VoIP Review

Wanted: a VOIP Provider that is capable of the following:
- LNP in non-Metro areas
- IP Centrex or Hosted PBX
- GUI
- billing options
- reasonable rates

My Research has found that:

Level(3) wants huge numbers for its 3Tone product. (And a separate huge commit for 3Home). And L3 Resellers want to charge a bundle. No room left for the NSP to make money. (DSL all over again). [Editor's note: this was written in 2004 before L3 pulled its VOIP product]. Either route billing becomes an issue.

SIPMedia (MyPhoneCompany.com) does a good job for those just looking to make a residual on a Vonage like service.  (Sipmedia is a Level(3) enabled network).

VOIP Inc. is working on a Virtual Service Provider service to be showcased at VON in Boston in October.
Then there is the homebrew version.
  • Asterisk box running on a decent box (Proliant Xeon).
  • SER box.
  • Digium cards for Asterisk are cheap.
  • PRI from your favorite CLEC -  DIDs & LNP.
  • Ded LD for least cost routing / call termination
  • Hosted PBX service for your broadband clients.



Other things to consider:

Lots of CPE out there for the SOHO and SMB market. But ATA's have limitations - like a 2-line limit. Edgewaters and Vegastreams cost $700 and up for 5 lines and more.

The problem is with termination. Toll-free and LD terminiation that is inexpensive (so it can be resold to end users) and that works is difficult to find.

CTI, AT&T, IXTC  - all are true VOIP providers, but like L3 want million minute commits.

Billing is another issue. It takes time and organization to bill LD minutes and not lose your shirt.

Voice is not data. Jitter, latency, congestion, etc. will make the calls sound awful. Oversubscription is difficult to do on Voice. (How often can the end user get a bad call or no dial-tone due to not enough ports available?)

How many lines can you put over your DSL architecture?
Well, the bottleneck will be the upstream on the DSL circuit as well as the backhaul from the DSLAM to the CO.

CALEA - your system has to be CALEA compliant

Taxes:     Congress Hangs Up on VoIP for 2004 - September 3, 2004
Federal legislation to exempt Internet telephony from state regulations and tariffs has all but failed in the 108th Congress, ending an ambitious effort to carve out and protect Internet-related issues from looming, and highly uncertain, telecom reform.


http://voipreview.org

RAD-INFO, Inc.
813.963.5884
NSP Strategist
Copyright © 2004 RAD-INFO, Inc. All rights reserved.