Questions about VoIP

[Skoobouy]

I read about VoIP on the Brighthand article about the e805, and it sounds pretty exciting. I have a personal irrational fear of cell phones, primarily because of the price of service, and this seems to take care of that. Also, my college here in Belgium uses a VoIP system here to make incredibly cheap phone calls home to the US. Really, really cool.

Could someone explain to me exactly how a VoIP-enabled Pocket PC would work, exactly? In practical terms, when would I be able to use it as a cell phone? When would I not?

Also, can any WiFi-enabled Pocket PC potentially be VoIP enabled with the right software? Is there software available to do this?

And finally, the Brighthand article said that calls to other VoIP machines are free. What other devices are there besides the e805 have VoIP?

And one last thing, not a question: I love saying that like a word: "VOIP!" heheheheh. Voip. 0X

[that_kid]

Voip on the ppc is very simple. First you can start off with some voip software like Microsoft Portrait (http://research.microsoft.com/~jiangli/portrait) which works great but can only talk to others using portrait. Then there's Xphone (http://xphone.xten.net) a freeware sip program that works nicely on a desktop but has some issues with certain ppc's so YMMV but it's free so it's definately worth a try. Then you have Sjphone (http://sjlabs.com) which costs about $50 but you can use it for some time before you have to pay but works great on the ppc. Sjphone can also be used to ommunicate with microsoft's netmeeting which uses H.323. All of these programs will work point to point but another way to use them is through some type of service. In come Free World Dialup (http://fwd.pulver.com) which like the name implies is a free service that gives you a number that other's on the service can call you at, no matter where you are and as long as you are logged into to fwd. I've been using fwd for many months now and I think it's great. They just added free voicemail on their system and they are working on ways to interconnect their system with other voip providers like vonage and packet 8. Other sip voip devices include cisco's ata 186 & 188 and various sip based voip deskphones and be on the lookout for sip based voip handheld phones. Cisco has one and pulver innovations is also working on one. I use voip with my ipaq 5555, 5455,3970 and 3760 and it works great on all of them. I also have a cisco ata at home which is nice when I'm out of town and near wifi I can call home and talk to the family. I'm also about to put an ata at my parents house so we can have a direct link to each other over our ipsec tunnel we have over the net.

[Skoobouy]

Thank you much for the quick reply! I'm still trying to understand something though, which the FWD website didn't make quite clear. How would a voip PPC interact with other normal telephones? Would my parents need a special phone or an adaptor for me to call them/for them to call me? Does voip only work with itself?

[werb]

If you want to go try a really great VoIP program that works on your PPC, Tablet, laptop, or desktop go check out www.telesym.com and down load their trial version. My company has bee using it for over a year. Infact I have just gotten rid of my cell phone and now use my Tablet and Ipaq with a 1xRTT card. It's like carrying around my company phone where ever I go (plus the data side is nice as well). Really hoping Telus (provider) plans to update to the 1xEV-DO network. This software is not really aimed at the everyday user but rather a corperate enviroment. I have set up two college campuses with Telesym so far where it enables the students to "call home" for free, as well as use it to call one another on the system.

[Skoobouy]

I hope nobody minds if I resurrect this thread. I just bought the Sandisk WiFi card, and I'll probably be using it with my iPaq 1935 in two weeks.

But no matter where I look, there's not a single thing on the Internet that answers my very simple question:

PPC + WiFi + VOIP software/service = Basically a just mobile phone that works inside of WANs?

I just don't understand why nobody can give me the "dumb person's answer." What does it mean to say that VOIP phones work "point to point"? Does FWD only work for FWD members? What good is that? What if I just want to call Grandma on her rotary phone? What if she wants to call me?

So students are "calling home" for free. Why the quotes around that phrase? Are their parents receiving calls on PCs? Can VoIP phones only call PCs and other WiFi computers?

I'm sorry for my exasperation, and I don't want to sound ungrateful. I don't like feeling like a complete idiot, and so far I've gotten lots of good explanations of which I understand almost nothing. :oops:

Imagine you're explaning this to a four-year-old child.

[Pat Logsdon]

I'm confused as well. I spent days a few months ago trying to figure this stuff out, never quite made it, and gave up.

