Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Available Phone/Video-Programs:

- Skype
- viber
- Firefox Hello
- appear.in
- Tango
- Google Hangouts
- Linphone

- oovoo






The original question is outdated - so I edited the topic to the result of the original: Programs/apps for Video/Phone conversations and added the results in a list. Feel free to post new suggestions, odeas and findings.

Original question:
Hi there,

my girlfriend will be on a trip to china for some time so I am currently looking for a video chat client.

Of course there is skype - but I also would be interested if you know alternatives working on both - mobile (preferably android or sailfish) and pc (preferably linux/ubuntu) that i have overseen so far.


A friend recommended me viber - but as far as i see this app sucks all the mobile numbers from your adress book just like whatsapp does - which i want to avoid.
I would prefer to have the choice not to allow that.

Can you recommand other solutions that might work for me? Any idea, tips etc. is welcome.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Might not work for you, but as I don't like any centralized solutions (dependent on external parties/companies that will steal your data while pretending to be your friends) I just usually roll my own solution.

In this case it would be to pipe audio and webcam stream through ssh connection. No extra parties required. :D

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

An app, please!

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

I don't see why one is required.
I generally dislike "apps" and the mentality that there should always be an "app" for any given task. :(

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

I think this particular task does deserve its own application. Users that want to do video calls don't necessarily want to (or even have the ability to) roll their own solution to that problem anymore than I want to build my own car. For that matter, I need to eat but I barely grow/raise any of my own food.

And really, if I were in that situation -- SO going out of country for a while, wants to keep in touch -- the last thing I'd want to be doing is trying to help her keep my personal hacked-together solution working from the other side of the globe. My wife would definitely not be amused by the opportunity and would most certainly solve the problem by just paying exorbitant charges for an international call.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

AFAIK no mobile browser supports it un-prefixed yet (I guess they probably will in time), but I've been surprised how well WebRTC works. Well-implemented in Firefox Hello and appear.in, and the latter apparently has an Android app available. No idea if that would work on Sailfish to any extent, though.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

If you want to go with a different evil empire, google hangouts (what a stupid name, IMO) works with Ubuntu and, I'm told, Android. Obviously, subject to being broken by Google at any time without warning . . .

There's also Tango -- which I've never tried and which seems to have a far-from-striaghtforward-anything-but-one-click-install for Ubuntu based on a French-language YouTube tutorial I found. Maybe some others that might work on Ubuntu with Wine.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

well - since mobile phones mostly use apps this is actually quite a requirement. ;)
Its not meant for any given task anyway - since the question is : how to stay in touch (easily) through a video chat app/programm/whatever while being far apart.
So as not necessaraly both will always be near a pc when we call each other the solution should be mobile.

I thought that was quite clear with the way i asked - sorry if it was misunderstandable.


@robthebold
thanks - I didn't have google on my map since they shut down their xmpp solution. Better to know more possibilities than less.

Tango - never heard of it before. Bad name anyway since you got a lot of wrong hits when searching for it. ;) Would be an ok solution (also I did not yet find out if they differ from viber - means: they suck in your adress book) since we have to possibility for a pc with win to (although we use ubuntu linux as favourite)

@eztran - thanks. I tried firefox hello already (unsucessfull with my brother) - but I'll give it another try. Also I am not quite sure if maybe some websites are blocked in china. But worth a try anyway.

So the list so far is (non ordered):
- Skype
- viber
- Firefox Hello
- appear.in
- Tango

Any other idea or suggestion is welcome. The more the merrier.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

you can use sip like linphone.org it works good

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

I've seen you mention linphone before, haven't I?

Is it possible to get it to do video calls on the n900?

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Yes, it is.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

https://s16-us2.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/...26bf7a22a40efb

MEGA

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

well you can choose between numerous sip services and yes it can do videocall
as of sip what i did is , registerd on linphone.org and as n900 has sip built in it works right away also you can recomend the linphone sip client to anybody then as it works on all major platforms or they can use any sip client

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Could you give us some help on how to get that working (specifically a video call).

