Katrina LA asked:


There is increasing awareness of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in the Australian marketplace of late, and understandably so. VoIP has the potential to revolutionise the way we communicate.

Much of the hype has been around residential VoIP, rather than business VoIP communications. It is crucial to understand that major differences exist between residential and business grade VoIP solutions. Relying on a residential grade VoIP service can have disastrous effects for a business, including loss of sound quality in phone calls and down time where your business’ ability to communicate may be cut off entirely. The integration of a business grade VoIP solution has many cost and efficiency benefits for Australian Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs).

The most obvious advantages of a business-grade VoIP solution are the reductions in call and line rental costs, however, there are many other significant business advantages for SMBs of all sizes to realise:

* Increased productivity by integrating VoIP with the computer desktop and allowing features such as Click2Dial from Outlook

* Increased business metric capabilities from detailed reporting on inbound and outbound call patterns

* Vastly improved and centralised personal attendant and reception capabilities allowing visibility of all staff extensions in a consolidated view, simplifying transfers to extensions and voicemail

* Awareness of an individual’s location as ‘available’, ‘busy’ or ‘out of the office until 2pm’

* Increased efficiency from converging the voice and data networks (operating both voice and data on the one network)

To decide how best to integrate VoIP with your existing voice and data infrastructure you must have a clear understanding of your business drivers and the results you wish to achieve.

VoIP Gateways

Ideal times to consider the introduction of a VoIP solution are during an office relocation, or during times of high growth. An excellent entry level solution for businesses who wish to experience the benefits provided by VoIP is to connect their phone system to PSTN via a VoIP gateway device. A VoIP gateway device is a simple piece of hardware that allows the basic integration of VoIP with a traditional phone system, most often without having to physically change any configuration.

Pacific Internet’s VoIP gateway is connected via a business-grade broadband service and will send calls destined for external locations (whether local, national, mobiles, international or another VoIP service) across the VoIP network and into the traditional phone line at the destination point. It is Pacific Internet that maintains connectivity to the traditional phone line. This scenario allows for the seamless integration between the two networks (PSTN and VoIP) and a traditional phone system to co-exist with a VoIP solution. The advantage of a gradual migration to a total VoIP solution is that it allows you to immediately appreciate some of the benefits of VoIP, without the upfront cost of replacing your entire existing voice infrastructure.

Connecting to Traditional Voice Networks via VoIP

A number of scenarios are available to connect your phone system to the traditional PSTN via VoIP, the most common of which are:

* Full replacement of traditional analogue or digital lines for all inbound and outbound calls, providing for standard geographic Direct Inward Dial (DID) numbers to be allocated to the VoIP service, for example, 02 9999 9999 for Sydney, 07 3333 3333 for Brisbane, 02 4900 0000 for Newcastle

* Partial replacement of traditional analogue or digital lines for all outbound calls

* Installation of additional VoIP lines to sustain call overflow during unexpected or regular peaks in outbound calls traffic

* Additional lines for calling only specific, designated prefixes. For example, making all outbound calls to mobiles via VoIP.

Each of these scenarios can be configured to either work automatically or to require manual user selection with most phone systems. For example, if VoIP is being installed solely to make all outbound calls to mobiles then the phone system can be set-up via Least Cost Routing (LCR) to automatically use a VoIP line when an individual calls a mobile.

An important consideration when integrating your traditional telephone system with VoIP is to very clearly understand current calling behaviour. For consideration are items such as:

* How many simultaneous inbound calls does the business receive?

* How many simultaneous outbound calls does the business make?

* How many spare PSTN ports (or trunk ports) does the telephone system have?

* Are the spare PSTN ports for analogue lines or for digital (ISDN) lines?

* If there are currently insufficient spare PSTN ports, can the phone system be cost-effectively upgraded with additional cards to provide sufficient port capacity?

Once you have a clear understanding of your current call behaviour and phone system, you can accurately determine how many VoIP lines are required and the resulting demands this will place on business-grade broadband service. You must consider bandwidth requirements, segregation of voice from data, and Quality of Service (QoS).

As your VoIP provider, Pacific Internet, can make qualified recommendations on the best configuration to achieve your desired business benefits. Integrating VoIP with an existing business data network and phone system takes a significant amount of careful planning and it is crucial that this step not be overlooked, however, it is an ideal way to test a VoIP solution and immediately start to appreciate some of the cost and efficiency benefits that VoIP can provide.



