| [General] Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? I run many voip apps on my desktop such as XTEN, SJPhone, recently also VoipBuster and Vbuzzer, I found Vbuzzer to be the closest resemblence of Skype. They both have instant messaging beside telephony so I can add the buddies I talk the most and watch their online status.
After a quick review I found the followings:
Telephony & Instant Messaging (buddy list)
Voicemail - Skype ask you to pay or you buy SkypeIN, Vbuzzer offers it to every account for free. I test it and the voicemail comes to my email in MP3 format.
Pricing - Vbuzzer beats Skype in pricing, they give away the software for free the same as Skype do, but they offer much cheaper LD rates, one cent per minute to 20 destinations. Also their calling plans are amazingly low - $7.99/mon unlimited US. Don't know how long it can last though.
BYOD - I configured my XTEN, worked. Sipura and ATA186, also worked. Expecting others to share their experience with other device/software. So Vbuzzer is SIP and Skype is proprietary.
Quality - for calls to PSTN Vbuzzer is so far so good. But one bad thing already: one of my buddies in China reported he can't get Vbuzzer online. Skype, in the opposite, works in all environments. So it's a long way for Vbuzzer to go. But all my contacts in Australia and US are getting online with Vbuzzer pretty easy.
Well after all, one cent to 20 countries is a good deal as long as it lasts. Nice try, Vbuzzer. |
|
| Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? I tried the software the other day, made a few calls to US, Germany, UK, quality were all good. Maybe it because they directly use SIP, unlike Skype who has to convert from their own protocol to SIP/H323 in order to comply with the telcos. And I kinda agree that IM is very useful to get your own community on one windows.
I have a Sipura box too, can anyone tell me how to configure it to work with Vbuzzer? |
|
| I never use skype to call phone because they didn't provide free trial service, but vbuzzer is fine, they have a 30 days free local call with a phone munber. most time the quality is good, sometimes just so so. but it is acceptable, no one can guarantee the internet is always fast. |
|
|
|
| reply to strop
Re: [General] Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? Note those int'l rates of 1 cent a minute are introductory rates. No way they can cover costs with 1 cent per minute calls to france, the uk, etc.
Similarly, I don't see how they can make money with an $8 per month unlimited call plan to the usa and canada, unless they think there will be a lot of breakage.
-er |
|
 sirsloopPremium
join:2004-02-18
New York, NY | reply to strop
where did you get the username/password/and server to register a BYOD to vbuzzer? Is it simply your account login credentials and 209.47.41.48? |
|
sirsloopPremium
join:2004-02-18
New York, NY | looks like SIP was going to .48...all RTP was being send through 209.47.41.26 |
|
| Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? Hi Sirsloop,
I just did this for my Sipura box, I guess other software/hardware settings ought to be similar
1. Proxy: vbuzzer.com
2. Outbound Proxy: vbuzzer.com
3. Display Name: Your Username
4. User ID: Your Username
5. Password: Your Password
I checked their site again '»www.vbuzzer.com' but they didn't have any official announcement of supporting BYOD. |
|
| reply to ejrobinson
Re: [General] Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? ejrobinson, i don't know what do you worry about? i just care about if the price is cheap and if the quaity is reasonable. even they can not make money, who care it?
i will try 1 cent calls first. |
|
sirsloopPremium
join:2004-02-18
New York, NY | reply to strop
yeah...that worked out well
hrmm... without getting one of their numbers, is there a way to spoof your outgoing CID? Right now its all a 418 number in Canada. Not cool for people "returning" a call to an international number |
|
| reply to ruxianliu
First of all, the int'l rates are noted as 'introductory'. Therefore, they will be increased. Further, since it is prepaid service, you risk two things: An increase of rates to a level that you don't like or, worse, the company suddenly disappears, as others already have.
In any case, I prefer dealing with a company that may eventually make money. Service is better and the company may be around for a while.
