7 Open Source VoIP Apps & Resources
January 21, 2008
No matter how you look at it, we all know Open Source is better, free to use and you get access to the code. VoIP traditionally uses H.323, a rather complicated protocol that uses multiple ports and a binary code for data. But apps like FreeSWITCH make H.323 seem like a piece of cake with its all-in-one application. Here is a quick review on 10 useful applications for VoIP.
1. FreeSWITCH – FreeSWITCH is an open source telephony platform designed to facilitate the creation of voice and chat driven products scaling from a soft-phone up to a soft-switch. It can be used as a simple switching engine, a media gateway or a media server to host IVR applications using simple scripts or XML to control the callflow. It supports communication technologies such as SIP, H.323, IAX2 and GoogleTalk making it easy to interface with other open source PBX systems such as sipX, OpenPBX, Bayonne, YATE or Asterisk.
2. Yate (Yet Another Telephony Engine) – While currently focused on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and PSTN, its power lies in its ability to be easily extended. Voice, video, data and instant messaging can all be unified under Yate’s flexible routing engine, maximizing communications efficiency and minimizing infrastructure costs for businesses, capable of handling 600 H323 calls. While currently focused on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and PSTN, its power lies in its ability to be easily extended.
3. Ekiga – Ekiga (formely known as GnomeMeeting) is an open source VoIP and video conferencing application for GNOME. Ekiga uses both the H.323 and SIP protocols. It supports many audio and video codecs, and is interoperable with other SIP compliant software and also with Microsoft NetMeeting.
Free Global Conference Calling to Facebook Users
January 18, 2008
The focus on telecommunications in 2008 is now put on the wireless industry, while faster pipes enable wireless broadband networks deliver voice, multimedia, and data applications to a wider range of businesses and consumers.
Rebtel, is the telecommunications company that introduced Group Talk — a new Facebook application that lets users set up free conference calls that can included both Facebook and non-Facebook users in 40 countries around the world.
“Do something fun, celebrate a friend’s birthday together, plan an event, or use Group Talk to schedule a free one-on-one call with someone special living abroad,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, Rebtel’s co-founder and CEO.
Setting up a Group Talk call can be done in less than a minute. The person who sets up the call enters their Facebook friends’ names, clicks Add, and can then make the call private — just for the people invited — or public, which makes the call open to any of their friends who want to join.
To include people who are not Facebook users the person setting up the call enters participants’ names, mobile phone numbers or landline numbers and their email addresses, and clicks Add.
VideoOverIP quality improved by Skype & Logitech
January 18, 2008
Skype has announced enhancements to the quality of its video calls, but only for users of certain new webcams from Logitech. Using the moniker “High Quality” (HQ), the enhanced video runs at a frame rate of 30fps rather than Skype’s usual 15fps, and at VGA resolution (640×480 pixels) rather than QVGA (320×240 pixels). Through the use of Logitech’s QuickCam Pro 9000, QuickCam Pro for Notebooks or QuickCam Orbit AF cameras, all of which sport Carl Zeiss optics and high-speed autofocus capabilities, video conference will have a much higher clarity on images broadcasted.
“We believe HQ will be the next industry standard for video calling,” said Gareth O’Loughlin, Skype’s head of hardware services, last Wednesday. O’Loughlin admitted to ZDNet.co.uk that HQ was no match for the high definition (HD) capabilities of more expensive, enterprise-oriented rivals such as Cisco’s TelePresence or Lifesize’s Express, but pointed out that Skype’s offering “does not require £10k worth of equipment in a room somewhere”.
“We don’t get phased by what others are doing in a different space,” O’Loughlin added, while suggesting that small-business users could afford to put one of the new Logitech webcams on every computer in their organisation.
According to Skype, one in four of the free calls made over its network is made using video capabilities.
Possible Google-Skype Acquisition
January 18, 2008
In recent weeks, a certain rumor has been circulating in the blogosphere. Bloggers are talking about Google’s intention to acquire the world’s leading online VoIP service, Skype. Rumors started with the UK’s well-respected Guardian newspaper on Monday, and even though they do not have a solid basis they continue spreading.
“Currently in favor around London’s webbist community is the rumor that Google has been in negotiations to buy Skype,” wrote Jemima Kiss, a blogger with the Guardian. “Google bases all of its mobile projects in London, so this is the fitting place for such a rumor.”
Skype and Google also have some shared interests with regard to an upcoming 700-MHz airwaves auction in the U.S., where both companies have pressured regulators to make existing wireless carriers “open up” their networks.
A Google acquisition of Skype “makes sense on a number of levels, particularly because it fits with Google’s ambitions for disrupting the mobile industry through its new open mobile phone development platform Android,” Kiss wrote, noting that a such a deal might also be attractive to eBay, “which was recently forced to admit that it had paid too much for Skype.”
History of Phone Cards
January 18, 2008
Prepaid phonecards were invented in Europe in the mid Seventies. Calling cards took another 11 years to reach the US. Since then the calling card and phone card industry has grown exponentially worldwide. Today, phonecards are sold in over 185 countries across the world.
