Enterprise in-building mobile voice strategies elusive
You’re probably still pawing through the many 4G, tablet, smartphone and other wireless news announcements pouring out of the Consumer Electronics Show. In light of all the latest gadgetry and mobile network speed one-upmanship, what’s your indoor mobile strategy looking like?
Of particular interest is where Wi-Fi stands inside your enterprise. There are many phones and many “G’s” of cellular-style service available, so it’s a good bet that users out of Wi-Fi range — say, in a taxicab — will use a mobile WAN to communicate.
But inside your office building, what is Wi-Fi’s role, particularly for the real-time traffic that comprises so much of the latest, collaboration-centric, applications?
Have you built out 802.11n for the broad coverage you need to support voice alongside data? Or are you instead banking on in-building mobile WAN equipment, such as a distributed antenna system (DAS), to bring the macrocellular network indoors?
Wi-Fi has matured, is blazing fast and has become a default no-brainer for local data. But its adoption for voice remains elusive, even though enterprises can avoid using cellular minutes by making VoIP calls over their private Wi-Fi networks. The uptake has stalled because the jury is still out as to whether voice over Wi-Fi is reliable enough for business use.
Wi-Fi voice quality depends, in part, on the telephony clients you use and whether they take advantage of all the quality of service (QoS) capabilities that your enterprise-class Wi-Fi maker has built into its infrastructure. Wi-Fi VoIP handsets built specifically for enterprises work very well. However, dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handsets from consumer companies haven’t been outfitted with much of anything special for QoS.
That said, Cisco and T-Mobile announced last month that they are teaming to encourage the adoption of Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) features in dual-mode smartphones such as Apple iPhone and Android devices. T-Mobile’s Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) Wi-Fi Calling for Business service currently works with several BlackBerry models, allowing subscribers to switch between the cellular mobile network and in-building Wi-Fi networks using the same phone number.
Getting other Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones to support CCX — Cisco’s proprietary but rich set of Wi-Fi QoS and other features — would enhance the T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling experience at least in Cisco WLAN shops.
Such movement apparently is necessary. The Wi-Fi Certified Voice-Enterprise program has stalled, year over year, since 2008. As yet, there’s no definitive date on the calendar.
