VoIP: Questions and Answers
Summary: Garrett Hildebrand, network planner, and John Schaefer, communication analyst, answer questions about Voice Over IP technology.
These are IP (Internet Protocol) telephones which instead of using a dedicated electric circuit over copper wires-- through a central telephone office and then into the circuit-switched telephone network (aka PSTN)--instead a Internet Protocol data network by encapsulating digitized voice data into TCP/IP data packets which are then routed to a call handler. The call handler is actually a VoIP (Voice over IP) server. The company or organization which runs the VoIP server is the VoIP service provider.
The VoIP server fulfills and augments the functions normally handled by a Public System Telephone Network (PSTN) Private Branch eXchange (PBX), or telephone switching system. In talking to other IP phones, only the network is used. The VoIP server loads each phone when it powers up with its pre- programmed parameters, and routes calls to the appropriate phone when a call is placed, using the network. The network itself should support "Quality of Service" (QoS) "type of service" (TOS) so as to give voice traffic a higher priority in network queues than other types of data traffic (to the network, voice traffic looks like any other type of data traffic unless the TOS information for QoS is given in each data packet).
In short, a VoIP phone is a device which acts like a telephone or conference phone but passes digitized voice traffic across local area networks, campus networks, or the Internet, using the Internet Protocols. The calls are handled by a VoIP server, which effectively replaces the PBX in an all-VoIP environment, or terminates the VoIP phone call to pass it onto a PBX to enter the PSTN network. An example of this latter point would be when calling a business or a part of the campus which uses standard telephones. The VoIP server recognizes the call must leave the data network and enter the PSTN network, so it uses a VoIP gateway to connect the call to a PBX. The gateway may be to a local PBX or a remote one (one in another geographic area, and closer to the person being called). The PBX then handles the call like any other.
You will need a data network that supports the Internet Protocol and which provides connectivity to other IP phones you wish to talk to. Because other IP phones are typically on the Internet, then what you need is an Internet connection, such as through a DSL or cable-modem line at home, or the campus network which also is connected to the Internet and also interconnects other IP phones.
An IP phone is also required, and the IP phone requires a VoIP server/service. If calls to standard phones are to be supported via a PBX and the PSTN, one or more gateways to one or more PBXs is required.
The VoIP phone may be like those used in Calit2. The phone is self-contained, and requires only knowledge of where to find the VoIP server so that when it "boots up" on power-up it can pick-up its pre-programmed features. This is stored in flash memory when the phone is delivered to the end-user. It also requires a network connection which has power as well as Ethernet connectivity, or it can have a local power "brick."
The VoIP phone may also be a "softphone." An example of this is the Skype software, which runs on your computer and uses its speaker and microphone jacks to support a headset to handle IP phone calls. The campus may offer a softphone at some point to work with the VoIP service OIT provides for the campus.
Lastly, the VoIP phone may consist of a standard phone-set which is plugged into a VoIP phone adapter, which converts the analog signal to digital, encapsulates that in TCP/IP packets, and interfaces them to the network. An example of such a device is the one Vonage sells through Best Buy. The Vonage customer needs only a standard home phone, a network connected to a DSL or cable modem, and the Vonage VoIP box.
For both Skype and Vonage (and other similar services) there is a monthly service fee for using the VoIP servers and PBX gateways they maintain and operate on behalf of the end-user.
So, in short, you need: a Internet network connection; a VoIP phone -or- an IP phone software emulation (softphone) -or- VoIP converter and standard phone; a VoIP server; a VoIP service provider; and a gateway to a PBX somewhere. The VoIP server, the PBX gateway, and various VoIP services are typically provided by the VoIP service provider, not the end-user.
The benefit of making long-distance calls via a remote VoIP server managed by Vonage or Skype is that they can forward the packets of digitized voice over the Internet or other Internet Protocol networks at no cost, then near the call destination connect it into the PSTN using a distant PBX via a gateway. This reduces the toll fees or eliminates them. It benefits anyone who makes frequent long-distance calls.
The benefit of making long-distance calls using a phone system like UCI's is yet to be realized except in certain instances. But if each UC campus were running a VoIP server then we could make free calls to any of them across the CENIC CalREN network. Currently, UCI is the early adopter. Our VoIP gateway to a PBX is local (on campus) and so long distance calls are placed from here across the PSTN.
