Chat Room solutions?

[Alphawolf]

Having a tough time coming to grips with what is available out there for Chat Room Solutions.

I have a client I am deploying a message board for.

That end is covered.

They really need an on site chat solution. They hold Chats appx 1 per week as scheduled events.

They may wish to incorporate chat a *bit* more for certain members, but they do not need a full time Chat Room.

Platform: ASP/ASP.NET

Though, it was suggested to me that:

"Java based chat is the way to go, if you want to enable chatting using browser as a client. Pure HTML chat is too expensive on server resources (bandwidth), and since DHTML support is very client dependent, users will definitely experience problems."

That stated, the client would prefer to just buy once and not have to worry about monthly charges.

The potential user base for the message board and chat solution as per webstats:

The total number of repeat visitors during the selected month is 10,040.
The total number of visitors during the selected month is 15,002.
66.92% of visitors during the selected month are repeat visitors.
The average number of repeat visitors during a month is 10,100.00.

Quality and features are more important than price. can someone help point me in the right direction?

TIA

AW

[Alphawolf]

Adding..

Anyone use DigiChat 4?

TIA

AW

[oilman]

One solution I've come across is Tag-Board [tag-board.com]. It is HTML based, but remotely hosted - so the load issues don't exist. Unfortunately it is also a subscription fee. Not perfect for what you are looking for, but it is an option out there.

[AAnnAArchy]

I use RaiderSoft SigmaChat. It integrates nicely with Threads, so one user name works for both board and chat. It keeps the troublemakers out of chat, because you control who has chat access.

[Alphawolf]

SigmaChat looks very promising.

How did you find it to be as far as modifications go? Is changing the look of it fairly easy?

oilman, why did you delete the post from the owner of the company then post a note pointing to his site?

Anyway, that solution is a bit 'rough around the edges' for what I want/need.

Leaning a lot towards SigmaChat Enterprise.

Thanks!

AW

[bcc1234]

Consider an IRC server and applet-based clients.

[AAnnAArchy]

Well, we didn't do any visual modifications at all. Its main attraction for us was that it was able to integrate fully with our UBBThreads message board. SigmaChat can use the message board's database, so only registered users can enter the chatroom, and we can use the message board's permissions and user groups to further define who can use chat. We can also use message board features to add chat to the "Who's Online" screen to track how many people are using chat, and their screennames. These were all special modifications, but easy to do and well-documented in both the SigmaChat and ThreadsDev forums.

[Richie]

conferenceroom.com

You need to be able to run it on a server of your own though and know all that kind of thing - I don't but use the free one which would not be suitable for over about 50 people.

[Mike_Feury]

Figured I'd resurrect this thread since my question is exactly the same as AlphaWolf's original, with one exception:
Platform--RH Linux/Apache.

I'm in a shared server environment, so any solution has got to be server-friendly. I imagine PHP-based would probably be best for me, or...?

We're a small indy publisher, what I'm setting up are scheduled author/reader chats which are quite popular in the industry and a good community & marketing tool.

I'll also be installing a message board soon, one of these 3 in order of preference:
vBulletin
InvisionBoard
PHPbb
Anyone got any experience with using the inbuilt chat functions on these? Would be nice if an all-in-one board/chat solution worked, using board reg details for joining & moderating the chats...

Earlier I tested PHPmyChat which comes with cPanel on my server--it crashed one of our IE6 browsers. That won't do--I need a reliable easy board for a very non-tech savvy audience.

Thanks for any advice/options :)

Mike.