VoFi stands for Voice over Wi-Fi. Whenever you use your VoIP connection over a wireless connection, you are using VoFI. Do you have people connecting to the network via Wi-Fi connection and then using a soft phone to make a call? Then you are using VoFi.

For a few people, a regular data Wi-Fi connection works fine, but when you are planning on rolling out VoFI for a large number of people, a shared data Wi-Fi connection will not work.

To successfully use a Wi-Fi connection you need to make sure your corporate wireless connection has high bandwidth to host voice connections, low lag times and fewer hops. You may need a higher number of access points if you plan on using voice over the connection compared to plain data.

You can get away with using VLANs on same access points, some companies go a step further and setup a totally separate network for voice. Normally if a company is using 802.11b/g for data, they might want to consider using 802.11a for voice since they use different frequencies and this minimizes any chance of interference.

The best thing you can do is to perform an extensive and comprehensive wireless survey before rolling out VoFI. Take care of all the problem zones and if at all possible have a separate Wi-Fi infrastructure for voice side. Using a 802.11a connection would be better for voice and/or video since this standard offers more bandwidth and is less interference prone compared to the 802.11b/g standard.

If you are in any way involved with telecom, then you must have heard of SIPConnect. SIPConnect is the culmination of the effort by SIP Forum to leverage interactive IP communication services and solutions.

SIPConnect is the methodology and architecture specifications to deliver direct SIP connectivity with VoIP service providers to ensure consistent quality of service, low cost and enhanced feature set.

Companies like Cbeyond have utilized this methodology to provide consistent and enhanced services to Small to Medium Business’s (SMBs) while reducing costs.

When shopping for companies providing SIPConnect service, always look for SIPConnect Compliant certification mark . This mark can only be used by companies that use solutions and services that comply with the mandatory requirements of SIPConnect specification as published by the SIP Forum.

I’ve talked about potential pros of VoIP as it pertains to direct cost savings to the enterprise. There are some hidden benefits of VoIP as well, these don’t get the same attention or get measured like the other well known features.

Since VoIP works over the same infrastructure as your data traffic, this makes it very easy for VoIP systems to be integrated with your data systems. This is becoming more apparent as software like Microsoft’s Exchange 2007 gets released with direct unified communication hooks.

What this means to you is, you can easily integrate your voice and data to have one point of contact for your users. All email, faxes and voicemails come into the same universal inbox, this inbox gets backed up and is accessible via proprietary client (Outlook), web (OWA) or handheld.

Imagine the cost savings, your field and office personnel all use the same method of getting access to all forms of communication. Learning curves get flattened quickly, user productivity rises and users are happier while their frustration levels drop.

Most VoIP systems will offer such integration out of the box with little configuration. A big player, as I mentioned in an earlier article, is Microsoft. Microsoft’s strategy is to leave your phone system as it is and still enable VoIP and Unified Communications via software; Moto – VOIP as you are. Microsoft has already signed up vendor partners like Nortel, D-Link and a few others

With Google unveiling its Android plans and its bid for 700MHz spectrum is it just a matter of time when we’ll get free phone calls powered by ads? It may be so. If Google offered a SIP based soft-phone powered by ads and/or voice service powered by a one/two second ad, I would jump on it. Imagine Google ad powered voice calls from your PC or handheld and never having to worry about a phone bill.

The problem with current VoIP providers is, you have to pay for another subscription. I don’t want another subscription all I want is to be able to use my laptop or handheld to make voice calls over WiFi without having to invest in a PBX like phone system. Yes there is going to be much resistance as major players will be losing their revenue stream. But, then there will be new revenue streams and newer more nimble companies taking over as the dinosaurs die out.

Before you start commenting about free VoIP services out there, I don’t want a VoIP service with diminished quality or where I have to the authorization to the service provider to be able to use the numbers I call for SpIT.

By the way, if you are interested in only PC to PC voice calls, Google Take is ready to take you there.

If Google was to setup cellular infrastructure, imagine the amount of innovation that will happen. Right now the cellular companies really sell you the same clunky (proprietary) handheld and tie you in to a 2 or long year contract. What would the freedom of an open phone and service plan do?

Google powered cell phone anyone?

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol that is used by technology products for creating session-oriented connections between two or more endpoints on an IP network. These endpoints could be IP telephones, instant messaging clients, or collaborative multimedia conference applications.