From home you can download softphone software from Skype, SipPhone and other VoIP developers and pretty much start making calls over your DSL or cable modem connection through your PC right away. These companies have various monthly rates with free local, all USA and Canada calls, free voice mail with text to speech and speech to text, Caller ID and other telephone features. International calls are usually very inexpensive and can be free if you are calling someone using the same VoIP service provider.
Alternately, you can take a trip to Best Buy, pick up a Linksys Vonage Phone Adapter (see this URL for a picture: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6778365&type=product&id=1089889717675 bring it home and plug it into your network, add your standard phone, sign up for their service, and you are ready to go. The phone adapter is about $60.00. Vonage has a 500 minutes plan for $14.99 a month which lets you make 500 minutes of local and long-distance calls without additional charges and a $24.99 plan which is unlimited.
These types of services differ from from Enterprise VoIP, such as at UCI, where the campus provides the VoIP server and service, and must install approved phones. While it would be possible to use Vonage or Skype on a campus network connection, it would require dialing a 10-digit number just to call the office next door. This is because the PBX the VoIP service provider uses is non in this area.
The campus is currently researching and testing VoIP or IP PBX services, but the service is not currently available to all campus employees. Certain new buildings have been targeted to use IP Phones, and Calit2 was the first of them.
The issue is that the network in the building and all of the connection points between it and the main campus network must support QoS to get a consistently clear, voice-quality call. And, because the campus wants the phones to work in the event of a power outage, the network in the building must supply both power and Ethernet, and the power and the network supplying the Ethernet connectivity must be backed-up by an interruptible power supply (UPS) and a generator.
This is true if you are using VoIP at home or you have subscribed to a VoIP provider independent of the campus telephone service. Not all international calls are free. There isn't one VoIP provider that covers every continent. Those countries that are not covered are still less expensive then regular telephone services.
If the entire intranet of the collective UC campuses supported VoIP, we could call any UC campus number for free.
Vonage, for example, provides free long distance calls in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Other countries require a fee, but it is less than a standard PSTN long-distance provider.
Not all VOIP is the same. An IP-based enterprise telephone system like we have at UCI, is very different than the "free" Skype or Vonage-like services folks use at home. Let's call these "Internet VOIP", and call the UCI system "enterprise VOIP".
Internet VOIP runs over the Internet and offers no quality of service so the quality is "best effort" based on the quality of the Internet connection being used. It is very inexpensive, but usually not free. It does not integrate with any campus IT or telecom systems. So it can not integrate with campus voice mail, email, or any campus IT applications. It does not integrate with the campus billing system and it does not directly connect to or integrate with the Ericsson campus phone system. These Internet VOIP services are offered and administered by outside vendors. These services are not even designed to scale to the size of our phone system.
The Cisco enterprise VOIP solution OIT offers is a robust system designed for large enterprises. It is redundant and reliable and integrated with the Ericsson phone system and the voice mail system. Our IP phone system simply uses UCInet to connect campus IP phones to each other and to the Ericsson phone system. All long distance calls placed from an IP phone are routed to the Ericsson switch and then out to the public switched telephone network. The calls place from an IP phone on our system generates the same long distance calling charges as calls made from an Ericsson phone. All outside calls made from either system go out to the public switched telephone network and to our long distance providers who route the calls and charge us on a per minute basis for every call. We pass these charges along to our telephone clients.
Not all VOIP is the same. An IP-based enterprise telephone system like we have at UCI, is very different than the "free" Skype or Vonage-like services folks use at home. Let's call these "Internet VOIP", and call the UCI system "enterprise VOIP".
Internet VOIP runs over the Internet and offers no quality of service so the quality is "best effort" based on the quality of the Internet connection being used. It is very inexpensive, but usually not free. It does not integrate with any campus IT or telecom systems. So it can not integrate with campus voice mail, email, or any campus IT applications. It does not integrate with the campus billing system and it does not directly connect to or integrate with the Ericsson campus phone system. These Internet VOIP services are offered and administered by outside vendors. These services are not even designed to scale to the size of our phone system.
