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View Full Version : Free VoIP-Based Phone Calls


Janak Parekh
03-01-2003, 02:00 AM
PPCT member mscdex found an interesting combination of software and services to enable free calls from your Pocket PC.<br /><br />First, SoftJoys Labs publishes a <a href="http://www.sjlabs.com/products/sjp-ce.html">VoIP client for Pocket PCs</a>.<br /><br />"SJphone is a PC voice client that allows a new way to communicate using the technology known as VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). Using SJphone, you can speak with people over the Internet the same way as you talk to them on your telephone, making PDA-to-PDA, PDA-to-Phone and Phone-to-PDA calls. SJphone allows you to communicate with any other H.323 - compatible entity (as Microsoft NetMeeting(R)) and/or SIP-compatible software and stand-alone IP-phones. SJphone can place a call to any regular telephone using an H.323 or SIP Gateway; allow for multiparty communication; call a computer in a private network through a gatekeeper; use codecs for voice compression; choose GUI, command line mode, or Web-interface."<br /><br />Note the reference to SIP. <a href="http://www.pulver.com">pulver.com</a> offers a free <a href="http://pulver.com/fwd/">SIP-to-SIP gateway</a> called Free World Dialup that enables you to call someone else at a computer or an IP phone.<br /><br />"We are proud to announce the recent relaunch of Free World Dialup, a service which will free you from watching the clock and allow you to spend time with your loved ones, friends and business associates for free. You read that correctly. Free. No more per-minute charges or monthly fees. If you have broadband access, you simply signup, get configured and begin enjoying telephone communications the way they should be. Free."<br /><br />You can also use the software to call people running NetMeeting. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a free SIP-to-POTS gateway, which would enable you to call people that are just using a telephone at the remote end. Some commercial solutions <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=SIP+POTS+gateway">do exist</a>, but they're not consumerized yet.

ricksfiona
03-01-2003, 02:19 AM
I wonder how fast your connection needs to be to get good quality?

jmtrant
03-01-2003, 03:03 AM
According to the referenced site, both ends of a call must be Free World Dialup members in order for it to work. I've not tried it because I'm the only geek I know that's set it up.

ozen
03-01-2003, 03:04 AM
I'd think that it would have to be pretty fast to stream voice. But i think its a pretty good idea if everything is compatible with all regular phones and stuff.

that_kid
03-01-2003, 03:24 AM
The sj client isn't free, it used to be but it's time limited now(price is $50 last time i checked) I found this out with the latest build. Freeworld dialup is a nice concept, I haven't tried it yet but i plan on doing it soon. If you get a cisco ATA(analouge telephone adapter) you can call that ATA from sj phone, netmeeting or any other sip program. I love see this Voip stuff. I have telesym installed on my 5450 and i've been making calls all week long with it. The 5450 is great with VoIP apps, with my 3970 I always had to use headphones. Either way this is very cool stuff.

Janak Parekh
03-01-2003, 03:28 AM
Ah, too bad it's not free anymore. Still, if you have relatives at a long distance, this could be a very convenient solution. My dad calls friends via solutions like Net2Phone abroad, but he's tethered to his computer. I'd love to set his iPaq up with a solution like this over our Wi-Fi/cable network.

--janak

that_kid
03-01-2003, 03:35 AM
Yeah it's a great program and it does work very well. If you have a previous version then you can use it as long as you want but the new version does have some nice features including skins.
One of my friends has VoIP telephone service through Vonage and he's happy with it. I'm going to try to call his cisco ata in a few minutes to see if it works. I have cousin who in S. Korea and this would be great for use.

pepemosca
03-01-2003, 03:36 AM
I don't get it...

How can i make a PDA-to-Phone call??

Using VoIP?

that_kid
03-01-2003, 03:39 AM
Goto www.telesym.com and download the telesym demo. After you install it and configure it, you will be able to make phone calls using telesym's pbx which is also connected to the internet. The demo works for 30 days and i've made alot of phone calls with it using wifi and my 5450.

Janak Parekh
03-01-2003, 03:43 AM
I don't get it... How can i make a PDA-to-Phone call?? Using VoIP?
Thanks for the link, That_Kid. To give you a more technical explanation: VoIP-to-POTS gateways are the magic key here. (POTS stands for Plain Old Telephone System.) Basically, you encode your voice into a IP stream, transmit it across at low costs to a remote site, and then finish the communication via a regular telephone line. Instead of doing a very expensive international call, the international leg is handled by the Internet.

