[geeks] IP telephony

[James Sharp]

There's several stand alone boxes on the market...the most common one I've
seen is the Voice Router from Linksys.  Its got an ethernet port on one
side and an RJ-11 POTS port on the other.

You usually have to sign up with one of the IP telephony providers, like
Net2Phone or DialPad to get service.  Unfortunately, i've yet to find a
provider that will provide you with incoming phone service...its all
outbound only (but I'm working on a project that will fix that problem).

And you're right about the phone companies trying to kill it...there's
several pieces of regulation making their way through the house & senate
to let phone companies charge ISPs additional money if their data circuits
carry voice packets and to charge the IP CLECs more for their voice trunks
if they terminate into VoIP equipment.



> >I haven't really been interested, nor have I been following this field for
> >a while, since I have always had the gut feeling that when this gets good
> >enough the phone companies will kill it, and currently it isn't good
> >enough... (am I mistaken?)... Case in point, I have the marketing head
> >asking me about IP telephony for his house.  He does have cable modem
> >services, and is looking for a standalone type of device.  Is there a
> >really good vendor for this market and an existing product I can
> >recommend?  Most IP telephony I'm familiar with requires a large equipment
> >outlay, and is suitable for large providers.  (I'm also only vaguely
> >familiar with said equipment)
>
> My old office used to use 3com ethernet/IP phones... really strage to
> have a 4u Phone switch on the network rack.
>
> daniel
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