[geeks] IP telephony

[Al Potter]

Cisco has some really neat stuff in this area, though it is probably NOT 
suitable for consumer use.

They have several models of IP phones and a call manager, which is the 
equivalent of a PBX.  If your company invested in the infrastructure (ie 
drank the koolaide, bought phones and the CM), it is completely feasible to 
take your phone home at the end of the day connect over a broadband link 
back into the call manager, and send and receive calls as if your were at 
your desk.

The preferable way to do this (IMHO) is through a VPN link (preferable 
IPSec) between the remote location and the CM.  You can even do it via 
802.11b wireless, or purely in software (their product is called SoftPhone).

Yes, I think they (all the IP phone vendors) aim to put the phone company 
out of the phone business.  I don't see how the phone company will be able 
to detect it is going on, or do anything about it if all of the voice 
packets are tunneled through a VPN.




AL