Faxing and IP
Whats really the problem with faxing over ip... T.30 is a very precise protocol, it was designed with telephone networks in mind, and hence provides a reliable mechanism for transmitting data over a phone line.
T.30 is not very tolerant to out of sequence data, hence why faxing over ip is so problematic.
You see, when you fax over your voip line, you are "mimicking" an actual phone call, except the messages are not sent as wave's but rather ip packets that are disassembled and reassembled. What happens when there is latency and packet loss, is parts of the message are missing causing the flow of data to become out of order. The fax machines detect these errors and fail. Faxing over IP works 80% of the time at best. It could work 100% of the time if network conditions would maintain optimal response times, however, because many factors effect the network, your really taking a shot in the dark.
I have experienced decent results for some customers, we do offer it to them as a "Free" service, however it is unsupported. IF they want a reliable alternative, stick to POTS! Its legacy, but it works, or if you want to get with the times, you can simply send an email, I think that should be the de-facto standard for sending data anyway! Besides, lets look at all the environmental benefits of removing antiquated fax technology, less energy consumption, less wasted paper. WOW! Thats a great place to start! Perhaps we should start advocating email as the fax alternative. By the way, digital signatures are considered as good as physically signed ones.
Posted at 12:15AM Jun 16, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Captcha That! - Very annoying way of doing things.
I have to mention that today, it has become almost impossible to sign-up or retrieve a lost password from these sites that use this "captcha" technology. Why am I saying this. Because today I lost one of my 2 million passwords and needed to have it reset. I clicked that fancy link that says "Click here if you lost you password" then I was displayed a paged that had 2 boxes, one for my email address and one for this word for to verify. Needless to say after 20 or 30 attempts, I could not guess the letters of the word. I dont mean to brag, but I am fairly intelligent, at least smarter than 20% of the rest of the world, and certainly well above 25% in new york, but I could not for the life of me guess what these letters say.
Sadly to say, this was google's website. For all the really well designed apps available you would think they would have enough intelligence to say "we are getting carried away with these skewed letters that overlap each other". Perhaps I am just not that tech savvy. Anyway, I am curious to know if anyone else has any problems with these things or is it just me?
Posted at 06:09PM May 21, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Speech and the Future of Telephony.
Ok, so by now, Asterisk is old-hat. I mean we are 4 and a half years past the introductory point and we realize the thing works great. Just like MySQL, Apache and all the other great free software out there. But whats next? well I will tell you what we are betting on. Voice recognition! Asterisk is a great product, it has support for lots of VoIP protocols including SIP, IAX, H.323, MGCP, SCCP and more. So from a low level socket level, you are able to communicate with many different devices, but what about us? The people the users the business? Well thats coming in version 2. Voice 2.0 will be when application become more usable to the end users. We feel that voice recognition is the next killer App in PBX development. Why because its a natural progression in technology. Why would we dial with our hands and talk with our mouthes if we could do it all by speech?
Anyway, look out for some really nifty products to be launched in the coming months that incorporate speech technology into your PBX. Contact us at 888-505-VoIP (8647) if your interested in voice recognition or open-source bx products.
Posted at 08:57AM May 18, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
WiFi Voice over IP (voip) woip
AstraVoice is working on Next Generation Mobility solutions for offices. Our latest product is a mobility bundle that enables campus wide voip over wifi. Our new phones support standards based 802.11n wifi so that existing wifi infrastructure can be used. Our new handsets enable you to walk throughout the facility. This offers tremendous benefits for environments that are large and employees are mobile.
Call us at 1-888-505-VoIP (8647) for more information on our Voip Wifi Products.
Posted at 12:12PM May 14, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Put Your Hands Up For Free Shipping
Starting June 1st, for the recently launched shop.astravoice.com, AstraVoice will be offering free shipping on all orders regardless of size. This will be the first promotion of the month and we look forward to it. We will also try and ship using an expedited service method so that you can have your equipment in just a few days. shop.astravoice.com is the source for all your IP Telephony needs. Started to fill the void in professional VoIP sales. No question you can search the web and find dealer prices on some web-sites, however, when it comes to professional service, AstraVoice can't be matched. We are the source for customers who need product advice, consulting and everything in-between.
Call us at 1-888-505-VoIP (8647)
Posted at 08:46AM May 11, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Polycom LDAP Integration
Polycom has recently introduced its LDAP connector for its Soundpoint Series IP phones. This finally will be the "Missing Link" to unified communications. Just think about the new services that can deployed using the LDAP connector.
Lets for a minute talk about some of the problems an enterprise might have. Lets take contact management for example. That would normally be a disjointed feature. Why? because the phone does not know anything about your contact book. With LDAP integration enterprises will be able to centralize contact management on the server and your "phone" will be able to access that information.
Its a really brilliant move on polycoms part to include LDAP integration. Directory Services is an essential part to IP telephony success.
Currently AstraVoice had a solution for directory integration. It was very complex but worked. We cant wait to try the new LDAP features that Polycom has introduced in its latest firmware.
One small note, LDAP licensing is available as a per seat license and is not included free with the software. My guess is once enough people pay for it, they will probably end up giving it away.
If your interested in Polycom phones or LDAP integration please contact AstraVoice Professional Services at 212-937-8855. They can guide you on the tools needed for a successful implementation.
Posted at 09:18AM May 08, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
OEM Spec Products + Embedded Technology
AstraVoice has embedded computing know how. This point sets us apart from our competition. We like to believe that our core competencies is in hardware and software development using open-platforms. We have done R&D for some VoIP phones and even worked on some designs with some embedded chipsets. This is really interesting technology to play with. However, playing and testing, is different then marketing and selling. All these great technologies cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop market and deploy.
