What reliable VOIP software allows crosstalk?

April 28, 2016 11:52 AM

I produce a podcast with guests chatting comedically in two locations. Skype and Google Hangouts mute one side's mic while the other side is talking, which really messes with people trying to interject jokes. Are there any (relatively simple) VOIP solutions that allow crosstalk and interruptions? (Audio consistency is much more important than audio quality, and we'd like to still have video.)
posted by YoungAmerican to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

What you want to Google is Full-Duplex VOIP versus half-duplex. You also want this in your conferencing equipment (if you're using a speakerphone)

This is why Polycom is so popular, they invented full-duplex speakerphones
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:00 PM on April 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

While Skype is only half-duplex, Google Hangouts is theoretically full-duplex. It isn't always quite so, but it definitely does allow two people to talk at once. It may be that echo-cancelation is causing mics to be muted. The other option that works well is Facetime.

Are you using headphones on both ends?
posted by ssg at 12:19 PM on April 28, 2016

Response by poster: We definitely have headphones (and pro mics) on both ends. And we're recording on both ends, too, so it doesn't really matter if we have a low-fi connection (as long as it's easily understandable and consistent).
posted by YoungAmerican at 12:42 PM on April 28, 2016

Have you tried any of the more business-oriented options like Webex or GoToMeeting?
posted by ssg at 12:56 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: SSG - we haven't, no. They tend to be pretty expensive, but if one of them did what we needed consistently we'd be into it.
posted by YoungAmerican at 3:13 PM on April 28, 2016

Mumble will do full-duplex voice just fine & is very low-latency to boot. Who-ever is going to run the server will have to do a little setting up, but everyone else can just run the client.
posted by pharm at 1:09 AM on April 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

(or just rent a mumble server - there’s plenty of providers out there.)
posted by pharm at 1:10 AM on April 29, 2016

You could use an actual factual SIP-based VoIP service that uses a softphone. Some softphones allow recording and conference calling is also a thing that can be done.

I don't know if it is still true, but Callcentric used to not charge per minute for VoIP-only calls. For a couple bucks a month you get a "virtual" phone number that anyone can call using a softphone by dialing [e-mail], so it isn't difficult for guests, other than having to download the software (or have a hardware SIP phone that can URL dial) in the first place.
posted by wierdo at 2:06 PM on April 29, 2016

Don't use gotomeeting. In my experience it's always half a beat behind--terrible for jokes.
posted by editrixx at 3:08 PM on April 30, 2016

Facetime is a great option if Macs are being used on both ends. Audio can be captured with Piezo or Audio Hijack very easily. Otherwise, Mumble or Discord might be worth checking out. Discord allows for crosstalk and feels like it has very low latency.

I also saw this site, Cast, a while ago. Haven't tried it out myself but I imagine it would do the trick, it's specifically built for podcasting.
posted by grgg at 4:22 PM on September 15, 2016