.e4 Blog... Regurgitated VoIP News & Commentary

There are many VoIP products in the market today- most of which offer the promise of reduced cost, better call control, and of course actual compatibility with Asterisk based products and services.

Recently, I came across a product from a smaller VoIP company in Detroit Michigan that I have been extremely impressed with. The Company is called VoIP of North America. Currently, they have several offerings that meet the need of residential customers as well as the demanding need of smaller office environments.

The product that we have been testing is there business unlimited plan. This program gives Switchvox AA60, Switchvox SOHO, and SMB users from what I can see an unlimited number of talk paths and free inbound- The base plan also offers 4000 outbound minutes and three virtual numbers for $29.99- Not bad at all-

SIP Trunk Setup in the AA60 - This is an area within Switchvox that couldn't be any easier... Quite literally you can have outbound and inbound calls running through the SIP service and in to your happy ear in less than 2 mins... (assuming you've already set up your phones)

Linksys has announced yet another edition to its SPA (Service Provider Authorized) Line-up... The new Linksys WIP310 WiFi phone bolsters a few new features that will surely bring value to our service provider offering. The new Linksys WIP310 Wireless-G IP Phone operates in the 2.4GHz band, supports 802.11b/g and the latest VoIP SIP protocols. The large, full-color high resolution display features an intuitive user interface enabling users to easily and quickly configure the handset with network access using WiFi Protected Setup (WPS).

WiFi Protected Setup WPS is an extremely fast, secure method of connecting the WIP310 Wireless-G IP Phone with any standards based Wireless-G broadband router. Just press the WPS button and your connection will automatically be configured and secured with a custom SSID using powerful WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption. Within seconds you have successfully set up a secure connection. NICE!

The WIP310 uses the same Linksys provisioning methods presently available when deploying other Linksys VoIP Phones on a massive scale. Customers purchasing VoIP services or using a local IP PBX like Asterisk can quickly provision the Linksys WIP310 via a WiFi connection where their configuration profile is received securely right to the handset using TFTP, HTTP, or HTTPS.

Linksys Sizes up the competition with the WIP310:
The included telephone base is a nice added feature- With products like the new Snom M3 end-users are given a base that keeps the phone getting beat up while on your desk while at the same time providing charge to the battery. The Linksys WIP310 also supports many features such as caller ID, call forwarding, call transfer, 3-way conferencing and can store 200 records in its phonebook.

Switchvox 3.5 and Beyond:

As you may have heard, the folks at Digium have released yet another product designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses everywhere. The latest being a small form factor device that will ship pre-loaded with the award winning Switchvox SOHO or Switchvox SMB Software. This new offering will replace their tower PC solutions and carry the latest software features available only in version 3.5.

What's New in the Switchvox AA60 and Switchvox 3.5?

Phone Provisioning Tool:
Switchvox SMB 3.5 will now have built in phone configuration through an integrated phone management tool that will allow for automatic detection of handsets on the network. In addition to this benefit the Switchvox 3.5 version will also feature an updated admin suite that will carry different levels of access for users slated with the task of administering the Switchvox PBX.

Inbound and Outbound Calls:
Also new in 3.5 will be an updated "Incoming Calls" utility... An enhancement over previous versions the updated page will let users more easily map Direct Inward Dialing numbers (DIDs) to users, IVRs, and Call Queues with the system. The new 3.5 Software will also provide the ability to set outbound caller id resources on a per user extension basis, streamlining the current Switchvox SMB methodology.

Enhanced Phonebook Panel:
BRAVO! - Now users can add multiple contacts to their switchboard simultaneously... This is a major improvement to the current switchvox SMB functionality. Previously, end-users would have to traverse multiple screens to add users one at a time. 3.5 eliminates this by allow the user to grab multiple contacts at once.

End-User Search Feature:
Although I haven't seen this in action, Digium's description of this feature leads me to believe that when you are on the "Manage Extensions" screen there will be a search bar for typing in the users name for easy modification. The PRE Switchvox 3.5 version require that you first select the extension type from a pull down menu then scan through a list of end-users... This will eliminate the need to browse multiple extension pages while utilizing the CTRL + F function of your browser.