VOIP Solution and Service

Linksys has launched its WIP330 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connected VoIP phone in Europe - the company’s first wireless handset to made available to buyers over here - after announcing the device at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.

The handset connects to 802.11b and 802.11g wireless hotspots and incorporates IPv4’s Type of Service extension to allow access points to give priority to voice data if they too support this system. It’ll work with the WEP and WPA Wi-Fi security standards.

However this is not Skype friendly as it supports the SIP 2 VoIP standard. WIP330 provides a range of customary phone features, including caller ID, call forwarding, speed dial, last number redial, a vibration alert and call waiting. The handset can initiate three-way conference calls.

The 119g handset sports a 2.2in, 240 x 320, 65,536-colour display and a battery sufficient for three hours’ talk time and up to 50 hours’ operation in stand-by mode. It has 32MB of Flash memory on board and 64MB of RAM. Its built-in web browser can be used to access web-based email, view web sites or receive Internet-based video. Be prepared to pay about £270 for it.

The WIP330 is the successor to the Cisco subsidiary’s WIP300 handset - released like the WIP330 in the US back in February this year. However, WIP300 ($US219.99) has only a 1.8 inch LCD, no QoS support, no facility for auto provisioning and no support for conferencing.

At a glance the features of WIP330 are:

1. A 2.2 inch, 65,536 color display.
2. Connects 802.11b and 802.11g wireless hotpots.
3. SIP based VoIP services.
4. Caller ID and vibration alert.
5. Call Forwarding and Speed dialing facility.
6. Call Waiting and Conference calling services.
7. High quality battery ensuring three hours talk time and 50 hours standby.

8. Built in web browser.

9. Works with WEP and WPA Wi-Fi security standards.

Today the telecommunications market is flooded by a host of VoIP phones offering a host of new features. Cisco is one major player in the VoIP phone market which provides a complete range of communications devices designed to take full advantage of the power of an individual’s converged voice and data network, while offering the convenience and user-friendliness usually expected from a business phone.

Cisco Unified IP phones help improve productivity by meeting the needs of different user-organizations; from the main lobby to the busiest manager’s desk, from the manufacturing floor to the executive suite, as well as users at home, on the road, or in the branch office. Cisco IP phones provide LCD displays, including dynamic softkeys for call features and functions, support for information services (including Extensible Markup Language capabilities), the ability to customize XML-based services to provide users with access to a variety of information such as stock quotes, employee directories, or any other Web-based content. For instance, Cisco IP Phone 7940 addresses the communication needs of a transaction type worker. It provides two programmable line and feature keys, plus a high quality speakerphone. It has four dynamic soft keys that guide users through call features and functions. Built-in headset port and integrated Ethernet Switch are standard with it. The Cisco IP Phone 7960G is designed to meet the communication needs of professional workers in enclosed office environments-employees who experience a high amount of phone traffic in the course of a business day. The Cisco 4612 IP phone incorporates all the major features of a VoIP phone and works on your Internet Protocol (IP) voice network.

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Almost all of the VoIP providers provide Voicemail with the standard VoIP calling plan. The special feature of the VoIP voicemail plan is in how the consumer can access his/her VoIP voicemail message.

In general, there are 4 ways in which a VoIP consumer can access their voicemail. First of all, you can access your voicemail through your primary VoIP telephone by dialing *123 or some other combination of numbers (VoIP voicemail access code varies by provider). The automatic attendant will let you know how many voicemails you have and walk you through retrieving all of your new voicemails and saving/deleting your old emails. It is quite a slick system. The second method is via a local voicemail access number, where you can call a local telephone number from any telephone (Cell phone/Land line/ VoIP phone). When you dial into your local voicemail access number, the auto attendant will ask for you to punch in your VoIP phone number and password to be able to access your VoIP voicemail system. The third method is through your VoIP provider online account management portal. You can go to your Provider’s VoIP homepage and access the “Customer Login” portal by typing in your username and password. Once into the portal, click on the Voicemail tab and you can listen to your new voicemails over Internet connection. The fourth method, and possibly the most useful, is every time you get a new VoIP voicemail, you are sent an email. That email will state that you have a new voicemail from your VoIP account, the date the voicemail was received, and an attachment of the voicemail as a .wav file. One outstanding feature is that you can save the .wav file on your computer’s hard drive and email the voicemail to friends, family, or coworkers. Hence, when you add these four ways up, you will be able to access your voicemail from virtually anywhere.

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It is true that a broadband connection will give you more consistent, reliable VoIP call quality, but similar results can be obtained using a dial up account if some guidelines are followed.

First of all, it is important to note that all VoIP service providers are different i.e., all of them do not support dial-up users. For instance, companies such as Vonage back away from dial up connections. However, the providers that do support dial up usually only support dial-up above certain speeds. The two most popular companies that do support dial up VoIP are Callserve and Go2Call. To make a good voiip call with dial-up, close all the programs that are running in the background to get higher call quality. If you are using Windows, just right click & close all open non-essential applications that are shown in your taskbar at the bottom right of your screen. If you are using Windows XP & there are other users logged on, be sure they log off before trying to make a call. Other activities that will compete for bandwith with your VoIP call are: Instant Messaging, checking your email, web cameras, surfing the internet or downloading anything. Scan your system frequently for Viruses and Adware, these programs can tie up your browser and internet connection, slow down your system and affect your call quality. Use a headset with a boom microphone and this should eliminate annoying voice echoes often associated with VoIP phone calls. If you use a headset, voice signals are limited in volume and thus the chances of your microphone re-transmitting those voice signals is greatly reduced. Thus, following these guidelines you can enjoy VoIP with dial-up connection also.

