SIP

fring Adds VoIP to iPhone

October 4, 2008

fring for iPhone has arrived! I'm a huge fan of fring, which I like to call the Swiss Army knife of VoIP/IM communications since fring works with AOL/AIM, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, Twitter, Yahoo! Messenger, and SIP registrars/IP-PBXs. I've used fring on my Windows Mobile 6.1 phone to connect to an Asterisk-based IP-PBX using SIP which enabled me to remotely make and receive calls. fring is a currently a free pre-release app free on iTunes.

VoIP using fring is of course restricted to WiFi connections - it won't work over 3G, but still cool nonetheless. Further, according to the apps description in iTunes you can IM over 3G, GPRS, EDGE, or WiFi, so you can use fring as your centralized IM application on your iPhone.

Features:
• VoIP (Voice) Calls over WiFi
• Instant Messaging
• Integrated dynamic contact list  with real-time contact availability
• SIP integration
• Multiple Connection types

Download fring (free app) for iPhone here.

Posted in Apple, Mobile Phones, SIP, Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Windows Live Messenger Back in the VoIP game!

October 3, 2008

Ok, now my head is getting dizzy from the number of times Microsoft Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger has had outbound VoIP-to-PSTN calling (2006), then pulling outbound VoIP calling (early 2008), and then putting it back in. Also, I believe it was 2004 when the Messenger client used Net2Phone before they pulled the plug. Well, apparently outbound PSTN dialing using VoIP is back in!

Windows Live Messenger has now teamed up with Telefónica to offer VoIP services. Previously Net2Phone and Verizon have had exclusive deals with Microsoft's Messenger client.

When you click on Make a Phone Call you see the dialpad window and it explains you can sign up with Telefonica's Voype service to call directly from within Windows Live Messenger.

Telefónica's rates seem decent as compared to SkypeOut. For instance,Telefónica charges $0.014 per minute for the U.S.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

Adtran IP 706 Review

October 1, 2008

Adtran recently launched their IP 700 series of IP phones in late April. Adtran sent TMC Labs the IP 706 model, which supports up to 6 lines, but the 700 series also includes the IP 712 which is identical feature-wise but supports up to 12 lines. Each line can be configured to register with unique SIP proxy/registrar servers. This allows a different line for every line key on the phone.

Posted in Asterisk, Polycom, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

Gizmo5 SIP Trunks available in trixbox CE

September 26, 2008

Gizmo5 SIP trunks have always been available in trixbox CE, but it was a manual process. The Gizmo5 team has built a module to be part of the trixbox package manager that allows you to purchase your trunks, see your account balance, purchase more minutes, and automatically setup your inbound and outbound routes. The module is now available via the trixbox package manager and will be built into all upcoming ISO builds.

Additionally, the calling service for trixbox CE is pre-configured to use the Gizmo5 calling network and includes a new UI for easy administration.

Posted in Asterisk, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

Flash VoIP calls to Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Google Talk

September 25, 2008

Flashphone is a web-based SIP softphone, while gtalk2voip lets you make or receive calls to/from all SIP phones and SIP services, including Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Google Talk. Both Flashphone and gtalk2voip are free. Now combine the two and you can make free web-based Flash calls to Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Google Talk (gtalk) users.

According to the Flashphone blog, "For example, if someone is online in Gtalk and you want to call him from flashphone you just need to enter SIP URI like sip:google_username@gtalk2voip.com and gtalk user will see incoming call. You also can easily call to flashphone from gtalk via gtalk2voip, add contact like [flashphone_login]_at_flashphone.ru@gtalk2voip.com and call to this contact, flashphone will ring if user online."

Pretty sweet!

image of Flashphone during one of my tests:

Posted in SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

Microsoft Office Communication Server R2 ships in December plus Hosted OCS Coming

September 23, 2008

I discovered two Microsoft job postings several weeks ago and have been meaning to blog the discovery that Microsoft Office Communication Server R2 will ship in December of this year. One is for 'Software Development Engineer in Test - MBD - RTC' and the other for 'Lead Software Develpment Engineer in Test - Office Communications Server'. One of the job posting says:

"The Office Communications Server team is starting a new deployment/management/administration team at Beijing. The Office Communications Server product team must deliver both an on-premise version of the Server as well as offering a hosted Service for Small and Medium Businesses.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Laughable Blog Aggregator and Linking to news sources

September 22, 2008

I'm not going to go on another rant blasting blog aggregators or websites that steal other people's content (aka sploggers). However, I came across one website that took my content, re-worded one sentence and tried to claim it as its own. The change is so laughable I busted out laughing!

First, my blog entry titled Court Bans VoIP App on iPhone was one of the first if not the first U.S.-based news outlet to talk about how a German court banned the sipgate VoIP application on the iPhone. In the article, I wrote:

Apparently, the court felt that sipgate would "lure" iPhone users into "jailbreaking" their iPhones.

Posted in Apple, Mobile Phones, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

Pro vs. G.I. Joe using SightSpeed Video/VoIP App

September 22, 2008

This news about American troops using VoIP & video is a few weeks old, but I wanted to share it, since it's pretty interesting. SightSpeed VP of Marketing Eric Quanstrom mentioned the news to me awhile ago when we were on a SightSpeed video call. Using SightSpeed, U.S. troops are able to play PlayStation, XBox and the WII against professional athletes (Philadelphia Eagles) while seeing them (video) and "trash talking" them over the Internet (VoIP).

Posted in SIP, Skype, TMCnet, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Polycom KIRK DECT SIP Phones

September 22, 2008

Polycom today announced the launch of its latest KIRK Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) wireless products. Polycom has introduced three new products: the KIRK Wireless Server (KWS) 300, the KWS 6000, and the KIRK 5040 handset. which are all SIP-based.

The name KIRK certainly evokes Captain Kirk from Star Trek and most likely intentionally, since Captain Kirk and his crew made the wireless communicator famous 40 years ago. No doubt Polycom has some Trekkies in their engineering or marketing teams.

Posted in Mobile Phones, Polycom, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

Fonality Targets Call Centers with Advanced Call Center Features

September 18, 2008

I met with Fonality CEO Chris Lyman at ITEXPO and he gave me a demo of HUD 3.0, which includes some very advanced call center features. HUD 3.0 now not only displays the queues, but it lets you drag-and-drop individual queues off the main HUD client onto your Desktop allowing managers & agents to focus on specific queues of interest. The new version features important statistics such as abandonment rate, ASA (average speed of answer), and more. You can see all of your agents in a particular queue and they are color coded to indicate their status (on internal call, on queue call, etc.)

One critical feature is that if a call is not being answered, it immediately broadcasts a toast popup window to all the agents in the queue and allows an agent to take the call before it is abandoned.

Posted in Asterisk, ITEXPO, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

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