Even though our Vodia PBX was designed for running on a public IP address from day one, it also gives you excellent on premise performance, making it a natural fit for DECT installations. The Vodia IOP is ideal for running the PBX in a private network if you don’t want to run a whole server just for the PBX; together with a DECT base station, this will give you everything you need to run a powerful, robust communication solution.
With DECT becoming more popular for business, cordless handsets can now be provisioned like desktop phones with their own button assignments
Believe it or not, DECT is not dead. As a matter of fact, it’s actually becoming more popular than ever in many businesses. Even though it's a standard originally set in the 1980s, it continues to defend its position as a reliable mobile technology; DECT has its own spectrum and uses low power, which makes it easy to build affordable, reliable devices for voice communications in buildings.
There are multiple reasons why DECT is expanding in businesses. Let's be honest: WLAN in large buildings isn't always ready for voice - this is where DECT is a much better solution. And mobile phones are personal items, and both employees and employers are hesitant to install a business app on their private devices, especially employees working in hotels, restaurants and large buildings such as big box stores and warehouses. Multicell devices have become widely available and can be deployed with ease, which makes them popular with SMBs requiring between 10 and 200 handsets in a building. Single cell deployments have become easy and reliable, which reduces troubleshooting costs for installations at small businesses.
Even though our Vodia PBX was designed for running on a public IP address from day one, it also gives you excellent on premise performance, making it a natural fit for DECT installations. The Vodia IOP is ideal for running the PBX in a private network if you don’t want to run a whole server just for the PBX; together with a DECT base station, this will give you everything you need to run a powerful, robust communication solution.
We’ve been using the MAC address as the device identifier at Vodia from the beginning. It’s now time to expand from here and look at the IPEI (“International Portable Equipment Identity”), the device identifier for a DECT handset. The IPEI only has ten digits, far fewer than MAC. We took the liberty of writing the addresses similar to MAC addresses, separated by semicolons - when entering the IPEI you can, as with the MAC addresses, leave the semicolon out if you wish.
With the IPEI, every handset can have its own set of parameters - independent of the base station. For example, the new Snom Pro series supports assigning buttons as we did with the MAC-based devices; because we can have multiple devices per base station, this information needs to be stored in a separate record. In this structure, additional attributes are available, including a descriptive name, a vendor and the model and software version number (we haven’t yet figured out how to read it from the registration request, but we will). Every IPEI needs to be assigned to an extension, and extensions can manage the assignment of multiple IPEI. In the web interface, it looks like this:
As with the MAC, we have a list of all available IPEI in the tenant environment. Instead of adding a new page, we simply added another tab in the VoIP phone page and renamed the entire page “device management.” The table below shows if buttons were assigned to the device. Buttons, like desktop phones, work with templates assigned to all devices with the same vendor and model name.
Our first integration with the new IPEI is with the Snom M500. When you assign a DECT handset to the base station, the provisioning template will automatically place the IPEI in the XML: there is a parameter for automatic registration of the handsets for the M500, with its default set to yes; when you plug the device in, it automatically registers itself to the base station.
You might notice the new placeholder snom-m500-buttons. The PBX will automatically insert the buttons assigned to the handset. The M55, for example, can have up to six “programmable function keys.” Unfortunately, there is no BLF available for the DECT handsets. This reduces most of its functionality to speed dials and DTMF. You can, however, use the Snom mode to generate any content.
The devices have an interesting mode for monitoring other DECT devices called dect busy monitoring. This mode expects the handset number on the parameter - you can use this mode by selecting the Snom special mode and using the parameter and label field to provide the content to be sent to the device. The labels aren’t available on the device, but this might be something we see in future firmware updates from snom (it’s on our wishlist).
The IPEI feature didn’t make it into the 69.0.0 build, but it is part of the 69.0.2 build. We will step-by-step work on adding more of the DECT handsets into the IPEI device list over the next few months. We want to make it so deploying DECT handsets is as easy as deploying MAC-based devices, if not easier!
Vodia PBX is built with security at its core, featuring a codebase that eliminates third-party vulnerabilities. Passkey authentication, IP address locking, and multi-factor authentication (2FA & SSO) protect against unauthorized access and credential theft. Advanced rate limiting defends against SIP attacks, while SIP TLS and WebRTC encryption secure VoIP traffic. Automatic SSL certificates and secure MAC-based phone provisioning enhance data protection. With a distributed architecture for scalability and comprehensive toll fraud prevention, Vodia PBX ensures reliable, secure, and seamless communications.
Vodia PBX version 69.5.6 brings several important updates, including real-time AI integration with OpenAI, enabling enhanced workflows, and call transcriptions through the Whisper API, with the option for self-hosting to ensure better data privacy. The release also introduces cloud storage for call recordings via the S3 protocol, offering flexibility and easier compliance. The user interface has been refined for a smoother experience, and queue management features have been improved with added CSV export options. Security is boosted with TLS 1.3, and the release expands VoIP hardware support. Additionally, new Azure cloud hosting and licensing models provide greater flexibility and performance for users.
Vodia is attending Enterprise Connect 2025, where Sales Engineer Eric Altman will be available on March 18-19 to meet with partners and industry professionals. The event is a key opportunity to discuss Vodia’s latest innovations, including its Microsoft Teams-certified phone system, integration with Cliniko for healthcare providers, and its beta PBX featuring OpenAI API integration. Vodia has also launched a series of articles highlighting its PBX capabilities, with topics like its REST API, web user portal, and call recording. Additionally, the company is introducing a new podcast, “Vodia - Giving Voice to Our Partners,” featuring conversations with MSPs and SIP providers.