Protect your VOIP network

Angela Hayden asked:


The essential part of any business is communication and this gap can lead to misunderstanding; so at the managerial level, communication is a challenging topic with difficulties and high costs, especially if the business is on outsourcing or have offices across the world. Well, considering the cost, functionality, reliability, scalability and security; the emergence of IP PBX has moved the organizations to avail the innumerable benefits associated with it, contrary to the past modes of communication. IP PBX solution offers the services which help to reduce the monthly telephony charges with more of voice quality feature; this service is offered by the Internet telephony.

To avail the services of cheaper telephony charges, users have to avail VoIP PBX systems on their Linux operating system and the handsets used are referred as SIP phone. The SIP or Session Initiation Protocol is a switching protocol to control the user’s telephone calls over the Internet. Thus, while using the IP PBX solutions, user's call between the subscribers of the same VoIP service providers completely stays on the network whereas calls from the non-subscribes are terminated to PSTN i.e. Public Switched Telephone Network. Well, user can not only use the services of IP PBX but he can also sell this solution to numberless business houses.

Many businesses are nowadays opting for virtual PBX solutions as they are simpler and easier to install and configure compared to traditional communication system. To implement PBX VoIP solutions, any business or company has to install the IP PBX in its headquarter and distribute the employees IP phone with the VoIP adapter. With this set-up users can make in-house and out-house calling routed through Internet at a substantial rate, moreover, user can add additional phone connections and extensions. Thus, before replacing the PSTN to IP PBX solutions with Internet telephony, a user must be thorough with the services and its usability.



You can Get Cheap VOIP DID's too!

Angela Hayden asked:


In the converging telecom industry, VoIP PBX system is defined as an innovative new product and service that act as a key element for long distance and international calling at minimal rate. IP PBX is an acronym used for Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange. It facilitates telecommunication through IP data network. Communication through IP PBX system is through digital packet switching technique rather than a circuit switching technique of conventional telephone lines.

The system allows user to share and transfer the data, voice and video over a single IP network. While sending data through a single IP network increases an efficiency and productivity of communication. Well knowing more about basic architecture of an IP PBX, it includes IP PBX server, one or more SIP phones, VoIP phones and a gateway. Like any other proxy server, hosted PBX system works similar. First thing that a user of SIP or IP phones has to do is to get himself registered with the IP PBX server to make a call to another VoIP or SIP phone. The IP PBX server possesses the information about all SIP or IP addresses, so that they can establish a reliable connection. The process of routing call through PBX server is quite easy and simple as it will connect internal and external call through voice over ip service provider or a VoIP gateway.

The benefits that are attached to VoIP PBX over conventional PBX system are as follows;

1. Voice over IP is easier to install and configure

2. Low maintenance cost

3. Low operation cost

4. Easily handles number of additional phone lines

5. Cost efficiency

6. Facilitate hot desking, roaming, usability and manageability

To avail the benefit of cheaper Internet telephony, users have to avail VoIP PBX systems on their Linux operating. Moreover, modern virtual PBX offers a wider range of handsets and telephone service connection compared to traditional PBX system.



You can Get Cheap VOIP DID's too!

Internet voice offers plenty of potential savings and productivity for small businesses. You can pay a fixed fee for monthly calling plans that include unlimited long distance coverage of North America and have the ability to program your phone to follow your movements without ever having to talk to a phone company representative ever again.

As an example, you have access to a wide range of business services that previously were only available to larger corporate users, including: call forwarding, multiple simultaneous rings (where an incoming call can be answered wherever it is more convenient), follow me (where incoming calls are routed to particular numbers at particular times of the day), and do-not-disturb. All are now part of most Internet voice service plans at no extra charge.

The downside is that your phone is more closely tied to your Internet service, which is less reliable than standard land-line phones. If your connection goes south, so does your phone service.

There are three basic different types of business Internet voice service. Most providers offer monthly plans that start at $50 per line including Verizon's VoiceWing for Business, AT&T's CallVantage, Packet8.com's Virtual Office and various business phone plans from other high-speed Internet providers that are basically a two-line version of their consumer service. All of those offer minimal features and are designed for a single office location. They also make use of standard or analog telephones that you buy in any office supply store.

