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Toshiba Adds VoIP to PCs
securitas writes "PC World/ IDG reports on the new Toshiba SoftIPT SoftPhone software that turns Windows XP-based computers into VoIP telephones. The software features call answering and forwarding, voice mail retrieval and conference calling and costs $200. Now if only Toshiba managed to come up with a version of the software that runs on 802.11 WiFi handhelds like the e800/e805 ... More details in the press release."
The hardware-based options are computer-independent AND cost less... so why spend $200 on a sofware license?
Details here.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
I'm not trolling, its an honest question. Why does this matter, the article is very short on details (yes, i read it)... I remember using a mic and speakers and free software that all i had to do was plug in his IP, we connected, and chatted...just as I'm seeing this as, only this includes conference calling and can take advantage of some toshiba hardware...
the article says " It works on both wired and wireless PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP."....
why wouldn't it work on both wired and wireless pcs? am i missing something?
Why would someone buy this instead of some hardware only solution or some "phone" that just uses some free protocols over wireless ethernet?
such features as "conference calling, voice mail retreival" etc...thats not exactly anything new here folks!!!
I a phone with a built in vid cam/little screen, that opens up and is a headset with the screen/cam about a foot in front of my face, uses WIFI and i can wander around the house with, connects to ALL the popular messaging systems (aim msn yahoo etc) and lets them view my webcam automatically (which happens to be mounted on my headset out a foot or so) and automatically displays there webcam on my screen (which is a 1.5 or 2" lcd about a foot in front of my face as well, mounted on the headset), AND if the user i'm talking to is on chat but doesn't have the capability to hear my voice, I want it to do some decent speech recognition, I want my voice to integrate seemlessly into text and get sent to someone's IM client. Dont tell me the technology isn't there yet, a directional microphone can pick up my voice and NOTHING else, and folks, dorm-mates of mine were using dragon dictate to type papers with FIVE YEARS AGO... Tell me that wouldn't be a killer product?
replacing it with NEW Folger's Crystals! (lets see if they notice the difference)
Ahead, the makers of Nero, have created an IP phone for the PC. It's called Sippstar and you can get a free 2 month demo.
I was using it to talk to a friend on his Cisco IP phone. Took up a bit of bandwidth (8K/sec in both directions) but the quality was fairly good.
Or you could use X-Lite, Gnophone, SJphone, or Diax. All of which are completely free. Add about $15 / month for IConnectHere or VoicePulse account with a phone number and you're done.
-matt
To get a high speed internet connection at an affordable price, I needed a phone line (I got DSL). I can call anyone in North America without incurring any charges. Why would I want to use VOIP?
If I were to use VOIP, would I need to leave my computer on? I turn it off when not in use to save electricity and cooling (it generates an inordinate amount of heat).
Until people can use VOIP to talk to people who are using POTS, I don't think it will catch on.
Where law ends, tyranny begins -- William Pitt
As one might expect, the press release is a bunch of marketing crap, utterly lacking in tech specs. Still, it leaves me wondering how this software will compare to Cisco's Windows-based Softphone. At my company, we tried it out on our laptops, while also using their hardware 7960G. The hardware phone was consistently superior, as the SoftPhone took huge resources to run (you could barely run other apps with it up and dialing). I still use the hardware phone from home today, in conjunction with a company-managed IP telephony gateway, calling folks over a VPN as well as calling others nationwide. Call quality is pretty solid, although only after a lot of mystery codec installation by our IT admin. I also use Vonage at home, and it's clearly better than both Cisco solutions (although it also uses a Cisco ATA 186 analog-to-VoIP adapter).
RW
Now if only Toshiba managed to come up with a version of the software that runs on 802.11 WiFi handhelds like the e800/e805
Toshiba does not provide support for it's customers and even re-negs on advertising promises. Many people will no longer be buying from them - including me, my family and any corporate/educational group that I work for and have purchasing decision power with.
As far as leaving your computer on, with an IP phone you don't need to, but they cost anywhere from $70 to $500 per phone. And there are services such as IConnectHere and VoicePulse, which both will give you a real phone number and connect you to non-voip phone numbers. I think with VoicePulse for something like $25 a month you get a real phone number, voicemail, callerID and all of that, and 600 minutes of US calls per month. IMHO that's a pretty good price.
BTW, I think VoicePulse uses a bunch of Linux boxes running Asterisk to handle the calls.
-matt
I can't give up my voice line -- I get DSL on it and my wife would never tolerate it.
But what I want is:
A box similar to the Vonage VoIP bridges that you can plug into your IP network and your voice network. It would sit between your POTS phones and the POTS line. Incoming POTS and some VOIP calls would be routed to the phones as usual. But outgoing calls would be routed over VoIP for certain programmable number sequences; either direct dial to other VoIP phones or to other bridges for completion to POTS lines. With the right authentication, incoming VoIP callers would be able to use my POTS line as a gateway to the POTS network.
With one at work and one at home:
1) Mirror my work phone at home
2) Make work calls and make work LD calls using work's LD provider
3) Make personal VOIP calls to home
4) Make personal calls on my home line from the road
With a device at a relative or friend's house, I could theoretically make free LD calls local to their setup and vice versa.
Does something like this exist? It seems fairly trivial, especially if you make analog call routing pretty basic.
If I read this right its jut for the softphone not for the sevice that will make it work on top of that. If all you want is the soft phone, there are plenty of freeware ones available with the same featues. I've used X-Lite in the past and found it to not suck.
Yeah, it really sucks how you have to sit by your phone all day to recieve calls. If only there were some way to notify people of incoming calls that would work thoughout the entire domocile. Perhaps an audio alert of some sort?
I read the internet for the articles.
I think then that you have pointed out the real flaw: insufficient marketing. Although your argument about DSL requiring a phone line is valid, most broadband users in America use cable modems. Even so you might find that a basic phone circuit + VoIP price is less than you currently pay for your unlimited POTS price. I have VoIP phone service from Vonage. I have an ordinary 212 phone number, use my ordinary cordless phone to call any other phone number in the world in the usual way. the only difference is that instead of hooking up to the local telco's box, my phone hooks into a piece of Cisco hardware (free from Vonage) which connects in turn to my router and broadband circuit. For $27/mo I get unlimited local calling, 500 minutes US/Canada long distance (3.9c/min after that) and all manner of features (voicemail, caller id, call waiting, forwarding, blah blah blah). Combine that with the $30 I pay for cable modem service, and for $57 I have broadband + telephone.