SIP termination for ITSP’s offers a number of advantages. A reliable company specializing in such SIP termination services will allow the ITSP to invest smaller amounts of time in managing routes. Other advantages provided by the high quality VOIP carrier ought to include the following:

• The ability to select from between premium or standard routes, both of which come with their own unique appropriate prefix.
• The provision of real time CDR’s in the account management platform.
• The support of H.323 and SIP protocols.
• Provision of real time switch logs which show Q.931 cause codes for easier and faster debugging.
• Customer support and technical service which are available at any time twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
• Backup soft switch locations allowing for non-interrupted availability of service.
• API of SOAP-XML for flawless exchange of data.
• Ability to try out the platform upfront, totally risk free.

SIP termination provision for enterprises can also offer numerous benefits. The PBX termination service should be created with the intention of simplifying the PBX administrator’s job. Among the features offered by a good VOIP carrier and SIP termination provider are the following benefits:

• No annoying charges which reoccur.
• A channel capacity which is truly unlimited with only a single pre-paid balance due.
• Activation which takes effect instantly.
• Premium termination services provided via Tier 1 carriers.
• SOAP – XML web services available for effective business to business access.
• Inclusion of real time account management platform and CDR’s.
• Backup facilities provided for up times which turn out to be mission critical.
• A Money back guarantee which operates without argument or hassle.
• Online offered support which is available twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week.
• Solutions which are ideal for IP-PBX systems as well as VOIP carrier phone service.

Good SIP termination services are available, for any individual or business that will seriously consider the available options.

What makes codecs so essential to understand is that every phone, VOIP, program, service, or gateway commonly supports a few different versions of codecs. When two different machines communicate together, they have to work out which form of codecs they will utilize.

In principal this sounds like a convoluted mess. In reality, it actually works out most of the time, since two different systems will commonly support at least one codec in common. For example, a Cisco ATA-186 will support these following codecs: G.711a, G.723.1, G.729a, and G.711u. At the same time, a Cisco 7960 machine will support the following codecs: G.711u, G.711a, and G.729a. Therefore, the two machines will decide to communicate in either codec G.711a, in codec G.711u, or in codec G.729a.

While some codecs must have a royalty paid in order for them to be utilized in a program or a product, others are offered royalty free. iLBC is a VOIP codec which was initially developed by Global IP Sound. It has been offered, along with its critical source code, to developers of communications machines under a free and reasonably liberal license, which is still restricted in some respects. It allows permission for the developer to modify it.

This iLBC, which stands for Internet Low Bitrate Codec proves to be a no charge speech codec that is practical for use in vigorous voice communications which take place over IP. The iLBC codec itself permits a more graceful quality of speech degradation when lost frames are present. This happens in correlation to delayed or lost IP data packets.

iLBC has a number of useful features to it. These are listed below, as follows:

• It has a great degree of robustness per packet loss.
• Its base quality is in excess of that provided by G.729A.
• It has a computational complexity which is within the range of G.729A.
• It proves to be a totally free of royalties codec.

There are a number of other VOIP supporting codecs available. The truth is that not many of them that are of high quality are available totally free of royalties. Others will not permit modifications that the designer may deem necessary.

Predictive dialing technologies which are new work hand in glove with higher speed computers, as well as with greater bandwidths of broad band, in order to allow software only predictive dialers to perform as well and even better than do hardware based dialing technology. Utilizing software based solutions eliminates the costly telephony board, along with the other necessary hardware maintenance expenses associated with it. These software based solutions prove to be simple to install and implement. It is even simple to get a remote agent up and running, who is based and working out of his or her home.

The greatest benefit of using software based predictive dialing technology over VOIP dialers as a call center solution lies in the limited amount of hardware required. Predictive dialer technology is commonly limited to only desktop computers which are fitted out with either off of the shelf voice modems or expensive and specific telephony voice boards. The truth is that less expensive voice modems typically do not possess the many features that telephone boards provide, such as call transfer, call progress detection, etc. Thanks to the constant gains in the computer speeds which have become available today, a number of the telephony board offerings are now implemented directly into the software itself, offering dramatically reduced cost and greatly increased versatility. Another benefit in utilizing the voice modem based system for VOIP dialing technology lies in the fact that a laptop computer can be transformed into an auto-dialing system. This is possible as a result of the better quality USB supported voice modems, such as the ones which are built by Zoom and Creative Lab.

