wideband – Page 27 – Graves On SOHO Technology

New Gadget: Plantronics .Audio 480 Headset

January 12, 2009
Michael Graves
Video, VoIP

plantronics-audio-480-headset My wife is a very patient woman, well much of the time. And I am very grateful, well most of the time. This past Christmas she gifted me a new Plantronics .Audio 480 wired headset. This week is my first business trip since the holidays so I decided to bring it along.

This trip finds me in Toronto. Normally I’d just use my cell phone for everything but international roaming rates are very high. Most typically a week in Canada adds $100-150 to my monthly T-Mobile bill.

Can You Hear Me Now? VoIP Bloggers Decide: VoIP Undead!

January 8, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

The past few weeks the blogosphere has been alight with the conjecture that “VoIP is dead.” A great many have weighed in with opinion on the matter, including; Alec Saunders, Andy Abramson, Dan York*, Ken Camp, Jon Arnold, Irwin Lazar, Om Malik, Tom Keating, amongst others. And a little unexpectedly, Jeff Pulver joined in on the conversation.

All of this seems to have culminated in a Calliflower conference call the evening of Monday January 5th. Those in attendance (39 people!) were essentially the most respected folks in the VoIP blogosphere. The debate was interesting but nothing I care to comment on here. The call is available as a podcast. It’s a good listen.

Philips DECT Cordless Phone: Functional, But Seriously Flawed

December 31, 2008
Michael Graves
VoIP

I bought this phone system on Woot.com in response to my wife’s request that we get something new for our home line. At $49 it was at least a serious bargain. I see this very system offered on Amazon.com for $80. With four handsets and a base even that seems like a good price.

philips_dect_60_with_4_handset_cordless_phone_and_answering_machine93zdetail

Jeff Pulver on HDVoice

December 28, 2008
Michael Graves
VoIP

Today Jeff Pulver posted a blog entry giving his sense that HDVoice will spark a renaissance in the VoIP world. He feels that carriers will be able to differentiate themselves on the basis of quality and earn customer loyalty. He’s outright enthusiastic about HDVoice.

I find Jeff’s focus in this area encouraging. Jeff has a lot of clout and could help push wideband telephony into the thoughts of people who might otherwise pass it by.

New Wideband Codecs In Freeswitch

December 18, 2008
Michael Graves
VoIP

Over the past couple of days the Freeswitch developers have announced support for several newer wideband capable codecs. Thier first announcement was support for the Polycom Siren(tm) 7 and Siren(tm) 14, aka G.722.1 and G.722.1 Annex C. These provide sample…

Audio Codes’ Alan Percy on Wideband Telephony

December 10, 2008
Michael Graves
VoIP

Carl Ford has a nice podcast today interviewing Audio Codes’ Alan Percy about the coming wave of wideband telephony. Alan gives a good overview of the codecs involved, which points to the capabilities that are being developed in coming Audio Codes products. He also describes the logic behind using different codecs on wired vs wireless networks.