VOIP inf at FCC

This site gives federsl, regulatory information about VOIP services.

Time Warner Telecom target businesses with new Internet telephony services .

Time Warner Telecom on Wednesday announced new Internet telephony services targeted at businesses.
n VoIP services, voice calls are carried over the Internet instead of traditional telephone lines. Several service providers are offering Internet telephony services to home users as well as businesses. In a boost to this trend, the Federal Communications Commission in a recent ruling said that such telephony services are not subject to telecom regulations.

Residential VOIP take explosive turn

Few years ago I had a H323 server based on OpenH323.org's software. I was able to provide a desent service over a DSL line. 15000, to 18000 minutes a day. But the the service was nipped in the bud due to mismanagement. Basically I trusted people too much and poeple did not payup. I had to close the service with a loss. But I never lost the interest in VOIP. I see in the news today that residential VOIP is exploding. Well, it is. When I had the service, Vonage nor Skype were anywhere. Anyway I still have the old server (Dell Optiplex G1 233MHz pentium II with 256MB memory). Now I have grown! I have put together a complete server that supports all the current VOIP protocols, H232, SIP, Asterisk etc. May be I will make a live linux cd, so small providers can take the jump. System comes with complete management and billing integrated.
When see the news head lines, some times I wonder, why my fuse did not lit?

Open-Source VoIP gets a foster parent

foster parent
Through its new Pingtel Solution Provider Program, the company intends to tap VARs and integrators to deliver open-source IP communications products to small and midsize customers, said Al Brisard, vice president of marketing at Pingtel.

Pingtel hopes to mirror the success of other open-source efforts—such as Linux and Apache—in the VoIP market, relying on developers worldwide to mold IP telephony, messaging, presence and collaboration software based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), an emerging call control standard.

Modeling itself after Linux distribution vendor Red Hat, Pingtel provides subscription-based support around the free software.

You can see for yourself at pingtel and pingtel supported Open source site SIP Foundry Site.

Why SMEs are shy about VoIP

Why SMEs are shy about VoIP
World Wide Worx doing research on the use of voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) in South Africa has found that in contrast to the corporate environment, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will shy away from the technology.

Seventy-eight percent of corporations surveyed expect to be using the technology by the end of the year. However, fewer than 2% of SMEs implemented VOIP in 2004 and this number is only expected to double in 2005. Over 1 000 SMEs were interviewed about their adoption and expectations of VOIP and least-cost routing (LCR). Read the full report at www.theworx.biz/voip05b.htm, click on the header to go there.

Wi-Fi VoIP handset market takes off

Worldwide Wi-Fi VoIP handset revenue totalled $45m (£24m) in 2004, with 113,000 units sold, according to a report by Infonetics Research.

The report projected revenue and units to show strong growth up to 2009 as enterprises slowly but steadily deployed voice over wireless Lans. Click title to read more...

Zoom’s VoIP Modem Earns “Product of the Year” and Editor’s Choice from ITM

Zoom’s VoIP Modem Earns “Product of the Year” and Editor’s Choice from ITM

VoIP Security Alliance Formed

Leading computer security and telecommunications companies said today that they are joining forces to raise awareness of threats to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology.

The new group is the first cross-industry association that is focused on VoIP security. It includes major players in the market, such as Alcatel and Avaya, VoIP newcomer Comcast, security technology vendors Qualsys and Symantec, as well as TippingPoint.
The group will research and distribute information on Internet telephony vulnerabilities and promote VoIP security tools.

For example, the VoIP Security Alliance is backing research into special security tools, including a "fuzzer" for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), a VoIP communications protocol. The tool will be able to test SIP for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that could lead to attacks.

The group will also promote best practices for deploying VoIP, such as configuring gear and separating voice data from other data on so-called converged networks.

Membership in the VoIP Security Alliance is dominated by companies, but is open to individual researchers and university research groups, as well as to Internet telephony enthusiasts who are experts in the technology.

Will Google have a Voice?

Google might incorporate VoIP into its offerings to advertisers, giving them the ability to set up phone calls with consumers via a single click of a link," said Jupiter Media analyst Joe Laszlo. "But I do not see much benefit to Google in pursuing VoIP in the sense of the services from Vonage.

Why VOIP is cheaper than a traditional telephone call

A traditional phone call relies upon connecting two phones,physically. To say the wire must be extended from one phone to the other and the longer the "line" is kept open the more expensive the call gets.

A VOIP (Voice Over IP) call , on the other hand, does not create any line link that can be metered or charged. VoIP technology takes one caller's voice, makes it into small packets of digital data and sends them over the internet, just like an email you sent or web page you browsed.
Each packet of this voice data carries with it details of its intended destination and the voice itself albeit a piece of it. When they arrive at the destination, after passing over many a routers, all the packets are reassembled into the original voice message.
Thats, how you hear it, same goes for the replying to that voice message.

There is a lot more that this to a making a VOIP call, I will carry on this info on a series of articles. Lets say "what VOIP is", later

House Oks Bill to Exempt Voip from Taxes

A state House panel narrowly approved a bill to exempt Internet telephone calling from state and local taxation as well as state regulation.

In a 7-6 vote, the House Finance Committee sent House Bill 1158 to the full House for consideration.
If passed it will be good news to hear over the wire, aagh, VOIP. Follow the link for the full article.

Snap to VOIP

This is the first entry in to my blog at blospot.
Hope to make this an informative site for VOIP (Voice Over IP) matters.