VoIP... 2 questions

Gandalf23

I'm just about to try the whole VoIP thing.

Two questions...
1. Skype or GoogleTalk?
2. Can anyone recommend a nice headset/mic?

Thanks...

smeggle

Skype - Google are starting to P me off - becoming to like microsoft monopolising everything - and badly too.....

masteroftherealm

What?Google are doing it all for free man, totally the opposite of M$, they are the way frward!

smeggle

masteroftherealm wrote:

What?Google are doing it all for free man, totally the opposite of M$, they are the way frward!

At the moment - I don't care - Google have been moving into everything of late and it's just niggled me. Not sure why, maybe the fact they like reading peoples e-mails?

Yahoo give free e-mail accounts - Private ones - Google with G-mail reserve the right to enter your account without your knowledge or permission at any time. I remember when they were first doing the beta versions last year and we discussed it then (On American Forums) - I stuck with yahoo.

Anyway, Google have enough money now imo and it's only fair to give others a chance - though don't tell Google that.

Google - The concept of the small guy in mom&dads garage - not anymore I think?

Tiesto

yeah im looking for someone to recommend a good headset too.
nothing pricy...

And im curious, at the moment im using the built in mic in my laptop.wud there be that much of a difference with a headset

masteroftherealm

smeggle wrote:

Yahoo give free e-mail accounts - Private ones

Ha! Thats just plain not true. End of story. And end of threadspoiling(Sorrys Mods)

masteroftherealm

Tiesto wrote:

yeah im looking for someone to recommend a good headset too.
nothing pricy...

And im curious, at the moment im using the built in mic in my laptop.wud there be that much of a difference with a headset

Yeah the plantronics gamers headsets are really comfy and come in at bout 40quid Id recommend them dude

Rollo Tamasi

Goggle Talk has a very handy Instant Messanger and is a tiny process. It also alerts you of new emails to your gmail account, but personally I find Skype better. I think both are on the jabber network(correct me if I'm wrong) but i find the voice quality with Skype to be a lot better than that of Google. You can call land lines as well with Skype, altough i don't know of anyone who uses this service! Skype has a video conferencing pluggin available too so you can hook up your webcam to it.

But i mean both are free, so why not use both? I do!

cgarvey

masteroftherealm wrote:

Yeah the plantronics gamers headsets are really comfy and come in at bout 40quid Id recommend them dude

Second that .. bar some USB audio issues with Windows (just small niggly gotchas, more than problems), the Plantronics has given me countless hours of music, TV, VoIP and gaming, all with excellent quality. No pain after hours of use (ok, after 12 or so hours I tend to take them off for a 1/2 hour). Bass response quite good for on ears. DSP 500 is the pair I have for well over a year now. Nothing is wearing / getting loose / getting sqeaky. Mic is good quality and fairly local/focussed too which is good for loud PC fans, etc.

.cg

smeggle

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

Goggle Talk has a very handy Instant Messanger and is a tiny process. It also alerts you of new emails to your gmail account, but personally I find Skype better. I think both are on the jabber network(correct me if I'm wrong) but i find the voice quality with Skype to be a lot better than that of Google. You can call land lines as well with Skype, altough i don't know of anyone who uses this service! Skype has a video conferencing pluggin available too so you can hook up your webcam to it.

But i mean both are free, so why not use both? I do!

I really don't want to spoil the thread but I have to say it again why all the hype on Google and Skype? There good but there doing nothing that Yahoo haven't done for years now or msn.
Skype are different due to the telephone side of it but as for the rest it's nothing new and just overhyped media stuff imo..Plus Yahoo IM has some nutty features like 'The Doodle pad'

I've looked at most of these apps and apart from 'some' of the Yahoo chatrooms (:rolleyes: ), Yahoo beats all of them

Saying that, all of the apps mentioned will adequately do what the op requires - actually myself I quite like Trillian which I used most of the time with my mates though we do use Skype a lot more now..

oh yeah The e-mail alert by Google is definately a direct rip off of Yahoo's idea. Yahoo alerts me direct to my mobile as well and lets me read them if I want.

It's like I'm reading this stuff and Google/Skype are getting all these rave reviews for stuff that essentially isn't theres - thats especially true of what Google are doing.

And this 'vOIP' - like really what is new about it? Voice Over Internet Protocol? Is it something new? No absolutely not - Again you've had the ability with this via I.M. for a few years, certainly Yahoo has had it on there I.M. as long as I can remember...

Cabaal

smeggle wrote:

And this 'vOIP' - like really what is new about it? Voice Over Internet Protocol? Is it something new? No absolutely not - Again you've had the ability with this via I.M. for a few years, certainly Yahoo has had it on there I.M. as long as I can remember...

VoIP is not just some Instand Messaging Client calling another Messaging Client, VoIP is much more then that.

