HD VoIP solutions for a new home
SeanTek:
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 30, 2015, 10:31:38 am
I don't know where you live, or how old you are, but in the good old days of copper loops and mostly analog equipment, call quality varied considerably, based on all the many factors that can impair any analog signal, just like the wide variation in sound quality of FM radio before it was available in digital format. Even under the best circuit conditions, the telephones themselves weren't designed to reproduce "high fidelity" frequency bandwidth. Remember, the microphones used to be made out of carbon ::). [MOS...]
A typical "land line" phone call now sounds much like it did decades ago, in terms of bandwidth, but without the static, interference, crosstalk, etc. Thinking back to the first digital PBX phone systems in office buildings, I remember how amazed we were over how quiet and clear the calls sounded, and we never thought "hey, this is narrowband".
G.711 is designed with a maximum MOS of 4.1. I haven't seen this measurement applied to WB audio. Let's not get into one of those audiophile debates over whether digitized audio sounds worse than analog audio, ok? Suffice it to say that most people are now so accustomed to the highly variable, and often miserable sound quality of mobile phone calls, that most younger consumers don't think much about it...if they're even still talking on their phones instead of texting and playing games while they jaywalk in front of traffic.
This has gotten pretty far off-topic to your original goal, which was selecting telephone equipment for your new home. Suffice it to say that any of the OBi phones would be fine choice, since they support both narrowband and wideband audio, from both a digital standpoint (selection of CODECs) and from an analog standpoint (audio circuitry engineered to reproduce wideband audio). Being firmware-based, if some future WB audio CODEC came along, it wouldn't be very difficult to upgrade the devices to support it.
Well I am an older Millenial, which is to say, I grew up around Apple IIs, 5¼" floppy disks, NES, and MS-DOS (5.0). Not vacuum tubes or punch cards, except we made holiday wreaths out of the latter. ;D I also do Internet-related software engineering, so I have a good understanding of IP, but the PSTN has (up until now) been a very nebulous cloud-thing in diagrams.
Ultimately I see how these are engineering exercises: bandwidth is costly, as are pieces of equipment at the nodes and at the endpoints. Especially when multiplied over trillions of voice calls of varying lengths. Even nowadays as some wireless carriers (in the United States) are turning on HD voice services with VoLTE/Advanced Calling, I believe they are opting for much less bandwidth-intensive algorithms. I read that T-Mobile, for instance, uses AMR-WB (G.722.2; possibly at 24kbps) for its "HD Voice"—a far cry from Opus or SILK. I don't know what Verizon Wireless is using but I read that it is limited to 13kbps.
Fortunately when we are talking about wireline services, I am not concerned with conserving bandwidth because there are no data caps.
Suppose I get an Obi1062 in advance, for testing it out (the new home issue shouldn't matter, as long as it's connected to a quality Internet connection). Other than other Obi10x2 devices, what would be recommended pieces of hardware and services to test interoperability with? The Obi1xx and Obi2xx products don't use Opus or wideband or "HD" in any way, do they? I.e., do the analog phone lines on those products have higher resolution than the 300-3400Hz range common to G.711? Probably not, that would be over-engineering for the purpose...it's also unclear to me if the Obi1xx/2xx products can be contacted directly via SIP or direct IP. Would one expect to see (i.e., codec use) or hear (subjectively) a difference when calling between Obi1062 and Ooma products, which are more explicitly marketed as "HD", even though Ooma-to-non-Ooma is supposed to go through the PSTN?
SteveInWA:
Sean, happy new year!
I am puzzled as to why you are so focused on the topic of wideband audio. As I said earlier, it's an emerging technology. Currently, there is very little interoperability between service providers, so the only realistic use is for SIP calls between SIP clients. The OBi phones are ideal for that purpose. There's no point to testing anything in terms of inter-carrier capability. There is nothing to test with at this time, aside from calls that stay on the VoIP infrastructure between VoIP service providers that support wideband CODECs.
At some point in the future, when wideband audio calls between various VoIP or mobile carriers is supported, you'll be all set. The PSTN will not be upgraded to support wideband.
Why don't you just buy a phone and get familiar with the features and call quality as it exists today? The 1062 is overkill for residential use; a 1022 or 1032 would be fine. The phones' VoIP capabilities and analog components are identical between the three models. The 1032 and 1062 models just have more buttons you can program, and support business-class headsets with RJ-9 jacks, and the 1062 has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth support, whereas the cheaper models require optional dongles for those radios. Because the phones are engineered to support wideband audio (not just the digital VoIP parts, but the phone's analog audio components), you will find that audio quality on conventional calls is superior to typical consumer-grade telephones.
See the spec sheet for more details. http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBiPhoneDS.pdf
SeanTek:
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 31, 2015, 09:18:13 pm
Sean, happy new year!
I am puzzled as to why you are so focused on the topic of wideband audio. As I said earlier, it's an emerging technology. Currently, there is very little interoperability between service providers, so the only realistic use is for SIP calls between SIP clients. The OBi phones are ideal for that purpose. There's no point to testing anything in terms of inter-carrier capability. There is nothing to test with at this time, aside from calls that stay on the VoIP infrastructure between VoIP service providers that support wideband CODECs.
At some point in the future, when wideband audio calls between various VoIP or mobile carriers is supported, you'll be all set. The PSTN will not be upgraded to support wideband.
Why don't you just buy a phone and get familiar with the features and call quality as it exists today? [...]
Happy New Year!