I've set up a SIP account with linphone on my n900 and it connects no problem. I then tried creating another account and registered it with their Windows client. I could not get them to call each other though.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

First things coming to my mind are
Windows firewall
router settings
port forwarding
...

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Some mobile networks filter out SIP since they want you to use the mobile phone calls/video instead. Check with your mobile provider to know if they allow SIP or not.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

what is the problem ? it should work in windows and video calls in windows ph is planned

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

I'm only talking about over wifi for the moment. But for the record I know I can make SIP voice calls over my 3G provider no problem.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

The fact that the Windows Linphone client successfully registers my account would rule those things out, wouldn't it?

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Well, I've registered two Linphone accounts just so that I could try calling from one to the other. With the Windows client I'm simply trying to dial the 'username' of the other account (registered on the n900). It usually says the 'user is temporarily unavailable' and aborts.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Making SIP calls is one thing, receiving SIP calls on the same account is a different beast.

Nope. Registering works one way (connection opened from your network). But when being called different ports are used (connection needs to be opened from outside into your network).

So as long as you are behind a router (and not in a DMZ) you run into problems being called (and possibly with incoming speech/video).

Try in a 'open' internet hot spot...

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Telegram..... !

Atm video is not possible on N900 - but hopefully that changes if more people use it.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Are you forwarding port 5060? You may need to forward another one too, as I think there's two ports required by SIP. I would have thought the Linphone help would explain how to set up your network...? There may also be a setting in the software to tell it that it's behind a NAT router. It's been a long time since I tried to do anything like this, but I vaguely remember having to do that with the software I used back then.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

What about Tox ? It is distributed, encrypted by default & zero setup. It also does not do any of the privacy invading crap like Whatsapp & co do and is fully open source.

As for audio and video chat - it works fine on desktop (tried Linux-Linux, but it should work just as fine with Windows & MacOS) and it can automatically traverse NAT, so no manual port forwarding is needed.

There are also mobile clients - Cyanide for Sailfish OS and a client for Android. But I'm not sure how far are the mobile clients with audio & video chat support.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

This:

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...6&postcount=21

and this:

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...2&postcount=23


EDIT:
Also, look at the issue tracker https://github.com/irungentoo/toxcore/issues/1251

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Why don't you try LINE app?

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Well in the FAQ on Linphone it says the following...

DOES LINPHONE WORK BEHIND FIREWALLS ? WHAT ARE THE PORTS USED ?

Yes it works provided that the SIP server is kind enough. The SIP server powering the linphone.org SIP service is kind enough and guarantees correct operation behind any firewall.

... but I'm complicating things unnecessarily for myself here, and I don't want to hijack the thread with my problem. The Windows client situation is not that important to me. I really just to want see a video call in action on my n900 via SIP. Linphone if necessary, or I have a Callcentric SIP account that I know works with audio (I use it often to receive Google Voice diverted calls).

If anyone wants to help me out by trying to call me, I'll send you my Linphone SIP address via private message.

Thanks.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

try calling from n900

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

It worked! How stupid of me :rolleyes:

I wasn't even sure how to do it from the phone. I thought I was limited to numbers like a normal cellular call. But, of course, you have the full keyboard available with SIP calls!

Thank you :)

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

I CANNOT confirm this. At home behind a FRITZ I need to route the client ports through (to Win and Jubuntu client on different ports) and also on the road I need to put my wifi router to DMZ mode for that IP I am going to use with my N900.
Initiating calls always work, but enabling speech/video or getting called is the prob (even wkith stun and all tricks;)).

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Yeah, you seem to be right. Although I can now call the Windows client from the N900, I still can't get it to call from Windows. I'll try port forwarding tomorrow.

Re: Video (Chat) Alternative to Skype ??
 

Also the reason for the question is not up-to-date anymore I would like to keep this thread open to add additional possibilites + news.
I will edit the first post and add a list of the possibilites posted in here so everyone can have an easy and fast overview of available phone/video/(chat) programs - so of you find any new apps/programs - please share your findings.

I just read about oovoo - altough this also seems unencypted i will add it to the list.