Talk is cheap with Internet telephony

By Lim Tri Santosa

BANDUNG (JP): What is Internet telephony?

When you send an e-mail, or request information from a web site, you are sending tiny "packets" of information over the Internet. These packets get to where you sent them because they "speak" the same language. That language is Internet Protocol also known as IP. IP packets can carry e-mail and other data like graphics, voice and even video.

When we use Internet telephony, we transmit our voice over the Internet, just like an e-mail. Your voice gets compressed into tiny packets before it gets sent. It will be uncompressed and reassembled on each end of the conversation.

A traditional telephone voice channel requires a 64Kb connection. The telephone network will keep you assigned an end- to-end voice path for the duration of your call, whether you are talking or not. That is the reason for the expensive long distance calls via traditional telephones.

Internet telephony avoids this inefficiency by filling the channels with call packets, which means one line is shared by different packet calls. The more users can share a channel, the more we save on the cost per call.

The problem is when a lot of users share the same channel, an increased delay of packets will occur, causing a break-up and delayed voice response.

Free phones

The Internet could wipe out high calling charges by transporting voice calls as packets of computer data, a much efficient way of transmission than traditional phone-company wiring.

Being the very shrewd consumer that I am (i.e. cheap), I elected to download the Internet telephony freeware, FreeTel at http://www.freetel.com. The download time was less than five minutes and the set-up process was equally quick and painless.

I experienced a fair amount of dropout or choppy conversation. The conversation also was plagued with intermittent echo, and lapses. But worst of all was the lag after each person stopped talking; the most used word in my FreeTel telephony chats was "What?".

Of course, with a more powerful computer and faster modem, the speed at which the voice signals are processed increases, and the quality of the conversation improves.

But, if thousands of users begin to occupy Internet circuits, the flow of normal traffic will noticeably worsen across the network, from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) server equipment to the backbone network. This solution is too frustrating for business calls or even for heart-to-heart talks, but it could work for non-critical chat or users who have more patience than cash.

The biggest drawback of the Internet phone thus far is incompatibility between different telephony applications. Users on both ends of the conversation must have the same software to insure full compatibility, or software that conforms to the same telephony standard.

All that is left is the software that will be needed to run Internet telephony. Some of the titles that are available are NetMeeting from Microsoft and Cool Talk from Netscape. These titles and many others can be downloaded for free from the Internet or already included with popular web browsers.

Use your Internet connection to dial your international long distance call to the U.S. and talk on your phone over regular phone line for free. To try it, go to http://www.wqn.com/internet/worldaccess.asp?country=jakarta. Just fill in your e-mail address, name, address and phone number; they do not need your credit card information for this free offer.

Be careful, however, that when entering the phone number field, you enter the phone number your are dialing, including the country code and area code.

You will be awarded your free pin by e-mail to your e-mail address. This pin will allow you to place a call to the U.S. for one free 10-minute talk on your phone. If you already have a pin, go to their website, enter the number you wish to call, enter your phone number, enter the pin and then click the "Call" button to initiate the call. Hurry before they close down this free service.

Please be careful, however, that when you enter both phone numbers to be aware that U.S. phone numbers must begin with 1; all other countries must begin with 011; followed by country code, area code, and target number.

The number you are calling from must be a phone that you can answer within 10 seconds. If the phone number that you are calling from is shared with your modem, you must disconnect the modem within 10 seconds after clicking the Call button.

Another great service for voice phone is myTalk, at http://www.myTalk.com. You will face a whole new way to communicate with e-mail that you never imagined before.

MyTalk is going to change the way you think about e-mail. This is the first free voice-activated e-mail service available on the web site. MyTalk enables members to call a toll-free telephone number (1-888-700-9843), access their mailboxes and hear their e- mail.

It is very useful, particularly if we have family and friends in the U.S. who do not have access to Internet but want to keep in touch with us via the Internet for free. Users can register to their web site and get their personal free extension phone number, including pin password, and free e-mail account.

Members can dial myTalk's toll-free number, enter their private extension number and pin password. The voicemail machine will read any new e-mail messages that they had. The features are complete; the user can delete any unwanted e-mail message and hear any old e-mail messages. In fact, members can even use their phone to send a reply (as a voice attachment wav-file) to the same e-mail message that they just listened to. There is no time limit on the free service.

I bet you will never be out of touch again with your friends in the U.S. The problem is your e-mail should be written in English when you want to send a message to myTalk's members; otherwise the pronunciation will get murky. I have tried this service with my friends in the U.S. It is very easy and useful, and now they can send their voice mails to my e-mail address just by dialing myTalk's toll-free number.

Talk is cheap

One of the main drivers for Internet demand is that people all over the world are related to each other and we are a more mobile population than ever before, yet we want to maintain the "touchy- freely" and personal contact which makes us human.

We enjoy the social interfacing. The Internet is helping us to do that less expensively now than ever before. We want to communicate inexpensively from one side of the world to the other.

If you have family or friends that live across the U.S., you could use this new technology to give them an Internet voice call. You will save more than just a few pennies and enjoy another feature on what has truly become the worldwide Internet. It is safe to say that we all want to save money on our long-distance calls.