Re: using Webex from Stretch
Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:
> My employer is now having lots of audio/video conferences, some of which I
> should at least listen to. Unfortunately, they are doing the conferences
> with Cisco Webex. Webex uses an app that's not available for Debian Linux.
> I've tried Webex's test site and have concluded that getting the full
> audio/video conference is not an option. Mostly (so far) I don't need video
> anyway. For audio only, Webex does let me call in to a toll telephone number
> and enter an event code. That works.
>
> To avoid the phone charge, I can use a cellphone that has unlimited free
> minutes. But I'd rather sit at my desktop. It seems VoIP should let me
> connect to the toll number for free. There are many Linux VoIP programs, but
> I haven't tried them yet. Do such programs require everyone at both ends to
> be running the same program (as is done with Skype)?
>
> Can you recommend one or more VoIP programs that allow toll-free access? I'm
> running Stretch with a simple window manager (fvwm), not Gnome or KDE.
VOIP is an interconnection protocol. In order to connect a VOIP
device to the general telephone network, you need a gateway that
is willing to do the conversion. The gateway will pay telephone
tolls, so they are generally password-protected and charge you a
fee.
However, if WebEx has a public SIP interface, you can have any
SIP VOIP program -- there are lots of them -- talk directly to
that, without passing through a telephone gateway.
A little googling shows me this page:
https://help.webex.com/en-us/7yxpa9/Join-a-Webex-Meeting-from-a-Video-System
and this one:
https://help.webex.com/en-us/7ej8gq/Requirements-for-Business-to-Business-B2B-SIP-Calls-To-and-From-the-Cisco-Webex-Cloud
which might be helpful.
If you want to buy services from a telephone gateway service,
they are generally quite cheap -- US 1 cent per minute is a
reasonable price for outbound US calls in no particular volume.
-dsr-
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