Call centers can now offer a greater flexibility to their employees. Thanks to VOIP dialers technology, the call center solution even allows employees to make and receive calls from the comfort of their own homes. These better working conditions make for happier employees, and ultimately for greater productivity and profit margins as a result.

VOIP security is very easily compromised where consumers are concerned. Old deceptive schemes for consumers once involved only telephone calls to trick them into revealing personal information such as social security numbers, addresses, and even bank account or credit card numbers. Once email became a powerful medium, these tactics transformed into fraudulent phishing emails that attempt to collect the same information from an unsuspecting public. With VOIP technologies, these same old threats have once again evolved to VOIP fraud, and these types are more dangerous than the other two prior mediums of fraud since they combine the two of them in a single, convincing, and effective attempt at deception to collect personal and sensitive information.

The VOIP fraud attacks work like this. Since individuals are more likely to trust phone messages than they are emails, VOIP attackers take advantage of this trust. The ones that are the most dangerous are using the two methods of phone messages combined with email messages to launch more convincing and damaging attacks on consumers, lending greater credibility to the scam. As a real world example, there is an email which claims to be from PayPal requesting members to call a certain phone number in order to verify their existing account details. This again is not a new type of deceptive fraud, except that it is far more clever and diabolical than earlier such fraud was. When the people call the number listed, the fraudsters have set up this number with an automated service message requesting information to be given. The reason that this is so terribly effective is because the persons perpetrating this fraud have actually been able to record the real automated message from PayPal. Because of this clever and convincing deception, the only way a suspecting person can determine that this is a VOIP fraud attempt is through checking to see if the number which was given out in the email is really the correct PayPal customer service or security phone number. Consumers will have to be more and more careful as time passes and these kinds of VOIP fraud become more common, and more convincing still.

There are a variety of advantages to using VOIP API. These include the following facets:

• Scalable – VOIP API’s allow the individual or business to increase their traffic without having to be concerned over the costs inherent in overbuilding the network when peak hour visitors come online.
• Open – Because VOIP API’s are open, the user is permitted to develop a wide range of applications which are only limited by the individual’s imagination in order to combine all aspects of the underlying platform’s abilities in any way desired.
• Cost Efficient – VOIP API’s permit the person to develop his or her business at the speed desired, only being made to pay for resources on the platform as they are needed and when they are required.
• Versatile – VOIP API’s allow the user to merge platform features in one of a kind ways in order to construct services which are differentiated from the competition.

One of the services which can be created using this VOIP API is a VOIP calling card platform for wholesale use. There are a number of advantages to providing this kind of wholesale VOIP calling cards platform. Among them are the following:

• The customer can utilize any DID or DDI PSTN access provider which the business chooses to offer them, from any country desired.
• This provides the customers with a fully hosted platform that does not require any other software or equipment to be kept in the wholesaler’s location.
• The wholesaler is capable of controlling each of the service parameters, such as creating unlimited ANI accounts or PIN accounts, or simply establishing his or her own surcharges and rates.
• The calling card platform is simply customizable for the wholesaler’s particular requirements, including developing a uniquely branded provider service which utilizes voice prompts that can be individually customized, and supporting resources for a variety of currencies and languages to be usable.

Fraud is a potentially severe problem for VOIP users. Of greatest concern to businesses is the premium rate fraud. In this type of fraudulent activity, the cyber criminal hacks into the business’ VOIP system in order to place numerous phone calls to premium rate numbers. This is not a new threat, as PBX’s have been susceptible to these types of malware attacks from the beginning. In the past, not too many individuals were capable of hacking into PBX’s.

