[asterisk-users] VoIP over satellite internet

[Josh Fuller]

> Message: 10
> Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 20:30:11 -0700
> From: Eric Fort <eric.fort at gmail.com>
> Subject: [asterisk-users] VoIP over satellite internet
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> 	<asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
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> 	<2ad2af430905082030w389822aduc877f8b0a1afe4f4 at mail.gmail.com>
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> Could those on the list who have used or tried to use VoIP over a
> satellite internet connection comment on how well it works or if it
> even works at all in a reliable way.  What is the effect of latency on
> the VoIP path and how much is generally tolerable?  routing via
> satellite adds about a quarter second of latency to the path.  Is that
> too much? 

It is possible-- barely-- but you have to be able to put up with two to six second lags
between replies and lots of stepping on each other in conversations. The feasibility will
also depend on the traffic shaping/filtering of the provider and whether they black hole
VoIP ports/packets.

There will be a lot of delay and echo which can be compounded by an imbalance in upstream
and downstream bandwidth. If you're using dialup for upstream the bandwidth _will_ be an
issue.

If you're looking for point-to-point communication a client-to-client push-to-talk solution
like Speak Freely [1] might be a better choice. You may also want to consider-- if you're 
trying to use Asterisk-- a narrowband codec such as Speex. [2]

I used Speak Freely over 28.8 dialup links to have conversations between Florida and Ontario
almost fifteen years ago. It's more like a two-way radio than a telephone but it works very
well and is win/lin cross-platform.

	[1] http://speak-freely.sourceforge.net/
	[2] http://speex.org/


Thanks,
Josh Fuller josh.fuller at telus.com

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