The next step up from these plans are ones from what is called a "hosted service" that is provided by VirtualPBX.com, M5Net.com, Bandwidth.com and numerous others. Basically, those providers rent you space on their systems and connect up your offices via high-speed Internet lines. They typically start at several hundred dollars a month but also include a high-speed Internet connection that you can use for other applications such as Web and email.

The most expensive level is buying your own Internet voice PBX, or phone switch. That can cost more than $1,000 for the switch, and more than $500 a month for the various plans, and is designed for larger offices. Both Linksys and D-Link offer less expensive switches but require configuration and help from a consultant.

Here are some questions to ask before you decide on which business plan is the right one for you.

1. How many incoming phone numbers do you need?

If you have inbound fax lines and analog answering machines that you can't or won't get rid of, you need to figure out a plan for either keeping these lines or substituting work-arounds to continue using these phones. The various Internet voice services also vary in their support for inbound analog lines, something that is also worth investigating.

This is also a good time to calculate how many new digital phones you'll need to buy. Given that prices are rapidly dropping on phones, it doesn't make much sense to buy any more than what you need at first.

Also, you will want to investigate whether you can keep your existing inbound office number(s) when you move to the new Internet voice system. Some of the providers can move your numbers in some locations, and some can't. It is worth checking: There are many reasons why they can't be transferred - some political, some technical - but if you need to keep your existing numbers you may have to continue to pay your local phone company for minimal service for these lines.

2. How many different offices will you want to tie together under a single plan?

If you are just buying service for a single location, start with the simplest plans and see if they will meet your calling needs. Things get complicated quickly as you involve having multiple, geographically distant offices that can be connected via one central office number. Do you want everyone in these offices to have their own extension, to give the impression that they are all working out of the same "office?" That is what providers such as VirtualPBX.com are geared toward.

3. What kind of high-speed Internet service do you presently have to your office?

The type of connection is critically important to your experience with Internet voice business service. Voice quality is directly related to things such as network latency and packet delays that can cause drop-outs and degrade the overall audio of your calls. You will need to hire someone who specializes in Internet voice applications or spend some time understanding these issues and testing your existing connection. If you hire an Internet voice consultant, he or she should be able to do that for you.

Before you attempt anything, a good place to start is with TestYourVOIP.com, a free service that can indicate whether your connection is fast enough to support voice applications. Ideally, you want to purchase what is called a T-1 line for an office that has more than five people.

4. Do you need to upgrade your office wiring and network?

If you are working out of a home office or a place where you can wire up your phones, then you are in better shape for Internet voice, because you will probably need to do some wiring. Internet phones require more recent and higher quality network wiring than your average computer. Again, your voice consultant should be able to make the appropriate recommendations, but realize that this could be part of the cost of the overall job, and it could get pricey if you have to replace switches, routers and other network gear.

A second issue is whether you want to deploy Power over Ethernet switches to power your new digital phones. Sure, you can plug the new phone into a standard AC wall socket, but that might not be convenient or as reliable as having them get their power from a central wiring closet that has battery backup in case of power failures. Here again, you may be looking at buying new switches to handle that.

5. Do you want to make or receive calls from your laptop?

One of the big advantages of Internet voice is being able to take a phone and connect it anywhere on the Internet and have it work as if it is sitting in your office. But to get to this point, you need equipment that can support remote users. In some cases, you will need a phone that has a built-in Virtual Private Network client (Snom.com sells such IP phones, for example) to connect to your corporate network, just like a remote PC user uses. You'll also need a good quality USB headset to make the calls and have software that works with your Internet Service voice provider.

Phil Lam asked:


Asterisk, complete PBX software, runs on Linux, Windows, BSD and OS X. Asterisk does VoIP in four different protocols, and is able to interconnect with almost all telephony equipment which is inexpensive.

Asterisk provides many features like Voicemail services with Directory, Call Conferencing, Interactive Voice Response, and Call Queuing. It includes three-way calling, caller ID services and Skinny.

You will not need additional hardware to implement Asterisk. But it does expect a non-standard driver that implements dummy hardware as a non-portable timing mechanism. Single or multiple VoIP Providers can be used for incoming and outgoing calls, though incoming calls can be handled by different VoIP Providers.

For use of digital and analog telephony equipment, Asterisk supports a number of equipment most notably is Asterisk sponsored hardware Digium. Their FXO and FXS cards are popular for small installations.

