Several manufacturers had some quite spectacular false starts into the wireless VoIP world, with products that suffered from horrible battery life, firmware bugs and very fragile hardware.  Have things changed?  Which of the current crop of wireless phones and the competing technologies should I choose for my next deployment?

Well, wireless IP phones have come a long way from the early days.  Huge improvements in both the technologies involved and the actual implementations have resulted in some really great options for wireless SIP deployments.

First, lets take a look at the two major wireless technologies used with wireless IP phones.

WiFi / 802.11g

Utilizing the same WiFi technology found in your laptop and other consumer electronics gear, WiFI phones connect to your existing WiFi access points around your home or office, as well as some publicly accessible “hot spots”.  The phone itself is a SIP client and 802.11g network point combined, and the stationary “base” for the phone is nothing more than a charger.

Pros:

• Uses existing 802.11g wireless access points for connectivity.
• Roaming on the same network, through the use of multiple access points.
• Roaming “off net” at free WiFi hotspots.

Cons:

• Battery life – like almost all devices incorporating 802.11g, battery life still leaves a lot to be desired.  You can realistically expect about 2 hours of talk-time, and a day or two of standby time from most current WiFi phones.
• Range – your average consumer/SOHO grade wireless access point with standard antennas provides about 120ft (32m) of coverage in ideal conditions.  You may find that places where you want to wander with your phone have patchy wireless coverage.
• Congestion – network quality of service must be very carefully managed, especially with larger installations to avoid voice quality issues.

DECT

DECT (short for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications), despite being widely used throughout Europe and the rest of the world for more than 10 years, is a relative newcomer to wireless telephony in the United States.  With the advent of “DECT 6.0″, these devices can now be used with the FCC’s blessing in the US.

DECT operates at frequencies between 1.8GHz and 1.9GHz and different handsets and base stations from different manufacturers are interoperable with each other.  IP phones utilizing DECT technology consist of a base station which bridges the DECT handsets to the SIP world, and allows you to register usually multiple handsets with a single base station.

Higher end SIP-DECT gateways, such as the Polycom KIRK Wireless Server 300 and 600V3 allow upwards of a dozen concurrent calls using a single SIP-DECT base station and multiple DECT handsets.

Pros:

• Wider coverage than 802.11g, with up to 600ft (200m) indoors, and several miles outdoors or indoors using inexpensive DECT repeaters.
• Great battery life – the same kind of battery life you’ve come to expect from regular cordless phones.
• Reliability – by using a separate 1.9GHz frequency which is used only for voice, there is no competition for quality of service or problems with network congestion that exists when sharing a WiFi network with other devices.
• Durability – DECT phones tend to be more durable than their WiFi counterparts.

Cons:

• No ability to leverage existing WiFi installation for coverage.
• No “off net” roaming ability when you’re away from your office.

Conclusions

When we look at the pros and cons of both solutions, it becomes clear that DECT is a clear winner for most applications.  With its larger range, significantly increased battery life and increased expandability, DECT should be your choice for wireless IP phones.

Visit Telephonyware for a wide range of both DECT IP Phones and WiFi IP Phones.

Polycom has recently released version 3.2.0 of their SoundPoint IP SIP application.  Version 3.2.0 is a new feature release that replaces SIP 3.1.3RevC.  More recently ‘patch version’ 3.2.1 has been released which fixes a few issues with the 3.2.0 release.  The full list of features of the 3.2.0 release can be found in the Polycom release notes for 3.2.0 online.  The fixes to 3.2.0 can be found in the 3.2.1 release notes.  With the release of the 3.2.0 firmware, some phone models are no longer supported.  Below is a list of the models that will no longer be supported beyond 3.2.0:

SoundPoint IP 301
SoundPoint IP 501
SoundPoint IP 600
SoundPoint IP 601
SoundStation IP 4000

To download either the 3.2.0 or 3.2.1 release start by selecting your model of phone on the Polycom SoundPoint IP support pages.  As usual, be sure to read the upgrade notes before undertaking any new firmware upgrade.

Aastra recently announced Aastra Hi-Q Audio Technology.  From Aastra’s website:

Aastra Hi-Q™ enhances the clarity of voice calls making it easier to understand all that is said. Providing a truly superior voice experience and greater productivity, the benefits of this enriched sound can be clearly heard on both handset and speakerphone.

Aastra’s Hi-Q audio technology is a software based acoustic optimization, backwards compatible with existing 67xxi series SIP phones, delivering a more life-like conversation and richer user experience via an industry standard G.722 wideband codec.

This innovative software-only upgrade works on existing hardware and is included in 67xxi firmware version 2.5.0 or later – available as a free download from Aastra. Once configured, it is automatically activated for calls that successfully negotiate the use of G.722 codec.

Aastra SIP Phones that support Hi-Q include: 6757i CT, 6757i, 6755i, 6753i, 6751i, 6731i and 6730i.

To access the software downloads, please click here to visit the Aastra support download section.

Aastra has announced the availability of a maintenance software release for the 67xi series and the 9143i, 9480i, 9480i CT SIP telephones

Release 2.5.2 delivers enhancements to previous functionalities and fixes, improving day-to-day use and deployment of Aastra IP phones. This release includes:

• Speakerphone audio tuning enhancements
• New configuration parameter to enable/disable the route header in the SIP packet
• Support for Russian characters and tones sets
• New configuration parameter to enable/disable the use of EHS (DHSG) headsets
• Fixes to software bugs reported from the field

Details on these and other features and fixes can be found in the 2.5.2 Release Notes. Please visit www.aastratelecom.com/support and click on “Download Area” to obtain the new firmware and associated Release Notes.