Many businesses are sipping it up…(No pun intended) What I mean is, they are taking their time adopting to the technology and for good reason. Although SIP technology is cheaper (In some cases free), the cost of upgrading infrastrucure to support Quality of Service (QOS) can sometimes outweigh the savings.

While the protocol is now “final” enough to build sophisticated telecom systems using SIP, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working groups continue to forge new ways on how to apply SIP. One way that has been making it’s way to the top is SIP Connect.

What is SIPconnect?

SIPconnect is a standards-based method of interconnection between IP PBXs and VoIP service provider networks. It specifies the architecture, required protocols and features, and implementation rules necessary for seamless peering between IP PBXs and VoIP service providers.

Let’s take a look at the various applications: 

For end users in the small business or large enterprise, SIPconnect eliminates, or greatly reduces, the need for a costly gateway at the end user’s site.  In addition, new features from the service provider or the IP PBX vendor will be delivered more quickly.

For VARs and Interconnects, the SIPconnect compliant service provider will handle the complexites associated with connecting the SIP Trunk to the legacy TDM world.  This eliminates the need for a lot of integration and troubleshooting work and allows the partners to focus on other, revenue generating activities.

For Equipment and Software Vendors (Application Servers, IP PBX Vendors, SIP Proxies), SIPconnect greatly reduces the time and resources required to verify interoperability in the network.  This single item, interoperability, currently drains many man hours from the services and equipment providers that could be better used creating new and more exciting features.  This in turns reduces the amount of revenue that could be realized from those new features.

The SIP Trunking Service Provider that uses SIPconnect SIP trunks realizes higher revenue streams much more quickly.  Network services are rolled out more rapidly, greatly reducing the time to revenue for new services and features.  In addition, the service provider can greatly reduce the time and staff required to complete interoperability testing.

In the meanwhile…While service providers like Cbeyond continue the slow and steady rollout of SIP connect sit back, relax, and take a SIP!

You have probably received a call at odd hours of the evening, and from the accent you can tell the caller is not in your city or even country. We talk about all the good things VoIP brings to the table but today let’s talk about the dark side.

Offshore call centers are geared up to allow call center attendants to call world-wide for next to nothing providing out bound calling services for hire. I think about this every time I get a call from Dish Networks, now if only they can get the right CRM software to remove my name from their calling list as I request every time and I might have something good to say about Dish Networks.

Since SpIT can be sent to recipients with any type of voice service, it doesn’t matter if you have a VoIP system or not, no one is safe. Now, the good thing is without VoIP these offshore companies would not be able to provide low cost calling services, so essentially a whole new industry has been born because of it.

So how does someone go about blocking such calls? Well that is not as easy. The calls come over VoIP circuits to a city near you and then go out from a local number so these people have caller ID beat.

Let’s face it, if Microsoft builds it, they will buy it. Partnered with Aastra, D-Link, Quanta, and Uniden, Microsoft has developed complete end-to-end VoIP phone systems based on Microsoft Response Point software platform. Released on November 12, 2007 MS has finally begun their journey into the SMB VoIP market a voip PBX appliance that is still very limited in it’s capability at this time. Although late in the game, I am sure they have plans of dominating the market in the near future.

It currently supports  up to 50 users with analog trunks. The future will support SIP trunks with no plans for digital trunks such as T1/PRI made known at this time. It does however boast superior voice recognition technology. Most of the end user menu options are accesible via a voice driven menu at the touch of the trademarked “ResponsePoint” button. Check out this short demo video to see it in action: http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=2a5ff762-46e8-40cd-8cee-aad6087111c4.

If not a pbx solution for the business, I think it would make an excellent solution for the home. Check out some images here: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/microsoft-response-point-voip-for-business.asp

Some enterprises deploying VoIP today can face disappointment because they did not do an adequate assessment of network needs in advance.

Richard Zimmermann of Forsythe Solutions Group said his company has gone so far as to refuse business with enterprise customers who won’t allow a full assessment of their corporate IP network prior to deciding when or whether to deploy VoIP.

“Many customers are naïve about voice – they are used to deploying data apps that are not as real-time as voice,” Zimmermann said. “Then, they will experience poor quality of service on the voice side. And the customers come away saying, ‘I knew it, the technology is not ready for prime time.’ But it’s not a technology issue – it’s a design issue. The reason calls are dropping is that the network isn’t designed properly.”

