Telephone calls

Hi,

I’'m after being able to make phone calls from spark as well as voip calls from Spark.

A bit about the setup we have…

  • Openfire server (no hardware changes possible as its off site)

  • Everyone decentralised - i.e. no integrated office with a phone exchange etc. We use BT / Telewest etc. standard lines.

  • Standard modems in the PCs I want to use for landline calls

I asked the question on the Google summer of code announcement (http://www.igniterealtime.org/blog/2007/03/21/google-summer-of-code-2007/#commen ts) and it seems like its possible with the enterprise edition so moved in here rather than creating a chat room on the announcements page!

Since thats currently $15 a year for 25 user minimum (so only $375 all in per 12 months / £200) and it appears that it can do it from Greg’‘s comments on the announcement, I’'m looking at this as an option.

However, when I read up about the comms it seems it needs an exchange capable of this, rather than using a computers internal modem over standard phone lines? Have I misunderstood or is this possible?

I know less than nothing about phone lines so apologise if this is a daft question…

Also, can the enterprise edition be downgraded later without loss of data etc. after the trial?

Thanks!

Ian

Ian,

I assume you are in the UK. In that case, this is my 2pence worth of advice.

Buy a voiptalk unlimited plan and point your Enterprise Spark clients at their SIP proxy and make all the telephone calls you want to anywhere without the hassle of modems or any hardware.

If you want incoming calls as well, get an 0207 or 0208 (geographical number) for a small fee.

If you must use your BT/Telwest lines (ISDN) and modems, then get Asteriskwin32 for your PCs

-dele

Hi Ian,

can the enterprise edition be downgraded later without loss of data etc. after the trial?

It’‘s just a plugin you install - you can delete it at any time. I’'m quite sure that the data the plugin did collect will not be removed but it should have no impact on the Openfire server.

However, when I read up about the comms it seems it needs an exchange capable of this, rather than using a computers internal modem over standard phone lines?

Right, it makes no sense to use VoIP over a normal modem, even with slow DSL you have a worse speaking/hearing experience than using a normal phone.

VoIP works great in a LAN, there it makes also sense to use Asterisk PBX. But for decentralised users it may be much more easy to use a normal phone. It’'s much more easy to handle and it still works even if the computer fails.

LG

Hi,

Thanks, we’'ll stick with normal phones

Cheers for the advice,

Ian