Polycom has communicated the existence of two new models of IP phone, the Sound Point IP321 and IP331.  The SoundPoint IP 321/331 models are direct replacements for the SoundPoint IP 320/330 desktop phones. The 321/331 will come with additional internal memory. It is expected that new software loads for the phones will eventually exceed the memory currently used in the 320 and 330 models by 2010.  The new models include enough additional memory to support future software releases. The SoundPoint IP 321/331 will be identical to the 320/330 in every other way including industrial and mechanical design, user interface and price.

The SoundPoint IP 321/331 are expected to begin shipping in North America, CALA and EMEA on June 8, 2009 and rest of the world on July 31, 2009.  Telephonyware will take orders for the IP321 and 331 as soon as they are available.  If you are interested in the new models, please call us for more information.

3CX has announced new and updated prompt sets for multiple languages, listed below.

German (new)
French (new)
Swedish (new)
Dutch (new)
Danish (updated)
Italian (updated)
Polish (new)
Japanese (new)

To install the prompt set:

1. Go to system updates
2. Select the language you want
3. Click download (IGNORE that interface says that it is up to date)
4. Restart IVR service (because it keeps a cache of the old prompts)

3CX has also released an updated build to their Call Assistant application, version 7.1.3438, which has the following improvements and fixes.

Change log:

• Fixed: Polling of outlook contacts from multiple outlook files
• Fixed: Exchange Outlook integration
• Fixed: Permissions issue in Exchange
• Fixed: Missed calls issue on German Operating systems.
• Fixed: Error notification on shutdown
• Improved: Contact lookup mechanism

Digium has quietly announced on it’s channel portal a new transcoder card.  The TCE400 VoIP Transcoder Card will be available for general release on Tuesday, June 30th, subject to change. The TCE400B is a half-length, low-profile PCI-Express x1 card for packet-to-packet VoIP transcoding with Asterisk. The TCE400B decompresses the complex G.729a (8.0kbit) or G.723.1 (5.3/6.3kbit) codecs into G.711 u-law or a-law and transforms the simple G.711 codecs into complex G.729a (8.0kbit) or G.723.1 (5.3kbit).

The TCE400B is rated to handle up to 120 bi-directional G.729a transformations or 92 bi-directional G.723.1 transformations. Unlike Digium’s software G.729a, the TCE400B requires no key registration and all software licensing is bundled into the price of the card. The TCE400B is the PCI-Express equivalent of the already released TC400B PCI card.

Aastra Telecom is pleased to announce the availability of a maintenance software release for the 67xi Series and the 9xi Series of SIP telephones.

Release 2.5.1 delivers enhancements to previous functionality and fixes, improving day-to-day use and deployment of Aastra IP phones. This release includes:

• Fixes to software bugs reported from the field
• Support of additional root certificates
• New parameter to reject an INV or BYE if they contain an unsupported value in the REQUIRE header

Details on these new features and fixes can be found in the 2.5.1 Release Notes. Please visit www.aastratelecom.com and click on “Support” and then select “Download Area” to obtain the new firmware and associated Release Notes.

Digium, the Asterisk Company, has recently unveiled Switchvox Developer Central, an online community for developers who are integrating voice and web applications using the Switchvox unified communications solution. Switchvox is Digium’s family of voice over IP (VoIP) phone systems for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).  Digium has also released a video walkthrough of the Test Suite inside the brand new Switchvox Developer Central.
Read on ‘Switchvox Developer Central Live and Video’

3CX has released V7.1 7139 of their application to make some minor improvements and fixes.  Below is the change log, upgrade notes and link to download.

Change log:

• Added: Template of actio.pl – Polish provider
• Added: Snom 820 template for provisioning
• Added: Parameter to enable / disable VmAIL pin VMPINREQUIRED 1= ON , 0=OFF

• Fixed: Improved logging notifications in PBX Logs
• Fixed: Added a cache limit in Tunnel to reduce memory usage in larger environments
• Fixed: Tunnel not starting when port is in use
• Fixed: Stuck calls in call assistant server in particular situations
• Fixed: Permissions in the viewing of extensions in different member groups has been improved
• Fixed: Buffer UDP FAX Outgoing Faxes over Patton gateways ISDN 4960
• Fixed: Control size of Fax Log file
• Fixed: Parameter Table Validation for duplicate parameters
• Fixed: Removed excessive Make call registrations  in server status log
• Fixed: Call History Service handling of unterminated calls
• Fixed: Call History Service handling of Call repostings file
• Fixed: Backup and restore of Call logs for Netherlands entry (related to formatting of country name)
• Fixed: Management Console: Stuck calls in Management console in Ringing State
• Fixed: Management console translation file for SIP FIELD.
• Fixed: Management console – removed unnecessary updates in active calls page
• Fixed: Management console download link for PBX manual 7.1
• Fixed: Voip Providers -> TCP transport for Broadvox
• Fixed: Voip Providers Added parameter for Voip Providers remote party id : Calling party : user part == Caller Name
• Fixed: Date and Time Conversion in Voicemail.