VoiP on a Win 98 PC ?

I just found another freeware one, announced by the French gratilog freeware site: VoIPerized

It runs under Windows and Linux but I didn't find which Windows versions.

From the website:

What is VoIPerized?

VoIPerized is a so called VoIP program. VoIPerized enables you to make free audio calls to other people who also run VoIPerized. When making VoIPerized the focus was to minimize the latency, because other VoIP programs always seemed to have an irritating lag which makes the conversation seem unnatural. By using the open source Speex audio codec, the audio quality is far higher than any normal telephone call.

VoIPerized Features * Extremely low latency (0.120 seconds + ping time) * Conference with unlimited people at the same time * Contact list supports unlimited number of contacts * Adjust the bitrate to your needs * High audio quality (16 kHz sampling) * Low CPU usage * Adaptive Jitter Buffering * Smart packetloss concealment * VAD (Voice Audio Detection) or PTT (Push to Talk) * Easy to use interface * Missed phonecalls are logged * Option to Auto-accept or Auto-decline calls * Displays your own IP-address (even when behind a router) * UPnP support. VoIPerized automatically does the needed port forwarding (Windows XP & UPnP router required)

Thanks, but that IMO isn't a lot of help. My understanding of VOIP is that one doesn't need to have a server at all. Isn't IP to IP telephony possible without going to a central server ? My understanding was that that was the case.

My opinion is that pages such as the above need to be "dumbed down" if they are meant to be for the general public. Not just geeks. I am always suspicious of "free lunches".

What's "Our servers and PSTN gateway are funded by the use of our non-geographic DID (DIrect Dial) inbound numbers." mean for example ? Does one need to pay for an inbound number to get this "free service ? Here in Australia VOIP over cable doesn't require any inbound number to connect to the internet, or to VOIP.

Regards, John.

IP to IP is nice but not everybody has voip, to reach landlines you need some kind of interface.

They are not for the general public, you must be willing to learn and explore. Please stay that suspicious, it means that there will be free calls for us who did learn how to use it. :-)

Please John, you could try google....

No. Its all free.

John, you can get a regular telephone number that will redirect to your voip number. It's an extra. For free.

I'll give it a try, thanks. :-)

Thank you for clarifying things Even. :-)

Regards, John.

On Thu, 16 Feb 2006 17:46:16 +0100, FTR put finger to keyboard and composed:

I'm using these softphones:

X-Lite:

- Franc Zabkar

And you run them on a Win98 PC? How's the sound quality? Can you do conference calls?

- Frank

I'm running Skype successfully here on 98SE.

The only problem might be that the current Skype software is 2000/XP only.

This is good news. Which bandwidth do you have, and what about voice quality (your subjective impression, of course).

That is, Skype under Win 98 works with Skype XP (and Skype Mac) ? May sound stupid but I want to convince my colleagues who are not very inclined to try several apps once I advised them to install a VoIP app that did not work.

I'm on 2 MB broadband. But I, in the UK, regularly talk to friends in Australia who are on dial-up. Quality seems to depend on how many people are currently online on Skype, which is reported on screen: more than 4 million and quality goes down. And there can be problems over delays (sometimes you have to say your piece, then say "over") or having your voice echoed back to you after a gap of about a second, which can be disconcerting. So, sometimes not up to telephone call quality, but then it's free Skype to Skype.

I have no problem speaking to others on XP.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 21:24:49 +0100, FTR put finger to keyboard and composed:

No conference calls, but sound quality is good. I'm on a 512Kbps ADSL plan. I use providers within the Finarea group (voipcheap, voipbuster, voipstunt, sipdiscount, internetcalls.com). They provide lots of free destinations. One difficulty is that you need to set up your account(s) using their Win XP software. However, once you do that you can transfer your details to X-Lite.

X-Lite's stablemate, Eyebeam, handles conference calls, but it isn't free, AFAIK.

- Franc Zabkar

This is very interesting, thank you. I guess skyping to down under belongs to the extreme experimental conditions for measuring voice transmission quality. I guess some part of the voice packets use cables (those parts of the communications with a good voice quality) and some others go via satellite. And here, it becomes evident that geography is still important for the Internet, at least when it comes to voice quality. The transmission ways are so long and thus, take so long, that you experience delay. Having to manage who is to speak during a telephone call by "Over" commands - this is something that reminds me of Bad Old Days and that is really no publicity for skype.

- Frank