What is H.323? ...and does ichat3 comply?

Rob, welcome to these discussions.
You can more answers here:
http://www.openh323.org/
You should stop fighting with your ISP and find another. Some just don't "get it" and they shouldn't be getting your money.

If you school will allow the ports in this Apple Document, you will not be able to use iChat AV audio or video via their internet connection.

More info in the How can I get my router to work with iChat? FAQ

HI Rob,

There are schools in the UK using iChat. Some of them have used it to speak to the Space Station and do joint projects with schools overseas.

With a Local Authority Network you are likely to have a Static IP address.

It is then a question of getting them to open the ports.

If you point out that the AIM application on a PC can need ports 1024-5000 (nearly 4000 ports) open and iChat will need only 23 to chat to other people offsite, you may have more luck.

If you have a Mac Lab then you may need three more ports open for the Bonjour side of things.

Ports:
5190 to allow you to Log on and Text chat and send files
Needs TCP and UDP protocols if they need to be stated.

5060, 5678, 16384-16403 ON UDP to AV chat

5297, 5298, 5353 on UDP with 5298 on TCP for Bonjour.

You may have more luck if you Local Authority also has a University that uses the JANET server and has Halls of Residence that allows students access to the internet.

Ralph

Hi Rob,

You may have more luck in seeing if they can give you a dedicated connnection to your department/classroom

Ralph

I, too, was hoping I could use iChat or iChatAV with H.323. It's a widely-used standard for videoconferencing in distance education. I recently agreed to do something for a colleague's class at another university (Purdue), and I asked the I.T. help there about using an iSight on my Mac. He said H.323 didn't work with iSight or iChat. I checked out Kirk's reference to the "open323" effort, but I couldn't find anything that related to Mac OS. I'm wondering why Kirk referred us to this site? Did I miss something? It looks like a wonderful thing, but of no help to Mac users, unless I missed something. Also, I couldn't find any mention of "323" or "Polycom" (commonly used H.323 equipment for classrooms) on Apple's iSight and iChat help pages. So, there seems to be nothing on the openSource front and nothing from Apple for people that need to communicate using H.323 because the institution they are working with uses it (not our own ISP).

I vaguely recollect that H.323 is a proprietary Intel format. I wonder if Apple will be able to work with it soon. I hope so, because this is a major gap, with worldwide marketing impact for Apple, not just U.K. or U.S.

Hello Tillman,

Welcome to Apple Discussions.

... I couldn't find any mention of "323" or "Polycom"...

I do NOT use this, but some in the USA have reported they can connect to Polycom nets by using ohphoneX.

Search "In this folder" at iSight Discussions for "ohphoneX" (without the quotation marks) for info about using iSight with this app.

EZ Jim