Note: 

Polycom has two great wireless VoIP solutions to increase mobility in your workplace; the Polyom KIRK (DECT) line and the Polycom SpectraLink (Wi-Fi) option.  Both scenarios employ wirless handsets that will:

• Eliminate paging delays and improve operations.
• Enable faster responses to problems and emergencies.
• Improve employee mobility, responsiveness and productivity.

What’s the best way for users to distinguish the true differences between DECT and Wi-Fi?  With that question in mind we decided to ask the authority themselves, Polycom.  Jim Kander, the North American Sales Manager for the Polycom KIRK line, gladly agreed to clear up the confusion.  Below is his response.

Why choose DECT over Wi-Fi?

VoIP Supply:  Jim, for our readers, can you paint a scenario of when DECT would be a great solution? Specifically, when would you choose DECT over WiFI?

James Kander, Polycom:  DECT is ideal for customers looking for a cost effective wireless solution that is interference free. The DECT standard operates on a dedicated 1.9GHz frequency band with built-in dynamic channel selection and allocation to ensure that the best channel is used during a call.

It also ensures handover between base stations are handled quickly and efficiently. In addition, KIRK handsets and infrastructure elements are backed by a strong engineering DECT expertise allowing for the highest overall voice quality in the product. DECT is well positioned for those customers wanting to have a dedicated voice network. Our DECT base stations can be flexibly deployed via the LAN network or directly wired to the server.

The DECT standard also allows for lower power consumption thereby allowing handsets to have standby battery life of up to 200 hours and 24 hours of talk time. The KIRK DECT solution has specialized handsets for various verticals such as healthcare, manufacturing, office and retail.

The solution enables third party application integration developers to deliver even greater productivity for mobile workers through open APIs. Finally, the DECT solution integrates directly with Microsoft Lync.

Making the Solution Work

We hope this gets you started on deciding what’s best for your application, DECT or Wi-Fi.  This is only the first installment of a three part Q & A series with Kander.  Coming up next are the prerequisites needed to make the solution work and best practices for installation.

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

Criticism of this plan is growing explains Phil Britt of the Heartland Institute “as private businesses are already finding ways to provide quality wireless broadband without government intervention through partnerships between industry and telecom carriers.”

The birth of the U.S. railroad system, the engine of economic opportunity of its day, was largely funded by private interests focused on supplying transportation in areas that expressed demand.  Even the mighty New York Stock Exchange was founded not by government mandates but by private, opportunisitic merchants and brokers.

Recently I was asked by Britt if business should be left to develop broadband as the demand arises, rather than any mandates for broadband before there is a legitimate business case:

Wireless broadband is better served by private development, according to Nathan Miloszewski, communications manager for VoIP Supply LLC in Amherst, New York. He says mandating broadband stunts the growth of the technology used in conjunction with it.

“Allowing broadband to find its own path of least resistance ensures that future technological developments dictate how and where broadband is used, not the other way around,” Miloszewski said. “If broadband service is mandated, the hardware and software that’s used with it is no longer free to be based on consumers’ needs and wants. These developments will become pigeonholed into a one-size-fits-all approach to the type of service available.”

Miloszewski added, “For example, practical use of mobile Voice over Internet Protocol is still in its infancy. Emphasizing that broadband services cater to it now, before demand has been quantified, removes free will for the technology to develop organically. Mandating technology, service, or hardware results in solutions that satisfy few or none.”

Speaking from a VoIP hardware perspective I simply believe that our customers, we as consumers, are more than capable on our own of shaping the destiny of the services we need and the type of devices we enjoy using with them.

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

Microsoft, Really?

Months before Skype was scooped-up by Microsoft for $8.5 billion dollars there was tons of speculation as to who may ultimately purchase Skype.

Would it be Google, who could bolster its Google Voice offering? Or maybe Apple, who with Skype could be come an even more disruptive force in the wireless communications space.

Others still speculated that Facebook should buy Skype. Given that Facebook aims to transform the way we communicate, adding Skype would only further that aim.

Almost no one thought Microsoft would buy Skype. Yet that’s exactly what happened.

Weeks after the announcement many are still wondering why exactly Microsoft shelled out $8.5 billion for Skype. It’s a lofty price to pay for a low cost service that isn’t exactly printing money.