The Cisco enterprise VOIP solution OIT offers is a robust system designed for large enterprises. It is redundant and reliable and integrated with the Ericsson phone system and the voice mail system. Our IP phone system simply uses UCInet to connect campus IP phones to each other and to the Ericsson phone system. All long distance calls placed from an IP phone are routed to the Ericsson switch and then out to the public switched telephone network. The calls place from an IP phone on our system generates the same long distance calling charges as calls made from an Ericsson phone. All outside calls made from either system go out to the public switched telephone network and to our long distance providers who route the calls and charge us on a per minute basis for every call. We pass these charges along to our telephone clients.
There are over 500 million Skype users. The computer is safe as long as you keep current with the latest anti-virus and operating software and or have a firewall.
Security is another issue of concern. VoIP is vulnerable to the same issues that affect the data network, viruses, spam, DoS and so on.
It is much easier to "tap" into the network and capture data then tapping into your phone line. This will become less of an issue as advances in encryption and other security measures continue to develop and be deployed.
Also, if your phone call travels across networks which do not support QoS, the quality of your phone call may suffer.
The UCI IP Phones such as the Cisco IP Phones deployed at Calit2 are secure. The network they are connected to can tell the difference between an IP phone and other types of network devices. The IP phones are put into their own private VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) which other devices--such as computers--cannot "see".
Your IP phone is only as reliable as the network(s) it connects to and through. If you experience outages via your ISP using your computer, so will your phone.
One of the biggest disadvantage is power. Your regular phone service is line powered, 24/7. Should there be a major power outage your PSTN telephone will still be working. The same is true with the campus telephone system. There is battery and generator backup systems that keeps the phone services running during a power outage of any kind.
With home VoIP you will lose your phone service if you do not have your computer, VoIP converter, DSL box and or cable modem connected to an un interruptible power supply (UPS) system, and it will only work after power is dropped for as long as the UPS can maintain power via batteries.
Yes and no. A camera is not necessary to communicate using Skype. Any device that carries your voice conversation over the network could be labeled VoIP.
As mentioned in the first answer, Skype is a softphone. Vonage is a phone converter that lets your standard phone act like an IP Phone. Skype requires your computer, Vonage does not. But the services the companies provide are pretty much the same. All VoIP service providers differ from standard PSTN phone service providers such as SBC, AT&T, Verizon, and so-on. The difference is that these companies built their own circuit- switched networks and maintain them, brought copper to the home to support your phones, and maintain the whole thing. A VoIP provider does none of these things. They expect the end-user to already have a data network in the home for their product to work, and that the end-user has already got Internet access through it. But they do have to provide VoIP servers and gateways to PSTN PBXs, and there are costs they incur to maintain all this, thus the monthly fee. But in the end, everyone is still needing to use the PSTN circuit-switched network to complete many if not most calls (on the other end). This will change in time.
OIT, of course! :-)
OIT is tasked by the campus to provide for the needs of the campus community in terms of phones and data networking, as well as certain types of computing support.
OIT uses a VoIP server produced by Cisco known as the Call- Manager. Cisco CallManager is the software-based call-processing component of the Cisco IP telephony solution. The software extends enterprise telephony features and functions to packet telephony network devices such as IP phones, media processing devices, and voice-over-IP (VoIP) gateways. OIT has three of them. One is for testing new releases of software (non-production), and the other two support IP telephony on campus. One is the primary, and the second one is a fail-over standby unit. These are in hardened locations with UPS and generator power backup.
We do not know what the current market is. We could find out by doing a bit more homework, perhaps. But not with a Friday deadline. Here is some information that John Schaefer provided regarding thought about this market:
"Enterprises adopt VoIP when they need to replace old phone systems, every 7 years on average. We'll steadily approach 95 percent adoption over the next 10 years. Service providers have a lot of hard lessons to learn, and will struggle for 2-3 more years before retail VoIP offers will become mainstream."
--Dan Hoffman, CEO, M5 Networks, Inc., October 4, 2004
According to this recent report from Juniper Research:
The total business VoIP services market will reach $18 billion per annum by 2010 Small business broadband connections will reach 40 million lines by 2010 Hosted VoIP business revenues will climb to $7.6 billion by 2010 Telecom service provider revenue losses, resulting from businesses moving to VoIP, will amount to $36 billion per annum by 2010 Revenues from VoIP services in the business sector will reach $18 billion by 2010.
Yes, I think so, because the Internet is so ubiquitous-- including wireless access in places where there are no phone systems available--that converging data and voice on this widely available medium is something that will be an unstoppable movement, if it isn't already so.