1975
Phone cards were invented in the fall of 1975. The company involved, SIDA, was not in the telecocations industry, but was a manufacturer and supplier of vending machines.
1976
The first prepaid phone cards were produced and put on the market in Italy to combat payphone vandalism. In fact there was a shortage of coins in Italy at the time and payphone theft was common. Cards were introduced with a magnetic strip on the back for use in special phones to combat the coin shortage. The first cards were too thin and jammed frequently.
1977
Prepaid calling cards using magnetic strip authorization spread to the rest of Europe. In particular to Austria, Sweden, France, and Theb United Kingdom. They became reasonably popular.
1978
Inductive technology was invented in 1978 by Nelson G.Bardini in Brazil. The system uses a series of coils embedded in the card including on which blows when the card is used up. The card was first shown at a national inventors’ exhibition in 1982.
1982
Japan’s Nippon Telephone and Telegraph introduced the first Japanese pre-paid phone card. Japanese commuters had to use a large coin to operate payphones on their subways. The Japanese card was considerably more convenient and was sold to tens of thousands of daily subway riders in Osaka and Tokyo.
Phone Card Loss and Theft
January 18, 2008
It is generally good practice to keep a record of all your phone card, calling card, credit card, bank account, passport, ID, Social Security, tax and driving licence numbers in one place. We recommend a small notebook which should be locked away in some secure place or kept in a safety deposit box,strongroom or safe. Many financial institutions have safety deposit boxes at a minimal annual rental.
If I lose my PIN number, can it be replaced?Depends on the card. Normally with low value cards, if you loose your PIN number, it will not be replaced. This is becoming more general due to the admin hassle of reinstating a few minutes. Guard your cards and your PIN numbers – they are a valuable commodity.
What do I do if my plastic phone card is stolen or lost?It is no different than a regular credit card. You should write the numbers down somewhere safe so that you have a record of the card details. If its stolen or lost report it to customer service of the relevant company. This is doubly important with a monthly billed phone card.
What else do I need to do if my phone card is stolen?There are three other things you should do:
- Report the loss to your local law enforcement agency.
- Report it to your bank and make sure any automatic debit arrangements are cancelled. You should do this telephonically and follow the instruction with a written one. This will ensure that there is no problem.
- Send the carrier (phone card vendor) a written notification of the loss recording the time and date of loss.
The Calling Card Industry
January 17, 2008
A direct result of the consumers need for cheap and conveient communciations services is the calling card industry’s exponential growth that is taking place in the last couple of years. Prepaid phone cards and monthly billed calling cards often offer considerably lower long distance rates than the more traditional phone services such as coin, cellular and collect calling. Additionally prepaid phone cards rates remain constant no matter what time or day the call is placed. In the early 90’s when the prepaid phone cards were introduce in the US, the large phone companies used traditional marketing channels to distribute their cards to their customers. The major phone companies already had a strong and profitable market and therefore, until the 1996, they made no significant effort to sell their cards. Because of the general consumer conservatorism that didn’t find appealing the ideea to change a system that worked, new phone card products and concepts were hard to sell.
The advertising industry and a number of small telecommunications companies eager for some of the massive communications market first identified the power and “sellability” of the prepaid card and before the big phone companies wiped the sleep out of their eyes the phonecard industry exploded. Mass production, the pre-paid card’s relatively low cost and the ability to produce low denomination cards suddenly produced a new advertising medium. By printing a company name on a calling card or information commemorating a specific event, innovative telecom companies began marketing the cards as promotional items. Calling cards were sold as prizes or incentives and tourist souvenirs. They also became collectors items exactly like stamps and baseball cards due to their being run in limited editions.
The retail phonecard had arrived and was turned into an expendable bulk consumer product like gum, toothpaste, film and razors. All this with the added incentive that you could, at very low cost, deliver a consumer message to the holder who has to look at the phone card to make a call. Combine this with the fact that a calling card actually allowed you to call long distance cheaper than your regular long distance company and you have a winning combination. To add the icing to the cake you had a number of calling cards to choose from and you weren’t bound to the captive suppliers of old.
The combined reach of the new markets expanded the distribution of phone cards from a few hundred thousand in 1992 to over 70 million in 1995. Calling cards are now sold through virtually every conceivable channel, from convenience stores and corner cafes to vending machines. Prepaid cards now co-exist with and in many case have replaced collect calling and coin pay phones as the preferred method of placing calls. Calling cards are also extensively used to make local or intralata calls where the local phone company is unable to provide competitive rates.
Phone cards are here to stay. They are now being packed with additional services. Pre-paid internet accounts, e-mail services, paging, SMS messaging, voicemail, cellular phone service, international callback, and a variety of audio, text and digital information and entertainment services. WAP technology is here too.
The calling card industry is still full of surprises and the first disposable cellphone cards are already edging into the market. This is a wafer thin phone card complete with a keypad, microphone and earpiece which you use as a combined phone/calling card. When its used up you throw it away and buy a new one!
