So, there is a bounty to make skype work with asterisk…
And there is considerable interest,
But, the only evidence that a running skype can’t be made to work, through it’s API, with asterisk is voip-info.org/wiki-bounty+skype
Has anything moved on since then? Does anybody in this forum know “if not, why not”?
Skype probable works with asterisk only connecting a skype gateway after fxo so you can make calls with skypeout and coexist with a hard or soft phone.
So, the proposed solution is an FXO card (dont get me started on that one), then a WINDOZ box (has to be, none of the skype phones I can find work on Linux), then a skype phone connector, plugged back into the asterisk box.
Nice. so, rather than being a free download, it’s a $100s “wet string” solution.
However, the fact that it’s possible adds to the bewilderment about why Skype themselves dont simply support Asterisk. Asterisk is a PBX, Skype is a VoIP carrier… where’s the conflict?
Skype takes a whole lot of processing compared to SIP with g.711 or g.729 codecs. If I ran the Skype client on my old PC (1GHZ Dell with 500MB RAM), it could not do much else. My current PC is better, but not a whole lot. The “solution” would be for Skype to support SIP - but then it wouldn’t be Skype anymore.
On somewhat of a sidenote, I must say that Skype’s call quality is fantastic. Better than any SIP call i’ve had. At least for the person at the other end anyway…
I would rather have high levels of processing on the PC as opposed to low quality calls. Jitter and latency were non-existent with skype, with my 1.5mb connection with a budgetone 101, people at the other end often compain about bad quality. I’m not ruling out the 101 as the primary reason for this though….
I have had latency with Skype - which is really a result of network delay. Jitter, or more specifically “choppy voice” seems to be reduced in Skype by adding more latency - the PC waits for all the packets to show up before sending the audio to the headset. At this point, I use SIP on Stanaphone for calls that I used Skype for before - it works with more devices other than just a PC.