Full features of Asterisk Open Source Edition include Full PBX Capability, Switched or Packet Data, VoIP Capability, TDM Capability, Converged Telephony, Voice Mail, Unlimited-Seat Conference Bridge, SIP and IAX Support and Asterisk-centric Poundkey Linux.

Asterisk also includes the Business Edition, where it includes other features like Asterisk Technical Manual, Quick-start Guide, Commercial License with Legal Protection, 240 Simultaneous Calls, Tech Support for Install and Bug Resolution, Free Upgrades and Tech Support for One Year, Access to Business Edition Portal for One Year, Special Offers for Partner Products and many others.

Asterisk allows people to communicate using the internet. It is one of the cheapest ways to talk. The PC clients connect to each other through an Asterisk server which uses a Linux/Unix OS. Asterisk calls are passed through different channel protocols. The most popular forms of calls are H323, SIP, IAX or Zap. Depending on the type of channel you use, the user must have the appropriate software to handle the call type.

Let’s say, if are a registered on an Asterisk PBX (or other PBX) as a SIP user, you are required to use a SIP phone client such as X-Lite or SIPPS. Or, if you are registered as an IAX user you must use an IAX phone client such as iaxcomm. SIP/IAX Client Configuration allows you to register SIP and IAX users. This includes the adjustment of all Asterisk and client phone settings.

To make calls with Asterisk telephone system you should connectivity to an Asterisk PBX for call handling and users using PCs with SoftPhones for calling internally and externally. All configuration information for the Asterisk PBX knows is written to the conf files located in /etc/asterisk.

All information for SIP users is stored in sip.conf and for IAX users in iax.conf. Numbers are read from extensions.conf. Voicemails are stored in voicemail.conf etc. To place a call through Asterisk, registration to Asterisk is not required. However, you do need a username and password which will allow you to call someone who is registered. To receive a call, you must be a registered user and have an extension.

When any change is made in conf files from /etc/asterisk/ or changes that relate with some of these files, you must type 'reload' in the Asterisk Command Line Interface (CLI) to make the changes effective.

It is possible to implement only the Open Source Edition for your corporate business. You will only need a Linux OS computer and Asterisk has to be installed.



VOIP Security made Easy

Michael Talbert asked:


As technologies mature and more households gain access to high speed Internet, consumers will come to realize that it is simply more efficient and cost effective to send packets of voice over the Internet than over a point to point circuit switched land line. Long distance charges become a thing of the past, and international calls are pennies a minute if not free to some countries.

VoIP solutions are readily available to anyone with a high speed Internet connection, and the only hardware needed is an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) and a phone. For most consumers, utilizing a calling plan from a VoIP service provider is the best solution. Most VoIP service providers will provide the ATA hardware (or software) for free, and monthly charges range from free on up.

Peer to Peer VoIP

The least expensive VoIP solution would be using a computer on a peer to peer network. Offered from such VoIP service providers as Skype or the Gizmo Project, the software is free to download and calls within the network are free worldwide. Calls to PSTN numbers are charged at a low VoIP rate. Peer to Peer VoIP is a software solution, meaning that no ATA is required, and your phone is a pair of earplugs and a microphone plugged into your computer. The downside is that call quality is lacking compared to some of the hardware VoIP solutions available.

The "Pure Play" VoIP Service Provider

Over the past few years, a new generation of upstarts has introduced themselves into the residential VoIP arena. Probably the most successful (at least popularity wise) would be the VoIP service provider Vonage. Thanks to their lavish spending on advertising, the technology of VoIP is becoming mainstream, and the general public is beginning to realize that if the circumstances are right, Voice over IP can be a viable cost saving alternative to the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS).

Vonage, Packet8, and SunRocket are just a few of many companies that are pure-play VoIP service providers. They have no interest in selling you cable TV, conventional telephone service, or cellular minutes. Monthly plans range anywhere from $7.00 to $40.00 and calls are free in the U.S., Canada, and in some cases Europe. International rates vary with many countries as low as 2-3 cents a minute.

These are the companies that have pioneered residential VoIP for the consumer and with their low monthly calling plans, the companies that will keep the giants in the Telecommunications Industry honest.