Here's my example for instance, I have replaced my eircom line with a VoIP line that I can use my normal phone with.
- I have a 051 local number that allows incoming/outgoing calls
- I get voice mail, 3 way calling etc all for free
- I get 300 min of free calls per month (national, local, international)
- I can call anywhere in the world at very good rates (US landline for 2c a min)
- this all cost me €10 per month.

If you check out the VoIP forum you'll see that 99% of the discussion has nothing to do with Skype, GoogleTalk or Yahoo and instead almost all the discussions are from people wanting to replace their landlines with VoIP because its such good value.

Rollo Tamasi

smeggle wrote:

I really don't want to spoil the thread but I have to say it again why all the hype on Google and Skype? There good but there doing nothing that Yahoo haven't done for years now or msn.
Skype are different due to the telephone side of it but as for the rest it's nothing new and just overhyped media stuff imo..Plus Yahoo IM has some nutty features like 'The Doodle pad'

I've looked at most of these apps and apart from 'some' of the Yahoo chatrooms (:rolleyes: ), Yahoo beats all of them

Saying that, all of the apps mentioned will adequately do what the op requires - actually myself I quite like Trillian which I used most of the time with my mates though we do use Skype a lot more now..

oh yeah The e-mail alert by Google is definately a direct rip off of Yahoo's idea. Yahoo alerts me direct to my mobile as well and lets me read them if I want.

It's like I'm reading this stuff and Google/Skype are getting all these rave reviews for stuff that essentially isn't theres - thats especially true of what Google are doing.

And this 'vOIP' - like really what is new about it? Voice Over Internet Protocol? Is it something new? No absolutely not - Again you've had the ability with this via I.M. for a few years, certainly Yahoo has had it on there I.M. as long as I can remember...

smeggle, in all fairness, your talking about IM clients and chatrooms...i feel to see the relevance, the OP is talking about VoIP. And for saying the Google robbed the idea of email alerts from yahoo....WOW! It's a fairly obvious feature of any good email system.

Cabaal

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

And for saying the Google robbed the idea of email alerts from yahoo....WOW! It's a fairly obvious feature of any good email system.

I did'ent address this part of his post as I assumed he was joking about it

In fairness Microsoft copied alot of the GUI in Windows from Apple is nothing secure! :rolleyes:

smeggle

Cabaal wrote:

VoIP is not just some Instand Messaging Client calling another Messaging Client, VoIP is much more then that.

Here's my example for instance, I have replaced my eircom line with a VoIP line that I can use my normal phone with.
- I have a 051 local number that allows incoming/outgoing calls
- I get voice mail, 3 way calling etc all for free
- I get 300 min of free calls per month (national, local, international)
- I can call anywhere in the world at very good rates (US landline for 2c a min)
- this all cost me €10 per month.

If you check out the VoIP forum you'll see that 99% of the discussion has nothing to do with Skype, GoogleTalk or Yahoo and instead almost all the discussions are from people wanting to replace their landlines with VoIP because its such good value.

don't get me wrong - I know that Skype has really opened up this area but is that saying that googletalk is voip or IM? I'd recommend anyone to go ahead with it from what I have read up on voip and heard what my mates Stateside who use it have said. If I had a phone line (currently I don't) I'll have Skype up and running immediately myself.

The other stuff where google is concerned is true though.. most of what there doing isn't new and they really shouldn't be getting the adulation they get...

Sorry as I said didn't set out to spoil the thread just giving my opinion...

Cabaal

smeggle wrote:

don't get me wrong - I know that Skype has really opened up this area but is that saying that googletalk is voip or IM? I'd recommend anyone to go ahead with it from what I have read up on voip and heard what my mates Stateside who use it have said. If I had a phone line (currently I don't) I'll have Skype up and running immediately myself.

The other stuff where google is concerned is true though.. most of what there doing isn't new and they really shouldn't be getting the adulation they get...

Sorry as I said didn't set out to spoil the thread just giving my opinion...

This is true,
Google offered webmail, this was nothing new..however you have to give them credit for shaking up other webmail providers by offering a crazy amount of storage and a GUI that has forced yahoo and hotmail to rethink theirs.

Googletalk is nothing new either, its a IM system the same as MSN or Yahoo however it has a twist because it uses Jabber which is a open standard so I can use GoogleTalk to IM people without using Google's software (I use GAIM). (http://www.google.com/talk/about.html#open)

GoogleTalk seems to be nothing better then Skype, but it is...unlike Skype GoogleTalk uses a Open standard.

So while google offers nothing new, they do however offer services with a twist and this gets them alot of praise which I believe is well deserved

WILKEL

Cabaal wrote:

VoIP is not just some Instand Messaging Client calling another Messaging Client, VoIP is much more then that.

Here's my example for instance, I have replaced my eircom line with a VoIP line that I can use my normal phone with.
- I have a 051 local number that allows incoming/outgoing calls
- I get voice mail, 3 way calling etc all for free
- I get 300 min of free calls per month (national, local, international)
- I can call anywhere in the world at very good rates (US landline for 2c a min)
- this all cost me €10 per month.