Spit stands for Spam over the Internet Telephony. Spam has become such a problem in the last few years that both malicious and unsolicited email spam now comprises the vast majority of emails sent around the world. In Europe alone for 2010, thirty-seven billion spam messages, or sixty-two percent of the many European email messages, are expected to be dispatched each and every day. The very real fear lies in the possibility that VOIP will also suffer a similar fate. If the spammers determined to use this relatively new form of technology in order to get their marketing and messages out, then VOIP telephony would no longer be practical for use. This is especially true since emailing anti-spam techniques will not work for VOIP spam. The hope is that a number of new and different anti-spam solutions will be created. One new defense called VOIP Seal employs a group of means to identify spit. As a call comes in, the system investigates to learn if the call comes from a suspect source or not, in order to determine if it is spam.

The most significant and dangerous threat to VOIP security is the distributed Denial of Service attacks, also called DoS. These can be used to impact any device which is connected to the Internet. They work by overloading networks with server requests or spurious traffic. Since the assault is generated by numerous different machines which have been infected by malware or viruses, the enormous increase in traffic leads to the impacted servers being incapable of handling any legitimate requests. This causes the entire system to come to a screeching halt.

Local Number Portability, also known as LNP or simply as Number Portability, has allowed for people to port their DID number so that they can walk away from their present phone service provider. In doing so, the individuals are capable of moving their number with them from one provider to another competing one. This works so long as the new carrier chosen has a network in the same area code in question.

As an example of how local number portability VOIP works, consider the following. A customer may have his or her number with Verizon, Vonage, or AT&T. The person decides that he or she wants to port this number over to VOIP provider virtualphoneline.com. They are able to do it without a problem.

The difficulties with local number portability VOIP come into play as some of the phone companies still will not permit the person to port away the number. Alternatively, such outfits might insist on charging the customer a fee for breaking his or her contract, before they will allow the individual to port away the number. A serious risk lies in the possibility of a person porting away the phone number, and then finding out later that he or she is not able to port it back out from this new carrier.

The reader is quite possibly astonished at this prospect. Can this really happen, that a person’s phone number literally becomes stuck with a carrier? With VOIP phone carriers, it is possible. Presently, AT&T’s VOIP will refuse to take over any competitor’s VSP, or VOIP Service Provider, numbers. This means that if a person is a customer with Vonage, one of the classic pioneering majors in the VOIP carrier field, then he or she will find the choices to port the number away extremely limited. It may turn out that the only real solution is to pick out a new phone number. The best way to attempt to get around this dilemma lies in beginning with a phone number from the earlier incumbent phone company ILEC. This could then safely be ported over to the VOIP provider. Once a person made the decision to change VOIP providers, then he or she would stand a greater chance of keeping the phone number in question.

In particular for businesses, choosing the best partner to round out the services offered proves to be critical to their success. The company’s SIP termination provider has to be capable of consistently coming through with a reliable quality of service. They also must feature the tools, offerings, versatility, and pricing to allow the company to be competitive in today’s increasingly cutthroat business environment.

There are SIP termination partners who offer networks without a single failure point. These VOIP providers similarly are able to interconnect with tier 1 providers. This assures the business that it will have a terrific ASR which includes a full ninety-nine percent availability.

There are many reasons for a business to continue its search and hold off on choosing an SIP termination partner until it finds a reliable outfit with which to work. This kind of VOIP carrier ought to have many elements to offer the business customer. These include the following:

• Both fantastic performance and supreme reliability, which should feature a full ninety-nine percent network availability, along with better than average ASR
• Infrastructure which is truly world class. The data center should be owned by the VOIP carrier and not possess any single failure points
• Versatility for the business customer to set its own per minute rate while developing its individual monthly calling plan
• The ability to be up and running in only hours, and not in days or even in weeks

If instead the business which is in critical need of high quality SIP termination and a super reliable VOIP carrier goes with the cheapest SIP termination partner that it can find, disappointing and even sometimes devastating consequences can result. The business’ important phone calls may not be able to be placed at the time that the business requires them to be done. The call quality may be erratic or poor in general. The customer service and technical support personnel will likely be difficult to reach, or not even available at all. Businesses can easily avoid these frustrating pitfalls by simply picking out the best SIP termination partner which they can find. This turns out to be the right SIP termination partner most every time.

