Editorial

Remote work, fueled by cloud computing, is changing how we connect beyond traditional offices. Telephones remain vital, demanding solutions beyond basic call forwarding. Emulating extensions, with call control functions, becomes essential for effective remote communication. Options like home IP phones and softphones blur the line between office and remote work. The emphasis is on replicating a seamless phone experience in the era of flexible work arrangements.

Editorial

Choosing between a cloud-based or on-premises phone system depends on individual needs and preferences. Traditionally, PBX systems were on-premises, requiring physical connections. With VoIP, calls could still be on-premises but carried over the internet. The cloud offers freedom from server maintenance, disaster avoidance, and cost savings through a monthly subscription. However, on-premises systems offer ownership, security within a local network, and potential cost benefits over time.

Tech

Addressing a challenge with LDAP, VoIP phones lack the ability to write new contacts to the address book. For users of snom phones, a solution involves utilizing the snom button mode, specifically the "keyevent" mode with the F_ADR_BOOK parameter. This configuration enables users to add phone numbers directly from the phone keyboard, bypassing the need for PBX login and web interface use. This versatile approach can also be applied to other functions and is similarly available for Grandstream, HTek, and Yealink phones.

Editorial

VoIP carries voice over the Internet, using SIP trunks or IP phones connected to an IP PBX. These solutions offer flexibility, cost savings, and improved call quality. SIP trunks provide quick setup and flexible pricing plans. The IP PBX is essential for leveraging 21st-century technology. Choosing the right vendors is crucial for time-saving, increased productivity, and improved business practices.

Editorial

As spam and robocalls increasingly disrupt businesses, Vodia Networks offers advanced filtering in its PBX system, including anonymous call detection and, in partnership with TrueCNAM, a spam scoring feature. This integration assigns each incoming call a spam score, allowing companies to block or redirect high-risk calls. Configurable at the domain and user levels, this feature — available in Vodia PBX version 58.4 — provides flexibility for hosted PBX clients to customize call handling and protect productivity.

Announcement

CallCabinet, long trusted for its multiple award-winning compliant call recording solution, Atmos, has teamed up with Vodia, the company that pioneered multi-tenant PBX, with a cloud-based solution for every firm that needs to record calls for training, dispute resolution, regulatory compliance, or security.

Editorial

In hosted PBX environments, Yealink's Zero Touch provisioning simplifies the phone setup process by automating configuration without user intervention. The phone contacts Yealink’s redirection service (with its MAC address), retrieves the provisioning server details and automatically fetches its configuration. This integration has been added to the Vodia PBX, similar to an earlier feature for snom phones. The process ensures secure provisioning by verifying client certificates, enhancing ease of setup. Users can access this feature by obtaining login credentials from Yealink, and the integration is available in Vodia's upcoming version 5.3.1.

Tech

The simple filter on our PBX for the domain name was that we were throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It was simply not possible to define exceptions. That made it practically impossible to use the feature in a real deployment. If the system administrator white-listed IP addresses, traffic from there would still be ignored if the domain name did not match. Adding that back in to the filter solves many of the trunk related problems, as admins can just add the IP addresses for the trunks.

Tech

Thus the move with MongoDB. Although it is latest technology (and maybe just because of that), writing natively into the database was actually relatively simple. MongoDB can deal with very large amounts of data, so the PBX does not have to bother with it. Down the road we might be even able to use the DB for reading as well, e.g. when the user is using the call history from the web interface.

Tech

Once we have the PCAP, finding a problem is becoming almost a pleasure. Because the files are small, and everything is in the same place. It becomes easy to find jitter problems, missing RTP packets and so on. Last week I saw how another external tool took the PCAP idea to the next level. Using an Ethernet switch with port mirroring, all the traffic that hits the PBX also hits the monitoring server, which also sorts the traffic by calls and then puts them into different files. There were nice logs of SIP packets, RTP analysis and other things you want to know about a call.

Tech

Usually every domain needs their own telephone number or numbers that link the world of VoIP with the good old telecom industry. This is done using SIP trunks. While it is possible to share a SIP trunk with several domains, most hosted providers prefer one trunk per domain. But how does the SIP trunk provider know which trunk is being addressed when there is a call coming in?

Announcement

The app called “Vodia Phone”, now available through the Google Play Store, will allow Vodia PBX users to make and receive voice calls over data networks using any Android mobile devices running Android 4.1 or higher. Based on the WebRTC technology, the app will be particularly beneficial for business users who want to use their mobile device to place voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi through their Vodia PBX system while using their business number. An iOS version is planned for release in a few weeks.