What may be the next "big thing" is the convergence of cellular wireless and WiFi (802.1a, b, g, or n). This will be a phone which supports VoIP and standard cellular phone calls, and which will use VoIP when it can. Now, if you are a campus staff or faculty member, and have a phone like this, since OIT is the provider of VoIP service, you could make calls for free in any spot where WiFi is deployed.
Here is another view. When asked in 2004 if VoIP "has arrived," Chuck Rutledge, vice president of marketing for Quintum Technologies, Inc., had the following remarks:
VoIP has certainly arrived. VoIP is a fundamental technology in quest to converge voice and data and has only begun to deliver on the promise of convergence. Today we see broader adoption of VoIP technology largely promoted on the ability to lower costs and improve operational efficiencies. Going forward this concept will go far beyond convergence of the connectivity of voice and data and become convergence at the application level where the user experience will be dramatically different.
We are now beginning to see the broad adoption of VoIP by both individuals and companies for the purpose of significantly reducing their telecommunications costs. Service providers are providing voice offerings that are lower cost and provide greater flexibility than the traditional telephone companies -- this has now gotten the mainstream's attention. Enterprises are taking advantage of the value added capabilities such as unified messaging, online provisioning of virtual phone numbers, remote worker support, and integrated CRM capabilities. VoIP is completely revolutionizing the telecom industry as service providers quickly move to the lower costs and increased efficiencies provided by this technology. Next Generation service providers can begin offering a complete bundle of telecommunications services directly to the customer utilizing IP access, for a small fraction of the capital costs involved in deploying traditional PSTN central office switching equipment.
This has also gotten the attention of the mainstream as companies like AT&T and MCI are bypassing the local telephone companies' access fees by using high speed IP access. VoIP will one day make voice communications an integrated element of a rich communication experience that includes video and data. VoIP will no longer be a service but a technology that is utilized in an application that may run on a computer, a PDA or other "information and communication appliances".
Another Chuck Rutledge remark:
It is now well understood that IP telephony systems have the advantage of being managed as part of the data network infrastructure. The need for telecom specific personnel is substantially reduced or eliminated, providing a more flexible IT workforce. A VoIP network can centralize much of its intelligence so the management of the network can also be centralized – there is no longer a need to have diverse PBXs located around the country and around the world. A service provider can centralize the network operations and billing and remotely manage POPs anywhere. Inevitably, the key driver for IP Telephony will be productivity enhancing applications such as the ability to support remote workers, integration of voice and data for call center support, on-line feature provisioning, etc.
The PBX has to be within a certain distance of the homes or offices it services. There are components that need to go into every building or neighborhood to support the standard phone. The standard phone requires its own dedicated copper wire. Typically you have phone people and network people. But at UCI, we have already converged our phone and data people. Everybody in our Network Operations group who provides field service can do both jobs.
If we can converge the phone system with the data network ubiquitously, we can stop installing special copper in new buildings, stop installing special equipment to support the phone system, power the network with power backup, and deploy phones on the network--as in Calit2.
In fact, we are running all the IP phones in use at UCI right now with 2 CallManager boxes, which can be anywhere on the network so long as the network is in a good location in terms of power and bandwidth and QoS. This is extremely convenient. It would be possible, for example, to go to the UCI medical center, which uses our network connection, and plug in an IP phone and make it work up there with a main campus number so long as the network connection had support for QoS and the link was adequate. (right now we are discussing upgrading the link to UCIMC because it is getting close to saturated).
Also, remote workers can benefit now. It is possible for me to take an additional IP phone home, then tell the call manager to send my calls there when I am there if I wanted to work at home. One additional thing is needed to make this work, and that is a special firewall/router device which can erect a virtual private network connection to UCIs network over the Internet using the campus VPN concentrator. I'd have to buy the box for home, which is about $600, but it can be done.
OIT was asked by Chancellor Drake to help him solve a dilemma recently involving phones. Seems he could not find a roam phone that would let him be anywhere in the house and have connectivity because it is so large.
The solution OIT chose was to put 802.1g Wi-Fi everywhere in the Chancellor's home and give him a Wi-Fi wireless IP Phone. We are testing it now. With this system he can go anywhere in the house or the yard.
