Why Use UserPlane? It’s a ripp off!

I run a free dating website, smart-love.ca, and of course I want to use a video chat conference. I looked into using Userplane.com, however for 100 connections it costs $1,250 per month for a text and audio/video webchat!

This is far too expensive for me, and I am a Flash developer, so I knew I could come with something better.

I installed Flash Media Server on my home Linux machine running Ubuntu Linux from the article here. This gives me 10 free connections to play with because I am using the Developer edition, no license. The Flash Media Server 2 download comes with examples that can easily be modified to suit your purposes, and that is as far as I am right now.

The next step is to clean up the chat, add event notification and connect it to php with AMFphp flash services to setup online notification.

After that is all finished, I will have the same functionality as UserPlane, without the lengthly setup pain and expensive costs! Fees for hosting a Flash Media Server for 100 connections is only $99.95 a month, compared to the $1,250 that UserPlane charges just because you’re using their custom webchat, which usually annoys its users more than anything.

Contact me if anyone wants a custom webchat programmed!

for an example, visit smart-love.ca and on the left you will see ‘online users’, just click ‘chat with username’. - Displayed in Joomla, using a modified mod_cbe_showall module to also display this javascript dynamic chat link.