Post #193,562
2/8/05 10:00:33 AM
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Skype
My parents had been using [link|http://www.net2phone.com|net2phone] to call people in the states(they currently reside in Mexico). They had some customer service issues with them, so decided to look elsewhere. I remembered reading that [link|http://www.skype.com/|Skype] recently added support for OS X and Linux, so suggested we try it.
First they tried called me with it over my land line. It worked great, significantly better than net2phone which had lots problems with echo. I then signed up using my iMac and called them over the internet. Sound quality was even better than over the land line.
I then called my aunt that lives in Wisconsin, the one I talked into buying an eMac last year, and walked her through installing Skype then on how to call me over the internet. By that time it was after 10 so we're going to try conference calling my parents tonight. She's quite excited about the price of computer-to-computer calls(FREE), and plans to get some people in Europe to use it.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #193,581
2/8/05 10:52:25 AM
2/8/05 10:55:48 AM
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I've been hearing a lot about it
from a coworker. Internet only calls for free and extremely low rates for internet to phone calls. Problem is I can't see using even a significant fraction of the 10 euro you need to put up a month for the internet to phone calls (10 euro gets you a LOT of time, but it's the minimum payment)
~~~)-Steven----
"I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country..."
General George S. Patton
Edited by Steven A S
Feb. 8, 2005, 10:55:48 AM EST
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Post #193,582
2/8/05 10:59:16 AM
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Not 10 euro/month
It's not a monthly fee, but a pre-paid account like a phone card. You only have to pay in more when you dip below the cost of one minute of talk time (approx. US$.02).
Tom Sinclair
"This is a lovely party," said the Bursar to a chair, "I wish I was here."
-- The Bursar is a man under a *lot* of stress
(Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)
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Post #193,672
2/8/05 2:35:03 PM
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my error
The impression I got from my coworker was that there was a limited amout of time you could use the credits after you bought them.
Are those open ended credits? or is there a cut off?
~~~)-Steven----
"I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country..."
General George S. Patton
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Post #193,674
2/8/05 2:41:48 PM
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180 days
[link|http://www.skype.com/help/faq/skypeout.html#myaccount|Skypeout Faq - My Account] Why does My Account page show an expiration date?
The credit balance in your SkypeOut account expires after 180 days of inactivity. As soon as you make another SkypeOut call your expiration date will reset to 180 days. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #193,683
2/8/05 3:39:24 PM
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Why not just use iChat AV?
Just curious. Seems that it does the same thing - with faster connections you can add video but audio only is fine as well.
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #193,688
2/8/05 4:01:10 PM
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Does that run on Windows and Linux?
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #193,689
2/8/05 4:03:03 PM
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No and no.
It's beretware.
Peter
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu Linux]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
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Post #193,691
2/8/05 4:09:29 PM
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There's his answer then.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #193,692
2/8/05 4:14:07 PM
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I figured he was a mac guy
and had his parents set up appropriately
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #193,698
2/8/05 4:45:13 PM
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Only recently
[link|/forums/render/user?username=Aargh|Aargh] [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=116264|gave] me a G3 in Sept 2003. Used OS/2 prior to that. Dad's well versed with installing OS/2, and is quite addicted to Galactic Civilizations and Entreprenuer.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #193,696
2/8/05 4:39:12 PM
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couple reasons
1) Parents wanted something that could call real phones, the rates from Mexico to the states are outrageous
2) iChat's audio only mode doesn't work PC-2-Mac, only Mac-2-Mac. [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=191454|My folx] are currently* PC users.
we do use iChat for video conferencing.
* they're looking at Mac laptops for their next upgrade cycle.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #193,707
2/8/05 6:24:10 PM
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A couple reasons
- It's cross-platform (Windows, x86 Linux, OS X)
- It allows you to make calls to POTS phones
Other than that, it's a souped up iChat AV.
Tom Sinclair
"This is a lovely party," said the Bursar to a chair, "I wish I was here."
-- The Bursar is a man under a *lot* of stress
(Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)
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Post #193,773
2/9/05 4:44:03 AM
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MeToo!(tm) It's grand.
Two out of three people wonder where the other one is.
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Post #193,792
2/9/05 1:14:19 PM
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Bluetooth is sweeeet!
I picked up a [link|http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=822|Motorolas HS820] headset yesterday. Charged it up and it paired to my iMac without any problems. Went into Skype and changed it's audio in/out settings to use the headset. All system sounds(including Skype's incoming call ring) continue to use the built in speakers, all conversation now occurs with the headset.
Audio quality was great. My mom really liked now much louder it was on her end compared to the prior call using the iMac's built in microphone. She said the first call she had to keep putting her head down by the laptop to hear what I was saying. My computer is all the way to the front of the house and I was able to wander around my house without any issues until I hit the family room. The family room is furthest away from the study and has numerous walls between it and the computer. There's a button on the headset that can be used to answer/hang up calls with a cell phone. I need to see if I can use it to do the same with Skype calls. I forsee upgrading my cell phone to a bluetooth model.
My aunt never got online, so we tried to conference with both of my parent's systems and my own. Skype stopped responding on my system and my dad's. I had to force-kill it. We weren't able to make it work. We had a similiar problem when trying to use iChat(me) and AIM(them) all at the same time, so I suspect the problem is because they're NAT'ed behind the same IP address.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #195,108
2/17/05 6:06:47 AM
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While this is here - anyone run netstat against it?
One of our MDs managed to install this at work. Everytime it is activated it continuously splatters the outgoing firewall with connections to seemingly arbitry IP addresses, using equally arbitrary high port numbers, even when set "offline". The IP addresses resolve to residential xDSL/cable accounts all over the planet. The generated traffic is fairly busy with a SYN packet being sent every few seconds.
Up-to-date AV and spyware sweeps do not flag anything and the connection list has just two local people in it.
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Post #195,114
2/17/05 8:21:50 AM
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My guess, is this application...
Has a feature of letting other Skype users know it is available. To those that are looking for random discussion... I'd guess this is what the "all around the world thing is going on"
One other thing, I'll bet if you check you firewall it says Tons-O-machines are trying to verify that, or trying to update his client... If he has "please update me on who is available".
Of course, this is just a guess, but I have dabbled quite a bit in H.323 and it is very chatty keeping up its end of the "connection".
One other thing, you might wanna look and see if "keep alive" or some sort is checked on... that'd do it too.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Miltary Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #195,183
2/17/05 2:01:18 PM
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One way only, but I think I know where it came from
The hospital is in the final stages of becoming a separate entity. Until recently we were part of the social welfare dept. and we shared a connection to the internet. The connection was split almost overnight. While our own firewall was already in place, the www cache was not. As some MDs needed access for information, their PCs were configured to go straight to the firewall (ports 80 and 443). The Skype PC was one of those.
According to Skype's firewall FAQ, they use 80 and 443 to sneak out calls if everything else is blocked. That explains how the machine would have been able to pick up knowledge of external Skype installations. The PC was recently reconfigured to go through the www cache, so I guess what we're seeing now is Skype going bonkers because it can't dial out anymore.
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Post #195,141
2/17/05 10:14:54 AM
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peer-to-peer
[link|http://www.skype.com/products/explained.html|Skype Explained] A true P2P system, in our opinion, is one where all nodes in a network join together dynamically to participate in traffic routing-, processing- and bandwidth intensive tasks that would otherwise be handled by central servers. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://spiceware.org/gallery/ArtisticOverpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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