Actually, I was suggesting a software emulation of what a Quicknet card does.
It would still have to do what the Quicknet card does and make use of
net2phone switch/servers or dialpad servers for the IP-to-PSTN part.
It MIGHT be possible to get dialpad to FIX their broken java app so that it
works for all java-enabled clients (What the FU*K'S the point of using java
in the first place if it is intended for Windoze only? The whole point of
java's existence is platform independence! Frickin' idiots!) - or for
Altoine to jigger it and fix the plugin himself...
I rather hesitate for the moment to purchase a Quicknet card until after I
see what net2phone is going to do with eliminating the free service and going
to fee for service. Since the Quicknet card makes partial use of net2phone
servers, I would want to see what sort of charging scheme comes out of
net2phone. On the other hand, if dialpad gets fixed (Altoine? :-) ) then the
situation is mitigated for now. Or if a totally new client/emulator were to
be written, it could be made to NOT use net2phone servers and use others
instead, and avoid the net2phone charges.
The actual hardware for IP-to-PSTN intercommunication is quite pricey (not
the client-level Quicknet card, the actual switching hardware/hub or whatever
you call it), I just thought it more likely that a company (Mandrake, Redhat,
Suse, a new startup, or all of the above) could setup a service, either paid
for with very low per minute usage or via advertising. It would, as I said,
work with ANY client OS/system and would be able to successfully and directly
compete with the two main services (dialpad and net2phone...the only two I
know of for this type of thing). Hell, BOTH of these companies are forsaking
Mac users as well as ALL unix-type users. That is not an insignificant
number of people, all told.
On Tuesday 06 February 2001 08:33, Rusty Carruth you wrote:
> "Praedor Tempus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > It would be nice to see a non-hardware based answer. It would not be
> > optimal but it would be cheaper and easier for many people.
>
> Um, I'm confused.
>
> We need to connect from the internet using ip to the PSTN using
> analog/voice.
>
> Using software only????
>
> I know we can do a LOT with software, but there's this little problem
> of getting the bits across to the PSTN 'network' that will require at
> least a little hardware ;-)
[...]
--
Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.
