Jude 2 Conference Call

[Jeremy Gault]

Hi all,

I have an idea that I wanted to throw before everyone to get opinions on:

Most of you know about web-based message boards, chat rooms, IM, etc. However, I'm not sure how many of you have heard of a "voice bridge." Basically, a voice bridge is like a chat room, except that it's not online. Instead, it's on the phone. It's like a giant partyline, a giant 3-way call.

I know of a couple of free voice bridges out there. One of them is located in Oklahoma, and is a multi-room bridge. This means that we could have our own room ID separate from the other users, so that we don't interfere with other users on the bridge at that same time.

Since most of us have cell phones, and they usually include free long distance (and alot of them include unlimited night&weekend, or alot of minutes for n&w) then calling long distance is more economical than ever before. Actually, my HOME PHONE plan is only $49.99 per month, includes all the bells and whistles, AND unlimited long distance to the 48 states.

So, here's my idea: How about we setup a predefined time (or times) where we can all call the bridge and have a Jude 2 "chat room" on the phone? We can have our own conference ID that is separate from the others on the bridge. (Not many people use this one, and conference IDs are 3 digits, so there's plenty of them!)

My thinking here is this will enable us all (or those who want to participate) to actually talk to each other on the phone (which is nice, to be able to put a voice to a name) without having to give out our phone numbers, etc. Plus, we can all join in one place and have Bible discussions, etc. without having to trade numbers around and fool with large 3-way calls. I think this would be a really cool idea, but I wanted to find out everyone else's opinions.

I am going to dial into the bridge here in a few minutes, so if anyone wants to join, feel free! Here's all the details you need:

Bridge Phone #: 918-858-0012
Conference ID: 777

NOTE: If you are the paranoid type and don't trust the bridge operators with your number, no problem. You can always use *67 to block that. Here's some example dialing instructions: On my Sprint PCS phone, I dial 9188580012 and then press TALK (i.e. Send, Call, etc.) To dial with *67 I just dial *679188580012 then press TALK. On my home phone I dial 19188580012, but to block caller ID I dial *67, wait for another dial tone, then dial 19188580012. Most of you should hopefully already know how to use *67, but I'm just posting that for the benefit of those who wish to use it and don't know how.

Anyway, once you dial the number, it should ask for a conference code. That's where you enter 777. If you hear a message saying "you are the first person into the conference, press 1 to continue" just push 1 and hang out there for a while. You'll hear a beep when someone else joins. If instead, you hear silence after entering 777, it means there are already others in the conference. So, anything you say can be heard by them.

Once you are in, here's a few handy codes:

Press 5 to mute yourself. It will say "You are now mute." If you talk, others on the bridge cannot hear you.

Press 4 to unmute yourself. It will say "You are now unmuted." Anything you say goes to the room.

Press # (pound) to hear how many others are in the room.

Those are the basics. There are some other commands that noone will probably ever use, so I won't cover them unless requested.

Anyway, everyone please vote in the poll on this. And, if you'd like, dial in. I'll be there shortly and will hang out for a while.

[Jeremy Gault]

Hey, I think someone just dialed in but I'm not sure. If so, please call back, I'm in there. Just didn't catch ya before ya left!

[Tracy]

That sounds like fun, but lets do it on a warm night--I live so far out in the country that to get a good signal on my cell phone I have to go stand on a stump in the back yard!! Ha Ha

Tracy

[Pastor Gary]

...unlimited long distance to the 48 states...

What company provides your dialtone and doesn't know that since 1959 there have been more than 48 states???

It really frosts all of us in Alaska & Hawaii when we see plans that discriminate against those of us who are just as much a part of the US as anyone else. The other one is "Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii."

[AndyG]

Which would you rather have, lower phone charges, or the beauty of where you are?

I'd take the beauty any day of the week

[Jeremy Gault]

...unlimited long distance to the 48 states...

What company provides your dialtone and doesn't know that since 1959 there have been more than 48 states???

Well, I have IDS Telcom. They basically contract out with BellSouth, meaning that my actual dialtone comes from BellSouth. Heck, even my voicemail says "You have reached the BellSouth voicemail service" when I call. They changed my long distance provider to Qwest, which is who they use for the unlimited thing.

I know that when I was at WingNET, and we did VoIP, termination rates to Alaska and Hawaii were higher. I'm not sure why, since there's plenty of fiber (and alot of it unlit) plus if you're careful, you can use IP as a transport and it's even cheaper. So I can agree with you there.

Lucky for me, I only know one person in each state. And, get this, my Sprint PCS phone includes Alaska and Hawaii as part of its package. Since I *rarely* call either of those two states, I usually use my cell phone when I do.

It really frosts all of us in Alaska & Hawaii when we see plans that discriminate against those of us who are just as much a part of the US as anyone else. The other one is "Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii."

Yeah. Again, it's a lot farter distance. However, I can understand years ago when they probably had to use satellite relays to get calls that far away, but nowdays we have fiber running all over the place. One of my coworkers gets 2cent/min termination to Russia. So, long distance is getting cheaper and cheaper. And, Sprint PCS includes those two states, so obviously it shouldn't be THAT big a deal for other companies to do.

Maybe I can track down one of my telco friends and find out what the deal is behind that. They're US states, plus technology now allows us to get calls there easier. No more satellite. Use fiber, or if you're desperate, get some nice pipes to the 'net and pipe them across IP. We have an IP phone system here at work, and love it. Only a few extensions sound bad, and that's because the previous network admin did a bum job of wiring the Ethernet drops themselves. I am here in the datacenter with my IP phone hooked directly to the Cisco switch, and have NO quality issues.

Contrary to popular opinion, VoIP does work, and work well. You just have to know what you are doing, know the limits of your systems, and know how to configure them properly.

[AndyG]

Jeremy, we are about to start a VoIP project here where I work and knowing what these folks have done in the past, I'm kinda worried

Could I contact you off here sometime and see what pitfalls you saw that I may be able to help the team avoid. Thanks

[Barbara Marlow]

I would love to try it. Not sure I would be able to do it, if it is complicated, but it would be so nice to hear all your voices.

[Jeremy Gault]

I would love to try it. Not sure I would be able to do it, if it is complicated, but it would be so nice to hear all your voices.

It's not hard. It's as simple as dialing a phone number, and when asked for the conference ID, hitting 777.

I hung out in there a while that night, and only one person showed up. Actually I think someone else came but didn't talk, it may have been Tracy or something with bad cell coverage.

But, one person did show up and we talked for a few. I was actually on the phone with a new friend of mine and had done a 3-way call to the bridge just to hang there in case anyone came. Was kinda neat. I think in that one night my phone plan paid for itself. I think I set a record for my longest phone call that night, but that's another story!