And while there certainly are some synergies between existing Microsoft products and Skype, they’re not exactly awe inspiring.

So what is really going on here? I call it the big brother effect.

Don’t Worry, Big Brother Will Pay For It!

I know a lot about being a big brother. I’ve got two younger brothers myself.

It’s a cool role for sure; except that at times you are treated like a human ATM. That’s right; when mom and dad can’t pay, you are there to “save the day.”

Doesn’t matter if it clothes, shoes, lunch, dinner or speeding tickets. When you are the younger sibling and you can’t swing it…you ask big brother.

Little Brother Facebook Couldn’t Afford Skype

Of all the companies that seemed to be suitors for Skype, Facebook did indeed make the most sense. Facebook is a communications platform, of which voice, video and sharing must be a part of (all things Skype does well).

Till the recent Skype integration with Facebook, Facebook did not have solid voice or video messaging capability. It needed it badly to further extend it’s platform’s utility for users.

Except Facebook couldn’t afford Skype. It’s true that on paper Facebook is worth more than Skype, but Skype was owned by private equity, venture firms and individuals who clearly wanted cash, not stock, for Skype (hence the IPO).

In others words Facebook stock wasn’t an attractive option. Enter Microsoft.

Microsoft: The New Facebook Utility Provider

Say what you want about what Microsoft currently lacks: vision, innovation, creativity; if there’s one thing they don’t that’s cash.For them $8.5 billion was nothing more than an investment in the future of their little brother and their relationship.

With a 1.6% stake in Facebook, Microsoft has a nice sized financial position in the company. They also power Facebook’s search functionality. And at one time they even powered Facebook’s advertising.

Throw in the recent voice and video calling powered by Skype and Microsoft is now the dominant utility provider on the Facebook platform; not such a bad place to be when you consider the growth and usage increases Facebook continues to see.

Plus this integration further exposes Skype to generations of users who quite possibly never heard or used the service before; all who can be monetized. Not mention other Windows products.

Only Time Will Tell

Only time will tell if this move proves successful for Microsoft, but if the goal was to have Microsoft become more ingrained with Facebook, well it looks like they’ve already succeeded.

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

Part I was a look at reasons users might take a step back from the growing VoIP usage and return to a traditional, analog phone system.

Admittedly, VoIP isn’t for everyone which is why there are still other options but after having read Renai LeMay’s story, “Why I’m Ditching VoIP for the PSTN,” I wanted to know if this sort of technological backtracking was a trend or an isolated occurrence.

To get a sense of whether or not VoIP service represents a burger grilled to perfection for some or is still undercooked for others (Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!), I sought the opinions of actual VoIP users.

Didn’t Like it and Switched Back?

As I inquired about peoples experiences I looked for end users who switched to a VoIP phone service and then switched back to a traditional phone service because of issues with reliability, call quality, or problems with the hardware or software. 

At the very least I was interested in what people thought were the pros and cons of both services.  Here’s what they had to say.

VoIP Behind the Scenes

Eric Loyd is President and CTO of Bitnetix Incorporated a small technology consulting company just down the thruway from us in Rochester, NY that specializes in business phone systems, including VoIP.  He explained to me that:

Most people don’t realize that VoIP is used behind the scenes in almost every phone call. You no longer have copper wires connecting the world – they connect end points to switches, which tunnel across MPLS and ATM networks to put your phone traffic into an internet-like cloud (and sometime, the internet itself). It’s just done at a level that’s a few layers above the end user, so you never know it’s there. 

In addition to VoIP’s participation behind the scenes unbeknownst to the average consumer, Loyd adds that Bitnetix Inc. helps “convert companies to VOIP all the time and have yet to have one go back to copper.”

Never Looking Back

In that vein of Bitnetix’s satisfied customers, Mike Arman who’s operating two small business out of Florida and author of “Talk For Cheap!,” adds that he is “never ever, ever, going back” to AT&T’s copper lines after switching to VoIP service.

Arman reports that he’s enjoying  a threefold decrease in his telecommunication costs with VoIP.  A $350/month bill for three phone lines, fax, and email is now down to $105/month with “more features, better service, better customer care.”