]]> http://www.grnvoip.com/index.php/2010/08/10/finding-the-right-sip-termination-partner/feed/ 0 http://www.grnvoip.com/index.php/2010/08/08/wholesale-voip-providers/ http://www.grnvoip.com/index.php/2010/08/08/wholesale-voip-providers/#comments Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:36:07 +0000 admin http://www.grnvoip.com/?p=1724 Wholesale VOIP operations have many unique needs in their capacity of being a business VOIP provider. On the one hand, these wholesalers need access to potentially all of the best VOIP carriers on the planet with only a single account. They also need technical and customer support which proves to be a fanatical twenty-four hours a day, seven days per week, in order to optimize the routing of the VOIP calls. These wholesale VOIP operations need the ability to immediately place calls following sign up. They also require a lower upfront purchase amount and simple to use one hundred percent money back guarantee while they try out the VOIP carrier services.

While everyone in the world is looking for low phone service rates, wholesale VOIP’s or ITSP’s, which stands for Internet Telephony Service Providers, require access to a greater range of routing choices and service providers than only a business VOIP customer would. Not only do they need this ability to have choices to offer their VOIP business customers, but they need access to a high quality customer service operation for when there are difficulties or problems. A VOIP wholesale outfit which is reliable will have to offer its customers twenty-four/seven technical support as well. Knowledgeable people must be available to assist the wholesale VOIP company in tracking down a hard to locate route, or to aid in fixing a complex interop problem. The larger VOIP carriers can be very poor at this level of customer service. They sometimes require whole days to give a response to an urgent query.

Wholesale VOIP outfits also require the very best in low rates. They must feature arrangements with the highest rated and largest international and US VOIP carriers around. With these contacts and connections, they are able to offer a depth of route choices that is unbeatable. The United States termination should harness SIP peering relationships with all of the top local exchange carriers so that they are able to provide better quality at the same time as offering lower rates. With international destinations, VOIP wholesale companies must be capable of providing the more premium white routes, along with the less expensive gray routes, and all with only a single account. In this way, the wholesaler of phone and data services is able to make the choice for its customers between a premium and a standard route, and all by only dispatching the designated prefix.

]]> http://www.grnvoip.com/index.php/2010/08/08/wholesale-voip-providers/feed/ 0 http://www.grnvoip.com/index.php/2010/08/04/picking-a-voip-provider/ http://www.grnvoip.com/index.php/2010/08/04/picking-a-voip-provider/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:36:47 +0000 admin http://www.grnvoip.com/?p=1726 In today’s increasingly interlinked international world and global marketplace, numerous businesses are attempting to make the move toward the international sales of products and services. For any business which is similarly contemplating making the switch with their phone services over to a converged voice and data infrastructure, or alternatively who wishes to become a wholesale customer which will serve its customers potentially all over the world, they will require the next generation of phone and data services. They will need VOIP business from a terrific VOIP provider.

There are such VOIP carriers on the market these days. Some of them have put five years or more into their infrastructure as a VOIP provider. This level of commitment and technology results in a platform which is capable of effectively merging cost efficient operations with superior technical capabilities. It all leads to the ideal combination of price and quality for the VOIP business customer.

From this kind of VOIP provider, a business is able to expect a great deal of technology and service. Among their many features are the following:

• A top of the line custom designed switching platform which handles high volume without difficulty.
• Wholesale VOIP Provider volume operations and special rates which accompany them.
• High land line quality VOIP services which actually work, and work at rates that are affordable for the customer.
• Technical support people who like problem solving and assisting the customers in their quest for improvement.
• A financially stable operation, which has a full fifteen years of experience in implementing technologies which are emerging.
• Honesty and openness where prospects and customers alike are concerned.

Businesses desperately want to avoid VOIP providers who do not deliver on these characteristics and qualities. There are plenty of low quality and poor VOIP carriers on the market. They require high volume commitments, typically larger contract amounts, and often significant down payments. Then when the business begins to use the VOIP calling service, they find out that the quality of technology or service, or even worse, both, are severely lacking.

There is no reason to fall into this terrible trap. A business can avoid being deceived by the glitzy promises of fly by night VOIP providers. Simply insist on a free demo period using the full capabilities of the technology and customer service within this time frame. A business should certainly try out the VOIP service before it purchases it.

]]> http://www.grnvoip.com/index.php/2010/08/04/picking-a-voip-provider/feed/ 0