Alternatively, you can have an IP-to-IP call, where both parties are on the Internet, in which case it's even cheaper. However, IP phones are fairly rare. This will change in the next 5 years, though.

--janak

Daimaou
03-01-2003, 06:23 AM
Goto www.telesym.com and download the telesym demo. After you install it and configure it, you will be able to make phone calls using telesym's pbx which is also connected to the internet. The demo works for 30 days and i've made alot of phone calls with it using wifi and my 5450.

It works now for Xscale ? I contacted them a month ago cause this soft didn't work on my 3970

Update, I tried to dl their soft again but still not work for Xscale CPU so how did you make it work ? I would love to try

http://akiba.sorobangeeks.com/images/ftx/11.jpg

mscdex
03-01-2003, 06:52 AM
There is also 2 other free VoIP clients:
http://www.gtony.com/pocketgphone/pgphonedetails.htm

http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=5755&associateid=9

freitasm
03-01-2003, 07:02 AM
Note the reference to SIP. pulver.com (http://www.pulver.com) offers a free SIP-to-POTS gateway (http://pulver.com/fwd/) called Free World Dialup.


It's not SIP-to-POTS, but SIP-to-SIP according to their page at http://pulver.com/fwd/how.html.

Other companies offer free SIP-to-SIP. If the softphone support H.323 (Webphone, Netmeeting, MS Messenger and others do) you can use a directory or use the person's IP address or domain name (dyndns.org to get an domain for an IP for instance)...

And of course if you have a Voice Gateway (a CISCO box will do) then you can place SIP-to-POTS.

I can't find a free gateway. There are some subscrition based services around, and quite good. I'm lucky to have a Cisco box in my development group, and I was the architect to a couple of VoIP based projects (including one to initiate calls from a web form to a landline PBX) for call center use.

Handango lists NetiphonePDA by Polypix Inc., Running Voice IP Light Package by Pocket Presence, Voice Messenger Force (for the Pocket PC), and SJphone ( for ARM Pocket PC ) by SoftJoys Labs as VoIP clients. All these will interoperate with Netmeeting for instance.

Kaber
03-01-2003, 07:41 AM
So what does this software (http://research.microsoft.com/~jiangli/portrait/) do then?

Cause its working just fine for our huge and spread out family.

I just need to get a camera to work with it on the 3955.

that_kid
03-01-2003, 07:44 AM
Goto www.telesym.com and download the telesym demo. After you install it and configure it, you will be able to make phone calls using telesym's pbx which is also connected to the internet. The demo works for 30 days and i've made alot of phone calls with it using wifi and my 5450.

It works now for Xscale ? I contacted them a month ago cause this soft didn't work on my 3970

Update, I tried to dl their soft again but still not work for Xscale CPU so how did you make it work ? I would love to try

http://akiba.sorobangeeks.com/images/ftx/11.jpg

I thought they fixed that already :oops: I contacted them about it not working on my 3970 and they said it had something to do with the way the 3970 handled audio and theat they would have a release shortly 8O . It's been about 2 months since I've spoken to them about the 39xx. I know it works on Xscale as it's running fine on my 5450.

that_kid
03-01-2003, 07:52 AM
So what does this software (http://research.microsoft.com/~jiangli/portrait/) do then?

Cause its working just fine for our huge and spread out family.

I just need to get a camera to work with it on the 3955.

Portrait is great, I really like the integration they have put into it. I need to get a camera too. I was just looking at some of the options in portrait and if i'm correct, I think that you can use portrait to make sip based calls. If so then you can also use it with pulver.com too :D
The only thing I don't like about portrait is that it's half-duplex. If they can get full duplex working with other ppc's besides the 3650's then I'll be more than happy using it. Even at half duplex it's still good.

Janak Parekh
03-01-2003, 08:00 AM
It's not SIP-to-POTS, but SIP-to-SIP according to their page at http://pulver.com/fwd/how.html.
Yes, I totally missed that. Long week. :oops:

I can't find a free gateway.
I believe there used to be some out there, but I can't find them anymore.

Thanks for the corrections guys; I'll edit the post.

--janak

Pony99CA
03-01-2003, 08:03 AM
There's also the Evove XPhone VoIP client (http://www.evove.com/products/client_sw.htm), but I don't think it's free.

