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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?
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
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
Actually, what's shipping with Lindows is our X-Lite softphone version, complete details on the product line here.
http://www.xten.com/
Disclaimer: I do the OS X softphone versions and the X-Tunnels/X-Cipher/X-Vox servers, so I might perhaps be a bit biased towards assuming that our stuff doesn't suck.
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.
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.