Well you say it's an emerging technology, but Skype has had wideband audio since the mid-2000s, and other non-VoIP audio and video applications have had it long before that. Skype's traffic was almost 40% the size of the entire conventional international telecom market in 2013. This begs the question: why are we mucking around with annoying VoIP setup things, when we should all just use Skype like regular people? ::)
I was a very early adopter of Skype (~late 2003) and used it regularly to keep in touch with folks, until Microsoft bought it and the quality of the network went considerably downhill. Also Skype has not really kept pace with the mobile revolution; I have not been able to get the performance and usability out of its smartphone apps like it was with their classic Windows (and Mac) clients. Then of course there are the closed-source/obfuscation issues.
Honestly, if I want free calling, I can just use my mobile phone for everything. Having a residential land line at all is increasingly anachronistic, but it still makes sense for the following use cases:
better audio quality (avoid dropped or garbled calls)working at your desk, aka home office (in which case, it functions more like a business phone line, so business use cases apply)(VoIP specifically) can unify many different phone numbers (essentially a "business" use case)call "the house" and page whoever is in "the house""intercom" (from your cell phone to the house)doorbell substituteunlimited talk: don't use up minutes or data plan
The big minus remains "no SMS" (a separate thread, I know it's possible, but won't go there right now).
As you see, better audio quality is at the top of the list. That is why I am focused on the topic of wideband audio: we just entered 2016 and it's rather appalling that the two-line RJ11 pair persists when our mobile phones and computers are capable of so much more. But there is a lot to be said for the simplicity of two wires for home users...not to mention five 9 availability (last I checked, dumb phones don't crash).
I actually have acquired several VoIP desk phones over the last few years, not to mention a variety of softphones. The latest are the Grandstream GXV3275 (Android touchscreen phone) and the Grandstream GXP1450. (I also sold off a Grandstream GXV3240.) The GXV3275 is a bit of a dog (slow, doesn't install additional Android apps) and leaves me wondering why I didn't use the money to buy an iPod Touch, which would have been cheaper, a lot smaller, and would let my family members play games on it, not to mention FaceTime, which just works™. The GXP1450 is cheap but not particularly effective for HD. Firstly, it doesn't have a way to enter SIP URIs or direct IP addresses directly from the keypad, so VoIP-to-VoIP outbound calling is hindered. Secondly, it only supports G.722. Thirdly, it randomly disconnects from my current SIP provider after a day or two. Fourthly, it only supports two accounts so trying to test multiple SIP providers against it at once is very laborious.
None of these concerns would really exist if these phones were hooked up to a real Asterisk PBX, as the phones could be configured with XML or whatever management technologies are around, but I am not interested in running my own phone server for my residence.
On the choice of OBi1062: the price difference on Amazon is pretty negligible in the long run, and I don't want to deal with extra dongles for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Plus the OBi1062 has gigabit ethernet (including the extra port for other devices) and 6 line keys, which make it more convenient for switching between services. (As I hinted at, we have a Google Voice number whose sole purpose in life is for the "doorbell" function.)
I guess at this point, I am deciding which "science project" to tackle next: an Obi-based platform or a Wi-Fi only smart device, aka iPod Touch. As of this writing, a new pink/yellow/blue iPod Touch is cheaper (at $149, Walmart)! Plus it will do Skype/FaceTime/videoconferencing, and can even turn on my lights, control the thermostat, and manipulate my home theater systems, all with the appropriate apps! ;D The biggest downside is that said iPod Touch will have a tendency to disappear at inappropriate times, while a "real" IP phone won't be disappearing on me since it is tethered to the wall.
SeanTek:
To follow up with this, I am going to give Obi1062 a go. I realized that I can simulate the "iPod Touch in every room" with an iPhone, but not the other way around. :D So Obi here we go!
Now there is the issue of service providers to choose from. I suppose that the Approved providers are all reasonable, but can anyone suggest at least the first one to start with? I would rather not open up three or five starter plans at once.
Ideally, I would like a provider that supports T.38 properly (or supports color faxing, don't ask, it's complicated...most e-fax providers perplexingly do not support color faxing) for occasional but reliable use, has voicemail, permits SIP URIs for direct SIP-to-SIP calling (see desire for Opus/HD audio codecs), and supports SMS somehow. SIP SIMPLE / XMPP would be great for SMS but from what I have read, this may be too much of an ask. I guess if I have to, I will settle for a web portal for the SMS bits.
SteveInWA:
I use and recommend Callcentric, as do a lot of other forum members.
CC owns their own Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), and they offer free inbound phone numbers (DIDs) in several NY State area codes. Of course, you can also obtain a DID in your own locale if you wish, for a monthly fee. Similar to other SIP ITSPs, they offer a la carte (separate) pricing for inbound or outbound calling. You can start with pay-per-minute pricing to see if the service meets your needs, and if so, you can either stay per-minute, or select a monthly plan, based on usage needs. Of course, none of this is on-contract, so you can change or cancel any time. Voicemail is included, fax via G.711u works, and they also offer dedicated inbound DID fax mailbox service. I've tested and confirmed that calls using OPUS work between CC numbers.
Voip.ms is another excellent choice. I am not a customer, and so I can't comment on their support for WB audio CODECs.
The 10x2 phones support URI dialing, although doing so from the GUI would be difficult. You can define speed dials on the phone to call URIs.
You can also get a Google Voice phone number and configure it on one of the phone's other SP slots. GV generally works well for faxing, and GV numbers support text messaging.
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