Your Guide To Wireless

10 Things You Should Know About VoIP Over Wireless

Voice over IP (VoIP) can provide substantial savings on your telephone service by allowing you to use an IP network to make phone calls instead of the traditional telephone companies' public switched telephone network (PSTN). Many organizations today run IP networks over wireless technology, and it's possible to run VoIP applications over Wi-Fi, too. But you need to be aware of a number of issues when planning a VoIP over wireless (often called VoW, VoFi, or wVoIP) deployment. With the advent...

Skype Calls With No Strings Attached

The best thing Skype’s Internet phone service has going for it is its price: Calls are free. Usually, however, to make and receive calls, you must be attached to your PC. Now, new handsets permit you to roam around your house while connected to a Skype account. Logitech’s impressive Cordless Internet Handset is one such device. Essentially the handset looks and operates like an ordinary cordless phone, but above its keypad is a sixline color LCD that displays all of your Skype contacts and call logs. Its base station links to your PC via USB; Logitech says that the product will offer clear calling at up to 164 feet away. I traveled just over 200 feet from the base station and still had a great connection. Installing the phone was more difficult than it ought to have been, however. The setup software failed to start automatically, forcing me to dig through several menu layers to start the process manually. Then, after the program and drivers were activated, you need to reboot my system, to activate the newly installed driver. Once successfully installed, the Skype-certified phone performs the various functions of Skype’s desktop application directly on your receiver. A dedicated Skype button below the phone’s keypad displays a scrollable list of your contacts, allowing you to see who is online and available to talk. From there you can connect via free Skype-to-Skype calls. In addition you can use the handset to access fee-based Skype-In and SkypeOut services for connecting calls to and from landline and cell phones. Drawback When the base station is connected to your computer’s USB port, all other sound on the PC is muted. You can’t, for example, listen to MP3s until you disconnect the phone. If you are a regular Skype user and would like to be free of your PC, the Cordless Internet Handset is an attractive, albeit imperfect, option. [tags]Skype Phone[/tags]

VOIP Broadband Phones

Voice on Internet Protocol (VOIP) Phones are referred to as just Broadband Phones. The main function of a Broadband phone using VOIP is to convert voice data (analog) into digital data for transmission over the Internet. They are connected to the high speed internet through computers to enable voice communication. By this innovation VOIP Broadband Phones have turned internet into a carrier for free phone calls, by going around the normal phone companies. VOIP Broadband phones are a product of revolutionary technology which can change the entire way people speak to each other around the world. There are many VOIP service providers who are growing by the day now, and major phone companies are busy setting up shop in various markets around the world with different calling plans with free VOIP Broadband phones bundled in. FCC and other regulatory bodies all over the world are fervently busy investigating and predicting the ramifications and future risks in usage of VOIP Broadband phones and their prevention. We will look into the basic technology of VOIP Broadband phones working and it’s potential in replacing the traditional phone systems. The most intriguing feature of VOIP Broadband phones is that they look just like their predecessors with cradle, buttons and handsets. A normal telephone is connected to wall socket using a RJ-11 connector, whereas VOIP Broadband phones are connected to your computer or router using a RJ-45 connector. All VOIP Broadband phones come with preloaded software to handle any IP calls. Technology is already moving towards Wi-Fi VIOP Broadband phones which can used to make calls from any Wi-Fi hotspot. Are you thinking of replacing your cellular phone? In addition to usage of VIOP Broadband phones, VOIP can also use ATA sets i.e. simple telephone like boxes that connect to your computer and convert your analog voice data into digital signals. VOIP also connects computer to computer calls where you do not need any extra hardware apart from a standard computer system with headphone and internet connection. Except for what you pay for your internet connection, there is no extra cost involved in both these options. VOIP Broadband phones are dedicated instruments used only for making calls over VOIP. If you want to have a go at VOIP Broadband phones features, you can sample the free versions on the internet to check out connectivity and sound quality. Once place I can suggest is the latest version of Yahoo Messenger Version 7.0 which is Voice enabled. You can make computer to computer calls using yahoo messenger. It is very easy to implement, just try it out. One other place you could take a look at is Skype. VOIP Broadband phones are certainly here to stay despite the internet sops and other devices available. If you are a long distance caller you could be involuntarily making VOIP calls without using a VOIP Broadband phones and at normal cost. Most phone companies around the world are trying to reduce their bandwidth by routing a few thousand calls through circuit switches onto an IP gateway. On the receiving end, they just reverse the process, somewhat similar to multiplexing. Given sometime all the current phone technology involving circuit switched networks will be replaced by packet switching technology. VOIP technology is efficient on financial and infrastructure needs, it costs less and takes lesser infrastructure and is more efficient. VOIP Broadband phones have made their way into most corporate houses; it is only a matter of time before they barge into our homes. More than 7 million households will be using VOIP Broadband phones by the end of 2007 says the Forrester Research Group. One cannot escape the VOIP Broadband phones as a means of communication. VOIP Broadband phones score on the basis of cost and flexibility. It can be said that they are free to use, unless you use your broadband connection only for your VIOP Broadband phones. You can virtually call from anywhere in the world where u can access a broadband internet connection. You can carry your VOIP Broad Band phones anywhere on use your laptop to make PC to PC calls. VOIP companies are offering rate plans similar to cellular phones for customers who want only VOIP Broadband phones. They vary anywhere from $30 to $80 per month. They are also offering a lot of freebies including free VOIP Broadband phones to go with them which make these rates further economical. [tags]VOIP, broadband phone[/tags]

