Michael Graves

Making Use of Wideband Voice Right Now!: Gizmo5

June 22, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

This article was originally posted in June 2009, before Gizmo5 was purchased by Google.

gizmo5logo Last week I suggested Skype as an easy way to get started with wideband VoIP. Michael Robertson’s Gizmo5 is a great alternative to Skype.

Whereas Skype is a relatively closed network using proprietary protocols and codecs, Gizmo5 is based on SIP, a global open standard. A Gizmo5 account can be used from the Gizmo5 soft phone client or any SIP compliant device. That means that the myriad of SIP phones (hardware & software varieties) can be used with Gizmo5.

SIP-DECT Handsets: Four In A Row

June 19, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

Several people have asked about the physical size of the Gigaset DECT handsets compared to other gear. Then I remembered that Michael White of E4 posted a pic on TwitPic a while back. The pic originated in a Ustream feed.…

Steven Perich On How to make your phone calls sound better!

June 17, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

Steven Perich recently posted an excellent article on his blog entitled, "How to make your phone calls sound better!" It's a concise explanation of wideband telephony, described in very easy-to-understand terms for a non-technical audience. It's well written, amusing and…

No Jitter: IPT Lessons Learned, including Wideband

June 16, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

Sorell Slaymaker of Unified IT Systems he penned an interesting post over at CMPs No Jitter blog. The post starts out as follows:

After architecting a 50,000+ seat IP Telephony system and seeing it through rollout, this is what I would recommend to do different.

Wow! That’s huge. Got my attention right away! He goes on to give a list of brief but really meaningful points about various considerations in any significant telephony installation.

No Magic For You, Jack!

June 15, 2009
Michael Graves
Asterisk, VoIP

Apparently Magic Jack has taken some steps to cease delivering service to people who access the service with clients other than bone fide Magic Jack dongles. This happened some time in the past week and has been noted in the PBX-in-a-Flash forums as well as the Unofficial Magic Jack Support Forums.

Some offer the conjecture that such treatment of customer will in some way hurt the company. I doubt that is the case. The percentage of their users using Asterisk to pass calls to them is likely extremely small. It’s also quite likely very obvious to them, both in terms of average minutes per user per month and the reported SIP client name.

Gigaset US Update

June 15, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

It's now six months since Gigaset Communications announced their intention to release the A580IP and S675IP in the US market. Happily, the wait appears to be nearing an end. Michael White at E4 confirms that they have placed a stocking…