Our thoughts opinions and ramblings on the VoIP and GSM markets

Convergence is Happening

We have just upgraded our in house Nokia E60 phone to firmware version 2.0618.06.05 - This is done by downloading the Nokia Software Upgrader from the Nokia site at http://europe.nokia.com/softwareupdate - the upgrade is fairly straight forward via a USB cable but make sure you back up all your settings to phone memory or a memory card as you will lose them during the upgrade. To check the version you have then with the phone in normal mode dial *#0000# and you should see something like this:

Nokia E60 Screenshot

The new version has many improvements but the VoIP/SIP part now seems to be more stable and we have the following features working when used with the MKC Networks 7000CS Server:

1, Call transfer via SIP
2, Call transfer via GSM
3, Conference via SIP and GSM
4, Set up of SIP mailbox

This gives an OK SIP extension over WiFi with the main limitation being no SIP Notify capability (Message waiting) for voice messages.

So pretty quickly after launch the product is improved but there is still someway to go with the Nokia SIP client – maybe someone will produce a more feature rich Symbian version, there are several available now but they are tied to a particular SIP network.

categories Category General, GSM/3G, VoIP | author Author admin | datetime 16 October, 2006 5:34 pm | comments Comments (0)

After the Show..

We have just returned from exhibiting at the Covergence Summit show in Sandown Park so we feel quite jaded :-( but we have had a chance to reflect on the leading show in the UK for our industry. The show had a record attendance of more than twice the number of attendees compared to last time and there were 70+ stands, this could be because the show moved South this year but we believe that it is the interest in Convergence and Voice over IP that is growing as the market is becoming mature for this type of technology.

There were certain recurring themes that were on a lot of the Exhibitor Stands this year, these were hosted IP offerings and SIP trunks.

Hosted IP provides the user with a ‘virtual PBX’ that is off premises but is supplied by a broadband circuit – of course as with all technologies there are advantages and disadvantages with this, the main advantages are usually cost and ease of management and the disadvantages are reliability as it relies on a single broadband and the setup is not usually as flexible or feature rich as a PBX.

SIP trunks is a way of users making calls via their broadband and this can be directly from the latest IP PBX systems such as the MKC Networks 7000 CS or by using a VoIP gateway to connect to a legacy PBX system, these are available from companies such as IP Gear.

One thing that was clear from the show was that there was very little legacy TDM products on show and the market is now demanding VoIP or IP Telephony based products so for sure Convergence is here. :-D

categories Category General, GSM/3G, VoIP | author Author admin | datetime 13 October, 2006 12:43 pm | comments Comments (0)