For us, thats allot of money to spend. Plus we are not expert marketers. We are good, but we don't have what it takes to sell our custome hardware solutions. Anyway, the technology is still a blast to develop even on the hobby level where we pay a premium for the circuit boards and chipsets. We have worked with infineon DSP's as well as Analog Devices.
Posted at 09:09PM May 07, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
AudioCodes Mediant 1000 SIP Gateway
I am truly in love with AudioCodes products. You know I have "played" with lots of gateways. I did lots of reading and compared specs. I am a VoIP Junkie, no question. Funny, 3 Comm seems to be with me on this as well. They have launched a product that is based on the Mediant 1000 platform.
The mediant 1000 platform is probably the only gateway that allows you to mix, analog FXO,FXS signaling or Digital T1/E1 on the same chassis. Thats really a huge plus for businesses looking to deploy open-source and need to migrate from analog to digital.
AstraVoice has mediant 1000's in production environments for its customers. Going forward I think their will be huge potential for Mediant 1000 deployments as Microsoft® office communication server becomes more integrated into mid-sized businesses.
Contact AstraVoice at 212-937-8855 if you have any questions on AudioCodes products ot Office Communication Server Integration.
Posted at 08:59PM May 07, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Adtran 908a - ADSL Version
We worked with Adtran to test their New 908a ADSL product. This product is an 8 port FXS IAD (Integrated Access Device). We were researching which products to use with our new On-Net Business Broadband offering and thought it would be a good idea to test this product. Adtran seemed eagerly excited to work with us as well on this product.
We hope to continue a relationship with the folks ad Adtran. They deliver high quality products that are very very competitive in the small and mid market arena. I don't think you can get better "value" from any other vendor.
And the reason I say this is because they work with lots of clec's to provide infrastructure. Those clec's provide them with invaluable information on their products.
Call us at 212-937-8855 to discuss Adtran Product's or if your interest in our Hosted PBX Platform.
Posted at 08:53PM May 07, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
AstraVoice Broadband Tested and Launched
Our AstraVoice On-Net Product has finally passed through its testing phase and is ready for "prime-time". Its a broadband product aimed at small businesses and customers needing expert support for their IT infrastructures. We have partnered with leading broadband providers to enable this product and we are sure its going to be a huge success.
Our On-Net service can be delivered over DSL, T1, and Bonded T1. We can also deliver Quality of Service on these circuits which makes it a terrific option for our Hosted Customers.
Call 212-937-8855 and speak to our staff about deploying On-Net Broadband in your business.
Posted at 08:48PM May 07, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Telephone Prompts - TelePrompts
TelePrompts is an innovative new service that lets users create stunning high quality phone prompts for their businesses. Its an important addition to the AstraVoice family.
Posted at 08:44PM May 07, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Google Analytics
WOW! Google Analytics is outstanding. Really a terrific product. I think it was a genius move to purchase urchin. Especially because they give it way for free. Its a great added value tool for them.
All and all, I am very impressed with the Google platform (Like my opinion matters) but I just thought I would say that.
Recently, I have been playing with the features google offers its customers.
Stay Tuned for some exciting information.
Posted at 08:42PM May 07, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
Google AppEngine - Small Business Platform.
Wow, so we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was recently introduced to the new Google AppEngine. Wow, what an outstanding product. This product is very advanced and will give small businesses a boost once enough developers make some really great apps. Here at AstraVoice, we have started to integrate our telephony app with the Google AppEngine. We are really looking forward to being able to provide new tools to our customers that take advantage of the Google AppEngine product.
Stay Tuned for Some More Developments on this Topic.
Posted at 10:47PM May 03, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
On the Shoulders of Giants
Lets face it, Image is everything... Bottom line, all things equal the guy who presents more clearly has a better chance of winning the business. This has been defined by the big business in america not me.
So what do you do if your small and don't have the budget? You use companies like us... Our company specializes in providing the tools necessary to small business owners that make more competitive with their bigger-business counterparts. We basically flatten the technology gap so that you can compete fairly.
How do we accomplish this goal? Technology enabling small business by giving them access to high end technology at affordable prices. We give them access to Phones, Computers, Servers plus Services Like Email, Messaging and Group Collaboration. We are small to so we understand our clients needs. We ride on the shoulders of Giants, we provide the bridge to applications. Huge companies produce outstanding tools and they do the best they can to market those tools, yet, only a certain percentage really understand how to use those tools. That is where we come in. We make the marriage of your business need, with the existing offerings that are designed to meet those needs and integrate the two to make our product.
If you think that your business can benefit from our process, please call us at 212-937-8855.
Posted at 10:43PM May 03, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]
New Polycom IP 6000 & IP 7000 Conference Phones.
Polycom introduced its latest IP phones this week. The IP 6000 & IP 7000 SIP compliant conference telephone. These phones are essential to any modern day office.
There is quite a difference between these 2 phones. For one, the LCD Display on the IP 7000 is much larger which will enable you to integrate with Visual conference applications. Another noticeable difference is in the voice quality. The 7000 has a higher fidelity voice codec. A third difference is in form factor. While maintaining a similar look and feel, the IP 7000 is sleeker and more moder looking. The IP 6000 is sufficient enough for any modern day office, but if your like me and into the latest and greatest its probably worthwhile to splurge on the 7000. Besides how many conference phones do you need to buy anyway?
Please contact us at 212-937-8855 if your interested in purchasing either of the phones. We are a Polycom certified vendor.
Posted at 05:10PM Apr 25, 2008 by David J in General | Comments[0]