Skype Phones for the Mac.

The Skype VoIP software that lets you make voice calls from your computer to an ordinary phone line has been available for the Mac for some time. However, most of the handsets and accessories designed for use with Skype have been for PC users only. Now, though, you can starting to see a selection of Mac-compatible handsets. SkypeStyle has just launched a number of Skype handsets for the Mac. The Cyberphone Mac is a USB handset that plugs into a USB port on your Mac and allows you to control Skype software and make calls through the handset. For the low price, you can go cordless with the Polar IP Atomic handset, or you can completely unplug from your computer with the Edge Core WiFi Phone, a mobile handset that can make Skype calls using any wireless network or hotspot. Mac gadget specialists, Keyspan, are getting in on the act too, with their own Cordless VoIP Phone. The handset is a little pricey but includes a rechargeable battery so you won’t need to spend money on batteries. [tags]Skype Phones[/tags]

Wi-Fi Skype phones disappoint – Part 2

According to belkin officials, the Skype organization is very specific about how a GUI should look and how a keypad should behave for a device to be Skype Certified. Indeed, we had a nearly identical experience while configuring and using each of the phones we tested. However, we found Netgear’s SPH101 much more responsive than the Accton-based phones, with screens quickly painting and commands quickly executing. Part of the reason we liked Netgear’s overall experience was its superior TFT (thin film transistor) LCD screen, which was much brighter and cleaner than the CSTN (color super-twist nematic) screen in the Accton-based devices. Each phone we tested automatically downloaded our Skype contacts from Skype’s servers within minutes of connecting to the network. The process of navigating each phone’s interface to find and dial contacts or to dial a SkypeOut number from scratch was intuitive. In fact, each of the phones left us satisfied, we found sound quality and radio coverage up to our expectations. But our level of satisfaction dropped like a stone when we started moving around with the phone a rather critical problem for mobile devices. We consider the lack of real mobility, both inside and outside the corporate WLAN (wireless LAN), a deal breaker with these phones. When considering the price versus capabilities of these devices, we’d prefer to get a little more bang from a mobile device, something more along the lines of Paragon Wireless’ GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and WiFi dual-band Pocket PC device, the Hipi 2200. We could install Skype on the Hipi 2200, but we also could use it with cellular and SIP networks. It’s also worth noting that none of the phones we tested for this review supports Skype Chat. Anyone who attempts to start a chat session on one of them will get a message indicating that the recipient does not support chat and cannot join the conversation. As they are based on the same model, the SMC and Belkin phones are practically identical in form and function, although our Belkin device came in glossy black finish while the SMC device had a white finish. Both phones measure 1.93 inches wide, 4.53 inches long and .71 inches thick and weigh 3.7 ounces with the battery installed. The SMC phone we tested used a slightly older firmware revision (0.9.02) than the Belkin phone did (1.0.0.2). This difference likely accounted for the SMC phone’s “stickiness” in tests: We found that the Belkin phone was quicker to identify when a network connection dropped and the Skype connection timed out. The SMC phone, in contrast, would fail to recognize that the Skype connection was gone and would then hang for a short period once we attempted to access a Skype function. In the battery tests, we connected all three phones to a Trapeze Networks-powered unencrypted WLAN, with each phone placed about 3 feet from our access point. To measure battery life, we booted each fully charged phone (preconfigured to attach to the network and log in to Skype) and then received an incoming call from a second Skype client configured on a PC. The results provided below represent the entire duration of an active call with music playing constantly in one direction. The SMC phone’s 3.7 volt 1,200-mAh (milli-Amp hours) battery is rated for 3 hours of talk time or 30 hours of standby time. However, we were pleasantly surprised by performance that surpassed these numbers: The Belkin phone had a talk time of 4 hours and 51 minutes (although massive dropouts started occurring around the 4-hour, 42-minute mark), while the SMC phone turned in 5 hours and 3 minutes of talk time before shutting down. Netgear’s SPH101 is slightly smaller yet heavier than the other devices we tested: It measures 4.33 inches long, 1.81 inches wide and .75 inches thick, and it weighs 4 ounces with the battery installed. The SPH101’s 3.7-volt, 840-mAh battery does not promise quite as much kick as that of the Accton-based devices it’s rated for only 2 hours of talk time or 20 hours of standby time. In tests, the SPH101’s battery performance did lag significantly behind that of the Accton-based devices, delivering 1 hour and 59 minutes of talk time. We tested the SPH101’s talk-time performance when connected to a WPA-PSK-encrypted WLAN, and the battery performance dropped slightly to about 1 hour and 40 minutes. The SPH101’s battery shortcomings are a shame because the device was superior to the Acctonbased phones on almost every other front. We noted that all three phones black out the LCD panel during a long call. In addition, none of the phones shows the battery level during an active call, which could lead to some anxiety when you don’t know if you have enough power to make it through an important call. [tags]Wi-Fi, Skype[/tags]