Regarding questionable VoIP call quality and reliability Arman adds an interesting point that “Cell phones have lowered quality expectations in telecomm services.” 

Arman admits that copper lines offer the best call quality but the prevalence and acceptance of cell phone call quality, to him, means that “an occasional dropout or cutoff on a VOIP line is not considered worrisome or exceptional.”

Never Looking Back Part II

Yes, “Never Looking Back Part II.”  If you’re thinking that I’m really laying it on thick in support of VoIP well, you’re right!  No, no, not entirely.  There’s more to this exploration than that. 

Klaus Sonnenleiter with PrintedArt, an eCommerce site for selling photography printed on unique display formats, uses VoIP at his business and says he wouldn’t switch back but, for the record he notes a few disclaimers:

We are using VoIP only at PrintedArt and I would never switch back. However, I do have enough nightmare stories to contribute between incompatible hardware, software being hard to configure (we are using Asterisk with Trixbox now and it works well, before we had other Asterisk frontends that were far harder to navigate), and particularly providers coming up with new things to watch out for all the time, it’s certainly a challenge to keep a VoIP service up and running. On balance, however, it is far better than an old style POTS phone, especially when it comes to audio quality and cost.

See, that’s fair, right?  PrintedArt likes VoIP but they had some problems in the past.  Not uncommon.

Unreliable Faxing

VoIP Insider has broached the topic of VoIP faxing before with “Introduction to Fax over IP with FaxxBochs” and “Faxing is Alive and Well.”  The consensus?  It’s not always easy but it’s not impossible either. 

Yuriy Krivenko at Seasonal Staffing Solutions shares his company’s experience when they switched to VoIP in 2008 to save on costs:

The prices seemed so attractive. But, we later found out that we could not rely on the service to send or receive faxes. This was a disaster, and we had to get back to traditional service. 

There are certainly fax over IP myths  to combat but sometimes connection issues are too frustrating for users to deal with.

‘A’ for Effort

Lastly, I was told several stories that VoIP was a great idea but lacking in practical application.  Here’s a couple stories that give VoIP an ‘A’ for effort.

Michael Zipursky of Business Consulting Buzz, a leading blog for consultants, expressed his initial attraction to VoIP that many people have — Price and features.  Zipursky notes that he soon noticed “that the call quality wasnt as good as a standard landline,” changing service was a hassle, and he moved back to a landline. Recently he’s been using VoIP from through his internet cable connection and that lately it’s “been working very well for one of our offices.”

Sandra Holtzman, President of Holtzman Communications, a marketing and advertising company, has similar sentiments as she “loved the concept of VOIP but it didn’t work for [her] in practice.”

Holtzman was attracted to VoIP for lower prices and better service than she’d been getting from Verizon.  But with Vonage, dropped calls at highly inopportune times (calls with clients) became too much to bear along with increasing static on the line.  “Enough already. I went back to the devil I know, ” states Holtzman about her return to a Verizon landline.  Her VoIP experience was entirely bad but she’s still looking ahead to the future beyond VoIP:

The one great thing about Vonage, aside from pricing, better customer service and tech support than Verizon, was that I would get emails on my Blackberry telling me I had a message and who the caller was. This was great when I was out and about since I never had to call in for messages.

I understand that there’s a new technology afoot designed to replace VOIP. I can’t wait!!!

VoIP Scorecard

VoIP versus Landline  – Is there a clear cut winner?  

This small sample size represents the most commonly shared opinions of, and experiences with VoIP.   In other words, it’s still a mixed bag.

VoIP technology is still emerging to an extent and continually being perfected.  It’s not only the future of telecommunications but as Loyd pointed out it’s already being “used behind the scenes in almost every phone call.”

VoIP’s been around a for a little while, it’s still growing, and you’ve already been using it whether you wanted to or not.  It may not be the technology of choice for everyone today but it will be tomorrow.

Are you ready?

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

While VoIP Supply will undoubtedly sing the praises of switching to a Voice over IP telephony system we do realize that there can be hurdles when you’re trying to get the best call quality and the most reliable service.

In fact, a recurring theme that you’ll notice in our “how to” articles under our article categories like VoIP Education, VoIP Gateways, or VoIP systems is:  Be Realistic.

