Why I don’t like Skype
Osnews.com features a review of Skype, the easy to use internet calling application. The review is mostly positive, however, it is also recognized that Skype uses no standard protocol (like SIP) and is therefore not interoperatable with other internet phone services.
I personally do not really like Skype. The internet only works because common standards are used. If the Skype protocol is that superior to other standards, why doesn't Skype then release its specifications? Then Skype could be easiliy integrated into existing protocols and VOIP services.
In addition, one of the main promotion reasons for Skype is that its programme works with every network connection and every kind of firewall. But not only Skype can deal with a firewall. Also SIP compatible programmes like X-Lite today have no problems with firewalls and shared IPs. Using a STUN server, they can also connect to a telephony service when runing behind in a NAT. Furthermore, you can also use such a service with a dial-up connection. It is up to you which codec and therefore bandwidth requirement you choose. (It is even possible to use the Speex codec, which can be used from 2 kbps onwards.)
The other point is encryption. It is also possible to encrypt a call between SIP phones. Here I admit that this is until now still a bit difficult to set up for the end-user. Note also that the Skype Out function, which allows you to call regular phones, does not encrypt your calls.
The other thing is that Skype lacks a lot of features a SIP phone or the SIP provider offers. You don't get a voice mailbox and you cannot be called from the normal phone network. Most SIP providers offer you phone numbers from the public telephone network and then everybody can call you even without a computer. When using Skype, the computer always has to be running. A SIP phone can just be plugged into your switch and it is operational.
I hope that the appearance of Skype promotes the other providers to make their products more user friendly. This is one of the main reasons why many people are not yet considering using the internet as a real substitute for their normal telephone.
Who wants to have a Gmail-Invitation?
Once again, I got 6 GMail invites. If you want to have one just drop me a mail with a valid email address and your name. First come, first served.
No more G-Mail Invites / Harddisk failure
All my Gmail invites are given away now. Furthermore, my harddisk has a failure. I cannot boot my computer. I am now running Knoppix. The "swiss-knife" for every computer user. :-)
Google seems to expand Gmail
Google seems to open its Gmail email service for more and more users. Two days ago, I was allowed to invite 6 people, today, I got another 6 invites. I think, exactly as JavaGeek.org does, that Gmail is already started and that Google uses these invites just for marketing purposes.
Gmail, anyone?
Google's Gmail allowed me to invite 6 people to their service. If you are interested, write to the email address given here. First come, first served.
Got Gmail?
A friend of mine helped me to get an email account at Google's Gmail service. The service is still being beta-tested, but so far, Google invented a quite nice interface. It has a very simplistic "Google-Style" and is therefore fast and has some interesting features. E-Mails are displayed in form of a conversation like it can be seen in webboards. You have 1000 MB of storage. For those of you, who do not have a Gmail account, GMX provides also 1 gigabyte of storage for free.
Make Internet calls with a real ISDN phone
Last update: March, 3rd, 2006
What is the advantage?
I didn’t really like that I had to use a headset when I wanted to call someone via the internet. The volumes of the soundcard had to be adjusted to avoid over- or undermodulation. With the way described here, it is possible to use an ordinary ISDN telephone (at Germany’s Ebay you easily get one for 30 EUR) to make phone or internet calls with the help of a computer and a SIP provider. The audio quality is excellent with a DSL connection, there is no noticeable difference compared to a normal phone. The line should be clear however.
Additionally, you save the money for buying a SIP phone which costs about 100 EUR at this moment. Over the internet, you can call each other for free with a “real” phone. Calls to the Germany phone network cost 1.79 euro cent per minute with Sipgate.
This how-to is written especially for Sipgate accounts. However, you can easily adopt it for other SIP providers. You find links to other providers at the end of this document.
Using an ISDN phone for calling via Internet SIP providers
I wrote a small of article on how to connect a common ISDN telephone to a Linux computer running Asterisk, and make calls to the public phone network. However, at this moment, it is only available in German. I will translate it in English and post it here as well.
Calling via the internet with a “real” telephone
What kept me busy the last few days was Asterisk, the Linux telephony software. It is a software that provides PBX services (Private Branch Exchange) and is able to connect to SIP service providers like Sipgate.
An ordinary ISDN telephone is now connected to my ISDN card which runs in NT (Network Termination) mode. When I pick up the handset I get a dial tone and can call any public phone number. This works really perfectly with an extraordinary good audio quality. No chopping, no static.
More on this and how I connected the phone tomorrow.
Google starts its own blog
Already the second blog entry for Google: Now they are starting their own blog. Not a service where you as a user can register (I think they already own blogger.com), no, they just want to write about "whatever random events cross our horizon". We will see where this ends...