Read more: Voip Dial-Up

Motorola is preparing what it says is its first Voice over IP (VoIP) Open Application-Enabling Platform and outlined plans to extend the product range in the future.

The FACT-SIP software package permits Motorola’s ComStruct packet voice resource hardware to be controlled by sending Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) commands across an IP socket from an application. Motorola says this makes it unproblematic to interface existing SIP-based applications and devices directly to ComStruct hardware to create VoIP enabled applications, such as IP-PBX and VoIP access gateways. Motorola says they also aim to create new VoIP Open Application-Enabling Platform families that integrate FACT-SIP software with MicroTCA and AdvancedTCA hardware. “SIP is at the core of our VoIP Application-Enabling Platform strategy. This open industry standard is becoming the de-facto call control protocol for setting up and controlling voice and multimedia services across IP links,” said Motorola’s Nigel Forrester. “Our strategy is to integrate packet voice resource boards with SIP software, creating tested VoIP Platforms that make it easy to voice-enable SIP applications, without the need to generate low-level code or directly control hardware. Motorola’s Open Application-Enabling Platform approach can help telecom equipment manufacturers to speed up VoIP product development while helping to reduce risk in the development process.”
FACT-SIP integrates SIP protocol software with voice processing resources including codecs, tones and carrier-class echo cancellation. FACT-SIP also includes a management interface that enables a packet voice resource board to be reconfigured using a web browser. Motorola says FACT-SIP should be available in the first quarter of 2006.

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Seeing the quick progress made by VoIP in the field of telecommunications it is very certain that after very few days technology will gift us a reliable faxing VoIP codec. And like making international calls with VoIP, faxing with VoIP will also be a phenomenal hit.

Unlike VoIP, faxing with VoIP requires a different codec. Thus, while we send a fax through VoIP we basically use two different codecs, one which supports VoIP and the other which supports the fax. Because of this reason, the VoIP service providers include a free additional fax line with special faxing codec to make it convenient for the users to fax over VoIP. The basic reason behind VoIP faxing not gaining popularity at present is the data loss that occurs when the fax tone is digitized into packets and transferred from the VoIP server. Packets are lost over a VoIP call too, but this loss is still manageable as the voice can still be interpreted and understood but when it happens to the data packets of a fax, the data lost makes for a message that is not comprehendible and can really mess up the fax. Still, with the proper use of fax codec the chances of a bad fax can minimized but the problem may persist if the number of pages to be faxed is more than 10. These are some limitations that are proving to be a hindrance in the growth of VoIP faxing but to disregard this technology because of these problems will be a mistake as VoIP faxing is still in its nascent stage.

With the pristine esteem gained by VoIP, the competition in the field of VoIP phone service has also escalated sharply. Today there are numerous VoIP phone service providers struggling to capture the ever expanding market for VoIP, by promising better cost efficiency, reliability, support and overall quality. This has provided a wide range of options before consumers to choose from.

The telecommunications leader Verizon, which is also a virtual leader in VoIP segment, calls its VoIP phone service, ‘Voicewing’. The company assures a quality service by investing a great deal of money in its infrastructure. Another big player in the VoIP phone service arena, Vonage offers several monthly plans to choose from including business plans. Vonage also offers extensive overseas calling plans that reach virtually anywhere in the world. Like its counterpart Verizon, the sound quality, reliability and overall service are unsurpassed in this burgeoning industry. The fact of the matter is that either of these two VoIP phone services can save you a lot of money on your phone bill. The VoIP phone service provided by SunRocket is very reasonably priced and the packages suit all type of consumers, whether they are looking for a monthly or annual plan. Packet 8 has on its menu all kinds of VoIP phone services including residential, business and international plans. Hence, each provider is unique in its own way but the basic motto of all of them is to provide cheapest VoIP phone service, loaded with value added features to the consumers so that they may discard their traditional phone lines and adopt VoIP.

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Leaving behind our traditional PSTN phone connection in terms of cost effectiveness, portability and flexibility, the VoIP phone system has gained popularity in a very short span of time. The technology behind it basically involves transferring your voice over internet using specially designed call signal protocols. Its efficiency, the value added features that come with it and the convenience with which one can place a call from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world, are some of the factors which have made VoIP phone system popular.

VoIP phone system’s affordability is because of the fact that transferring digital signals over internet is quite cheaper than transferring analog signals over the traditional telephone lines. Thus, with it you can make long distance calls at a fraction of cost that you used to pay to your telephone companies. Also, VoIP offers you great convenience in terms of mobility. It can literally travel with you by enabling you to make long distance calls from anywhere in the world where you can get broadband connectivity without even changing your phone number. This means you have a roaming mobile phone service whose call rates are cheaper than a fixed line phone. Also, the services that are charged separately by telephone companies, like call waiting, three-way calling, call forwarding, caller identification, repeat dial, last call return, come as standard services with VoIP. In addition to these services there are a host of other services that are not offered by traditional telephone companies. Hence, it is true that VoIP telephony is a step above the traditional phone lines and not far from now it would completely change the way we make long distance calls!

Read More: Voip Traffic