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Published: Sep 16, 2005 01:41 PM
Fri - July 11, 2003
Review of Mac2Phone 1.8: Voice over IP telephony comes to the
Mac
The first Macintosh IP telephony
solution is far from flawless, but the ability to make low-cost calls around
the world will remind you why you love your computer.
Frustrated
by our PC-using brethren's easy access to voice over IP telephony services such
as Net2Phone, I embraced Nikotel's
Mac2Phone
when it was announced earlier this year. Billed as the first VOIP solution for
the Macintosh, the software promises "flexible, low cost" calling through a
Macintosh computer to any telephone in the world. Nikotel's calling rates of
two cents per minute to any number in the continental United States and
inexpensive rates to other nations certainly satisfy that promise, but how well
does Mac2Phone really perform?
The answer: Tolerably, but with room for improvement.
Set up
Setting up Mac2Phone is relatively painless. The software requires Mac OS X Jaguar, a USB headset such as the Plantronics DSP-100, and a broadband internet connection. Mac2Phone is available as a free download from Nikotel's web site, but to place calls you must use a credit card to provision a debit account. Subsequent calls are drawn against this account, which you have the option of automatically replenishing. A common source of confusion for Mac2Phone users is that although the software will launch the day you download it, Nikotel requires 24 to 48 hours to establish a debit account before new users can make their first calls. These delays suggest that the account creation process is a manual one—a situation which will have to change if Nikotel hopes to grow its business quickly and improve the customer service experience.
The software
Mac2Phone is a java applet with all the burdens of that format. The Java machine launches slowly and responds slowly even by OS X standards, and even though Mac2Phone follows some Aqua appearance guidelines, its menu-driven interface more closely resembles a PC application with an Aqua skin than typical OS X software.
The software does not import address books, does not utilize the Apple Address Book, and does not allow you to create quick dial lists, but it does remember the last numbers dialed and the last calls missed.
Making a call
I've been using Mac2Phone for about three months to make local and cross-country calls to family and friends—and it really works. Call quality approximates that of a cell phone for local calls, while long distance calls from California to New York sometimes evidence audio artifacts and latency periods between the time a caller speaks and the time the other caller hears what was said of up to a second. (Warning: I don't recommend using Mac2Phone over WiFi, as these latency problems only increase).
Placing calls to any landline or cellular phone is a breeze. Just attach a headset to the computer's USB port, launch Mac2Phone to connect to the Nikotel network (this option be configured to connect manually or automatically), enter a telephone number, and press a green telephone icon to dial. Clicking on a red telephone icon terminates a call.
That's all there is to it!
Unfortunately, Mac2Phone currently does not generate number tones so it cannot issue commands to voicemail systems, which may render it unsuitable for your business use.
Does the world need this?
With the recent release of Apple's iChat AV beta, Mac users now enjoy reliable and cost-free (for the moment!) means of chatting through their computers at higher audio quality than Mac2Phone typically provides. So it's worth asking whether we need the telephony services Nikotel has to offer. I believe that we do.
In a world dominated by PCs and telephones, iChat AV ability to enable audio and video communication only between Macintosh computers is a serious shortcoming. Mac2Phone helps fill this communication gap by enabling low-cost, easy-to-use, and typically reliable Macintosh telephony. Let's just hope Nikotel irons out some of the kinks by the release of version 1.9.
Overall rating: B
Thoughtfulness of Design: B+
Ease of Use: A-
Interface: B
Price: N/A
Pros: First VOIP telephony solution for the Mac.
Cons: Slow initial setup of debit account, limited feature set in software, noticeable latency periods for some very long distance calls.
Updates:
Nikotel has released Mac2Phone v1.9 and claims that it resolves many of the issues raised earlier, including:
• Mac OS X Address Book integration
• DTMF integration (touch-tones) so that users are able to hear their answering machine or execute functions in a telephone system.
• Outbound jitter killer - To reduce the trip delay in a voice conversation we have implemented a cutting-edge function which will reduce the delay up to 50% (depending on your internet connection).
