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Internet Telephony Primer

By Robert Scoble

What is Internet telephony, you ask? It's a combination of hardware and software that enables people to make long-distance voice, and video, phone calls via the Internet. Why would you want to use the Internet to make calls instead of picking up the telephone? Why, because it's free, of course. Handy if you have family and friends in the far reaches of the world. Just think how much you could save on your phone bills! Follow us in our pursuit of free communication.

The Basics

First off, Internet telephony requires some basic equipment:

• A computer. Most of the latest Internet telephony products are PC-only-- sorry-- but iVisit and CU-SeeMe are good for Mac users. A 100-MHz or faster Pentium is recommended. (The MMX instruction set does help.)
• A sound card. Preferably a full-duplex, Sound Blaster-compatible model.
• A microphone and speakers. A headset is highly recommended for two reasons: It will give cleaner audio input, so compression rates will be better, and it will prevent feedback, or echo.
• A modem or network connection to the Internet. If you can surf the Web, you should be able to do Internet telephony.
• Optionally, if you want to make video calls, you'll need a video capture card and camera, like the 3Com Bigpicture or Winnov Videum. You can also use a USB or parallel-port camera (like the ones from Logitech). The capture-card approach will give you much better performance.

  Common Tools of the Trade

  There are many software programs for Internet telephony. We've gathered information on the most common ones.

  •  
  • Microsoft's NetMeeting is free, and it has thousands of users.
  • VolcalTec has the most features and a large user base. It was one of the first, if not the first, Internet telephone programs.
  • ICUII is very easy to use and has lots of users, too.
  • CU-SeeMe is still the best way to conference with groups of people.
  • IVisit is getting raves from people who need to set up Internet telephony between Macs and PCs.

    Another helpful tool

    ICQ is a "buddy list" that helps you find your friends online and connect with them. The NetMeeting Place has an article that explains how to use ICQ with Internet telephony software like Microsoft's NetMeeting.

Find Help Online

Here are a few of our favorite Web resources on Internet telephony.

•  
• Webopedia has links to more than 20 sites that cover the full range of Internet telephony products and information sources.
• The NetMeeting Place has the latest on Microsoft's NetMeeting software and a list of more than 200 ILS/NetMeeting servers.
• InternetTelephony is an online magazine about the Internet telephony market.

Keep Phone Bills Under Budget

Sprint, AT&T, MCI-- all telecommunication companies claim to have the lowest rates. Who's telling the truth? Who cares? MediaCom's PhoneMiser determines the lowest rates for every call you make.

Connect PhoneMiser to your parallel port and plug in your phone line, and it automatically routes each call you make via the carrier with the lowest service rate for that particular place and time. It runs in the background, and you don't have to dial any additional service numbers. PhoneMiser easily handles any phone configuration, including modems, faxes, and multiple extensions. If your PC is on and has PhoneMiser running and configured properly, you don't even need to be at your PC to make calls.

PhoneMiser keeps tabs on each carrier's endlessly complicated and ever-changing phone services via monthly updates. The updates are free for the first three months; you'll need to shell out $4.95 each month thereafter. Although basic setup is easy, we encountered some difficulty choosing the default carrier options.

PhoneMiser indexes each outgoing call in a database by date, time of call, carrier, cost, and savings from your default carrier. Charges appear on your credit card bill with a separate line item for each phone provider. MediaCom promises call-management features in future versions.

PhoneMiser requires Windows 95 and won't route calls if you're running a DOS application. However, this is a minor inconvenience, given that you'll be saving yourself a bundle on calls.

Installing a Netcam

CG=9176-Installing A Netcam]

TODAY WE'RE GOING TO SHOW YOU HOW TO INSTALL A NETCAM... SPECIFICALLY 3COM'S BIGPICTURE VIDEO PHONE KIT. THE 3COM KIT INCLUDES EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR VIDEO-CONFERENCING... A CAMERA... A VIDEO CAPTURE CARD... AND SOFTWARE AND DRIVERS.

[GRAPHICS=FULLSCREEN WITH BKGD]

[CG=9181-WHAT YOU NEED/133 Mhz Pentium or better]

[(REVEAL) Windows 95]

[(REVEAL) 16 MB of RAM]

[(REVEAL) 10 MB of HD space]

[(REVEAL) A PCI slot]

[(REVEAL) A Full-Duplex Sound Card]

BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN EVERY ONE CAN USE THE 3COM KIT. YOU NEED:

--A 133MHZ PENTIUM OR BETTER

--WINDOWS 95

--16 MB OF RAM

--10 MB OF HD SPACE

--AN OPEN PCI SLOT

--A FULL-DUPLEX SOUND CARD

GOT ALL THAT? GREAT, LET'S INSTALL THIS PUPPY...