There’s considerably more upside to VoIP than just cost savings but at the same time we understand that the technology can be a little temperamental and as noted previously, VoIP technology will be the fastest growing U.S. industry in the next five years meaning we’ve yet to see what it can accomplish and how well it can perform.

Making the Switch From VoIP

Understanding that VoIP is great but not perfect, economical yet derserving of the time spent doing your homework first; it was interesting then to read the article “Why I’m ditching VoIP for the PSTN” which got me thinking:

“For all the good that VoIP has done for society, could there possibly be others out there switching back to traditional phone service?”

I set out to answer that question.

But first, what ungodly reasons were given to ditch the almighty VoIP?

Bucking the Trend

Reading that account on Delimter of Renai LeMay’s VoIP experience reminded me of a different sort of trend that a few coworkers and I happen to be a part of – The Reverse Commute.  The practice of city living with a daily commute to the suburbs for work.

While I didn’t understand resisting a cost-saving technology that can increase operational efficiency and flexibility I had to admit, I have good reasons for going against the grain too.

But housing/lifestyle choices can be explained in any number of ways.  Can LeMay’s anti-VoIP decision defend itself just as easily?

The Honeymoon Didn’t Last 

For LeMay, his personal leap into VoIP started off in just the manner that we would expect.  He felt “free” and unburdened by high monthly charges, analog signals, and “finicky” copper wire.  And when he set up his own business he confidently looked to VoIP again.  However, in his experience, as time went on unacceptable problems arose:

• Long STD phone calls were prone to disconnection, complaints of an echo on the line, and strings of emailed voicemail messages would pile up when the service wouldn’t work at all.
• Skype was barely usable when calling mobile phones and voicemail messages not delivered for days or would appear at strange times in the Skype call list.
• No discernible technical problems found with updated hardware, computers, or internet connection led to a cancellation of the VoIP service.

Simply Put: Simplicity Desired

As LeMay put it he’s “moving forward back to the past” to a simple and functional traditional phone service that accomplishes the singular feat of connecting two distinct voices.  And while that may be all that it can do, he feels that VoIP is a myriad network adversely affected by latency, QoS, hardware and software issues and he advises that:

In the years to come, it will pay for us to remember that obscuring technical complexity in our technology systems and ensuring quality of end user experience will be key. Some times — and in fact, usually — the simplest solution is obviously the best.

Part II – VoIP Horror Stories?

Simplicity is best sometimes.  I was intrigued by LeMay’s comments and so for the next and final segment I’ll relay the real life stories of actual VoIP users I sought out to determine if switching back to an analog system was more trend than anomaly. 

Are they horrific stories to make the VoIP industry shriek and cover it’s eyes or delightful walks in the park?  Check back later this week for the conclusion.

Click here for Part II.

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

These cost savings ideas are based on panel suggestions from the 2011 Enterprise Connect Conference and as Audin explains, there are two distinct angles to work from when trying save on communications:

• One-time costs
• Continuing/on-going savings

He goes on to add that:

“Some of the recommendations appear to be modest in their savings but can add up if applied across the board in a large enterprise. Small enterprises may benefit even more because the IT staff is stretched thinly and may not have found time to investigate the potential savings. The savings are listed in the order they were presented. The speaker’s name is next to the recommendation title. I have added my own comments to each presentation.”

Click here to read the full article that goes into great detail.  Thanks for sharing your ideas and comments, Gary!

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

Sims explains that while faxing is an important and sometimes preferred communication tool for businesses, it is often overlooked.  However based on the interview he references, lately there seems to be an increased interest in faxing, even more so than before:

“Dible agreed, saying one of the big pushes for that is when people migrate to VoIP, and they’re still dependent on fax, there are sometimes connection issues. “It’s been a huge push to make that fax machine that people still need work much better.”

More specifically, it’s a fax Analog Telephone Adaptor instead of using SIP, Dible said, to talk across the network.”

There are some fax over IP myths but it’s apparent that faxing is not a dead technology and while there may be some integration and reliability concerns, trust us, it’s possible to converge faxing with your VoIP system.   We like to recommend FaxxBochs as a highly reliable fax over IP solution.

VoIP faxing can be sensitive and may seem tricky to configure but the benefits like a single unified network, digital document archiving,  lower cost, and remote usage for areas where fax lines are unavailable can be well worth the investment for a business.

