowed VoIP -- they wanted every publisher of VoIP to be legally classified as a telco. Obviously, it didn't happen -- but the day that my mother can call my grandmother for free over the internet, these protests won't be far behind again, and there is no guarantee that the big telcos won't get their way eventually.
My point kinda was that if Windows (for example) screws up your entire companies PC's, you'd have someone to take to court over it
yatest5 obviously has never read the MS EULA screen before clicking OK.
but I should find out... :)
What is your Slash Rating?
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So...which of the lying scoundrels is trustworthy and cost effective enough to sign on with? I see lots of ads for, say, Cingular, and one of my co-workers says it sounds pretty sharp, but I'm inherently distrustful of anything that's given a glossy marketing campaign.
What is your Slash Rating?
VoIP does not mean simply "Voice over the internet". Roger Wilco is not VoIP. Neither is Internet Phone. Etc. ETc.
VoIP is a set of standards for going standard telephony-like things over the Internet. IT allows for integration of the IP-based system and the standard telco system. IT's actually quite complex and detailed.
If all you want is voice between two computers, VoIP is overkill.
The benefit as I understand it of the VoIP blaster is that it does real VoIP. You can hook it up , subscribe, and get *real* telephone service to it. A phone number. You can make real calls to anyone, anywhere, and it will work quite well.
It's like replacing the last mile & local telco with VoIP & some remote telco.
On that note.. anyone know of any VoIP providers who will actuall, say, route you a lot of calls & numbers over the net?
(say, if I want to avoid using the local telco completely and I want to bring in my business 800 line over my big fat internet pipe, then break it out into a standard PBX on my end) (No, I don't mean using a channelized T1 or something and multiplexing voice on it..)
In the US, as long as there is a licensed operator at both stations to come on and give a callsign id every 10 minutes (time may be off, don't have a manual in front of me) then it's all good. My club used to run 3rd party traffic calls to the "North Pole" for the local children's hospital at Xmas time every year. Perfectly legal under FCC rules. There used to be a bunch of questions specifically about this on the old Technician exam (or tech + now)
Though I expect that'd change if everyone were doing it...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Ok...the link to Creative has them for $15 each, but where are the 2 for $20 deals at?
Can you do data calls over a voice line that is a voice over data line? -- Err could my TiVo's modem dial out over this thing so I could get rid of my phone line?
I am Jack's HTTP Server
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?
Because I (like a lot of my friends)
1)have no POTS
2)have broadband
3)have a long-distance girlfriend
I've got unlimited night-and-weekends on my cell phone, but the day charges are eating me alive. $0.05/minute with VoIP versus $0.35/minute for cell phone overage is a no-brainer. Quest sounds like a good deal, but I'd have to pay ~$35/month to get the phone service just so I could use it.
if i can hook iup my modem to VoIP and get connected to the Internet ;-)
Net2Phone is still free for 5 minutes. As far as I know, nobody else gives you free time anymore.
I've tried to pick up a couple of these from the Creative site, and every time I try, I time out getting to the HTTPS order entry system. Is their HTTPS server DOA?
www.eFax.com are spammers