[lug] VOIP advice

[Rodolfo Estrada]

Skype is offering a callin feature with local numbers for just €15 for 3 months.
Although, I was unable to get into the store site to buy it. 
 
Regards,

  - RE

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nate Duehr" <nate at natetech.com>
To: "Boulder (Colorado) Linux Users Group -- General Mailing List" <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
Subject: Re: [lug] VOIP advice
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 16:12:37 -0600

> 
> Rodolfo Estrada wrote:
> 
> > When I am out of town, usually in Mexico. I want to transfer my 
> > local calls to my location in Mexico. In both places I have 
> > broadband. Where do I start looking for the solution?
> > Is VOIP linux a good option? Thanks,
> >
> > - Rodolfo
> If you can change your phone number (or put up with long waits for 
> local number portability if it's available for your existing 
> number), any of the commercial VoIP vendors like Vonage or Packet8 
> or Broadvoice using a standard ATA device wouldn't care if you 
> picked that device up and took it to Mexico when you go... And most 
> of them now also have "add-on" softphone software that you could 
> just answer your calls for that line from your laptop and a 
> headset/USB handset, and forego taking the gateway hardware with 
> you on short trips.
> 
> Of course, some of the above is controversial and TelMex has always 
> been government subsidized and monopolistic in Mexico, so the 
> "official" rules might be that you can't do this, as they'd rather 
> you get a line from them... but strictly technically speaking (as 
> long as they're not filtering VoIP ports/packets on whatever IP 
> network you're on down there), it's all easy to do.
> 
> There are Caribbean islands that have banned VoIP usage for phone 
> service because the only way they can afford to maintain their 
> switching infrastructure is to add-on a lot of cents per minute to 
> long-distance calls off the island... and they've amortized that 
> into their payback schedules for undersea fiber connects and 
> circuit costs... but they're having to reconsider how they're going 
> to finish paying for some of these things now that VoIP's here and 
> easy to do. It's a very disruptive technology in any country with a 
> monopolized phone system or government-run phone system.  Less 
> disruptive in countries with competition, but certainly changing 
> the face of phone service forever.
> 
> Nate
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