I'd like to set up an VOIP line at home for work. I can knock up a script so that if my PC detects the presence of my mobile's bluetooth signal, all calls will go to my VOIP phone at home, or otherwise go divert to my mobile.

Has anyone on here played with this sort of stuff? If so, which providers provide the best quality service. I played with one and it sounded awful.

 

Hello

In my experience "high quality" and "VoIP" do not go together. I use it to sit on conference calls in the States (Sipgate and Gizmo project). To listen it is great, but when I talk I sound like a Dalek caught in a timelag.

Steve

 

VoIP *can* be very good. If your router supports QoS and ideally your VoIP provider is also your broadband provider so you have a connection straight into their backbone the quality is awesome. I used to be involved with a telco and we had that setup and its certainly good enough for business use. However most installs don't have that kind of configuration so quality suffers. Having a decent VoIP phone (snom for example) sitting on a VoIP or hybrid PBX provides much better quality than a cheap USB phone plugged into a soft-phone.

 

We use Gradwell for a IAX connection which is pretty good thus far.

I also have various other SIP connections Sipgate is one.

The Asterisk server also has an ISDN board which handles ALL inbound calls.

Rich

 

Regardless wether the router supports QOS, the internet doesn't so it not really of any use... a bit like spending £15 at PC world buying a gold plated modem cable... whats the point there's at least 3 miles of crappy copper from the socket to the xchange... yet people still buy them...DUrrr...
Qos on you router will help if your uploading loads at the same time, but thats it, no effect incoming...
Saying that a even a decent broadband line will support voip for one call, and the best adaptive service is skype, i won't get silly technical but it does work better on lower speed links...
Dazzzzzzz

 

It has nothing to do with the copper cable, you get pretty high quality speech down that cable every time you call someone on a land line unless there is a bad connection along the way.
The biggest down fall (and always will be on an IP based system) is the fact it was never designed to carry voice, end of.
Data systems are far more forgiving than a voice based system when sending packets, lose one or two packets and the ammount of info is minimal, do that on a voice system and you hear it.
If you want decent voice, use your land line (or mobile ) if you want cheap low grade (even free) calls, use VoIP.

Tony

 

I'm still impressed with the quality and cost of Skype, all of my calls to the US are now made via Skype at 1p a minute. Even using the built in Mic and Speakers on my Macs people on the other end can't tell the difference.

 

Update: I'm using sipgate. The quality is very good, better than my mobile and indistinguishable from my landline. I don't get any dropouts.

 

VoIP is very good if implemented right and is a realistic alternative to legacy connections. We offer an off net solution to our SMB business customers as per GaryK hightlighted.

 

IP PBX - 3CX PBX, PABX software for Windows seems like good software free too

works with pda's too with wireless, giving you a free sip handset

 

I use Sipgate for international calls because they are cheap. However there is a lot of compression & quality is poor. For good quality, try VOIP.co.uk.

 

Nick, which codec are you using? It sounds good to me.