Patrick and Fred Chat… sometimes about VoIP
VoicePulse announced today in an email that Business and Wholesale accounts will be required to meet a minimum usage of $10/month. They also advised that their Terms of Service had been updated to reflect the change. The company targeting users utilizing the service as a backup provider encouraged account holders to contact a representative to discuss becoming the “Primary” provider.
The email follows: Read the rest of this entry »
The Asterisk team of Digium announced new versions of Asterisk in reference to a potential security issue. The release highlights best practices and hopes to raise awareness of some potential security issues and injection statments. The announcement follows:
The Asterisk Development Team has announced security releases for the following
versions of Asterisk: Read the rest of this entry »
Hi, VoIP Tech Chat here introducing a BRAND NEW download from Digium, the company bringing you Asterisk. Are your Skype calls limiting you to sitting in front of your computer? Do you ever forget to plug in your microphone and lose audio? Well, Digium has the perfect product for you!
Skype for Asterisk Beta is a download that lets you integrate your Asterisk system with the Skype network.
With Skype for Asterisk, you can: Read the rest of this entry »
Cory Andrews posted a great “tech tip” on the VoIP Insider blog detailing how to convert a Cisco SCCP phone to SIP.
Whether you’re a Cisco fan that finally realizes Asterisk can provide better PBX services (at a lower cost) or just someone who happens to have a bunch of Cisco Skinny VoIP telephones laying around, converting the firmware to SIP can make the Cisco phone compatible with many VoIP systems.
But, don’t take my word for it… go to the VoIP Insider and read Cory’s tech tip. Give it a shot and tell us what you think.
John Todd (with Digium) sent a great email on SIP Security. Although written towards the Asterisk audience, this email provides a very good guideline towards increasing your VoIP SIP Security. It’s a must read and reprinted here for your easy viewing.
In case any of you were wondering why there has been a fairly notable upswing in the attacks happening on SIP endpoints, the answer is “script kiddies.” In the last few months, a number of new tools have made it easy for knuckle-draggers to attack and defraud SIP endpoints, Asterisk-based systems included. There are easily-available tools that scan networks looking for SIP hosts, and then scan hosts looking for valid extensions, and then scan valid extensions looking for passwords. You can take steps, NOW, to eliminate many of these problems. I think the community is interested in coming up with an integrated Asterisk-based solution that is much wider in scope for dynamic protection (community-shared blacklists is the current thinking) but that doesn’t mean you should wait for some new tool to defend your systems. You can IMMEDIATELY take fairly common-sense measures to protect your Asterisk server from the bulk of the scans and attacks that are on the increase. The methods and tools for protection already exists – just apply them, and you’ll be able to sleep more soundly at night.
Seven Easy Steps to Better SIP Security on Asterisk: Read the rest of this entry »
What you VoIPing 'bout Willis?
Yes, you guessed it correctly. In today’s article, Diff’rent Strokes will be used as a metaphor for VoIP. Why? The correct question is “Why Not?” And the answer… well that’s simple — Diff’rent Strokes is the perfect metaphor. Take for example these classic lines from the show’s theme song:
Now, the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
Classic. Pausing for Trivia… do you know which 80’s sitcom star wrote these lyrics? If you said Growing Pains actor and Canadian sensation Alan Thicke, you’d be right… but, as usual, we digress.
Those working within VoIP, and contrary to many medical reports there are people still working in the industry, have many flavors and styles of VoIP products to choose from. Although opinions vary, there really is no “right” or “wrong” product line. Selecting your VoIP implementation is an individual choice that is determined simply by what works best for you. Read the rest of this entry »
VoicePulse used Twitter to Update their Network Outage
VoicePulse, a New Jersey based VoIP Provider for residential and business consumers, experienced outages early starting Monday morning. Although the VoicePulse website is down, the company reported via their Twitter account at 10:30am EST:
VoicePulse is currently experiencing a partial service outage due to a generator explosion at one of our NYC datacenters.
snom introduced a new VoIP phone recently, the snom 820. We’re always excited to see new VoIP telephones enter the SIP market, especially ones that easily integrate with Asterisk and multiple VoIP solutions. And with built in WiFi, this phone looks to be a great addition to any deployment.
snom markets the 820 as reflecting “the 8 experience:”
The snom 820 is a new step in combining high class telephony with an extraordinary design. The snom 820 is the beginning of a superior line of business VoIP phones. It´s extraordinary elegance and performance combines both: latest technology and well known snom features. The snom 820 is an amazing experience for everybody who is used to the basic world of telephony.
The telephone boasts an impressive array of features such as:
Pricing seems to range from $375.00 – $500.00.
CounterPath, makers of the popular X-Lite VoIP softphone, announced Tuesday a partnership with Global Crossing. The partnership will have Global Crossing deploying CounterPath’s eyeBeam softphone throughout South America.
The VoIP softphone will be customized for the Global Crossing network and integrates with the Global Crossing Ready-Access® conferencing service.
Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC) offers a full range of secure data, voice, and video products. CounterPath Corporation provides innovative desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions, including SIP-based softphones.
Cory Andrews posted another great blog article listing 20 (that’s twenty) FREE SIP softphones.
These work great with Asterisk, SIP, and pretty much and decent quality VoIP set-up.
And yes, there are some with that elusive G.722 wideband codec.
Thanks Cory!
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