infoworld.com — Asustek Computer plans to launch two motherboards complete with phone jacks able to turn common household telephones into Internet phones using Skype's popular VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) software.
Nov 30, 2006 View in Crawl 4
kurandaDec 1, 2006
of course there is. Though Skype is closed software, but has an API. So an external program can check for events on skype (like somebody calling) and then ring on the phone jack. That's what all these USB-skype phones do.
srock258Dec 1, 2006
From Article: with jacks that connect the house phone to the PC and the PC to the phone lineWhy would I want to connect the PC to the phone line? I don't even have a land line anymore. Does this let me plug any old telephone into the PC and let it work with Skype purely over my IP connection?
xpsgen2manDec 1, 2006
thinking about it yes it would. -alex
rmmcclayDec 1, 2006
That's very cool. I love Skype. BTW, the right corner ad is the most amazing intrusion I've seen yet on a web page.
wvstephensDec 1, 2006
Yes you can if this product does what it says. Here is my setup at my home, it is real simple I have the VOIP box plugged in to router. VOIPbox plugged into my main phone terminal on the exterior of my house with this setup it lets me use all the pre-existing phone jacks as if I had normal regular old expensive land line service. My VOIP provider uses the Grandstream VOIP adapter which is great cause it is small and fits right in my phone terminal box on the exterior of my house.
andy_dDec 1, 2006
There's a number of cool USB devices that can do the same, so you don't need to have this motherboard necessarily.
ogopogoDec 2, 2006
... wouldn't a modem be able to do the same thing? No, to connect an ordinary telephone to a computer, you need an FXS interface in the computer. An FXS interface provides power (battery) and generates ring signals.A modem does neither. Ref: <a class="user" href="http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/FXO">http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/FXO</a>