Integrating Bluetooth technologies into IP desk phones transforms the phone into a Swiss Army knife-like device that allows a lot of useful functions, well beyond connecting a wireless headset. Here we look at innovative IP phones from Panasonic, Grandstream, Yealink, Snom, Sangoma, Allworx and Gigaset that have integrated Bluetooth and other productivity-enhancing features. 

Case Study: long-range wireless coverage & durable handsets for stables & kennels

Key trends for WISPs from WISPAPALOOZA

Wireless Internet Service Providers or WISPs constitute a growing industry in the United States and worldwide. The WISP Association (WISPA), an advocacy organization for WISPs in the U.S., has over 650 members and 200 vendor associations. WISPA organizes an annual event called WISPAPALOOZA for the purpose of bringing together WISPs and vendors from all over the country.  Last week, Anthony Morris and Trey Smith were speaking with people about our wireless networking and telecommunications solutions at the TeleDynamics booth.

Here we cover some of the key trends this year that affect WISPs.

Quantum-leap technology advancements will enable on-demand services anytime, anywhere, with ubiquitous connectivity.

by Laureen R. Cook, Principal Telecoms, Media and Technology Advisor, IFC (World Bank) 

Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) was introduced as the first 1G system in the Scandinavian countries in 1982. 2G was commercially deployed in 1992 and 3G launched commercially in 2001, allowing mobile data as a mainstream service. 4G has been deployed since 2012, and is still being deployed around the world in developing markets, and 5G is on the horizon for the early- to mid-2020s. On average, we deploy a new generation of mobile communications every 10 years. In 25 years’ time, we will have deployed 7G and be well underway with design of the specifications for 8G, where wireless high-definition video streaming and virtual reality are part of the everyday norm. We will have transformed ourselves from the Digital Era of the 1990s to 2020, to the Digital Era of Automation from 2020 and beyond, which will be an all-immersive, high-definition user experience, taking us seamlessly from Gigabytes GB = 10⁹ of data to Zettabytes ZB = 10²¹.

By Stefan Eriksson, Marketing and Communications Manager of Konftel

Remote meetings with poor quality audio are often exhausting. Misunderstandings become more likely because it’s difficult to hear nuances and other subtleties in conversation. So you want to aim for the best sound quality possible during teleconferences. The following is a quick explanation of different technical requirements for audio quality.

• A purely mobile solution gives you great flexibility and mobility, but sometimes at the expense of sound quality. Many mobile operators now offer HD Voice in their networks, which delivers HD audio if the phone supports the technology.
• Traditional analog telephony delivers an acceptable sound quality, but with limitations in frequency range. Sometimes known as telephone quality or narrowband.
• VoIP, i.e., digital telephony via the data network (voice over IP), allows for extended frequency range, but with some compression. IP makes it possible to achieve superior audio quality, also called HD audio or wideband.
• Remember that all local networks and accessories, e.g. Wi-Fi, DECT (wireless telephony) or Bluetooth^®, affect the transmission capacity and can have an adverse impact on the sound quality.
• All of Konftel’s phones and conference units offer HD audio in contexts where PBXs and networks support it.

Grandstream, well known throughout the world for their SIP communications solutions, will soon expand those solutions by offering a new line of Wi-Fi devices. Grandstream’s entrance into the Wi-Fi marketplace will feature a Wi-Fi access point, the GWN7610, and they will soon thereafter launch a Gigabit VPN router, which will be called the GWN7000. This product line will be a new mainstay product category from Grandstream, and it will be expanded moving forward to include a variety of routers and access points with various capabilities.

For many types of businesses, workforce mobility is indispensable. Wireless technology allows associates to communicate internally and externally without being bound to a desk or station. Traditionally, DECT (digital enhanced cordless telecommunications) has been the technology used for this purpose. More recently, as wireless local area networks (WLANs) have become more commonplace, voice over WLAN (VoWLAN or VoWi-Fi) has emerged as an increasingly utilized technology.

We get a lot of questions at TeleDynamics about headsets, so hopefully this post will help answer some of them. Most questions revolve around whether buying headsets is worth the investment, and whether to get corded or wireless.