VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) also known as Telephone over the Internet

(updated 4/24/08)

Using Skype with the HughesNet Business Internet level of service works very well even when calling or receiving calls to/from cell phones or landlines. This does require the PortaSat98 Business system equipment. Remote locations would then have telephone and Internet service 24/7.

Customer feedback tells us that apparently changes have been made to the Skype service. It seems to work well over the Pro and ProPlus HughesNet service options right now using the computer-to-computer mode only.

Update 4/29/09 - Skype has upgraded their service. They are currently running a Beta version for SIP phones. This means that you could use one of the IP phones available on the market for networking. Linksys makes several models that should work very well. Just plug this phone into the Ethernet cable and it behaves like a regular telephone with all outgoing and incoming calls using a VoIP service. Remote locations would then have telephone and Internet service 24/7.

This is a new VoIP provider. We are hoping that their service will work well over satellite since their website also sells satellite Internet service. We have not tested it...nor plan to. Please . . . share with us your experience with this company. support@maxwellsatellite.com

Update 4/16/09 - Apparently Sun is not accepting new customers. The feedback is that they are not answering their phones or replying to e-mail. If you have signed up with them already for auto-pay and not receiving service it might be a good idea to contact your credit card company to cancel.

We tested the VoIP service using the HughesNet ProPlus Consumer level Internet service from HughesNet with a Linksys IP Phone SPA922.

We ran a separate test with the Linksys phone adapter with router SPA2102 (included with service).

Linksys SPA922 - Very nice phone. Easy to configure once we got the parameters from VoIP.com. This took some time as we had to wait on the VoIP.Com Linksys phone adapter/router to arrive (about 12 days).

Using the VoIP.com Linksys router or the Linksys IP phone seemed to produce about the same level of voice quality. Crystal clear on our end (initiator), jittery and very hard to understand on the other end (cell phone or landline receiver).

Again when the IP phone answered a call, it was crystal clear, but the initiator could not understand our reply due to signal breakup.

We found that the router provided by VoIP.com tended to cut our upload speed about half. The IP Phone, however, appeared invisible to our Ethernet network.

We did not find this service to be acceptable for even short conversations.

Crystalvoicelive.com

NetZeroVoice