atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX VoIP & Cloud Phones, Hosted PBX, General IP Phones Beware of VOIP?

I started reading the Sandmans comments. Not done yet. Some good, some bad. From what I did read I think he is taking a simplistic reactionary approach.

Thanks Punch Down. A whole lot of stuff seems to get thrown in the VoIP basket. I'm learning to sort it out. Actually had a visit this AM from a Verizon Business rep. Interesting. For example, according to the Verizon man, not all VoIP call traffic travels over the Internet. If I make a call from my PBX, connected to Verizon SIP circuits, they stay in the Verizon network, just like my TDM traffic. That rings true to me. Not like making a Skype call where God only knows where it travels.

Does anyone have a good story to tell about a SIP trunking application working.

That's why I posted Sandman's comments on here, so they could be discussed and responded to. Sometime when someone has a bully-pulpit, such as Sandman does with his website, it doesn't leave much opportunity for discussion. Plus, it will probably get more exposure here. That's why a forum like this is such a great resource. I don't mean to knock Sandman and his comments. As I mentioned before, some have merit. I just wanted others to be able to read them and comment, as has been done, and hopefully will continue.

Mike sent me an email about this:
Thanks Mike

DAMN, I knew there was something I liked about Mike! :thumb:

-Hal

I think the topic should be BE AWARE OF VOIP. It does have it's limitations. I agree with his article that voice transport between sites is a great benefit. Installed 30+ systems last year with this scenario. Works fine. VoIP to the desktop I.E. VoIP sets have less than spectacular results. One customer had Comdial IPrimo sets at their main location for 2 years. Never had an issue. Opened a branch office and the problems started. After assisting us and helping in the implementation of QOS the sets would intermittently experience latency and jitter to the point of being almost cartoonish. Packet sniffers proved a breakdown in their routers occasionally. After 2 weeks of dicking around with it the customer just said pull the IP sets and give TDM digital sets. No more problems. Put in a new car dealership today. After going head to head against Cisco we were awarded the bid because of the some of the most bizarre things that Cisco rep said they couldn't do. The most basic was a call presented to an attendant. They wanted to see visually that a salesman wasn't at their desk and wanted to transfer to their cell phone as they were out on the lot. Used an MP5000 Comdial with Impact Attendant..gave them everything they wanted. After seeing that Cisco also required dual runs to separate voice and data endpoints the original cost savings (50% reduction in cabling) was gone. Factor in a 90 warranty for their gear, trouble with providing more than a few analog ports for faxes, modems, credit card machines, etc. and the VoIP solution looked less appealing even to the IT department. Limited feature set and basic TDM functionality like BLF buttons and all call page are a challenge for the new VoIP platforms.

We have been installing more and more voip/softphone applications on people's laptops . The service works great as long as they are connected to "our" network . For people that travel alot and connect through a drop in their hotel room the voice quality varies widely . This is not the fault of our softphone application but a limitation of the network they are connecting to . I only see this getting worse not better in the near future as more and more voice packets are being sent and received over the internet . How much more can this virtual tunnel grow without a broad leap in technology ? Personally I am going to take a wait and see attitude in off local network voip services .

The varying voice quality your laptop users are experiencing is the result of an "Un-managed network" I mentioned in my earlier post. The below link is for a free Webinar on VoIP challenges I just found:

https://www.phoneplusmag.com/webinars/calendar_webinars.asp/view/upcoming

Thanks punchdown

That was the point of my post . How well are the VOIP providers managing their networks along with the other facilities offering internet access . When is the tunnel going to experience gridlock ? I think the ticking has already started .

May I suggest something? Could you please break up long posts using the return key to make paragraphs?

It is very hard to read posts that go on for a dozen lines. You are making sense and it would be nice to understand what you are saying, it is just very difficult to follow line by line, and the inventor of the paragraph concept has done the world a wonderful service.

Not trying to bitch, just asking to make it easier to read what your are saying. Thanks, Bunnie

Bunnie your post has absolutely nothing to do with the subject. Please stay on topic. If you have a problem with the way individuals post pose it in the general forum. I learned along time ago if I didn't care for something I didn't spend my time trying to convince everyone else they are wrong. If I see a particularly painful post I skip it for lack of interest. Just like TV..don't like what's on change the channel.