Looking at it again now, I see what looks like two conflicting statements. The first from the FWD site (http://www.fwdnet.net/), and says:

Free World Dialup does not provide access to the traditional telephone networks or cellular networks. FWD members can only call other FWD members and customers of associated IP-based service providers who have a business relationship with FWD.
Seems pretty clear. However, there's a service called "Call UK (http://www.fwdnet.net/index.php?section_id=93)", which seems to indicate that users of landlines and cell phones in the UK can call a number that will then forward them to a FWD number. Does this mean that my dad in Scotland can call from his landline phone to my FWD number in California?
:?:

[that_kid]

I'm not sure where you searched but there are services that allow you to make and recieve calls from pstn networks. Vonage just launched their softphone service which I have on my ipaq 5555. I have a pstn number on my ipaq and whenever I'm around wifi, I can make and recieve calls to anywhere that I want. Packet8 also has similar service but I haven't used it so I can't comment on the price or how well it works. I pay $9.99 with vonage for my softphone and get 500 outgoing minutes and unliited incoming with free long distance, voicemail, call waiting, three-way calling and so on. Just last week I was walking in a mall here that had wifi and I was making calls using my ipaq. The best part is this mall sites in a very bad area for cellphone coverage so I couldn't use my phone but my ipaq with wifi worked great.

[Skoobouy]

:clap: :clap: :clap: Thank you!

The Vonage Website doesn't say anything about a $9.99 plan. Their unlimited local plan involves a $27 monthly fee. But I'll find something. Edit: I found the site. https://www.vonage.com/help/index.php?topic=softphone

Man... my 1935/WiFi combo is going to be sooooo sweet! :alfdance:

[Skoobouy]

Well, I've done some searching and reading. (That_Kid, I read your post at this forum: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8262032~root=voip~mode=flat )

I think it gave me more questions than it answered, so let me describe my situation right now and maybe someone can still help.

I live in a college in Belgium that I've been told uses VoIP for our cheap calls to the USA. I personally don't subscribe to any VoIP service, but I guess my room's phone is routed to an ATA somewhere in the building.

Packet8 looks very attractive, especially the $5.95 monthly plan. That's fantastic for the occasional 8 cents a minute call. Now, if I just forego the whole ATA business, could I buy a Tucson, AZ phone number (my hometown) and make calls using that number when my Pocket PC softphone is in WiFi hotspots here in Belgium?

[Thinkingmandavid]

Wow, some really cool stuff going on, mmm, I knew about Vonage home service but it never occured to me to use it on a ppc. That could really come in handy. I may check out the site.

[that_kid]

Now, if I just forego the whole ATA business, could I buy a Tucson, AZ phone number (my hometown) and make calls using that number when my Pocket PC softphone is in WiFi hotspots here in Belgium?

Yes you should be able to do that without any problems. I live in Richmond Va but I'm from New Jersey and I have a new jersey number for both my home ata and my pocketpc account(makes ordering pizza fun :? ). The only thing that I've run across was trying to use my ppc at this school that has wifi because they blocked the ports, I can't even vpn from there but that was just at that school. I've been to several other schools, malls, coffee shops and such and it's worked great.

[Skoobouy]

More research, more understanding. 0X

I don't want to use Vonage because they're too expensive. Sure, it's $9.99 a month for softphone service, but that's only on top of $25/month for their cheaper home service. $35 a month doesn't save me any money, and that's the whole idea.

Ideally I would use Packet8, since not only is it cheap ($6.00 a month for basic service!!!) but it also has my hometown area code. Problem is, P8 has cut off access from 3rd-party SIP devices. You can read more here: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,7292324~root=voip~mode=flat
They told me they're working on a softphone solution, but they don't have anything yet.

That leaves VoicePulse. I can get their basic service for $20/month, which is a nice middle-road. However, they have hardly any area codes. I could just get a random phone number--not like it matters too much to me, living in Belgium--and that would allow anyone from my College (which uses VoIP) to call me for cheap, and allow me to call my parents cheaply, and allow my parents to call a US phone number instead of a Belgium phone number.

[Oleander]

I know this is a late followup, but I'm just started at VoIP myself right now.

I'm leaning towards iConnectHere (http://www.iconnecthere.com/) which at $8.95 seems fair - and it's also the only company I've seen who allows fax.

Just can't find out if I can use my 5450 with them.

Actually, this is just a part of a mad journey I've started (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20837&start=20).
I'm about to become a virtual citizen of USA! 8O

I found a remailer (http://www.usabox.com/)who will give me an address in Miami, Florida.

Now, all I'm missing, is an account in a bank, and then there's nothing to stop me from getting my greedy little hands on all the stuff thats off-limit to non-us residents. :twisted:

Ah! The wonders of modern technology..... 8O