Internet Phone Connections

by Cheryl Kirk

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0078822696
• ISBN13: 9780078822698
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A user's experiences putting Internet telephony to work.

Voice-over-net (VON) is not just an Internet fad; in its short history the technology has developed at a remarkable rate, particularly in association with real-time video. Lack of standards makes many software products mutually incompatible, but one can expect that problem to resolve itself in the near future. In the meantime, commercial users are putting VON to work for conferencing (voice and video/voice), one-to-one voice communication, and secure telephony. Cheryl Kirk is a computer journalist for the Anchorage Daily News, but her family lives in that other part of the USA, the lower 48; a hefty phone bill convinced Cheryl that Internet telephony was worth exploring for economic reasons. Her book is an account of the experiences of the Kirk family: their first steps and later experimentation with different applications. It has been expanded to include information useful to those who want to use, or learn more about, the technology. Anyone who suffers under the tyranny of long-distance telephone charges should find this an interesting read. It is not a technical description of telephony, or a last-word reference on the subject of Internet telephony. It is an account of how ordinary users can take advantage of VON and of the software available at the time of writing, hardware required, and the author's experiences with different packages. VON is a fast-developing field and any book published is bound to out of date before the ink is dry. There will have been more recent versions of the software before it hits the shelves, and some of the technical information may not be quite correct. This book is a personal overview of VON and a personal assessment of the various packages. If you accept that situation, then you should not be disappointed in The Internet Phone Connection. As far as I am aware it is the second book published on the subject of VON - and will certainly not be the last. For those who want to get their hands on the technology, either for real use or to satisfy curiosity, it is worth reading. An introductory section explains how the author became so interested in VON, some of the developmental background, and a guess about its future. Then follows a chapter that discusses the necessary hardware, operating systems, and peripherals; the author then moves on to the subject of how to make the connection, and the importance of data compression. The book then describes software products, providing details of vendors (including Internet sites), system requirement, features, a personal opinion of each product, and ratings under the headings of: Voice quality, Ease of use, Overall product features, Did it work the first time? Server-based? File transfer? Voicemail? Cost, Linkable via Web page? Nifty features. A chapter on Putting the Phone Programs to Work is a practical description of downloading the latest version of selected software, installation (with a brief discursion on

Excellent book

By far the best book on the subject. Well written and easy to follow. Author extremely helpful in assisting me with problems I had with one product highlighted in the book. I highly recommend it. She knows her stuff, and doesn't pitch products, which is nice to see. So many other authors of computer books do. I am happy to say because of buying the book I too am saving a bundle of money talking to my brother-in-law in Nebraska.

Excellent book. Cleared up a lot of new user type questions.

I just finished reading the book, and must say it's a great read besides being very informative about using the internet to talk to people with these webphones. I thought it would be too technical or even out of date, but it really has some good tips on how to tweak your Internet phone connection. Therea are two other books out there I looked at a dummies book, I think and another one, but this one had so much more in it, and was very well written I went with it. I particularly enjoyed the little CD-ROM help program, and was suprised to find all that software on the CD. Seems lately books come with one or two programs on them, but I think I counted at least 20 different ones. Glad they included those coupons too. I tried bought the headset she recommended and really enjoy it. I would highliy recommend this book especially if you have tried these netphone programs before without much success like I did. -Walter