Since this issue comes out in the
throes of the holiday buying season, we thought you would be interested in some of the latest “toys” you
might want to consider purchasing for
your Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
telephone system.
“VoIP is advancing rapidly, and since
new equipment is constantly coming
out, I get to play with many of these new
items to determine how they perform
and how they might be used,” says Brian
Curry, technical coordinator at Curry IP
Solutions.
Smart Business asked Curry about
some of the latest products and how
they might make good business sense.
What is your favorite new toy for use in the
office?
For a person who needs to move
around the office or warehouse, I like
the new 480i CT Cordless Handset from
Aastra. It provides warehouse coverage
up to 300,000 square feet. It has a vibration alerter and is headset-compatible.
Features include four call-appearance
lines, plus up to five additional lines
using softkeys, personal directory, call
forward, call transfer, call waiting, caller
and calling line information, caller’s log,
conference calling, hold and a redial list
— all in a relatively compact, lightweight, handheld unit. This can be very
useful if you need to be on the move and
still be accessible by telephone.
What is your favorite new toy for use outside the office?
My overall favorite product is the first
second-generation WiFi VoIP phone
from UTStarcom. It is the model F3000.
With the first-generation phones, you
would need to manually set up the
phone if you moved from one WiFi or
Hot Spot to another. This phone allows you to move freely between the various
WiFi networks in your area, and the
switching is automatic and usually
seamless. This is going to become even
more important as the technology continues to improve with the development
of more Hot Spots.
With increased availability of WiFi, the
convergence of your data and voice will
be a natural and seamless transition.
Security with this new technology is a
great consideration. This phone has
increased security with a more secure public-key encryption system. This assures
that only authorized network users can
access your service. It’s not like traditional
phone service where anyone can access
the gray box placed openly on the rear of
your building or a common basement.
Cosmetically, this phone has some
other enhancements, including a large,
color LCD screen and a clamshell similar
to current mobile/cellular/GSM phones.
This phone will allow you to take calls
wherever WiFi is available. You can
move freely about, take and make calls,
and the person on the other end doesn’t know if you are in your office, car — or
even at the beach.
This is a significant advantage if you do
a lot of traveling, especially if you travel
internationally. Just as you are able to
send e-mails anywhere in the world
where there is Internet access, the same
is true now of VoIP. Your WiFi phone
accesses the same Internet anywhere in
the world. The cost of a call from Italy is
treated the same as a call made within
the U.S. and not as an international call.
What other toys do you like?
Most people who are into tech-type toys
already have their Bluetooth headsets,
cell phones and notebook computers.
Keeping with the development of VoIP, I
would suggest downloading a free
Softphone, XLite from Xten.com, onto
your notebook.
A Softphone is a software program for
making telephone calls over the Internet
using a computer. It often is designed as
an image of a phone that appears on your
computer monitor and has the same characteristics of a traditional telephone.
Using your Bluetooth headset with your
Bluetooth-enabled computer, you will have
the tools to begin using a VoIP service with
little to no investment. Of course, you will
need to set up an account with a VoIP service provider if you want to place and
receive calls over the Public Switched
Telephone Network. And remember, the
quality of the service is affected by the
quality of the broadband connection.
As a general rule of thumb, a phone
call with VoIP may require 64Kbs of
bandwidth for a quality conversation. So
if you download MP3s for your iPod, you
probably should schedule the downloads for that long winter nap.
Merry Christmas!
BRIAN CURRY is technical coordinator for Curry IP Solutions.
Reach him at (412) 307-3600, ext. 9001, or [email protected].