Deploying VoIP on a data network with improper Quality of Service parameters may be problem number one, but there are many more, he said, most related to expectations and planning problems. Too many enterprises are jumping into IP-based telephony because “the cool kids are doing it,” Zimmerman said, without a clear idea of how it will benefit their enterprise.

“There is such a market pull for IPT,” he said. “We advise our customers to look at the financial analysis and see if there is an ROI for you to deploy IPT or are you better sticking to analog until significant trigger comes along.”

Those triggers often include the need to upgrade or expand existing systems, or the end of a depreciation cycle.

“If an asset has been fully amortized, you are going to be more likely to be able to gain savings and depreciation expense, by deploying a new system,” Zimmermann said. “In addition, maintenance is reduced – the older the system gets, the higher the maintenance costs. So even though it is fully depreciated, the costs of operating the system are going up.”

Forsythe has done “hard cost” analysis for customers of the transition to VoIP, not trying to factor in “soft costs” such as employee productivity, and it finds the greatest savings are in maintenance reduction, depreciation, moves-adds-changes reductions, toll avoidance and conferencing, in that order.

But most businesses still look at toll avoidance as the primary means of savings – or they might factor in the time employees save using a unified message system and expect to save that way.

“The problem is that if that employee time saved is spent surfing the Web or if the work day just gets shorter, then there may be an advantage there but it’s not a cost savings,” Zimmermann said.

It is also crucial to train employees thoroughly so that they use the new technology to its best advantage, he added. For example, a unified conferencing system which puts the conference bridge onto the enterprise calling system can eliminate outside Web conference and voice conferencing charges. But even within Forsythe, employees continued to use outside services, with which they were familiar, until forced to change to the new system, Zimmermann said.

“With a unified conferencing system, the more you use it, the more you save, which is the opposite of using outside resources,” he said. “But you have to make sure it is being used.”

 via:Telephonyonline

VoIP requires robust infrastructure that has to be operational 24×7. If your email goes down for 10 minutes it’s not as critical, but if your voice services go down for 10 minutes, it’s a huge deal!

Keeping in mind how critical voice communications is, it is essential to plan the network accordingly. Don’t go cheap on the essential infrastructure components like network switches, routers and even cabling. Most companies tend to use the cheapest contractor for cabling when it can be one of the most critical components of the network that can haunt you for years to come. Make sure who-ever installs your cabling tests and certifies it for the amount of data that will be pushed through it.

Use intelligent switches that support multiple VLANs and QoS. This will come in handy to segregate different types of traffic, like data and voice traffic and prioritize voice traffic. VLANs allow you to have one physical network but logically have it split into multiple, so your voice can travel on VLAN1 while your data travels on VLAN2. You can have other services like video travel on VLAN3.

This not only provides your users a better experience for different voice, data and video services but also will assist in quicker troubleshooting of network issues as they arise and allow for testing of new services before deployment.

Remember, your entire infrastructure has to perform together. You can’t have one switch supporting VLANs while others don’t and you can’t have switches supporting VLANs while your routers don’t. Make the investment in the beginning and enjoy a successful roll-out instead of having to patch things on a routine basis later on.

If you don’t have in-house expertise for some of these technologies, it makes sense to go to a third party. If your planning is right from the beginning, it will be easier to scale your network and provide the quality of service your users expect.

Remember, you’ll have to provide POE (Power over Ethernet) for your VoIP nodes (handsets). You should have power backup on the POE circuit so your phones will stay operational even if there’s a power failure, users will expect this.

Recently, I talked about how some ISPs tend to block SIP traffic. If you have a branch office that does block SIP traffic, then you have the logical option to change the SIP port on your devices. This however, is not always feasible. Next best thing would be, if you have a VPN between the branch office and main office, to create static routes in your routers to route all SIP traffic over the VPN tunnel.

You’ll notice ISPs blocking SIP calls usually do this by blocking SIP port 5060 so if you change the port on your phone system to something else, and configure your end nodes to use the new port, they will work. This traffic will be visible to your ISP though, so the better option will be instead of changing ports to just route SIP traffic over you VPN.

Always check your local laws as I am no lawyer so any ideas you try, you are doing at your own risk.

I can’t believe ISPs are actually thinking they can hold the flood back by simply blocking SIP port, such ISPs are truly grasping at straws to keep their ancient model in the market.