February 4, 2007
Is HD VOIP a New Trick or Old Trick?
Iristel is the first to bring HD VOIP to Canada.
Whoa…I don’t think I can handle this. We just recently enduring a long and arduous process of researching and purchasing our first “big” screen TV with…heaven help me…HD-high definition. You see in Canada it’s important to actually see the puck when the Canucks are playing. Apparently this is impossible on a 21″ tube TV with a pink stripe across the top of the screen. (Who knew?)
Maybe fellow bloggers can help me out here, but is HD VOIP something that consumers should consider when choosing a VOIP service, or is it more marketing lingo to work through? As I understand it, HD, high definition, or wideband VOIP refers to voice sampling at 16 kHz rather than at the measley 8 kHz supported by the PSTN and just about everyone else. If you capture voice with a wider spectrum of frequencies, the quality is better. They say it’s like comparing the quality of AM and FM radio. (See this article from voip-info.org).
Sounds good to me, but the catch is you have to have HD end to end in a VOIP call. It’s no good having 16 kHz at one end and 8 kHz at the other. In fact, 16 kHz downsampled to 8 kHz (which happens if you are calling a landline) may sound worse than 8 kHz from start to finish.
So I guess you can make the argument that HD or wideband VOIP is wasted on the masses when most calls travel partially over the PSTN or use VOIP networks using an 8 kHz voice capture process.
9 Comments on Is HD VOIP a New Trick or Old Trick? »
February 4, 2007
ted @ 4:03 pm:
Hey L
HD is just a marketing slogan for the technique of using a more efficient sound codec software piece in the ATA in order to provide a better-sounding call. Of course both callers would need to be on the same codec for it to work, so naturally they would both need to be iristel customers
Seeya –Ted
February 5, 2007
HD VoIP? Oh, Brother… @ 9:01 am (Pingback)
[…] VoIPGirl is asking a question about whether or not people should consider HD VoIP when they are choosing a VoIP service. I’ve never heard anyone advertise that, so it’s not like a consumer would even know how to look for it. Meanwhile, I will attempt to answer her question. […]
HD VoIP? -- Alec Saunders .LOG @ 1:03 pm (Pingback)
[…] Leanne asks what HD VoIP is, and PhoneBoy responds that it probably doesn’t mean much. Wideband CODECS have been around for ages, but because most calls terminate on the PSTN where the standard is 64k G.711 encoded at 8 bits, the fact that a PC-based client can generate and receive wideband audio is meaningless. […]
CrunchGear » Blog Archive » HD VoIP: Wha? @ 2:07 pm (Pingback)
[…] Iristel Launches First High Definition (HD) VoIP Service in Canada [TMCNet via TheVOIPGirl tr { border: 0px } td { cellborder: 10px} table { border: 1px solid black } […]
February 7, 2007
Rick McCharles @ 4:21 pm:
Wideband audio can in fact be accomplished with G.722. Of course, as others have pointed out, it is only relevant if the call uses G.722 end-to-end. End-devices must support the codec and the audio components must have a wider frequency response than is present in standard telephones.
There are niche applications for such a service. One example would be for the broadcast industry where a reporter might be transmitting a news story over the phone and the sound quality would be indistinguishable from the local source.
It is another example of what’s possible with IP Telephony. It also may be one of those things you didn’t know you needed until you experienced it.
February 9, 2007
HD VoIP? @ 2:58 pm:
Well form what I understand both devices need to be HD compatible but isn’t this the whole point with Iristel’s Hosted Auto Attendant solution? Lots of criticism without anyone having really gone into their web site (www.iristel.ca) to understand that they deploy multiple IP phones to host a PBX for enterprise clients. If all phones deployed are HD then sound quality will be better within that PBX network correct? I say good job if it works as they say it does!
February 16, 2007
Gadgets News » Blog Archive » HD VoIP, Bah-Humbug! @ 10:28 am (Pingback)
[…] A couple of days ago, a fellow TMCnet reporter wrote about Iristel, a Canadian company claiming to launch the "first High Definition (HD) VoIP telephone service to provide the finest voice communication services. HD VoIP is said to deliver better voice quality and thus “replicates the clarity and efficiency of face-to-face meetings.” TheVoIPGirl explains how usually HD audio in the VoIP world usually means wide-band codecs, such as those used by the Skype client. […]
May 22, 2007
» “Huh, Wah?” alert: High-Def VoIP | IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband | ZDNet.com @ 10:33 pm (Pingback)
[…] The VoIP Girl kicks off a rapidly morphing discussion about HD VoIP. "HD," as in High-Def." […]
December 8, 2008
Bsiness Voip @ 6:59 pm:
Kuddos to you, Voip Girl!