asterisk users - Dec 2004 - Kind of off-topic: VoIP services and multipl e callers

>If five people in the office all need to use their phones at the same
>time, would I need five VoIP lines, or would I only need one VoIP line?
>Am I over-thinking this?
You would need 1 broadband connection, and technically, you would need only
1 ACCOUNT (I think that's the word you are looking for) but any VoIP
provider that doesn't want to go out of business right away would enforce
account limits so only 1 account could be in use at any one point in time.
Otherwise, you could make an account and have 1000 people making calls at
the same time. Think of it in terms of software licensing: With a VoIP
account, you have a "license" to use their service, 1 user at a time
making
1 call at a time. In the software world, this is called concurrent
licensing. 

So POTS line != VoIP "line"

-but-

VoIP "line" == User account

Of course, it would be possible to use 1 account if you could train your
users to only use the phone 1 at a time. But, it'd probably be just as
easier to do 5 accounts if you are paying by the minute. If it's a flat
rate, you would pay more for 5 accounts but you would have the 5 users
making calls concurrently, which is what you want. 

YMMV, I've noticed that almost everyone has different policies on this.

On December 6, 2004 07:01 pm, Colin Anderson wrote:
> You would need 1 broadband connection, and technically, you would need only
> 1 ACCOUNT (I think that's the word you are looking for) but any VoIP
> provider that doesn't want to go out of business right away would
enforce
> account limits so only 1 account could be in use at any one point in time.
Uh... why?  You have minutes used -- what does it matter if you use them 1 at 
a time or 50 at a time?  Seriously?  What is your rationale between limiting 
concurrent calls and being able to stay alive in the VOIP industry?  It makes 
no sense.
> Otherwise, you could make an account and have 1000 people making calls at
> the same time. Think of it in terms of software licensing: With a VoIP
> account, you have a "license" to use their service, 1 user at a
time making
> 1 call at a time. In the software world, this is called concurrent
> licensing.
What's the problem with this?  If you're being billed by the minute
every
minute every instance is using -- so your 1000 simultaneous calls would be 
using 1000 minutes.  Seems profitable to me.

I'd not use a VOIP provider that has assinine limits per account. 
Nufone's
quite happy to charge me the same per-minute per call irrespective of how 
many I'm using at once, and I'm quite happy to give Nufone my business
for
not imposing stupid limits on me.

-A.

Colin Anderson wrote:
>>If five people in the office all need to use their phones at the same
>>time, would I need five VoIP lines, or would I only need one VoIP line?
>>Am I over-thinking this?
> 
> 
> You would need 1 broadband connection, and technically, you would need only
> 1 ACCOUNT (I think that's the word you are looking for) but any VoIP
> provider that doesn't want to go out of business right away would
enforce
> account limits so only 1 account could be in use at any one point in time.
> Otherwise, you could make an account and have 1000 people making calls at
> the same time. Think of it in terms of software licensing: With a VoIP
> account, you have a "license" to use their service, 1 user at a
time making
> 1 call at a time. In the software world, this is called concurrent
> licensing. 
I disagree. More users on the phone = more minutes used.  If only one 
user was on the phone at the time = .02 cents a minute= out of business. 
  If 10 users are all on the phone at the same time, .02*10 = .20 per 
minute = CHA-CHING.  Providers gladly accept multiple connections.  Good 
  providers don't charge per connection, they charge per minute.

>EXACTLY ;)
FWIW, one of the things I was was trying to illustrate was the difference
between per-minute and unlimited. In the original poster's scenario, I think
what he was driving at was having 1 user using an unlimited account among 5
guys, thus "cheating" (negative word: try "maximizing") a
single "line";
contrast this with per-minute which, other than the "network fee" that
some
providers charge, it wouldn't matter if he had 1 account or 1000, the minute
charge would be the same.