TABLE OF CONTENTS In this chapter, we ll look at what s required to begin making and taking calls in Google Talk. Depending on your platform, the installation requirements and steps are slightly different, so feel free to skip down to the section that covers your particular platform.
So you ve heard all about this Internet telephone thing that the world is buzzing about, and you ve decided you want to get on board. Good for you! Let s look at the steps you ll need to take to get Google Talk properly installed and configured so you can begin to reach out and touch someone. First things first: We need to ensure that your computer system meets Google Talk s minimum requirements.
First you need an Internet connection. I know, I know an Internet connection? For an Internet phone call? Stop the presses! Although this might seem blindingly obvious, it is important that your connection have enough bandwidth to accommodate Internet telephone traffic. What is bandwidth? Bandwidth is a measure of the capacity of a communications channel. The higher a channel s bandwidth, the more information it can carry.
So what does this mean to you, the Google Talk user? Basically, there are two types of bandwidth: broadband and dial-up. This is of course a dangerous over-generalization, but for consumer-level Internet connections, this definition will suffice. Broadband is generally considered to be anything at the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) level and faster, such as the common cable modem Internet connection.