If you check out the VoIP forum you'll see that 99% of the discussion has nothing to do with Skype, GoogleTalk or Yahoo and instead almost all the discussions are from people wanting to replace their landlines with VoIP because its such good value.

Cabaal,
could you explain to me how you got rid of your eircom line and repalced it with a 051 number (wireless broadband?)
and what is your total spend on this per month including your free calls package ?

Thanks in advance.

BigMoose

There are several on this forum who have done likewise, me for one! You need broadband that doesn't need Eircom phone line rental (e.g. IBB - now there's lots of complaining about this particular providor over on the broadband forum but in general I've had no bother from them. There are others that dont need an Eircom line, depending on where you are obviously). Then I use Blueface who give out geographical numbers (I have an 01. You can port your existing number but I didn't bother). I pay 9.99 for the 01 number from Blueface that comes with 300 minutes to most places I'd ever call (rarely call anything a month that doesn't come out of the 300) and 49ish (I really cant remember) for the 2mb/2mb broadband from IBB.

Cabaal

WILKEL wrote:

Cabaal,
could you explain to me how you got rid of your eircom line and replaced it with a 051 number (wireless broadband?)
and what is your total spend on this per month including your free calls package ?

Thanks in advance.

Well funnily enough I'm still in the process of trying to get this sorted.

Long story short, I have a Esat Business DSL line..because of this I have the option to unbundled my line which affectively turns my phone line into data only so I wouldn't have to pay eircom line rental anymore as the WHOLE line will be included in my bill for DSL.

The annoying part about this I've spent the last 7 months trying to get my line unbundled, BT have lied to me about timeliness on several occasions but it seems light is finally at the end of the tunnel as they are going to finally process the order and they're going to refund me eircom line rental for 7 months because they couldn't perform the request properly.

So affectively when its done
- I'll have DSL over my current phone line without paying eircom line rental
- I'll be using blueface over my dsl line which will fully replace my land line.

as for costs etc...take a look at
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2680113&postcount=6

Also I did'ent port my number as it would have resulted in over 60+ days downtime for my dsl while eircom moved the number and then I'd have to get my dsl re-enabled on my phone line.

For other people's setups take a look at this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2680113
You'll find most people that are using VoIP to replace their phoneline either use IBB or NTL as their ISP.

paulm17781

Cabaal wrote:

Well funnily enough I'm still in the process of trying to get this sorted.

...<snip>

Good lord that's worse than the trouble I had porting my number. I didn't realise ESAT Business had the same problems as everyone else.

Cabaal

paulm17781 wrote:

Good lord that's worse than the trouble I had porting my number. I didn't realise ESAT Business had the same problems as everyone else.

You don't know the half of it
Several times I was told "yeah thats no problem we'll have your line unbundled in 10 days"......this went on for a few months till in August they told me I'd have to agree to a new 12 month contract and that my line would have to be ceased and re-enabled in order for my line to be unbundled this would affectively mean 30+ days without dsl.

Between the constant lies, wasting my time and the fact they've managed to take 160+ out of my account even though I have credit on my account I have no faith in their billing dept.

Their DSL service is rock solid but their a bunch of muppets imho and its going to take a good gesture on their part to restore my faith in them :mad:

They've told me that they'll refund me the 6-7 months of eircom line rental I've paid but frankly I'm not holding my breath as its properly just another lie.

They worse thing about the whole experience is I'd expect so many feck-ups if I was a home customer but its a business a/c so you'd think they'd deal with their business customers abit better.

amby666

But just so we don't frighten the horses, porting isn't always like that.
Most punters don't have a business DSL, so can't do it in the way Cabaal is trying.

I got letter from NTL offering cable broadband, got it installed within the week.
Signed up with Blueface for one week trial using a softphone. It worked, but quality wasn't great.
Signed for Blueface 9.99 subscription and bought Linksys WRT54GP2 configured from Blueface, which was a big improvement in quality. Got an 01 & 076 number included.
They suggested I use for a month to make sure i was happy before porting my own number.
Filled in form to port number, which took six weeks to have done.
Now have NTL modem with the linksys hanging off the back. I had a dect set of phones in the house and the base station is now plugged into the linksys, so I have phones around the house, without having to be tied beside the modem. Also got (free) an 056 UK local rate number for the family in the north to use.
The cost at the time was €125 for the router, but NTL was free for 3 months so covered it. I'm saving €10 a month on my broadband costs, I get 300 mins over about 20 countries for €10 per month and my line rental is gone.
Happy days indeed!:D

.

Cabaal

amby666 wrote:

But just so we don't frighten the horses, porting isn't always like that.
Most punters don't have a business DSL, so can't do it in the way Cabaal is trying..

Thats correct
I'm the exception to the general rule....