In the past, VoIP was considered a low-quality, undependable voice service delivered over an unreliable internet connection. Since then, the technology has improved dramatically, as have the methods and connections used to deliver it. VoIP now enjoys the same levels of availability and robustness as traditional telephony did at its peak.

Even so, the stigma of low quality and low dependability has followed VoIP to this day. In this article, we attempt to understand why this is the case and provide a realistic picture of the phenomenal reliability that VoIP can achieve today.

A WAN connection using wireless technology is among the simplest and fastest ways to connect a business to the internet. However, with so many technologies out there, and so many network design and architectural options to deploy, this simple solution can quickly take on a very complex form.

In this article, we hope to simplify the task of sorting through the various choices, allowing you to take advantage of quick, efficient, and often economical wireless options.

Over the past few years, we’ve been hearing a lot about 5G: the potential it promises, the phenomenal levels of network performance it can achieve, and the multitude of applications and services it will deliver. In this article, we review the basics of 5G and how it is poised to change the mobile communications landscape. We also examine the potential benefits it has to offer to enterprise-scale VoIP communications systems.

Jitter is one of the most common causes of substandard voice communications over IP networks. This article provides an overview of jitter and how it influences voice applications, as well as methods for resolving it on your networks.

Wouldn’t it be great to have superhero X-ray vision that allows you to understand, in a single glance, what is going on with the voice traffic on your network? In fact, it is possible to do so using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). In this article, we take a look at this protocol and highlight the special features it has up its sleeve to help you with your VoIP monitoring needs.

Software-defined networking (SDN) is changing the way networks are managed and designed. In this article, we take a look at how an SDN approach can be of great benefit to VoIP and video telephony deployments in particular.

Many administrators resist implementing VoIP over Wi-Fi, often citing security and quality concerns. The truth is that if implemented correctly, voice can be safely and reliably deployed on a wireless network. This article examines some best practices for optimizing voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi).

IP Telephony features are not always “plug-and-play.” Rather, they must be configured to function properly. This is equally true when dealing with quality of service (QoS) on a network that transmits both data and voice (i.e., a converged network).

Companies commonly find that when they install their VoIP system on a preexisting data network, it works great at first. Days or weeks later, however, users complain of poor voice quality and intermittent disconnections. The network has not changed, so what’s going on?

In this article, we’ll see why QoS is a fundamental part of your network design for voice, and examine five configurations that should always be employed to achieve high-quality voice on a converged network.

Your customer using a legacy phone system decides to switch to voice over internet protocol (VoIP). They install an IP PBX and buy some IP phones. Great, they’re all set, right? Wrong. Without configuring their data network for quality of service (QoS), they will experience a severe deterioration in voice quality and may regret making the decision to switch. Yes, the IP PBX and the IP endpoints will already be configured for QoS. But what about other parts of the network like the pre-existing routers, switches and firewall? All it takes is one missing link for the whole system to be compromised.

QoS is a big topic. In this article, we’ll look at two main approaches to QoS: IntServ and DiffServ, their strengths and limitations, and when to use which one.

Review of the EdgeMarc 2900a and 2900e Enterprise Session Border Controllers

Update: Since this article was published, in 2018, Edgewater Networks was acquired by Ribbon Communications.

Edgewater Networks has added to its line of enterprise session border controllers (eSBCs) with its EdgeMarc 2900A and 2900E models. These are designed to enable enterprises and service providers to future-proof their SIP trunking and Unified Communications (UC) deployments. With built-in mechanisms for both QoS and security, they provide intelligent mechanisms allowing for both hosted PBX services as well as SIP trunking applications.

They have several features that differ from other EdgeMarc SBCs.