-er |
|
| Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? Yeah, I kinda agree, company stability is important for users. Vbuzzer is pushing introductory offers which seems fine so far, in addition you don't want to make a deposit of $100 at this point. I bought a $20 card and let's see what's going on. Many companies sell things and they went down, some companies give away largely for free but they survived and succeeded, like Google, Yahoo, etc. What a crazy world! |
|
sirsloopPremium
join:2004-02-18
New York, NY | reply to strop
Re: [General] Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? this isnt a thread about them tho...lol... |
|
maziloFrom MaziloPremium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
kudos:1 | reply to strop
I installed a copy of VBuzzer Messenger; however, it doesn't work on my Win2k3 login as a regular user. It expect the user to have the administrator privilege which I just can't afford such a software to mess around with. If you don't have such a problem, then you can use VBuzzer. |
|
Reviews:
 ·AT&T DSL Service
 ·Virgin Mobile Br..
| reply to strop
Not bad, good first impression. I saw this thread and thought, with my usual pessimistic self, another instant messenger masquerading as a VOIP service but after I took a look, it was interesting. Definitely not a replacement for Skype in my opinion. More like a better version of Dialpad without the PSTN adapter.
I bought a $20 "calling card" via the website, signed up for unlimited CN/US calling with a Toronto DID, installed the software where I found the phone number I'd been given, transferred the info to my Sipura 2100 and it worked instantly. A few issues with echoes that I can probably resolve through Sipura settings but nothing major. All calls went through the first time. After only a few minutes of playing with it, I was impressed. Time will tell if it holds up to more use or not.
One interesting failure I noticed was with the caller ID for outbound calls. At first, my cell phone said "unavailabale #", then both my Vonage line and my cell phone reported the CID from Vbuzz as being 916-431-0490 with the name "Ready Limo" which I have seen before on incoming telemarketing calls. Ready Limo doesn't seem to be a valid Sacramento number and you get a fast busy if you dial it. 916-431 appears to be a CLEC, Brooks Fiber Communications of CA with the switch being in West Sacramento, CA. Never heard of them before or seen them listed in our local listing of CLECs.
Perhaps the Toronto DID will take a few days to show up, I don't know. I like have a nonsensical DID and would like to have the Toronto number show up if possible. From time to time, there are people I like to call and not know my real phone number. Also, the kids like it. They'll use our Nufone number, which shows 000-000-0000 and Voxee (unavailable shows on CID) on a 2 line VOIP phone and call two people and then conference it and mute the phone and listen to the people argue with each other: "you called me, what do you want". "No, you called me!" Wrong, I know, but it sure is funny. |
|
chichiPremium
join:2003-12-18
Calgary, AB | reply to strop
I got Vbuzzer all setup on my sipura but unlike the softphone, my sipura just rings and rings and never gets forwarded to vmail. Is there anyone that has it working properly on the sipura (i.e. sending unanswered/busy calls to Vmail) |
|
| reply to strop
Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? Find Vbuzzer just set up the forum and it is still blank.
'»www.vbuzzer.com/forum/' |
|
| reply to strop
Re: [General] Vbuzzer - a Skype competitor? guys sorry for the inconvenience, just thought this may help those who want to get a US phone # from Vbuzzer. You can't see it on their web, but you can upgrade your plan, I did so with "unlimited US & Canada" (before I was on the per minute), then they give you the area codes to choose from. I guess you need to put a little money first otherwise they won't let you go through. I put $20 the other day that's why I can go through, - already got some messages from other contacts that they can't go through to get a number due to the lack of credit. |
|
| reply to strop
Re: [General] Vbuzzer - works on CISCO or Linksys? You wrote that you are successful to test vbuzzer on Sipura and also CISCO ATA186. Can you send your configuration to me at this e-mail address?
bshahil@yahoo.com
chirag1b@yahoo.com
because i am not able to find the gatekeeper Ip(GK IP) of v buzzer . So i am not able to register my user id on CISCO or SIPURA. So if possible please send me the configuration of vbuzzer use onCISCO 186 .
Thnanx
Shahil |
|
| grab this post within this topic (Strop posted it)
I just did this for my Sipura box, I guess other software/hardware settings ought to be similar
1. Proxy: vbuzzer.com
2. Outbound Proxy: vbuzzer.com
3. Display Name: Your Username
4. User ID: Your Username
5. Password: Your Password
And you need to change the port to 5090 |
|
| vBuzzer - ATA - Settings that work with Voicemail Hello
Got my Sipura 2002 to work with vBuzzer, but it just rings and rings and does not forward to voicemail. It forwards to VM when I use their software.
Anyone using a hardware phone or ATA got it working so that it transfers calls to the voicemail when not answered?
Take care
Richard |
|
