The Intergalactic Highway

Well... sorry to say but it's been a while... But I"m going to suggest something that might make this place a lot funner (is that a word..?)
Anyway, during my wanderings through Descent 3 MP I learned of the voice program Teamspeak(TS). Now what this program does (in case you don't know) is it allows voice conversation over the internet. So I've talked to guys in Germany, Australia, and Illinois! Okay, Illinois isn't a country but you get my point...
The best part is that's it completely FREE! and you don't need a mic, you'll still be able to listen.
IF anybody's interested, please post here!

Yahoo! Messenger has been running a service like that for a while now, too, and there's been a big hype here in England over a similar program called Skype. It's great fun talking to people all over the world! I've talked in a "chat room" with a Brit, a Romanian, A swede and several Americans all at once, before! It was awesome.

Sapph, doesn't Skype only work with one person connected at one time? I've used it once . . . but I can't remember the particulars of it.

And sadly, I'm unable to really talk over the internet. Lack of microphone does that to you. >.<

Heh...
THe best part is, you don't have to register to use it. Just plop your username in and it'll put that up when you join the server.

I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but Yahoo will disconnect me from a voice convo whenever it darn-well pleases. d3jake, does Teamspeak have issues with people using routers or firewalls? Or, dare I say it, a cable internet connection?

And btw, for people lacking mics, there is another way. And yes, I'm repeating myself to some of you.

My brother discovered that by sticking an extra set of headphones, earbuds, or anything you normally listen out of, in to the microphone slot on your computer, you can turn said device into a mic. It really does work.

Okaaaayyy, I'm not too sure how that one works, but I'll take your word for it.

That's pretty neat, it's always interesting to talk to people from different countries. All of the different accents just sound cool.

I use Teamspeak and Ventrilo regularly while I'm raiding in World of Warcraft

It'd be great if we had our own spot to talk Beast Wars and Fics in, depends on how many people would be willing to get in on it perhaps.

And although MSN and Yahoo messengers may have had this feature earlier, it's done in a terrible fashion. Far too choppy and random disconnects are annoying as hell. I cant even talk to my brother who lives a couple of blocks away, let alone someone across the pond.

Nurann wrote:I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but Yahoo will disconnect me from a voice convo whenever it darn-well pleases. d3jake, does Teamspeak have issues with people using routers or firewalls? Or, dare I say it, a cable internet connection?

I think it's one of those, You have to tell your firewall to allow it acess to the internet, that's it. I"m pretty sure that's it. I run TS over a wireless b amd a cable connection, and it works fine. Everyonce and a while you might miss a couple words, but not very often.

And btw, for people lacking mics, there is another way. And yes, I'm repeating myself to some of you.

My brother discovered that by sticking an extra set of headphones, earbuds, or anything you normally listen out of, in to the microphone slot on your computer, you can turn said device into a mic. It really does work.

COOL! That's way awsome!

I like the idea of having Bwint Voice Chats. I'll check out this Teamspeak program, since it does sound a lot more reliable than Yahoo which, I admit, is very fickle. If enough people are prepared to get it, we could have great fun having Beast Wars voice chats.

Btw, Skype allows you to use your computer to phone an actual landline telephone, or a cell phone. So, even if the other person doesn't have skype, you can still contact them, and if they DO have skype, it's apparently free. I don't know if it lets you have big chats - I think Sinead's right in that it only allows you to phone one person directly, but I thought I'd mention it to everyone because I think it's a handy and cost effective way of calling your friends around the world. I intend to use it to call my best friends in America and Canada.

You know... I might know a few people that might be willing to host a private server for us... Unless of course one of you guys wants to host it.
http://www.goteamspeak.com

I remember reading about a plug-in for Firefox that allows you to chat with other Firefox users who are viewing the same webpage as you. I know that not everyone uses Firefox, but those that do could talk right here while surfing the forum, or BWINT in general for that matter. I've thought about downloading the plug-in for a while, but I have not done it since I couldn't use it to talk to all of my friends (some of them use Internet Explorer).

That sounds like a really good idea. I know I used to use Yahoo a lot for talking to people from a game I used to play, but half the time it was so bad I couldn't understand them, or they'd constantly be booted. =/ Of course if yall did get that I'd have to find where my mic has gone to. XD

The later versions os Skype allow conference calling - 4 people at one time is there current limit.

I remember using them a few years ago when they had less than 1 million customers. They've certainly grown in such a small period of time.

ICQ also offer a chat package

I THINK that Skype was bought by Ebay...

Its not the only VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocl) package available, as boradband becomes more and more widespread and cheaper Telcoms are becoming mor and more aware that people are using VOIP as an alternative for normal calls. You might not realise this but your phone bills and phone "business" probably accounts for less than 10% of the business for a telecoms company.

the next stage is proper video conferencing, - this has always been available - take a look at netwmeeting if you have XP or Win2000 but its always been the quality of the calls that has been the challenge technically. Ive used Skype, - its close to proffesional VOIP and close to regular phonecallls..... close.

oops.... err I shold have mentioned Im a Network Analyst