Beginner - VOIP

firehawk_1

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Feb 3, 2008
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Hello!
I was wondering, is it possible to buy any type of VOIP handset (i.e from a cisco range) and then be able to use, for instance, your Skype ID to be able to make/receive VOIP calls?

I know Skype has their own phone sets but what if I wanted to use a different brand?

how does one buy, install and configure this scenario?

Thank you!
 
Solution
It may be simpler to just get one of the very light blue tooth headsets. Most can be used with both computers and cell phones. Most appear as a standard headset to the PC so you would think skype could use them. I know many people at work use them with VoIP soft clients software.
Skype uses a proprietary protocol and will work only with itself. If there's 3rd party hardware which will work with Skype, I would imagine they would advertise that fact.

For regular (open) VoIP service and hardware, you want to look into SIP phones. They come in both hardware and software varieties (for pretty much all platforms including Windows, OS X, Android, and iOS). You will also need a VoIP service compatible with SIP. Vonage and Ooma are probably the best-known, but there are a lot of good services out there with much better pricing. I use Anveo, which is a PITA to set up, but costs just $2/mo for a number, $0.86/mo for 911 service, and 1 cent per minute for outgoing calls in the U.S. and Canada (they have an unlimited plan for $10/mo). Google Voice will work too, though they've been saying for the last 5 years that they're going to shut down the service.
 
Skype very technically is not VoIP. It is if you use the generic definition of the words voice over ip but it is running a proprietary protocol that only talks to the skype network. You would have to get hardware designed for it.

Most equipment you find on the market supports one of 2 standard protocols. The vast majority are using the newer SIP protocol but you still see quite a bit of H323. Now this is only the signally protocol some very basic pc based VoIP clients can directly communicate using the standard data protocols like g.711 or g.729.

You can I suppose work at setting up a private VoIP network but in most cases you need a some way to keep track of what IP addresses are using what "phone number". This is normally a service you must buy or at least sign up for and the phone equipment must be compatible with their system.
 

firehawk_1

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Feb 3, 2008
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Thanks all.
Interesting. The reason I am thinking about doing something like this is because, sometimes I am on long calls via Skype and I use headphones and my camera for its microphone to make and receive these calls...with the headphones being on my ears, it is causing my ears to hurt.

I thought maybe getting a VOIP phone and wiring it into Skype will work easily but seems not entirely possible (unless you get a Skype specific device)
 
It may be simpler to just get one of the very light blue tooth headsets. Most can be used with both computers and cell phones. Most appear as a standard headset to the PC so you would think skype could use them. I know many people at work use them with VoIP soft clients software.
 
Solution