TeleMeetings was, [Fwd: GNHLUG.Organizational - Automated notification of topic changes]

[Bruce Dawson]

Ted Roche wrote:
> Bruce's post reminded me that several members of the Ruby group were
> really interested in the idea that Ben would do his DNS talk, but didn't
> think there was any way they could consider getting to Peterborough (it
> is one of those can't-get-there-from-here trips) and asked if Ben could
> do it via WebEx, as they have the facilities there to host the WebEx
> serving.
>
> Failing that, perhaps a return visit to Durham would work for all,
> requiring much less Murphy's-Law-attracting technology.
>
> I think WebEx is based on proprietary technologies that might not fit
> in well with a Linux User Group or FOSS, but I wonder how feasible it is
> to do such a thing using FOSS. Does anyone have experience doing this?
> How feasible is it using "borrowed" bandwidth - wireless or wired - from
> the facilities (i.e., we have NAT'ted wired ethernet at ABI, but
> wireless at Martha's).
>
> Anyone with actual field experience to share?
>
> - recording live meetings
> - broadcasting live meetings
> - post-broadcasting ("podcasting") audio
>   
We do this 3-4 times a week in conferences with one of our clients. And
Asterisk appears more reliable than, for instance, netmeeting. Carole
will dial into the meeting room, then I'll call the client (which is
using a commercial "meeting room" too), and transfer the client's call
into the meeting room. Then I'll dial into the meeting room.

The nice thing is that the conversations are recorded (which is great
for note taking).

Of course the quality is "telephone voice grade", but its pretty reliable.

The most frequent (and it doesn't happen that often) problem is the
reliability of the box Asterisk is running on. We're using Verizon PSTN
lines for calling into the client, and normal POTS lines for the
handsets. We're also running an older version of Asterisk with all of
its warts and dimples.

Alternatives we've tried are:

    * Netmeeting - works as often as it doesn't and you can't really do
      anything else with your PC while its running.
    * Soft phones - spotty quality and the usual problems with running
      real-time software on Microsoft platforms (crashes, erratic
      behavior, clashes with other client-mandated software like firewalls).

--Bruce