Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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SIP

Analysis of a VoIP Attack

October 23, 2008

VoIP security is often overlooked by IT administrators as well as VARs and resellers that deploy VoIP in the enterprise. They do so at their own peril, however. One of the main factors behind using VoIP is to save money. Well imagine your IP-PBX has been hacked and you don't notice anything wrong until you receive the next phone bill with hundreds or thousands of dollars in phone charges.

2008 World Series Wager: Oranges for Cheesesteaks?

October 22, 2008

I was sent a release about a wager between two hosted VoIP companies over which team will win the World Series - either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Tampa Bay Rays. The bet involves a dirty dozen cheesesteakes by Alteva against Telovations' two bushels of oranges. Ok, I'll bite (pun intended) and blog this since it involves VoIP and our national past time.

Check out the wager:

2008 World Series: Oranges for Cheesesteaks?

The Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays will soon battle it out on the field in the 2008 World Series. In each respective state, thousands of people are already placing bets on who should win this year's title.





Aastra 57i and 57i CT Review

October 17, 2008


The Aastra 57i is one of my favorite VoIP phones. The 57i and its sister, the 57i CT (cordless telephone adjunct), offers some unique features and is undoubtedly one of the most flexible IP phones you will find. The 57i and 57i CT sport a large 144 x 128 pixel graphical backlit LCD display and 6 dynamic context-sensitive softkeys. Although the resolution isn't designed for photos, it's a very large LCD, one of the largest I've seen making it very easy to read the number of voicemail messages, the CallerID of an inbound call, and the one touch feature keys you've programmed.

Great VoIP peering article worth reading

October 16, 2008

OctroTalk adds Video Conferencing and Live Streaming to Windows Mobile

October 15, 2008

A major new version of OctroTalk (see previous write-up), an IM/VoIP/video P2P app just came out. The new version is called OctroTalk 2.0 for Windows Mobile and it now has real time video conferencing with VoIP, File Transfer, Instant Messaging and avatar support. You can even have video calls if you have OctroTalk running at both ends. The OctroTalk desktop version also supports video conferencing.

OctroTalk supports IM/VoIP and can communicate with Jabber, Google Talk, AOL/AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, and ICQ.

snom 820 VoIP phone

October 15, 2008


snom today launched the snom 820, an elegant and attractive VoIP phone. It features a large high-resolution TFT color display (3.5", 320 x 240 pixels) and can easily display call lists, phone directories, and caller information via the integrated XML browser. I believe this is snom's first "white" VoIP phone, which gives it a nice clean look. Very Apple-esque.

snom m3 review

October 7, 2008


The snom m3 SIP wireless (DECT) phone is one of my favorite VoIP phones. I've been testing and reviewing it for a few months but haven't had time to write up the review until now. First, let me point out that the problem with IP-PBXs is they typically give you a desk phone or a softphone with no real mobility options to walk around, which is critical in some vertical markets, such as retail and manufacturing. Even sales professionals want the flexibility to take calls while roaming the office.

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.













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.







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.
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