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--- RE: asterisk / skype (http://www1.pbxes.com/forum/threadid.php?threadid=1245692251)

asterisk / skype

http://blogs.digium.com/2009/02/23/skype-for-asterisk-update/

Skype is working with digum on intergration of skype and asterisk. It's now in Beta but will be released in future.

would this be something that could be integrated into pbxes in future or maybe as an addon ?

RE: asterisk / skype

This is definitely something we would look at when it is released, but it should be mentioned there will be an additional per channel cost for SfA.

The link above mentions vaguely a price-point at #9. Currently, the cost associated with a G.729 Codec License for use with Asterisk for 1 concurrent call is $10 USD. Therefore, it is highly unlikely Digium will sell an SfA channel for less than $10 USD, given its' added functionality.

It would most definitely be cheaper than some of today's solutions that require a separate server, but it will not be free either.

RE: asterisk / skype

would this be a $10 1 time license fee, per month, per year. From the link you gave it just looks like per license.

I don't think paying this once would be a problem as integration with skype and using their flatrate would be great.

RE: asterisk / skype

That is the price for a G.729 license to run on an Asterisk server in an office, not a hosted PBX service. How do you split the channels per account? How do you allocate a resource meant for an office PBX, to individual users of disjointed offices?

Implementing such a feature is not as easy as it sounds, when it needs to scale to let's say 20% of 26512 accounts across 7 servers. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves, since we still need to wait for Digium to release this and price it per channel.

We will find out soon enough ...

RE: asterisk / skype

There is an update on this Skype For Asterisk

Would pbxes consider taking part in this test.

RE: asterisk / skype

Seems like the skype/asterisk plugin is available now at 66$ per channel.

Any idee if this will be added to pbxes.com as an extra option ?

If so when could you start trials.

RE: asterisk / skype

Well, at $66 per channel, the question is, who would want to buy it, at what price, and with what kind of limitations?

Food for thought ...

RE: asterisk / skype

Is $66 per channel realy that much ?

As far as I can see it's a 1 time cost to buy. If you offer it here it's up to anyone to decide if they want to buy it or not.

I have no problem paying for it and would love to have it.

Limitation is 1 channel for that price, rest of the imfo is on the digum website. Doesn't seem to have that many limitations. What I don't know and what you guys would have to test if how much cpu time this would cost to make the call.

Seems like this is an extension many people are waiting for so why isn't pbxes just doing a trial and users can sigup for it.

RE: asterisk / skype

Well, $66 is not an insignificant amount either, for most people. And apart from you, no-one else has chimed in, so far.

But, as I have mentioned on an earlier post, Digium's questionable licensing creates all kinds of issues for a hosted PBX like PBXes. You see on a hosted PBX, resources are shared between disjointed entities, and dedicated resources are hard to remain dedicated for a single entity.

In addition, if a server has an issue and your account needs to be moved to another server temporarily or permanently, your "Skype for Asterisk" license is tied to the IP of the original server. No floating licenses, no pooled licenses, like resources we have encountered from other providers.

And we haven't even touched the pricing chapter, since we are still discussing semi-technical issues. All this to demonstrate it's not easy to offer it, with these licensing terms and pricing, even if we want to. Let's hope they will see the error in their ways and correct it in time.

But don't despair, we will most probably test it, as soon as the reports start coming out, regarding its' performance and compatibility on large Asterisk Installations.

RE: asterisk / skype

I understand the point.

Because no one else has asked for it, doesn't mean there is no demand for it. I have seen new features here that no one asked for and some of those features are more toys than really usefull.

$66 high, depends on how you see it and how you use it. For a small and medium company this will not really be a problem, for a home user, it might. t Just depends on who you are targeting as a customer.

I do understand the problems of the license being tied to and ip and that this would cause a problem when switching servers in case of a problem. This is a valid point. But things evolve and maybe there will be a solution for that also.

I will be looking forward to a test if you will be running that. If you need someone to test, you know how to find me.

RE: asterisk / skype

Which call types would you use PBXes' skype integration for? I am asking because I don't have any skype contacts and, if I had I would simply ask them for their phone number. Do you want to be reachable under a skype name? Or are you going to use SkypeIn/Out services?

RE: asterisk / skype

Skype offers some nice flat rates per month incudling 10.000 minutes to fixed phone in many countries.

Unlimited world 40 countries is like 11 euro per month.

So I would use it mainly for making skypeout calls to use this serivice to get a good flat rate.

The are some other sip based flat rates but non offer a this low monthly price. There are offeres for home uses but limited minutes and business offers are a lot higher.

I might also use it for receiving incoming calls under a skype name, nice for support on a webshop. This will not really be that much so most will be skype out calls.

The skypename to receive calls would than also be the same account to make skypeout calls using their flatrate.

RE: asterisk / skype

As a start we will connect to Skype contacts by adding "@skype" to their Skype names. Calls will be limited to 3 minutes initially. The callee needs to allow anonymous callers.

To activate the update the red bar has to be clicked once (appears after saving a setting).

RE: asterisk / skype

thanks for the info.

Am just not sure how I can add an extension that will call skype.

in extensions under dial I tried: skypeusername@skype but that does not seem to work.

Did add a phone number in phonebook contact but would like to dial a number as all my phones a regular phone not softphones.

RE: asterisk / skype

Try adding it as a classical extension.

RE: asterisk / skype

Zitat:

Originally posted by i-p-tel Try adding it as a classical extension.

tried it.

pstn number: skypeusername@skype

sumbit, pressed red bar, checked back and saw that under pstn number only username is visalbe and @skype is deleted.

RE: asterisk / skype

any update regarding this? Calling skype usernames could lead to some very interesting synergies.

RE: asterisk / skype

Zitat:

Originally posted by i-p-tel As a start we will connect to Skype contacts by adding "@skype" to their Skype names. Calls will be limited to 3 minutes initially. The callee needs to allow anonymous callers. To activate the update the red bar has to be clicked once (appears after saving a setting).

Is it really working fine ? I tried and it is not working to me.

RE: asterisk / skype

No, it's not working for me.
As bobmats has written, as soon as I press the red bar, the "@skype" postfix is removed from the username in the PSTN extension.

RE: asterisk / skype

Zitat:

Originally posted by drmitsos No, it's not working for me. As bobmats has written, as soon as I press the red bar, the "@skype" postfix is removed from the username in the PSTN extension.

Ok. thanks for your answer, but I`m still waiting the answer from Ip-Tel.