Steve

http://www.evove.com/images/phone/Xphone-IPAQ_small.gif

heliod
03-01-2003, 08:18 AM
What I don't get: wouldn't this be exactly the same we can do today with Portrait in the Pocket PC calling other Portrait, MSN Messenger or Netmeeting users for voice conversations?

Kaber
03-01-2003, 08:58 AM
What I don't get: wouldn't this be exactly the same we can do today with Portrait in the Pocket PC calling other Portrait, MSN Messenger or Netmeeting users for voice conversations?

See my above post.

My point exactly.

Grandma even gets to watch the grandkids build legos from her house 6 miles away.

It only takes one person in the fam damnbly to get the ball rolling. A few upgrades and cheap webcams later...

The iFamly.

heh

:P

UPDATE:
WARNING! Doing this will make you the family "Tech Person" so be careful (if you aren't one already).

SnAPPUrU-nyan-ko
03-01-2003, 09:06 AM
Ok... meow... Would this work for IP to IP, on a Toshiba e310? For it to be useful, I'd need SanDisk's WiFi SDI/O card, but I've been trying to get it to work over my LAN through activesync =-_-=.

I can get connected to my desktop that's running netmeeting, but I can't get sound to work. The Pocket PC shows the microphone meter moving if I talk into the microphone on it, but the speaker doesn't have any sound (Yes, I moved the program's volume bar). The desktop can send my voice to another computer in the LAN, so I know that's not the problem.

bdegroodt
03-01-2003, 03:16 PM
Goto www.telesym.com and download the telesym demo. After you install it and configure it, you will be able to make phone calls using telesym's pbx which is also connected to the internet. The demo works for 30 days and i've made alot of phone calls with it using wifi and my 5450.

The bummer about Telesym (And I don't blame them for this) is that you and I as individuals aren't likely to be buyers of it since they want enterprise business. I mentioned it months ago, but I think Jason should look into buying a PPCT license and selling us seats on it for $10/month :idea: It's a killer little application and works very well.

jeffpulver
03-01-2003, 04:05 PM
Hi All,

I'd be happy to address any Free World Dialup questions. We have been successful using WiFi VoIP and FWD around the world. Since we use G.711 you need to have access to at least 88K of bandwidth.

Best regards,

Jeff Pulver
http://pulver.com/fwd

that_kid
03-01-2003, 04:48 PM
Hi All,

I'd be happy to address any Free World Dialup questions. We have been successful using WiFi VoIP and FWD around the world. Since we use G.711 you need to have access to at least 88K of bandwidth.

Best regards,

Jeff Pulver
http://pulver.com/fwd
Jeff, I signed up for FWD yesterday but i'm having some trouble gettin SJ phone working with it. When I call 10001 I get an error but when I call your desk 10000 it looks as though the call goes through but I don't hear anything. My FWD number is 20532.

that_kid
03-01-2003, 04:51 PM
Goto www.telesym.com and download the telesym demo. After you install it and configure it, you will be able to make phone calls using telesym's pbx which is also connected to the internet. The demo works for 30 days and i've made alot of phone calls with it using wifi and my 5450.

The bummer about Telesym (And I don't blame them for this) is that you and I as individuals aren't likely to be buyers of it since they want enterprise business. I mentioned it months ago, but I think Jason should look into buying a PPCT license and selling us seats on it for $10/month :idea: It's a killer little application and works very well.

That would be great if Jason could do something like that. I think i remeber the other thread we were discussing this in. I called telesym and got the prices and wow 8O , but for enterprise I guess it's a drop in the bucket, for me it's a flash flood. Anyhow there is another place like telesym but i can't think of the name right now. I have to look through my favorites to find it and then i'll post it.

jeffpulver
03-01-2003, 04:57 PM
[quote=jeffpulver]Jeff, I signed up for FWD yesterday but i'm having some trouble gettin SJ phone working with it. When I call 10001 I get an error but when I call your desk 10000 it looks as though the call goes through but I don't hear anything. My FWD number is 20532.

I just tried calling but got a fast busy. Please try calling our alternative answering machine - FWD# 700001. Also, please review your settings at http://pulver.com/fwd/quick. I will check the logs.

