What is a good alternative to Ventrilo for “group” VoIP?

Question

Back in the days (when I was a CS gamer), Ventrilo was the de facto application for group voice communications. However, Ventrilo has since then closed up their license and the public version is now limited to 8 slots. Is there a free alternative to Ventrilo? How does it differ from Ventrilo?

Answer 1

TeamSpeak

Licensing models

What license models are available for TeamSpeak 3?

There are several license models:

• Non-Profit License (NPL) Unregistered: This license allows a maximum of 1 virtual server and 32 slots. This is the default, embedded license when you download TeamSpeak 3 for free and do nothing else.

• Non-Profit License (NPL) Registered: This license allows a maximum of 10 virtual servers and 512 slots AND requires registration via Triton's website.

• Commercial License for Authorized TeamSpeak Host Providers (ATHPs): This license is required of any commercial entity or hosting company which rents servers to others for profit OR provides TeamSpeak 3 servers "free of charge to customers" via inclusion of any other for-profit services.

• Annual Activation License (AAL) for Commercial Entities: This license is required of any commercial entity or business which does NOT rent servers to others, but wants to use TeamSpeak 3 within a commercial environment. Internet Cafes or small to medium sized businesses using TeamSpeak 3 for internal communication are typical candidates for purchasing an Annual Activation License.

• TeamSpeak 3 Software Development Kit (SDK) License: Commercial entities using the TeamSpeak 3 SDK (NOT to be confused with the TeamSpeak 3 Plugin SDK for the TeamSpeak 3 client which is always free) must purchase an SDK license by contacting Triton CI & Associates via sales@tritoncia.com. Pricing information for the TeamSpeak 3 SDK is NOT published to the open public. Some special cases for non-profit entities using the TeamSpeak 3 SDK are also evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Please contact Triton for inquiries or further details.

Answer 2

There is Mumble, which is an open-source alternative working under Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

You can find the (long) FAQ here, and here are some interesting extracts:

What is Mumble?

Mumble is a voice chat application for groups. While it can be used for any kind of activity, it is primarily intended for gaming. It can be compared to programs like Ventrilo or TeamSpeak. People tend to simplify things, so when they talk about Mumble they either talk about "Mumble" the client application or about "Mumble & Murmur" the whole voice chat application suite.

What makes Mumble better?

Mumble has very low latency combined with good sound quality; it uses CELT and Speex, not just the voice compression technology, but also the voice preprocessing to remove noise and improve clarity. Mumble also has positional audio for supported games, meaning the other players' voice will come from the direction their character is in game.

I haven't used it myself, but from what I heard, it is quite satisfying. It can be however a bit harder to configure, from what I've been told. You can find a guide to configuring and using it at this link from their wiki.

Guide to their server (Murmur) can be found at this link.