Take a look at Asterisk http://www.asterisk.org/. The wiki http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk has more useful information. It is a full VoIP softswitch solution. In addition to SIP, H323 and MGCP it also supports the IAX protocol, which was designed to be NAT friendly. You won't be able to run it point-to-point. You will have to run an Asterisk server somewhere in your network, but since you are already running Linux on the desktop, it should be fairly easy to run it on one of them for a small network. Combine that with a dynamic dns service like dyndns.org and voila!
Pondering this issue a little more, I realized that in order to be able to support web ordering from Hungrary, not only do you need a web site with local prices and in the local language (although my example of the Dell Hungary site is still in English), you also need a sales organization that can take phone calls to help with ordering glitches and clarifications, hopefully in the local language.
Most of these companies probably do not have a cost-effective way of doing this for some of the relatively smaller countries. It just is not economically feasible for them to do that. That is why Dell tells their customers to talk to a local Dell Distributor.
you should think twice before you click that 'Save' button because once you hit it, we aren't going to let you Undo it.
These assertions are not true. If you go the Dell France website you will be able to "Configurez et Acheter" (that's configure and buy for you unilingual Yanks) any system you want to your heart's content. The prices are even in Euros.
"EU taxes?"
France certainly charges EU taxes, if there are any. They certainly have their own sales taxes.
"Hightened security on shipping?"
Can you think any other country that the US government currently considers a bigger security threat than France? I say that only half facetiously.
"Cost to verify overseas c'cards?"
Let's see......last time I looked France was across the Atlantic from the US, and I would assume that those ordering from the Dell website would be using their own domestic credit card. If this were the case, then Hungarian travellers to the US would be refused their credit cards at hotels, restaurants, car rentals, etc. I don't see that happening.
"Cost of refused delivery?"
Well, if Dell can afford the refused delivery charge of a shipment to Marseilles, Lyon, Bordeaux or even Paris, I don't see why they couldn't afford it to Budapest.
"Cost of RMAs?"
See my above comments about cost of refused delivery.
"Import duties?"
Try again.
"English only packaging?"
Those crazy French actually don't speak English....go figure!
On Dell's Hungary web site when you drill down to specific products, you see the instruction to "Please call a Dell Local Distributor to order". It looks like they simply have a different distribution mechanism in Hungary because of different reasons.
VoIP is not overly complicated, nor is it simple as you think it might be. There are a number of VoIP solutions in the OpenSource world. One of the best is the Asterisk PBX, which has plugins for SIP, H.323 and IAX, which is an inter-Asterix PBX protocol over IP. This lets you tie multiple PBXs together over IP, including over a WAN running IPSec. There are also a number of vendors who make solutions to tie together legacy PBXs over IP using VoIP gateways. Take a look at this product. In fact, I am in the process of trying to convince a small-mid size client who have an office here in Vancouver and their head office in Ottawa to build tie-lines for their inter-office voice network. They currently spend a bundle on long-distance that they shouldn't need to.
Standard Disclaimer: I am not employed by Multitech nor do I have any financial interests in them.
Slashdot Mirror
Take a look at Asterisk http://www.asterisk.org/. The wiki http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk has more useful information. It is a full VoIP softswitch solution. In addition to SIP, H323 and MGCP it also supports the IAX protocol, which was designed to be NAT friendly. You won't be able to run it point-to-point. You will have to run an Asterisk server somewhere in your network, but since you are already running Linux on the desktop, it should be fairly easy to run it on one of them for a small network. Combine that with a dynamic dns service like dyndns.org and voila!
you should think twice before you click that 'Save' button because once you hit it, we aren't going to let you Undo it.
France certainly charges EU taxes, if there are any. They certainly have their own sales taxes. Can you think any other country that the US government currently considers a bigger security threat than France? I say that only half facetiously. Let's see......last time I looked France was across the Atlantic from the US, and I would assume that those ordering from the Dell website would be using their own domestic credit card. If this were the case, then Hungarian travellers to the US would be refused their credit cards at hotels, restaurants, car rentals, etc. I don't see that happening. Well, if Dell can afford the refused delivery charge of a shipment to Marseilles, Lyon, Bordeaux or even Paris, I don't see why they couldn't afford it to Budapest. See my above comments about cost of refused delivery. Try again. Those crazy French actually don't speak English....go figure!
On Dell's Hungary web site when you drill down to specific products, you see the instruction to "Please call a Dell Local Distributor to order". It looks like they simply have a different distribution mechanism in Hungary because of different reasons.
Standard Disclaimer: I am not employed by Multitech nor do I have any financial interests in them.