While audio chat on the PC isn’t a new phenomenon, being able to call a landline or cell phone from a computer is on the threshold of becoming a common occurrence. The most popular solution at this time is Skype, which was launched in August 2003. While the service quickly caught on in Western Europe, it has only recently reached mainstream status in the US. With free minutes being bundled with Logitech headsets and a recent promotional offer with Paypal (two major names) it is the only PC-Phone application that most applications know about. Traditional IM services such as MSN and Yahoo Messenger are not unaware of this and are (somewhat belatedly) positioning themselves to enter the VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) market.

Features in Dedicated Solutions

There are many clients based on the open SIP protocol, but none of these are used to the extent of Skype. A recent contender to Skype’s place is Project Gizmo, which boasts a slightly slicker UI, a few features that are either not in Skype or only available in plug-ins, plus it uses an open API.

PC to PC Communication:

Much like audio chat using your favorite traditional IM client, you can either have text or audio chat to other computers for free. This includes the ability to have a five person conference call which can also include (for a cost) a user on a phone.

Phone to PC Communication:

Skype has a feature called SkypeIn, where you can purchase a phone number for 3 months for 10pds, or one year for 0pds. It is a lot cheaper monthly than the most basic landline service, or traditional broadband phones. While you obviously need a computer, (and preferably a headset), you can make a call from any machine that has the client installed and is online. Currently Skype offers numbers in the following countries: Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom, France, United States, Hong Kong S.A.R. in China. Project Gizmo at this moment only offers numbers from the United States, and United Kingdom, and is a little more expensive at $5 a month.

If a staff member goes away for a trip it is easy to initiate a simple chat session to make sure they are prepared then call them (they can be using a local 310 area code!) and have co-workers at their computers join in the conversation. Likewise theoretically if there is a country (or different area code!) where employees travel to on a regular basis a number could be purchased on a common login and used.

PC to Phone Communication:

You buy a certain amount of credit similar to a calling card. At this time many “popular” countries fall into a global rate of 2.3 cents a minute (some landline only at that price) and most others are a bit more but still extremely competitive compared to international calling cards. Project Gizmo has a cheaper rate for calls to the US but is a bit more expensive worldwide.

You can either create contacts or manually type in someones number. A dialpad is included in the program in case you need to negotiate automated voice mail systems. 800, 866, etc calls are free.

At times you will receive connections that just don’t work. A connection from LA to Germany was crystal clear – from one ISP in Hong Kong to that same person in Germany it was unintelligible, from a second ISP in Hong Kong it was back to an extremely listenable level. Some times cell phone users may be near towers that for some reason don’t play well with the encoding process. The technology is constantly being tweaked, but most anedotical evidence shows the dedicated clients having a much easier time connecting (one of the great things about Skype is that it “just works”) and have superior sound quality.

Whatever client/service ends up being the best alternative in the future, since most people on business trips nowadays use laptops a departmental phone number or call out account could be a cost effective means to keep in touch with distant personnel.

VOIP Integration in IM Clients

Yahoo! Messenger recently pushed out an upgrade that included free VOIP calling (PC to PC at least) in YIM 7.0. They plan to roll out a PC to phone solution in the first quarter of 2006. Around the time Yahoo publicly launched this upgrade, Microsoft announced it had bought out Teleo, an existing “Skype-killer” that was in beta. They plan to release PC to phone calling in the fourth quarter of 2005 or the first quarter of 2006. The recently launched minimalist Google Talk also has PC to PC VOIP and one would assume PC to phone is on the horizon.

Once the established chat clients have PC to phone functionality the technology will truly be mainstream. What this does cast doubt on is the future of dedicated VOIP clients like Skype. It’s hard to imagine someone signing up for Skype and not having an MSN, Yahoo, or AIM client – and if they can get all the functionality in one client why bother with a second? One possible advantage is that a user-base which hasSkypIn numbers and contacts will not switch as easily as a pure text contact based list (you’d lose your number, friends, family, and co-workers would have to change their address books etc). They are also apparently anticipating some of the features Microsoft is anticipating to use (having phone numbers automatically turn into links to PC to phone talking, etc) with toolbars that integrate into Internet Explorer and Outlook.

One final thing to wonder about will be the openness of the infrastructure. When clents such as Gaim and Trillian came onto the scene and allowed users to sign onto multiple networks with a singe client, they were at first quietly targeted. Server and login information would change somewhat frequently, requiring continual patching on the part of the third party clients. After a while the major services apparently decided it was better to have a network that appeared stable (one could imagine a MSN/AIM/ICQ/YIM user with enough friends on Trillian telling him or her to change to another service that they have no problem connecting to) and actively worked with these teams to keep downtime to a minimum. Google Talk is interesting, perhaps only, due to the fact it uses the Jabber network, which is open source and has is used by many non-windows based clients and is accessible using GAIM, Trillian, Miranda, etc.

Gizmo uses an open protocol, allowing you to talk with friends who use a similar service that uses the SIP standard. Skype at this time only allows you to talk with users on the Skype service. While it appears they have the most functional protocol out there, it is also closed. Microsoft has expressed interest in integrating it’s client with other networks – if everyone moves to this standard the possibilities are very inviting. A workstation in LA using MSN could be on a conference call with a cell phone in London and a laptop in a San Francisco coffee shop using Google Talk. This would ease the investment in purchasing a phone number for an account, as well as keeping the client providers on their toes… instead of locking in users you have to create and maintain a client that performs well enough that they have no wish to migrate. This is perhaps overly optimistic but not entirely unreasonable.

PBX Backbones

Asterisk is a popular open-source VOIP server, and supposedly has a more robust protocol than SIP. It is being sponsored by an outside corporation, so should mature at a fairly rapid pace. If current trends hold and major clients do allow integration with other networks, UCLA could set up its own VOIP system and use existing clients – ie someone could use client x and call someone with a number registered on network y while using a UCLA administered VOIP account. The possibility is tantalizingly close, Microsoft already has a live communication server.