In the post-roll after last weeks VUC call with Michael Iedema of Askozia Project I took a little time to join the call using the PhonerLite soft phone. I didn’t tell people right away, but some later commented that I sounded like I was back to narrowband (G.711) During the formal portion of the call I was on the bridge using Eyebeam in wideband (G.722)
The trend toward wideband telephony continues unabated. Earlier this week I learned that Aastra's recent v2.5 firmware release for their SIP phones has added support for a variety of wideband codecs. Aastra phones have long been a favorite, their 480i…
Things are starting to ramp up prior to next weeks HDComms Conference in NYC. Audio Codes is presenting a webinar entitled "HD VoIP: The Next Sound Barrier" on the topic this coming Thursday, May 14th at 9am EDT. This presentation…
I don’t generally hang around in public VoIP forums but I do monitor several using Google Reader. So it was that Tuesday evening I found a new thread about “HDVoice” at the VoIP Tech Chat forum on BroadbandReports.com. Someone had posted a question about the significance of HDVoice and a few braves souls were weighing in with their take on the matter.
There was some good information, but a little confusion about data rates and the possible use of ATAs with wideband voice. It looked like the start of a good conversation on the subject, in a potentially interesting crowd. I thought I’d offer my two cents…which kind of unexpectedly turned into more like half a dollar.
If you make enough noise about looking for something eventually you’ll get some tips about where to find it. So it seems to be with my search for a wideband capable soft phone. Just in case you’re new around here, let me reiterate that by “wideband capable” I mean specifically G.722 capable allowing interoperability with my Polycom hard phones.
Not long ago I received tip about PhonerLite, a freeware soft phone for Windows that is in fact G.722 capable. The availability of a working, G.722 capable release of Eyebeam has taken the pressure of somewhat so it took a little time to get around to trying PhonerLite. I finally gave it a try this past weekend.
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.