Anybody using this VOIP thing? I see Vonage is being plastered all over the TV lately.

Thought I`d give it a try, but surprise surprise it`s not available in New Brunswick! It is in every other province of course!

Is it any good, and a viable replacement for the landline yet?

I use lingo $20 per month unlimited calls to USA Canada and western europe

Try primus, $0.05 per minute to the uk

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Skype yet. Free to join, free if computer to computer calls anywhere. You can add a Skype Out facility which is just like a prepaid cellphone account. This would allow you to call a UK landline. Google for Skype.

I use Skype to talk to my family in the UK (computer to computer), you really need broadband to get the best quality I think but it is excellent. I've been here a month and have only used a landline once.

If you are using SkypeOut to call land lines, the cost is €0.017 per minute.

Mark

Yes I use Skype!! My isn't it cheap!! Has cut down our phone bill dramatically and costs a pitance to call the UK and the States - really wonderful.

I found that out aswell.

I see some people here are using Skype.

I downloaded the free initial programme, enables persons to make phone conversations with others who have it on their PC`s aswell.

I immediately deleted it -

My Norton 2005, Spyware Doctor, Pest Patrol and The Cleaner. - all of which had sat quietly for months, suddenly sounded "action-stations!"

I investigated and found that the programme from Skpe which is initially a few mb`s was minute by minute growing in the PC, in 3 minutes it had swelled to 15mb`s.

I reckon it was storing everything it could find about the PC, I use, ready to transmit it quietly when ever my PC was on-line.

We all know, free programmes are funded by companies looking for info on people.

But, I felt this one was very suspicious, so I played safe!

I did Google for Skype and also found out that Skype was recently purchased by eBay.
I also found this piece on Skype security and privacy concerns.

Something well worth a read given eBay's security policies.

I think I'll stick with a regular phone for a while yet.

Cheers
Steve

I read the article you mention Hangman. The relevant passages you refer to says, "those that fight for customers' privacy in the face of the demands of law enforcement; those that require some sort of official, constitutionally-mandated documents - like, oh, say, a warrant or subpoena - before handing over customer info to the cops; and eBay.
Think I'm being a little harsh on eBay? At the CyberCrime 2003 conference, Joseph E. Sullivan, Director of Compliance and Law Enforcement Relations for eBay, had this to say to a group of law enforcement officials:


"I know from investigating eBay fraud cases that eBay has probably the most generous policy of any internet company when it comes to sharing information. We do not require a subpoena except for very limited circumstances. We require a subpoena when we need the financial information from the site, credit card info or sometimes IP information."

So EBay provide government agencies with information when requested and up to a point without a warrant. So what? I have nothing to hide. If you do, I can see your cause for concern though.

I do not subscribe to the, my privacy should be inviolate school. In any case to believe that this is the only source of information on you that is available is somewhat naive in my opinion. Give me your full name and address and in an hour I'll know your underwear size.

The same article has this to say about Skype.

"Skype has many things going for it. Among the various software-based VoIP apps (which thereby excludes hardware-based offerings like Vonage from consideration), Skype probably works the best in terms of computer-to-computer, computer-to-land line, and computer-to-cell based calling. It's easy to set up and use, and it works on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux boxes. Skype also provides more than just VoIP, with IM and file transfer also available. I've used it quite a bit, and overall, I've been happy with its sound quality, as have many other people, given that the program has been downloaded more than 100 million times. It has more than 52 million registered users (among those 2 million paying customers), and well over 3 million people are online and using the program right now, as I'm typing this column.
But that doesn't mean that Skype is perfect. Far from it. Skype claims that it uses strong encryption to protect phone calls, IM messages, and file transfers:


"Skype uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), also known as Rijndael, which is used by U.S. Government organizations to protect sensitive, information. Skype uses 256-bit encryption, which has a total of 1.1 x 1077 possible keys, in order to actively encrypt the data in each Skype call or instant message. Skype uses 1024 bit RSA to negotiate symmetric AES keys. User public keys are certified by the Skype server at login using 1536 or 2048-bit RSA certificates."

That the author chooses to question the veracity of whether they do indeed use that degree and method of encryption simply because they refuse to give anyone access to their source code to check on it and that the author also sees Boogey men around every corner who want to know all his 'Private' details speaks more about the author I think than about Skype.

You are of course free to follow the advice and thinking of one man Hangman. That 52 million users appear to disagree with you will probably have no affect on your Mother insisting you are the only one not walking out of step.

Cheers, I will do the same.
I want to just make people aware of the issue to.

Especially for those who leave their PC unattended connected to the www.
It is they that these programmes prey on essentially.

Touched a nerve did I?

I also have nothing to hide but still object to my personal information given out with no checks to see if the request is legitimate or not. If as the article suggests Ebay is willing to give out such information upon receipt of an unverified fax with just the appropriate letterhead (which can be copied by anyone), then I believe there is reason for concern.

By the way my mother passed away 45 years ago so I don't think she is concerned about my being out of step.

Cheers
Steve

Bell Canada and Rogers (who between them control pretty much all the broadband internet access in eastern Canada, including resellers like Sprint or Primus) both have set up their routing to put any voip packets from other companies (like Vonage) to the lowest priority and set their own to the highest. That means if you tried both you should notice much better performance from their voip than other companies. Kind of sneaky, eh?

[QUOTE=WorldWeary] Give me your full name and address and in an hour I'll know your underwear size.
QUOTE]

Care to put your money where your mouth is?

Hi
for anyone who uses voip, try www.dabs.com for the new Olympia cordless dualphone.This lets you connect to your computer via USB to make voip calls as well as connecting to an ordinary phoneline (you will need an adaptor for Canada). Also it's cordless. We bought one over from the UK and it works a dream.
Mike

VOIP = voice over IP, is the generic term for sending voice over ( you guessed it ) Internet Protocol.
Vonage is a US company that offers commercial VOIP service in the US. It's not common in the UK since long distance calls aren't that long distance and are fairly cheap. It has a market in businesses connecting branch offices.

SKYPE is the big player for home users, it offers free software and free computer-computer calls anywhere in the world. You just need to pay for your internet access! When you download the software you create a user name like an email address and anyone else with SKYPE can contact you by this name - you can search for names but there is no central phone book - the user has to be online for them to be searched.
You need a microphone/speakers for your computer or you can get a USB phone that looks like a regular phone.
Call quality is generally OK, more like a cell phone than a landline.

Skype also lets you pay for calls from a computer to a landline/mobile, you register on the skype site and buy prepay credit so there is no bill. International calls are generally a few c/pennies/euro-cents a minute.
A new feature lets you buy a number in a certain city area code in most countries, regular calls to that number are routed to your Skype account on your computer. You pay around £30/$50 a year and the caller pays the regular rate from their phone for that area code.
Skype just got bought by Ebay - who are going to try and make back some of the $3.6B they paid (so Skype might change ).

The main difference is that Vonage uses the industry standard SIP protocol so can in theory connect to any other SIP service - in practice getting a SIP call routed through firewalls and gateways is usually tricky. (edit: keeping several cisco consultants in gainful employment for a few days)
Skype use their own system which can only call other Skype users but sets itself up automatically. Skype calls are encrypted and would be difficult to wiretap - but since it is a private system no-one knows if skype have systems for automatically recording/tracking certain calls.