[asterisk-biz] Re: asterisk-biz Digest, Vol 20, Issue 41

[Paul Davidson]

Many people can argue this back and forth- but yes, what most people forget
is that the last two letters of the term 'VoIP' are the most important.
VoIP is a realtime (or near-realtime) application running across a network.
If you network is good, and within the standards that VoIP demands, you will
have no problems.

I personally have seen large multinational corporations running
international VoIP without problems- and by that, I mean that all calls are
at least 'toll quality' (meaning, they all sound like g729, regardless of
the codec) or better.  They all complete just as fast or faster than the
traditional PSTN network.  And they cost a whole lot less, especially
internationally. There's an added benefit of security- if a company can put
in a 'toll bypass' VoIP solution over it's own managed network, you don't
have to worry about your phones being tapped (any more than your network
being tapped- but your security model is typically already in place for a
network).  And yes, I put in that system, from day one- I know every bit of
evil that lurks within.

How did we do it?  It's simple, really- it's all about the network.  Better
devices, better configurations, better providers- all are necessary for a
successful solution.  You simply cannot take any old network, without
testing, and expect to save money by moving your telephony to your network.
Can you save money? Absolutely- in the system I put in, we acheived ROI in 2
years.  But it was not without initial investment.  Can Asterisk help reduce
the initial investment?  Yes- but you cannot simply be an IT guy, pick up a
book, download the source to Asterisk, and expect to tell your boss that a
new VoIP solution will save millions tomorrow.  Those of you who have an IT
background- ask yourself- did you learn it overnight?  Was your first
project an absolute success?  Telephony isn't just a new application- it's a
new base theology to learn.

So- I have to take a very contrary view to what's been 'summarized' here-
VoIP is absolutely, 100% ready for business. Real business.  And it's being
used by real business.  Everyday. Those who try to say it isn't, still have
a lot to learn- but, once the lessons are learned, and the costs are
counted, VoIP comes out on top- every time.

-Paul Davidson
 PlanCommunications, LLC


Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 08:24:49 -0500
> From: "Hugh L. Johnson" <hugh-lists at teknology.net>
> Subject: Re: SUMMARY: [asterisk-biz] Does VoIP Really Work for Serious
>         Business?
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
>         <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID:
>         <1141997089.2958.9.camel at boilermaker.ofc.tekinteractive.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> It's all about latency.  The roundtrip ping times across my DSL circuit
> (Verizon ATM cloud) to my ISP's router (One hop away) are approx 25ms.
> My ISP has a PRI which I use for all incoming and local outgoing calls.
> For these calls the quality is better than when I had an analog phone at
> home.
>
> For most of my LD calls I use a budget 1 cent per minute VoIP provider.
> (*For calls where I absolutely need quality, I send those across the PRI
> as well.)  The call quality isn't nearly as good when routing the calls
> over the internet, but it shouldn't be expected.  I get what I pay for.
> I'll bet if I purchased a point-to-point circuit to the budget VoIP
> provider the calls would sound wonderful, but of course that is cost
> prohibitive.
>
>
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