has anyone ever used one of these ?

looks like a good idea

http://www.paramountzone.com/usbinternetphone.htm

There will be stacks of these appearing now. Skype and a headset should do, but if you want to go wireless then you'd be better off with one of these, or a PDA on wireless, or perhaps one of the long range bluetooth headsets.

VOIP is the way forward .... I will be getting one of these at some point in the near future ...

has anyone ever used one of these ?

looks like a good idea

http://www.paramountzone.com/usbinternetphone.htm

 

 

This idea has been around for quite some time. I used to be quite involved in Voice over IP (VoIP) networks and telephony.

 

In principle it is a good idea but you need to understand a few constraints:

 

(1) IP technology is a "packet" technology which breaks down data streams at the source in to packets which are then sent across the internet to the destination where they are re-assembled (so to speak).

(2) Because there are many different routes from the source to the destination (think: many different nodes, pipes, etc) some packets may become delayed due to a lot of activity at one or more nodes (ie - the internet seems "slow"). This results in poor voice quality on the receiving end.

(3) The best way to guarantee a reasonable quality of the transmission is to run the data stream over either a managed network or a Virtual Private Networkd (VPN). This is only really viable financially for large multinationals and of course the telcos (like BT). In fact, there are a lot of smaller telco's who market their cheap international phone calls who actually use this VoIP technology without you knowing it (ie, OneTel).

 

I have not personally used this USB Phone or the Skype client but a few friends of mine have. Generally speaking they are happy with the quality of the call but it isn't the same as a normal BT phone call. Then again, when you're paying next to nothing or nothing at all for a call you can't have high expectations. There is always a trade off.

 

If the price is right I might actually buy one of these USB Phones and try Skype out for a while.

 

I hope the above has given some interesting (or perhaps not) background info on internet telephony.

 

All the best!

 

Dan

I've ordered one of the usb voip adaptors, that allows u to plug in your normal telephone to it (as I have 4 cordeless digital phones in the house)

 

Fed up of the wife producing £100 monthly BT phonebills

Sod all that! Did you see the USB mug warmer & the USB aquarium!!!! :shock:

Me thinks repairing PC power supplies is going to be a growth industry!

This idea has been around for quite some time. I used to be quite involved in Voice over IP (VoIP) networks and telephony.

 

In principle it is a good idea but you need to understand a few constraints:

 

(1) IP technology is a "packet" technology which breaks down data streams at the source in to packets which are then sent across the internet to the destination where they are re-assembled (so to speak).

(2) Because there are many different routes from the source to the destination (think: many different nodes, pipes, etc) some packets may become delayed due to a lot of activity at one or more nodes (ie - the internet seems "slow"). This results in poor voice quality on the receiving end.

(3) The best way to guarantee a reasonable quality of the transmission is to run the data stream over either a managed network or a Virtual Private Networkd (VPN). This is only really viable financially for large multinationals and of course the telcos (like BT). In fact, there are a lot of smaller telco's who market their cheap international phone calls who actually use this VoIP technology without you knowing it (ie, OneTel).

 

I have not personally used this USB Phone or the Skype client but a few friends of mine have. Generally speaking they are happy with the quality of the call but it isn't the same as a normal BT phone call. Then again, when you're paying next to nothing or nothing at all for a call you can't have high expectations. There is always a trade off.

 

If the price is right I might actually buy one of these USB Phones and try Skype out for a while.

 

I hope the above has given some interesting (or perhaps not) background info on internet telephony.

 

All the best!

 

Dan

 

Actually a VPN is only half the answer, what you really need is the Quality of Service (QoS) enabled such that time senstive packets eg VoIP can be given priority over non-sensitive like HTTP etc. Obviously this doesn't get implemented over the Internet otherwise every hacker would set the flag giving their traffic priority over everyone else - result complete anarchy (kind of like now really)

I want one for me ZED?????

yes i saw the mug warmer and fish tank,thats what i thought