Telco's as VoIP Providers

Just as deregulation and the advent of cellular technology in the past, VoIP is poised to revolutionize the Telecommunications Industry. And the large telephone companies, even the cellular phone companies are entering this new era kicking and screaming.

Telco's like AT&T, the regional Bells and others are happy to provide broadband internet access through DSL, but very few are willing to unbundle the internet service from their conventional telephone services. They could do it technologically, and a few local phone companies are offering DSL on the "local loop", without the wire with the dial tone. The fact is, having a broadband connection that requires you to also buy a conventional telephone connection pretty much defeats the purpose, thus making VoIP through DSL impractical for most people.

That said, the Telco's see the writing on the wall and are slowly beginning to implement Voice over IP telephony. AT&T and Quest Communications offer residential VoIP solutions starting at $25.00 and $30.00 respectively, just slightly higher than a pure VoIP service provider. All of the basic features such as call forwarding, speed dialing, and 3-way calling are included, and premium services like virtual phone numbers, conference calling, and call filtering can be had for an additional charge. International rates seem to be somewhat higher than pure play rates, though only by pennies.

VoIP and Cable Companies

If anyone is in a position to win the Telecommunication wars, it's the cable companies. Massive consolidation in the cable industry has led to huge privately owned networks that in many cases make it unnecessary to route calls over the public Internet. Quality of Service issues can be handled in house, and after all, companies like Cisco Systems pretty much built the Internet and are largely responsible for the development of Voice over IP Telephony.

Cable companies as VoIP service providers have the ability to bundle voice with high speed data and digital cable TV, and are even now running introductory offers of all three for 99.00 a month in some markets. But be careful, introductory offers end and VoIP plans with the cable companies are some of the most expensive to be had.

While VoIP service providers like Comcast and Time Warner generally receive good reviews for sound quality, monthly calling plans cost $40.00 and $45.00 respectively. Not bad when looking at a $70.00 phone bill from Bell South, but over twice as much as a pure-play VoIP service provider. No doubt, a good reliable broadband connection through a cable modem is the ideal VoIP solution (wireless notwithstanding), but you don't have to use your cable company for VoIP.

In the end, it all depends on whats important to you. If all you need is to call a friend in China on the same network, then a peer to peer VoIP service provider is for you. If you live in an area where it's offered, a telecom VoIP solution promises lower bills than their conventional connections, provided you can drop the land line.

For those that have cable modems, the choice of VoIP service providers is vast. For the monthly cost of another broadband connection, cable companies will come out to install the equipment and rewire every jack in your house. And they are just a service call away. Alternatively, the pure play VoIP providers offer the lowest rates around, and the quality is usually just as good.

Just remember, it's all in the pipe. Calls will be as clear as your VoIP service providers' network is uncongested.



Protect your VOIP network

Angela Hayden asked:


With ultimate flexibility, mobility and security, the VoIP services are particularly ruling the traditional audio mode of telecommunication. In advanced voice over IP services, users tend to make long distance or international calls at affordable costs with excellent voice quality. As a matter of fact, users can make calls to mobile phones, landlines, or overseas numbers for a lot of less. With loads of features, VoIP is catering to people and entities from different spheres.

Depending upon usage and operation, the VoIP solutions have been found to cut down on monthly telephony charges by up to 50%. As a matter of fact, Internet telephony is based on packet switching protocol; this revolutionary technology allows users to share data, voice and video over a single line. With an IP telephony service in place, one can reduce the cost of calls as well as enhance call productivity. Moreover, users can add additional phone connections and extensions in their systems. Moreover, IP solutions have overcome constraints like locality and mobility that were faced in traditional PSTN services.

For availing benefits of virtual PBX, a basic architecture of PBX server has to be set up. This VoIP PBX system includes one or more SIP phones, VoIP phones as well as VoIP gateways. The benefits attached with using an IP PBX system includes:

1. Reduction of call costs

2. Easy and efficient long distance or international calls

3. Easy addition of phone connections and extensions

4. Add-on advantages such as hot desking and roaming

The IP PBX phone systems are easy to install. They provides hassle-free usage and functionality over the traditional PSTN services. Importantly, with virtual PBX, users can reduce long term operation and maintenance cost. Users must opt for IP PBX providers, who offer feature rich benefits like voice mail, call forwarding, call transferring, 3-way calling, call conference, DID Management as well as customised reporting.