Best regards,
Jeff

that_kid
03-01-2003, 05:14 PM
Jeff, I called the the alt number and it worked :D , time to get some of my family and friends to sign up.

jeffpulver
03-01-2003, 05:23 PM
Jeff, I called the the alt number and it worked :D , time to get some of my family and friends to sign up.

Congrats! Welcome to Free World Dialup!

We have a pretty active mailing list and user community. We hit 10,000+ users this past week and have hopes of growing significantly larger over the next few months. Please feel free to spread the word about FWD.

Best regards,

Jeff

jmbneaf
03-02-2003, 03:49 AM
Jeff Pulver,

I have set everything up with SJphone but I get the following error:

Even with the settings for behind a firewall.

"Proxy registration failed. Disabling proxy. Reason: Registration transaction failed: Client non-INVITE transaction [Trying]: timed out"

Any help?

Not a gig or anything, but I am evaluating VoIP Software for our company, and the only one with any reasonable success has been the Telesym stuff.

Thank you for your help.

JB

jeffpulver
03-02-2003, 01:32 PM
Jeff Pulver,

I have set everything up with SJphone but I get the following error:

Even with the settings for behind a firewall.

"Proxy registration failed. Disabling proxy. Reason: Registration transaction failed: Client non-INVITE transaction [Trying]: timed out"

Any help?

Not a gig or anything, but I am evaluating VoIP Software for our company, and the only one with any reasonable success has been the Telesym stuff.

Thank you for your help.

JB

Hi JB,

Are you following the steps posted to http://pulver.com/fwd/quick/ ?

Do you have any known local port conflicts for port 5060? If you had Windows Messenger running on your device, even if you are now using SJphone, there is a good chance that you may have a UDP port conflict.

Please feel free to email: [email protected] with your FWD number and the team can take you thru the steps directly.

Best regards,
Jeff

jmbneaf
03-03-2003, 04:56 AM
Jeff,

Sent your group an email....

For others & to help, here are my answers:

1. yes I followed those steps exactly

2. I have had MSN Messenger running - what is the solution?

Thanks,

JB

PS: my fwd# is 20544

pepemosca
03-03-2003, 11:43 PM
Sorry for asking this stupid question, but:

"If I do all this settings... the only place where i could call to a POTS (stands for Plain Old Telephone System) , will be USA?"

that_kid
03-04-2003, 12:24 AM
Sorry for asking this stupid question, but:

"If I do all this settings... the only place where i could call to a POTS (stands for Plain Old Telephone System) , will be USA?"
If you want to make a computer/ppc to pots call then it will be up to whoever is providing the VoIP to pots gateway. If you want to make a computer/ppc to computer/ppc call then the IP world is the limit. I haven't researched calling to other countries but I can check with a friend of mine who has family in South America and he talks to them all the time with his ipaq and computer.

that_kid
03-04-2003, 12:26 AM
Jeff,

Sent your group an email....

For others & to help, here are my answers:

1. yes I followed those steps exactly

2. I have had MSN Messenger running - what is the solution?

Thanks,

JB

PS: my fwd# is 20544

jmbneaf
Which version of messenger where you using? I was able to get FWD working with messenger 4.7 and I almost had it working with portrait.

jmbneaf
03-04-2003, 03:54 AM
I am using the same Messenger 4.7 on Win XP Pro.

I finally got my e740 to dial the 10001 number, but not much more than that.

I am still unable to get the Messenger 4.7 to work - the real kicker is that I have a simple home network with a Linksys router. - Go figure.

Now on the other hand, the Telesym SymPhone will call any POTS phone from my PDA!!! no question no hassle; however, it won't do text messaging - very cool to globally call anyone from an open WAP.

The SJ Phone app needs somw work too, on my e740 it won't minimize and run in the background.

I hope this helps others...

JB

jmbneaf
03-04-2003, 04:12 AM
Make sure that you follow the instructions exactly.

They will work - I had one sumb error.

JB

that_kid
03-04-2003, 05:13 AM
So far I really think the telesym app is the best. I've made calls and people didn't even now I was on my pda, or using wifi. I even was able to walk around outside and hold a conversation and it never missed a beat. It would be really nice if telesym sold sigle client setups. I have a little problem with sjphone on my 5450 as well. I can get it to minimize but it's tough to get it back, plus I notice that it takes a while for it to execute menu commands. Anyhow I never did get the 10001 number working but I did get something from the alternate number(70001 I believe). I guess this is the price for living on the bleeding edge :)