VoIP Good….VoIP Bad

We saw an interesting article over on Network News about a bad experience that a user had while trialling VoIP.

Scott Pinkerton has more than 25 years of IT experience, including more than a dozen with Argonne National Laboratory, where he currently serves as network services manager. He manages Argonne’s core network infrastructure, the one with capacity of some 80Gbps.

The problems centrered around the VoIP handsets used and Argonne deployed three models of handsets and found they had different firmware versions because power-over-Ethernet standards had changed over time. Some of the handsets would work with the Cisco 3560 switches but not the 4500s. (Pinkerton did not want to disclose the name of the handset vendor because he is still in negotiations with the company over the matter, although he did say the handset were not Cisco’s.)

Many of the users whose handsets did work were complaining of jittery calls, button lag, random key tones during conversations and other problems. Pinkerton and his team checked network syslogs for error messages and double-checked QoS settings, but all signs pointed to the Cisco switches operating at 100Mbps full-duplex, as they should.

The problem turned out to be twofold. First, the gateway connection from Argonne’s traditional PBX to the VoIP network was configured to autonegotiate speed and duplex settings. That process wasn’t consistently working, and Pinkerton’s team ultimately had to force the connections to operate at 100Mbps full-duplex.

He faced the same problem with the handsets, which would go through the autonegotiate process but set themselves to 10Mbps instead of 100M. “It didn’t work until we forced to static 100M full duplex,” Pinkerton said. Only after many weeks did the vendor admit that the handsets were failing to properly autonegotiate, he noted. “We had a lot of vendor engagement that didn’t always immediately result in vendor solutions.”

The “death blow,” however, really had nothing to do with technology. “Users were unhappy with the ergonomics of the phone, how it felt on the shoulder,” Pinkerton said. Additionally, many complained about the quality of the speakerphone, which produced too much feedback. “We forever got call-quality complaints on the speakerphone.”

It is always good to attempt a trial but like anything if you have problems with a certain vendor then you need to move on and look at alternatives as there are certainly more than 3 VoIP handset vendors in the market place plus often it is better to look at an overall vendor for the solution as you know that all equipment is tried and tested with the majority of bugs and glitches shaken out.

Skype – For Business 2 ?

Well we knew it had to happen – the Skype community has now produced some serious business products that allow a regular office PBX to make and receive calls from Skype users.

Skype and VoSKY Technologies today announced co-branded versions of VoSKY Exchange, a rackmountable PBX-to-Skype gateway that enables business users to make and receive Internet-based Skype calls over standard office phones. The co-branded Skype VoSKY Exchange 9040 and 9140 products are available in the UK and Rep. of Ireland.

“This agreement is an important step in the expansion of our Skype for Business Portfolio,” said Alberto Lorente, Skype’s business development director for Europe “The ability to offer Skype trunking through the company PBX is critical for business use, and VoSKY Exchange offers an inexpensive plug-and-play solution that integrates seamlessly with the office phone system, allowing companies to make, receive and transfer Skype calls, while also making it easy for companies to deploy Skype to end users and track Skype-related spending.”

Both models of Skype VoSKY Exchange add four Skype lines to the office PBX without requiring changes to the existing PBX or desk phone infrastructure. Multiple Exchange boxes can be set up in different company offices anywhere in the world for free calling between sites. Calls to other Skype users are also free, while calls to non-Skype users are typically charged at SkypeOut global rates. Full SkypeOut global rates are available at www.skype.com/intl/en/products/skypeout/rates/

It will now be interesting to see how this will help penetration of Skype into the business market – let’s wait and see…

Voice over WiFi a Threat to GSM or 3G ?

We are starting to see more and more Voice over IP services over WiFi emerge and an old friend of ours is part of a new offering called Fring – this service also offers voice calls using GPRS or 3G so that the voice calls are unmetered and this has to be a real threat to the expensive mobile networks.

So what is fring?

fring™ is a mobile application that allows you to make mobile calls and send instant messages (chat) to other fring users and PC-based VoIP services such as Skype, MSN Messenger and Google Talk at no extra cost beyond your existing data plan. fring calls cost nothing extra because they utilize GPRS, 3G and Wi-Fi mobile internet connections.
All you need to use fring™ is a 3G handset optimized for 3G or Wi-Fi networks with Internet connectivity that is already available from your mobile service provider or through your nearest Wi-Fi hotspot. fring can be simply downloaded into your handset via SMS received from another fringster™ or from our website. It’s as easy as downloading a ring tone.

fring™ roams seamlessly between Wi-Fi and 3G networks while bypassing traditional mobile voice and SMS text messaging services. This means that fring™ enables mobile-to-mobile calls, mobile-to-landline calls, and mobile-to-PC calls including integration into Skype, MSN Messenger and Google Talk wherever you are.
fring™ , patent pending P2P Mobile VoIP technology, works over GPRS, 3G and Wi-Fi networks, and is a PC-independent, mobile VoIP service with no need for proprietary hardware.

fring™ is easy to use, delivers full-duplex voice quality and is also fully interoperable with other PC-based VoIP providers.

You can get more information here

As a little post note we just saw that is seems Orange and Vodafone are doing their best to block VoIP on the N95 handsets but fring manages to wriggle through – have a look at the following:

Vodafone and Orange Block Truphone’s VoIP on Nokia N95 Cell Phone

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Vodafone and Orange have blocked the VoIP capability provided via Truphone on Nokia’s N95 cellular phones. Responses from both mobile phone providers were odd. Orange claimed that it is blocking the service because it hasn’t had time to test the application thoroughly and a Vodafone spokesperson simply stated that VoIP technology was not mature enough for the Vodafone to directly offer it. Truphone plans to file lawsuits against both companies.

The mobile phone operators were unable to block Fring, which enables users to run VoIP applications through Skype and Google Talk.

Wi-Fi Software that could lead to free calls…

Another interesting launch that could lead to some nice applications for data and potentially for voice, this new software  can be used to link nearby computers via Wi-Fi without a router and potentially could be used by mobile phone users to make free calls.

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology scientists say their WiPeer software  can be used to link computers that are within 300 feet of each other inside buildings to more than 900 feet apart outside.

The wireless link can be used to swap photos, conduct online chats and even transfer a 700MB file in 15 minutes or less, the scientists say.

“We want to bring this to as many people as possible,” says Professor Roy Friedman of the Technion Faculty of Computer Science, in a statement. “When there are two computers in the same room, it doesn’t make sense that they must go out to the Internet to communicate. WiPeer’s main added value is the ability to keep things local.”

Next up is extending the software to work with cell phones so that callers can bypass operators and talk to nearby people – could be a useful application for small businesses as an alternative to a full Wireless LAN implementation.

You can download the WiPeer software free here