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

The first article from PC World by Lincoln Spector; Is VoIP Secure?:

The digital data of a VOIP call can be intercepted anywhere along the complicated path from your router through the multiple servers until it goes out to the analog phone network. Assuming your VOIP service doesn’t encrypt calls, whoever intercepts it can listen to it, as well.

Which raises the question: Does your VOIP service encrypt calls?

Skype does, with very strong, 256-bit AES encryption. You can read the details here.

But others are not as cautious. I know that Google Voice doesn’t encrypt their calls because a Google spokesperson told me so. Yahoo didn’t respond to my query, so I think it best to assume the Yahoo Voice (the service that USANomad uses) also lets their calls go out unprotected.

While encryption increases your safety, it doesn’t guarantee it.  Your own computer may be the weak point in your VOIP security chain.

The next article is from Network World by Jim Metzler and Steve Taylor; Is VoIP Too Secure?:

The issue that was discussed by FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni is that with VoIP solutions – and Web-based VoIP in particular – the individual conversations can be quite difficult to intercept and decode. Further, while at one time Internet-based voice conversations were largely limited to “major” applications like Skype, there is rapid and widespread proliferation of “voice chat” capabilities. For instance, you can do a voice chat, a video chat, or even call an external phone from Gmail. And this only covers voice-like capabilities, and doesn’t include other messaging. 

Interestingly, and in a move that makes sense, the government is not specifying exactly which services need to be modified so that they can be more easily monitored.

So, which is it?  Will infected computers and unreliable encryption severely compromise your safety or, is the proliferation of IP based communications the saving grace of interception resistance?

Maybe it’s a little bit of both?  Security will always be an issue so do everything in your power keep your systems updated and secure on your end but, take some comfort in the fact that the government is having troubles decoding conversations.  Some of this similar to what was represented in the NOVA episode The Spy Factory where a major challenge for the NSA was not collecting infomation but acquiring the resources to deal with the sheer volume of data, making sense of it, and then connecting the dots.

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

Visualizing a cyber attack on a VOIP server from Ben Reardon, Dataviz Australia on Vimeo.

With the use of VoIP becoming more and more prevalent, businesses are at risk to lose real money from hacker attacks as pointed out by the Honeynet Project’s mention of this article where an attack cost a business over $120,000.

The good news was that the article does mention that “VoIP systems from companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco and Avaya were quite good…but were unlikely to be found in very small businesses due to the cost.”

Cisco Security appliances are definately a go-to line to ward against intruders, spam, phishing, spyware, and corrupt websites.  But, have you found them to be out of reach financially or is the added cost worth the protection?

The number of scams are on the rise and the affordability (read: cheap) of international phone calls through VoIP is playing a role in the growth of phone scams.

Consumers can use services like NumberInvestigator.com to protect themselves from suspicious calls, including calls from VoIP systems, but what are you doing to protect your business and have you noticed any uptick in attacks?

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!

From their trunking partnerships with big names like Avaya to the cutting off of API access to companies like fring everything you read these days seems to point to the fact that Skype has surrendered to becoming yet another VoIP service provider.

The one time poster child for innovation and disruption in telecommunications is shaping up to become nothing more than a cheap minutes pusher. You can thank eBay’s mismanagement, increased competitive threats and a pending IPO for that.

It’s recent announcements and partnerships seem to point Skype direction straight to the enterprise. Not the small medium business – where Skype is very popular (and currently best fits as a communications solution).

Skype could have delivered on, say, some sort of hosted PBX solution rather than simply turn itself into the cheap pipe for large companies.

It hasn’t gotten mobile right yet either (Which just so happens to be one of the fastest growing ways to make a VoIP call). Many argue that companies like fring and Nimbuzz are eating Skype’s lunch.

No one can refute the fact that making a communications service ubiquitous is difficult – if not down right impossible – given the access fragmentation that is present today.

But for a service that once held this promise, it is difficult to watch it meander down the path that so many others before it have taken.

Cheap minutes might drive revenues today, but Skype going to need more than that if it wants be around tomorrow.

This information was originally posted on the VoIP Insider blog.

Need VoIP Phones or a VoIP Phone System? Checkout VoIPSupply.com!