Bridging VoIP and landline calls?

[IVB]

Anyone know how to bridge a landline and a VoIP (ie TeamSpeak) call? We've always got folks calling into the webinars from other countries, and i'm usually hacking a solution by using both my computer headset and my cordless headset at the same time. It's quite difficult, plus the VoIP folks can't hear the landline folks, and vice versa.

 

[IVB]

In case anyone wants to hear more about PBXs and PSTN and POTS and Asterisk and god knows what the words even mean, i've set off a snowball chain here.

The CT'ers seem like the type to get a kick out of that discussion, god knows most of it is over my head.

 

[Skibum]

The issue here is that Teamspeak is not SIP.

 

[politics123]

The issue here is that Teamspeak is not SIP.

Exactly! Get a Sipura SPA-3k and you can bridge any VoIP to land/cell phone. I, for example, never, ever go over my cell phone minutes

 

[Skibum]

SIP - GOOOD
SKYPE - BAAAAD

 

[huggy59]

IVB, you can probably save yourself some headaches if you just find an external conference call management company to deal with the conference calls on an as-needed basis, and just have people call into it for these types of calls. We used to do the same any time we expected to have outside or large numbers of attendees. Some even have operators to manage the call as you are using it.

The other way around it is to set up your own VoIP gateway system that will allow you to bridge POTS and your existing VoIP solution (assuming you can get that bridged into a machine running Asterisk somehow). You can set up your own Asterisk server where you have SIP and POTS in the same box. Of course, you may still want to use a conference company so you only need to have one POTS line instead of a trunk of multiple lines - one for each incoming caller... but it all depends on how many and how much, bandwidth for the digital side, etc. It gets relatively expensive quick, but you could do it yourself if you wanted to.

 

[IVB]

Thanks for the tips, I'm realizing this is harder than I thought. Gotomeeting actually does supply a conference call capability. The thing is, we've got folks from other countries typically calling in (Ireland, Iraq, Egypt, Australia, & Canada). I'm trying to figure out a way to get them integrated into this thing.

A few of the guys have Asterisk already up & running as well as other CTI type stuff, i'll see if they can take this on for me.

 

[huggy59]

International calls are no different than regular calls. They either dial international into the US numbers, or you find a company with local or toll-free lines in those countries. At GE we had the entire world covered one way or another and used them daily. I can ask my GE buddies if you'd like a company name or two - I forget who we used to use - there were a couple of them.

 

[IVB]

Thanks for the offer huggy, i'm going to keep looking around.

Here's another thought, i'll try this later but I just realized Skype has a SkypeOut service. For $30/year, you can call landlines. Could I use that somehow ie:
1) Skype->1.800# for US folks who want to use their phones
2) TeamSpeak for anyone wanting to use their PC

Not sure if either Skype or TeamSpeak take sole posession of the mic/headset, if not wouldn't this effectively use my PC as the bridge?

Don't think I want to do something experimental for tonight's webinar, given that there's already >30 people pre-registered, but wondering if it'll work.

 

[CollinR]

Have you considered just using an IM or IRC protcol?

I mean just about every OEM PC has windows instant messanger installed default nowdays.

You can use trillian as a bridge between just about every IM client.


I guess I mean I don't see the upside to POTS for you, being in technology and all I would expect most you want to confrerence have a PC and broadband. Might be a totally incorrect assumption though.

 

[IVB]

That requires a computer headset and mic, and some of the folks have stated that they don't own one and would prefer otherwise.

On the upside, one of the CQC'ers has volunteered his asterisk server, and has come up with some way to bridge it. So, all I need to do is make sure he always comes to the webinars, and we're good to go.

 

[gregoryx]

There was a Asterisk load that would run on a Linksys box... might help if you're looking for a simple gateway at a VERY affordable price. It still hits on Google.