Teamspeak, Google Voice, Discord, Skype...?

[hpdonat]

Being new to FG and VTTs in general I'm not too sure about which service to choose. I think I want to use video, but I'm not too sure on that either.

Please help

[LordEntrails]

There is a community TeamSpeak server. Details here; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?17071-Voicechat!-Community-TeamSpeak3-Server

There is an FG Discord server here (and a second community one I don't have the link to); https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?36377-New-Official-Discord-Server

Neither do video.

You can search the forums for other people's opinions, this is oft discussed. In short, there is no consensus on what the best ool is if you want to use video.

[damned]

I believe hangouts is the best way to use Video.
My voice only preference is TeamSpeak.

[irish_carbomb]

I have used Teamspeak for years and years for my other video game exploits. Since I started playing D&D again, i have really enjoyed Discord. The main reason I like it over Teamspeak is the text chat room associated with your voice room. I find that my players use it a lot to converse and strategize over the week between games.

[Asterionaisien]

I like skype. everyone and his cousin has it, and it never has let me down. chat, video, files, everyone has ever worked and many times was the only program that everyone could use without problems. And yes, i tried teamspeak, discord, and hangout.

[Zacchaeus]

It is a difficult one. My teamspeak provider recently went out of business citing competition from the likes of Discord and Google hangouts - mainly because those are 'free'. Otherwise I'd have said Teamspeak too over any of the other VOIPs. Recently we tried Discord and I'm impressed with its ease of use and the clarity. It deosn't have anything like the bells and whistles of TS or the other VOIPs but its certainly easy enough to get going. One thing which I do have a concern about is how long it will remain 'free' since I can't see where whoever is running it currently gets its money from.

One other thing the consensus I have seen is avoid Skype at all costs since it's a bandwidth and memory hog.

[Trenloe]

My teamspeak provider recently went out of business citing competition from the likes of Discord and Google hangouts - mainly because those are 'free'. Otherwise I'd have said Teamspeak too over any of the other VOIPs.
This one isn't out of business and is running! https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?17071-Voicechat!-Community-TeamSpeak3-Server

[Zacchaeus]

This one isn't out of business and is running! https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?17071-Voicechat!-Community-TeamSpeak3-Server

Oh, cheers Trenloe I didn't know about that one :) Is this damned guy reliable?

[irish_carbomb]

Yeah my opinion is that Skype is the worst of the bunch. Bloated and gobbles up internet. No big deal if you have a big pipe, but you have to think of everyone using it. I for one am out in the sticks, along with a couple of my players, and bandwidth is precious. Plus we are not interested in video, so hangouts and skype are a waste of overhead.

I can say with all honesty that the worst FG game I ever played from a technical standpoint was one where we used skype. But once again I have slow internet so take that with a grain of salt

[Bidmaron]

There is also if I recall a question as to ownership of material on discord. Apparently their terms say they own anything out there?

[Asterionaisien]

Yeah my opinion is that Skype is the worst of the bunch. Bloated and gobbles up internet. No big deal if you have a big pipe, but you have to think of everyone using it. I for one am out in the sticks, along with a couple of my players, and bandwidth is precious. Plus we are not interested in video, so hangouts and skype are a waste of overhead.

I can say with all honesty that the worst FG game I ever played from a technical standpoint was one where we used skype. But once again I have slow internet so take that with a grain of salt

Dunno, we never had any problem, and a couple of times was the only voip everyone could access at the same time. I find that strange, maybe It's bandwith yes.

[JHale1966]

I've used Hangouts and TeamSpeak. Both have their issues at times - it just depends on what's going on internet wise and what the loads are on each.

Most of the groups I play in use Hangouts though as the standard.

[JohnD]

Skype is indeed a resource and bandwidth beast.