You can Get Cheap VOIP DID's too!

Phil Lam asked:


Firstly, to use a product, you will have to know what it is. Asterisk is an Open Source PBX telecommunication platform. It is flexible because it is able to run on different operating systems – Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Open BSD, etc. Only basic software is required. Asterisk comes with high end features like IVR, voice mail, automatic call distribution, etc. It is highly programmable and it able to handle VoIP calls over multiple VoIP protocols.

You are able to easily integrate PSTN with VoIP. Asterisk also allows mix match of analog, IP and digital phones. Even if you have no knowledge of how to change from traditional PBX to Asterisk, fear not! Asterisk allows you to migrate from traditional PBX easily. It gives the user a complete control of telephony. What’s more, it is free! It is licensed under the GPL open source. A commercial license version is also available.

I quote, Joshua Stephens, CEO of Switchvox, “With Asterisk, you can build any phone system you want. It’s irreplaceable when you need custom programming. It lets you build PBXs with the kinds of features that otherwise would cost many tens of thousands of dollars.”

Just like any other open source project, the need for Asterisk was also there. It started with Mark Spencer, creator of Asterisk. Mark felt traditional PBX was too expensive for his business, and started writing software, which was the first version of Asterisk. In actual fact, voice lines can hook up to PC via expansion cards and process itself by software.

Mark teamed up with Jim Dixon to build inexpensive expansion cards for inexpensive PCs to interface with PSTN. These inexpensive expansion cards are known as Digium PCI cards. Today, Asterisk is the de facto standard for voice switching and PBX functions in open source space.

Asterisk allows one to take control of their phone system, and the costs are very low. It allows you to integrate with business systems or existing PBX and it is in an easy development environment. Asterisk is not tied down by proprietary systems and it comes with a powerful and flexible dial plan. You can have advanced telephone features for a low cost access.

The customer has a lower deployment cost and has freedom for him in the network implementation. It frees the customer from single vendor dependency, and eliminates upgrade-path costs. The calls cost less, and provides the alternative avenues for support big fixes.

The supplier benefits from the broad base of potential users, with a technically savvy user base. Because the existing software is very expensive and the need for extreme customization, customers would take an easy way out and leave it all to the supplier. The supplier has a potential hardware market and there is a strong advantage for entering the fast expanding convergence market.



VOIP Security made Easy

Ray Clark asked:


VoIP in Texas is becoming a growing trend in the recent years. Since 2004 the trend has skyrocketed not only among Texas VoIP subscribers but all around the country. Texas has and will remain to be a trend setter for the rest of the country since it is such a large state and very populated.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet protocol. VoIP allows users to have normal phone access through an internet service provider but still use regular phone networks. Which helps users avoid unnecessary long distance charges? For companies the use of VoIP is more practical than regular phones because it allows the companies to cut major costs on their phone bills.

Several Texas VoIP users, especially larger companies, can gain a good advantage from the extras VoIP’s have to offer. Since almost every company uses multiple lines and VoIP’s in Texas can have more than one call going over the same connection at the same time it makes it simple for adding those multiple lines.

There are several other features that companies can enjoy from VoIP providers such as conference calling, caller ID, call forwarding, and automatic redial. Normal telephone companies charge a decent amount for each of these features where VoIP subscribers pay very little to nothing for them. Also since VoIP’s are already digital it makes for getting a secure line much easier as all they have to do is encrypt the already provided data stream.

Several other technology advancements are also coming into the market for Texas VoIP users. Since the VoIP phones are on the same data level as computers it opens up new possibilities for upcoming features such as call routing.

As with any technology though VoIP does have a couple of downfalls especially for VoIP in Texas. Since Texas has many hurricane issues the biggest problem with VoIP is that it runs off of modems. Which in turn run off regular power so in the case of Texas VoIP users if a hurricane causes the power to go out they won’t be able to use their phones?

Since normal phones don’t rely on traditional electric they are still preferred in some instances over the new technology. The other downfall is not as big but its still causes problems for some users. The fact that VoIP is hardly mobile makes some users skeptical to switch to it. However, with emerging technologies such as Wi-Fi and WiMax it’s predicted that those new technologies will allow VoIP’s to be more mobile, universal, and more widely accepted.

