JTDC
join:2000-02-07
Washington, DC
 ·Speakeasy
| [General] VOIP over Wireless LAN?
I am setting up Speakeasy Business VOIP (it is already ordered) in an office that will have eight users distributed across four offices. As I am subletting the office space, I do not want to open holes in the walls or make a significant expenditure in cabling of the space. Therefore, I was wondering if it is possible to reliably run VOIP across a wireless LAN. That way, I could put an access point in each of the four offices and use it for a wired connection in each office by just running patch cables from my PCs and TAs to the LAN ports on the access point.
If this configuration would work, can anyone offer any recommendations as to which access point (with at least four LAN ports) would be best? I imagine that speed would be important since the wireless connsections would be carrying both LAN and VOIP traffic.
Again, I have already ordered the service, so while I know that other VOIP providers offer wireless services and may work better for what I am trying to achieve, My question is limited to the general feasibility of using a wirelss LAN to carry VOIP. I really appreciate any thoughts anyone may have to offer. Thanks! |
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stevech1
join:2005-01-08
edit:
October 1st, @08:11PM
| wireless LAN is transparent to VoIP. The only issues are those common to any wireless LAN setup: choosing an uncongested channel (1, 6, 11) and assuring you have a good signal so that a reasonably high data rate is achieved.
I've used vocera's devices successfully on a building-wide WLAN with 30 access points.
A VoIP ATA would connect to what client device in your system- a bridge? |
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JTDC
join:2000-02-07
Washington, DC
·Speakeasy
| Thanks for the reply. What I have in mind are four bridges, with each connected to two or three PCs and two or three VOIP ATAs.
I know that the topolgy is invisible to VOIP, just as, in theory, a dial-up connection across ethernet would be. However, what I am trying to get at is if the quality of the call would suffer, particularly since VOIP would be sharing the wireless pipe with data activity. Since these are business lines, the quality and reliability are critical. Any thoughts? |
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usa2k
Please PRAY for Rebekah
Premium,MVM
join:2003-01-26
Canton, MI
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
 ·WOW Internet and C..
·Broadvox Direct
edit:
October 1st, @10:30PM
|  Re: [General] VOIP over Wireless LAN?
IMO VoIP may not be ready as primary business lines. FAX lines are by far more reliable on hard-wired PSTN. Voice lines should use g.711 and need a minimum of 90K upload and download each.
The ISP is going to make or break most of your success. The wireless part, if working without interference, is more a side-bar to your plans.
--
Jim -- USA2K
SEE: |DCWU |FP |FAH |BVX REVIEW |
FWD, Vonage 23mths-12/04,& BVX 07/04-now |
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JTDC
join:2000-02-07
Washington, DC
·Speakeasy
| I appreciate your perspective on VOIP for business use. However, since I have already made the decison (and have signed contracts for) going that route, what I really need are some revcommendations and thoughts as to what, if any, wireless LAN equipment can best support VOIP in the configuration I described in my previous post. |
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usa2k
Please PRAY for Rebekah
Premium,MVM
join:2003-01-26
Canton, MI
clubs:
·VOIPo
·WOW Internet and C..
·Broadvox Direct
| Re: [General] VOIP over Wireless LAN?
My wireless networking experience is with 2.4 Ghz 802.11b Dlink and USR. The problem with 2.4 Ghz is a microwave oven can kill your connection. Otherwise it works fine for me for home use.
The consumer grade routers most popular for VoIP including wireless are Linksys brand. Lots of threads you can find searching on QOS in this forum.
Not much discussion here about commercial grade routers and APs.
Note some providers like Vonage offer a wireless Linksys router with built-in VoIP Telephone Adapter (TA). They should be usable connecting to another host router.
--
Jim -- USA2K
SEE: |DCWU |FP |FAH |BVX REVIEW |
FWD, Vonage 23mths-12/04,& BVX 07/04-now |
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T40_Laptop
join:2005-06-26
Fremont, CA
| Go for 802.11A access points. they cost more than their G counterpart, but yuou will appreciate the once you know the hassels you avoided. 11A offers about 14 non overlapping channels, meaning, 14 of the access points can sit next to each other and cause NO interference at all...
I recommend .11a for these kind of situation..
Other than that... you would do just fine with wireless lan and VOIP...
Where as 802.11B/G has only 3 non overlapping channels... you plan tot have 4 wirelss bridges, means, you can have only three without interference in a close proximity..Even if you have 3, your boxes will experience interferece from 2.4Ghz phones, your neighbor's access points etc.. |
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JTDC
join:2000-02-07
Washington, DC | Thanks. As I do not have any experience woth wireless LANs, I did not think about limitations in terms of channels and intereference. I guess I might be better off just going with wired connections. |
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EXNTVOIP
join:2004-08-04
Myrtle Beach, SC
| We had the same situation when we moved into our office. We use the wall plug ethernet bridge by netgear for 3 of our office computers and 2 of our VOIP phones and 1 of our network printers. They are very easy to setup and use.
»www.netgear.com/products/details/XE102.php |
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JTDC
join:2000-02-07
Washington, DC | Thanks. I had not thought about the possibility of ethernet over power lines. The only problems is that it is slow, but this is certainly an easy solution from the installation perspective! |
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EXNTVOIP
join:2004-08-04
Myrtle Beach, SC | The speed is great for internet access. We notice it is slow when we are transfering huge files between computers. We do not transfer large files often. The speed is 14 mbps. |
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JTDC
join:2000-02-07
Washington, DC | Thanks for the feedback. This mat be the way I choose to go, at least in the short term. |
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