--INSTALL THE CARD

[CG=9176-Install The Card]

--INSTALL THE CAMERA

[CG=9176-Install The Camera]

-YELLOW IS VIDEO OUT

-BLACK HOLLOWPOINT IS POWER

-LAST IS FOR BUILT-IN MIC

-RECOMMEND HEADSET

-START UP MACHINE

[CG=9176-Install The Drivers]

--INSTALL DRIVERS

(**END OF SEGMENT**)

Can netcams be used with AOL?

Absolutely! A number of our netcam callers use Microsoft NetMeeting with AOL.

It can be a little tricky. You'll need a recent version of AOL-- 3.O or later. To make a netcam call, first launch AOL, dial in, and get online. Before you do anything in AOL, launch NetMeeting or whichever netcam software you use. You should then be able to make your call.

It's much more difficult to receive a netcam call using AOL than it is to send one. That's because the person calling you on NetMeeting needs to know your IP address, and AOL members do not have IP addresses.

Your IP address is to your computer what your street address is to your house: It tells people where on the Net your computer is. If you have a cable modem, your IP address is static (always the same). If you have a regular modem, it's different each time you log on, and AOL users don't have IP addresses at all.

Instead of using a real IP address, AOL members can use something called an ILS (information log-on server). The ILS allows you to use an AOL member's email address as an IP address. An AOL member must log onto an ILS in order to receive NetMeeting calls.

Here's how:

1. Open NetMeeting.
2. Click Call.
3. Click Change My Info.
4. Click the Call tab.
5. Either choose an ILS from the drop-down menu, or enter the address of one you've found elsewhere.

Once you've logged onto an ILS, you can choose whether your name appears in a viewable directory of people who are available to receive NetMeeting calls. If someone wants to call you, they need to know which ILS you are logged into.

If you do not use AOL, and are using a PC, you can find your IP address under the Start menu. Go to Run, type in winipcfg, and choose OK. This IP address will change each time you shut down your machine. Anyone who wants to place a netcam call to you will need this information.

Which are the best netcams? What do you recommend?

For the best video picture it's almost always better to use your own home video camera rather than buy a netcam. The cameras included in most video kits are generally lower in quality. If you don't own a camcorder, a netcam is still a fine option, and they are less expensive. Expect to pay about $150 dollars for a decent netcam and make sure it has a good quality video capture card and a video card on the PCI bus. If you need more help making your decision, visit the links below to read ZDNet's reviews.

Optimize Your Netcam's Performance

Once you set up your netcam, there are a few things you can do to look your best in a videoconference, and a few things ZDTV needs you to do to look good on TV.

First, fire up VDOPhone, NetMeeting, or some other application that lets you watch your own video. Then sit back far enough away from the camera so that the video shows you from about the shoulders up.

A good light source will do more for the quality of your video than anything else. For starters, don't just point a desk lamp at your face! Giving yourself the third degree is not only uncomfortable; it turns your face into a shiny white blur that looks awful on video. You're better off pointing that lamp at the ceiling, which will diffuse the light around the room.

You can leave the area behind you just the way it is, unless it's a plain white wall, a window, or a lamp. In that case, you'll need to point your camera in a different direction or hang something up. If your backdrop is a window or a lamp, you've probably noticed that your head appears as a dark shadow in the middle of a bright background. If the effect is fairly mild, make sure the BLC switch on the back of the camera is slid to ON, which activates the camera's built-in backlight compensation. It might help a bit, but you're probably better off adding a light in front of you to even out the lighting and get your face out of the shadows.

Ceiling fixtures do a good job at this, too, unless they're well behind you-- then they can also create backlighting problems. Don't be afraid to experiment with a lamp or two, until both you and your background are equally illuminated and your face is free of shadows.

Fiddling with the Controls

By this point, you've probably played around with a few of the buttons on the back of the camera other than the Power slider. If the video your camera's producing looks exceedingly light or dark, adjust the contrast. To do that, just hold down the large Contrast button on the back of camera until the picture looks good to you, then let go. Did you hold it down too long? Don't worry-- just hold on, and the camera will cycle around again.

The WB switch controls the camera's white balance. When the WB switch is set to AUTO, the camera will automatically compensate for mild changes in room light. Want to know what Image does? Switch it from POS to NEG. Groovy, huh?

Now that your video looks good, you really, really, really need to get a headset microphone if you can scrounge one up. Although the Bigpicture^TM and many other cameras come with a built-in microphone, they tend to create almost as many problems as they solve. That's because they tend to be of low quality, which makes for bad sound. With a built-in mike, you have to holler if you want anyone to hear you at the other end.

Using a headset lets you talk at a normal volume, prevents the mike and speakers from feeding back, and minimizes the problems created by sound delay. Either way, before you start talking to us, turn down the volume on your TV. Otherwise, you'll become seriously disoriented because your voice will be out of sync with the voices on the TV.