QUOTE(Xybirium @ May 25 2006, 06:22 AM)
I'm sorry if I rattled you but you just seemed to be experienced in these. However, as I said before, me and all the rest of the thread readers will gain very much from your experience even if you are just a switches and routers guy.
Thanks again.
Not a problem at all.
VoIP is a not a new thing for those already familiar with the video conferencing (using H.323) environment. It is a simple transition over to packetized voice network. The data network guy now has to learn and understand the old traditional circuit-switching PSTN to make it all work together.
With so many improvement has been done with SIP protocol (for call setup, directory, etc) today, many manufacturers making their ATAs, IP phones, IP-PBX, all have SIP capabilities, making it fairly easy to interface with one another with different vendors.
Having the global IP network (ie.Internet) all stitched all system together, it only make sense to use this network to transport voice as well (yeah, we all know it is best effort esp for those need to call overseas).
There are many concerns about VoIP, particularly in Security and Emergency Services.
Security: The IT network guys know this. The malwares/viruses that spread to your PC, this can happen to your IP-phones,IP-Based PBX. Your VoIP network is subject to same DDoS attacks that plague the IP network. Without proper planning, the voice network will go down with it. Other disaster issue is: Power outage. Traditional phone can still hear dial-tone. The IP-phones is dead if you don't implement PoE (Power over Ethernet) with PSTN trunk line backup.
Emergency Services: These are good questions to ask those newbie VoIP providers.
What does one (say a regular user) expect, when he/she picks up the phone and dial '999' in an emergency situation? Does emergency service (eg.police) know where you're calling from? Is your VoIP provider aware they're responsible to setup a call service to route your calls with all your info to the emergency service provider? Those are important things to consider before we migrate away from our traditional PSTN service.
This post has been edited by netfan: May 27 2006, 12:42 AM