I would just add two comments. One critical criteria for me on the Skype v SIP debate has been whether or not the user can always guarantee they will have access to a computer. I have found that for traveling employees Skype has its place.
I agree that trying to run two systems side by side is not ideal, but in my experience the only practical way to transition between system is an evolutionary one. Mart David Kerr wrote: > Skype is great for casual use. But, it uses it's own proprietary > protocol and requires Skype at both ends, or you pay for Skype-out > service. Skype protocol cannot (easily) be hooked into a Asterisk PBX. > There are solutions but they require running the Skype client and > hooking in to its API, and I am not sure that they are > mission-critical ready. > > Do you run a VoIP system in your office today? Do you want remote > users to contact their colleagues on a telephone at their desk, or is > it OK for them to run Skype (or other SIP) client? If you run VoIP > today, then setting up remote (travelling) users to use a > standards-based SIP client (like X-Lite) and hooking them into your > existing VoIP PBX might be a good way to go. If you do not run a VoIP > system already and just have a traditional PBX, with direct dial from > BT and you want office-bound to use regular telephones, then you need > Skype-out like service. You could sign up with any UK VoIP service to > give you this. If it is OK for everyone to use SIP-clients on their > computers (or SIP phones) then sure you could set up your own VoIP PBX > based on asterisk. But do you really want to do that if you are not > committed to VoIP in your office already? Mixing VoIP and non-VoIP in > the same office is not really practical. You have to keep it up > 24/7/365. etc... As an alternative consider a hosted virtual-PBX > solution, someone else runs the PBX in their data center, not yours. > Take a look at www.pbxes.com <http://www.pbxes.com> for example. > > David > > On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 4:55 AM, David Caldwell > <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: > > > Hi all, > > I have a hopefully straightforward question! We have a handful of > users > on our network who want to use Skype to talk to colleagues back at the > office from various international destinations as well as the UK. At > what point would it be more economical (financially and > bandwidth-wise) > to sign up with a SIP provider and build our own VoIP server and set > these users up to use our VoIP service rather than Skype? Like all > useful technologies, once the cat's out of the bag, other people are > going to want to use VoIP as well. I would project about 40 > semi-frequent VoIP users after about a year. > > For bandwidth, I'm guessing it's going to come down to the codec > choices > and Skype seem to do pretty well with quality vs bandwidth. They're > pretty cheap too -- so, is it worth my efforts building a VoIP box > at all? > > What do you guys think? Thoughts and suggestions welcome! > > Thanks, > > David. > > -- > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > David Caldwell > Network Services > > Canterbury College > New Dover Road > Canterbury > Kent > CT1 3AJ > +44(0)1227 81 1271 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. > It's the best place to buy or sell services for > just about anything Open Source. > http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php > _______________________________________________ > Astlinux-users mailing list > Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net > <mailto:Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users > > Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal > to [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. > It's the best place to buy or sell services for > just about anything Open Source. > http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Astlinux-users mailing list > Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users > > Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL > PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