• Sound Box - Implemented a function with which users can put up to five recorded sound samples in wave, mp3 or sun audio format on hot keys. (combination of "apple key" and "1" to "5"). Pressing one of these hotkey combinations plays the sound locally and to your voice conversation party.
As of version 1.91, this product appears to have been renamed Nikotel4Mac.
The answer: Tolerably, but with room for improvement.
Set up
Setting up Mac2Phone is relatively painless. The software requires Mac OS X Jaguar, a USB headset such as the Plantronics DSP-100, and a broadband internet connection. Mac2Phone is available as a free download from Nikotel's web site, but to place calls you must use a credit card to provision a debit account. Subsequent calls are drawn against this account, which you have the option of automatically replenishing. A common source of confusion for Mac2Phone users is that although the software will launch the day you download it, Nikotel requires 24 to 48 hours to establish a debit account before new users can make their first calls. These delays suggest that the account creation process is a manual one—a situation which will have to change if Nikotel hopes to grow its business quickly and improve the customer service experience.
The software
Mac2Phone is a java applet with all the burdens of that format. The Java machine launches slowly and responds slowly even by OS X standards, and even though Mac2Phone follows some Aqua appearance guidelines, its menu-driven interface more closely resembles a PC application with an Aqua skin than typical OS X software.
The software does not import address books, does not utilize the Apple Address Book, and does not allow you to create quick dial lists, but it does remember the last numbers dialed and the last calls missed.
Making a call
I've been using Mac2Phone for about three months to make local and cross-country calls to family and friends—and it really works. Call quality approximates that of a cell phone for local calls, while long distance calls from California to New York sometimes evidence audio artifacts and latency periods between the time a caller speaks and the time the other caller hears what was said of up to a second. (Warning: I don't recommend using Mac2Phone over WiFi, as these latency problems only increase).
Placing calls to any landline or cellular phone is a breeze. Just attach a headset to the computer's USB port, launch Mac2Phone to connect to the Nikotel network (this option be configured to connect manually or automatically), enter a telephone number, and press a green telephone icon to dial. Clicking on a red telephone icon terminates a call.
That's all there is to it!
Unfortunately, Mac2Phone currently does not generate number tones so it cannot issue commands to voicemail systems, which may render it unsuitable for your business use.
Does the world need this?
With the recent release of Apple's iChat AV beta, Mac users now enjoy reliable and cost-free (for the moment!) means of chatting through their computers at higher audio quality than Mac2Phone typically provides. So it's worth asking whether we need the telephony services Nikotel has to offer. I believe that we do.
In a world dominated by PCs and telephones, iChat AV ability to enable audio and video communication only between Macintosh computers is a serious shortcoming. Mac2Phone helps fill this communication gap by enabling low-cost, easy-to-use, and typically reliable Macintosh telephony. Let's just hope Nikotel irons out some of the kinks by the release of version 1.9.
Overall rating: B
Thoughtfulness of Design: B+
Ease of Use: A-
Interface: B
Price: N/A
Pros: First VOIP telephony solution for the Mac.
Cons: Slow initial setup of debit account, limited feature set in software, noticeable latency periods for some very long distance calls.
Updates:
Nikotel has released Mac2Phone v1.9 and claims that it resolves many of the issues raised earlier, including:
• Mac OS X Address Book integration
• DTMF integration (touch-tones) so that users are able to hear their answering machine or execute functions in a telephone system.
• Outbound jitter killer - To reduce the trip delay in a voice conversation we have implemented a cutting-edge function which will reduce the delay up to 50% (depending on your internet connection).
• Sound Box - Implemented a function with which users can put up to five recorded sound samples in wave, mp3 or sun audio format on hot keys. (combination of "apple key" and "1" to "5"). Pressing one of these hotkey combinations plays the sound locally and to your voice conversation party.
As of version 1.91, this product appears to have been renamed Nikotel4Mac.