VoIP User is a non-profit community, formed with the intention of creating a base for early
adopters, consumers and professionals alike to exchange ideas, discuss new developments and generally experiment with
We have a natural bias toward open standards. In the VoIP space, this is primarily SIP and IAX (Asterisk). That said, anything which relates to sending voice over a wire in packet form warrants further discussion here. Accordingly, we pay attention also to proprietory networks like Skype.
VoIP User is essentially run by its founders and volunteers divided into administrators, who have full access to all of our servers, and moderators who run and maintain individual forums in the VoIP Forums.
Administrator Profiles
Dean | Tjardick | John | Ian | Ray | x-console
Moderator Profiles
intradink | muppetmaster | jpdw | oasis-k | ichilton | dboyce | mazilo | jcgalvezv | dibsmft | Martyn Davies
When we started building the foundations of what became VoIP User at the end of 2002 there was nothing available to the developer and early adopter that enabled experimentation with PSTN gateways. Of course with the majority of telephone users on the PSTN, only being able to call another VoIP User in a test environment was too restrictive - some form of free access gateway was required.
In order to fill this need we setup a service system provisioning a PSTN/VoIP gateway for public access at no charge. In order to make this possible we created a unique financial model whereby calls outbound from the gateway are financed by calls inbound to the gateway. Every member signing up for access obtains an inbound PSTN number, on which revenue is generated and VoIP User receives a share. It's that share of revenue that funds the outbound calls.
All inbound funds are credited to a central "pot" which is made available to those members who are making reasonable use of the facility. Excessive use is dealt with by member and number restrictions. We aim to run this in as fair and reasonable a manner as we possibly can but the over-riding principle is it is offered for experimentational use. We are not a VoIP provider. If you require long term telephony services, you will need to look elsewhere. If you're looking to test a new piece of SIP or Asterisk equipment, you're in the right place.
VoIP User has expanded far beyond the original intentions of its founders. Membership is increasing at a rate of around 15,000 new members every year. Our VoIP Reviews section, produced by our members, has grown into the largest of its type on the internet by a huge margin. We are the largest independent forum and community dedicated to the topic on the internet today.
Whilst we are proud of what we have achieved we are also very much aware of our need to remain at the leading edge of this technology and to adapt and drive manufacturers and suppliers into appropriate directions. Provision of our VoIP/PSTN gateway is gradually giving way to supply of news, discussion and reviews. As this happens, VoIP User is becoming more media orientated.
To this end our focus is primarily on creating topical discussion and leading the industry by thought and debate. Ultimately if we succeed in some small part in making VoIP a better product for the consumer, and continue to enable up and coming companies and developers to create and test their products, then we are achieving our aims and objectives.
In 2004 we started a program where we collate and track data from VoIP ISP's in an attempt to track trends and patterns. This is an ongoing process and we have chosen to not, so far, release any information. This will however be presented at a future date. We have traffic details for the majority of VoIP ISP's in Europe from Q1 2004. A hint at the type of information we will be presenting can be seen on our current VoIP Analysis page showing data from our own SIP server.
Moderated forum discussions at VoIP User range from Prinicples of VoIP Security, Building VoIP networks and the VoIP Justification Process to NAT Traversal for SIP.