Wi-Fi Skype phones disappoint – Part 1

The new generation of WiFi-enabled Skype phones promise to unchain users from their PCs while providing the same cheap and accessible voice-over-IP service that users have come to expect from Skype. Unfortunately, some of the products failed to deliver much in the way of useful mobility. They may work adequately for a user sitting at a desk or on the couch, but trying to use these phones around the office or out in the world is out of the question right now. And the one product has too little battery life to be useful. The WI-FI Phones The Netgear Skype WiFi Phone (SPH101), which lists for $249, as well as a pair of phones based on Accton’s VM1185T design (SMC’s $190 WSKP-100 Wi-Fi Phone for Skype and Belkin’s $189 Wi-Fi Phone for Skype Model F1PP000GNSK). Both the Netgear and SMC phones are available now, while Belkin’s device is expected to be available this month. The reviews about the SMC and Belkin phones was ultimately shaded by their complete inability to roam in an enterprise or campus wireless environment. Only Netgear’s SPH101 could maintain an active call during a roam. With the Accton-based devices, any active call would drop as the connection handed off between different access points in the same network with the same SSID (service set identifier) and security information. Even with the devices on and ready to accept or make calls (but not during an active call), both Accton based phones were sluggish when roaming from one access point to another. The test shown that lost network connectivity to an access point. The phones didn’t reassociate to a closer access point with a better signal, which often meant that we had to manually reconnect to a network. The Belkin phone would eventually connect to a network within 30 seconds or so, while the SMC phone sometimes took minutes to do the same. On the other hand, Netgear’s device performed these non-activecall handoffs fairly seamlessly, so we experienced far fewer network outages with the SPH101. When searching for nearby wireless networks, we immediately could see the difference in the three phones’ implementations. Each of our three SSIDs included five access points. The Netgear SPH101 reported the three available networks, but the Accton based phones broke the list down by SSID and access point. So, if the Accton-based phones detected two access points for each of the three networks at the time of a scan, they would then list six available networks. The Accton phones were using the BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier) as a criterion for determining a distinct wireless network, which is more likely to be the case for a home network but not for a large corporate network. Only companies that have deployed a wireless network that mimics the same BSSID across all the access points, such as nets based on Meru Networks’ technology will have a chance at getting the SMC or Belkin devices to roam successfully without dropping a call. Whereas most wireless vendors use a distinct BSSID for each access point, Meru’s solution would essentially fool the Skype phones into thinking they were associated to the same access point at all times. Each of the phones we tested includes an 802.11g compliant WiFi radio and a USB connector to recharge the battery or perform certain actions via a PC (such as upgrading the firmware), plus a headphone jack and volumecontrol buttons. The Netgear phone also includes a speakerphone, a feature we found quite handy at several points during testing. We found that all three of the phones connected easily to open-wireless networks or to secured networks that leverage WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access-Pre-Shared Key) encryption. Businesses should be put off by all three phones’ lack of support for 802.1x authentication or AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). From each device’s keypad, we could scan the airwaves to identify and join nearby networks, or we could manually configure and prioritize network settings. We found the task of creating network profiles tedious and prone to mistakes when entering long WPA keys, particularly when we switched among screens to enter numbers or special characters. (For better security, WPA keys should be at least 20 characters for this value.) In addition, none of the phones includes a Web browser, which means we could not use the phones in wireless networks that require a Web log-in or payment. This will make it more difficult to use the devices on the road. To be continue in Part 2 [tags]WiFi Phone, Skype[/tags]