Some Texas VoIP subscribers that are larger companies struggle with the problem of highly congested networks. Since VoIP is so easy to add lines to and expand the network it opens up the problem of momentary voice drop out and lower voice quality due to lost or delayed data packets. As technology advances though this problem will continue to diminish.

Although there are still some bugs to work out for VoIP’s in Texas, the convenience and cost effectiveness of the technology out weighs the downside for most Texas VoIP users.



Protect your VOIP network

Media Team | Ascent Telecom asked:


overning voice quality in VoIP

Available Bandwidth at caller side – If the caller has poor internet bandwidth then it might affect the voice packets to traverse correctly and essentially affect the voice quality.

Available bandwidth at carrier side – Call termination also requires adequate internet bandwidth for each call or else it might result in packets loss and other known issues.

Codecs – The choice of a codec determine as to what is the amount of internet bandwidth that each call will consume. So, for example, if the available internet bandwidth per call is 35 kbps then using G.711 codec would be inefficient choice, as G.711 requires 64 kbps internet bandwidth per call. Whereas, G.723 or G.729 would be good choice.

Packets Loss – In VoIP, there are 2 parts in which a conversation can be broken:

* Signaling

* RTP Packets (also know as Media)

When the caller or callee speaks then the voice travels, from one end to the other through internet, in the form of voice packets. These packets are essentially traversed like data on the internet and each packet is sent in a sequential form. All the voice conversations, in VoIP, happen largely over public internet, hence, it is difficult to control the delivery of voice packets from one end to the other. This results in loss of packets or delay in packets delivery and hence ultimately resulting in voice delay (receiver hear the voice with identifiable delay), loss of voice (receiver is unable to hear something).

* Poor Jitter/Buffer Handling - In order to provide smooth RTP packet flow, Voip Clients (Sometimes server too) manage jitter buffer, in other words client collect packets for a time period, before relaying it. This causes delay in voice but considerably smooth voice flow. Poor jitter-buffer management may result to very long delays.

* Echo – Echo is the phenomenon in which the call receiver or the caller hears own voice being repeated. This occurs because of either faulty microphone and speakers and is enhanced by Amplifiers used in Internet.

* Noise – Poor bandwidth connections, bad quality network wires, transmission leakages collectively result in external noises to be heard along with the primary conversation. The caller and call receiver hear this as noise occurring and thus hampering the conversation quality badly.

Why is good voice quality a challenge in VoIP?

* Public Internet for voice traversal

* VoIP being a Distributed & differentiated network

* Lack of affordable & competent solution with capability to handle media effectively

What is the importance of Voice Quality in VoIP?

* Today, in global environment, each service provider has access to all the big carriers directly and this means that low rates is not a competitive edge any longer because there is always a lower rate, than what you may offer, available in the market.

* Softswitches plus billing software are also available at very competitive pricing and in very easy to install manner. That means that every one can afford, nearly, similar set of software setup (atleast to support some limited volume of traffic)

That makes Good Voice Quality as the single most important factor that can be a make or break difference between various competitors in the market.

Notably, the core function of a tele-conversation is always the voice quality. If there's a problem in this core function then no matter how many add-ons (like low rates, better look & feel) are provided, the service would never succeed.

Possible Solutions to overcome Poor Voice Quality

* Better internet bandwidth connectivity throughout the globe – This is more like a wish than a reality. It would take a lot of years, still, to get the internet bandwidth upgraded.

* One Single unified end-to-end bandwidth channel for all voice conversations on IP (similar to PSTN telephones) – This defeats the benefits that VoIP brings along. The biggest factor contributing to VoIP's rise is the fact that it utilizes the existing internet connectivity prevailing around the world. If one has to setup the point-to-point channels, then it would bring us to back where we were. This is more of a hypothetical situation that a reality.

* Affordable Innovation, at software level, tacking the reasons that result in poor voice quality – An ideal solution, to this present problem, is in the form of a software or set of software that provides a solution to the problems like Packets Delay, Packets Loss, Echo, Noise, Jitter/Buffer etc. Such a software would be effective because it takes care of the root causes and deals with them at software level thus resulting in a stable, echo free, noise free voice conversation through IP.

* What is also important is to make such software really affordable so that it's true power can be realized by all the service providers and the real benefits pass on to the end callers. This would thus culminate in to harnessing the true power of VoIP!



You can Get Cheap VOIP DID's too!