Michael Graves

Review: Plantronics .Audio 615m USB Headset

May 1, 2009
Michael Graves
Audio, VoIP

So after months of badgering people about G.722 based wideband capabilities in soft phones I’ve settled on using Counterpath’s Eyebeam v1.5 as my principle soft phone. I have it installed on my laptop and netbook, both systems that travel with me all the time.

Having finally found a soft phone that I lets me take advantage of the wideband capabilities of our hosted IP-PBX installation I was left to consider the audio I/O requirement in support of Eyebeam. To address this need I’ve recently been experimenting with both wired headsets and USB speakerphone devices. I started with the Plantronics .Audio 480 analog headset as detailed previously.

David Isen: Broadband without Internet ain’t worth squat

April 30, 2009
Michael Graves
Broadband, Telco

Networking visionary David Isen delivered the keynote address at the Broadband Properties Summit on April 28th. He's just posted a transcript. It's a good read, and a very insightful video clip. Highly recommended.

The Day The Electrons Stood Still

April 29, 2009
Michael Graves
Broadband, VoIP

It started out an uneventful day, the third day in an entire week that I expected to spend in my home office. That’s something of a rarity in recent times. I was enjoying it, catching up on matters around here, and addressing tech support calls as they arose. I was on just such a call when, to my considerable surprise, the power went out.

The sudden loss of power is not enough to disrupt my phone call beyond my own expression of surprise. As I’ve documented elsewhere, I’ve taken steps to ensure that critical infrastructure around here is on a UPS. To paraphrase Frank Herbert, “The electrons must flow.” In fact, it occurred to me that this afternoon was an opportune time to ascertain just how sound my planning had been.

VoIP Supply’s New Business Class IAX2 Hard Phone

April 28, 2009
Michael Graves
Asterisk, VoIP

Just a few days ago VoIP Supply announced a new desk phone that’s capable of both SIP and IAX2. Not much has been forthcoming in the way of IAX2 capable end-points, even though the protocol has wound its way through a lengthy standards process. Digium has dropped the little IAXy (aka S101i) ATA device a while back. Last year Zeeek tried the Allnet 7960 which is IAX2 capable but lacking in some ways. So it seems that to date there just haven’t been any truly business class IAX2 phones to be had.

Bargain Alert: Clear One Chat 50 USB Speakerphone

April 27, 2009
Michael Graves
Audio, VoIP

Michael White over at E4Strategies has a great deal on Clear One Chat 50 USB speakerphone devices. When used with a suitable soft phone these little gadgets turn any PC into a decent speakerphone. They're even wideband capable. I've been…

Counterpath Soft Phones on OSX

April 27, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

A viable G.722 capable soft phone for the Mac is one of the key pieces missing in driving further adoption of wideband telephony. I single out the G.722 codec specifically as that is key to integration with existing hard phones…