Polycom sets the bar for Skype speakerphones

Tim,

Per my article idea from much earlier this year I've had one of these for several months. Before they were available I also tried the MVOX MV900 and MV 100. Last year I had a Phoenix Audio Duet for a while.

The Polycom is the bext device of the bunch, although the Duet is really very good, just not wideband capable. The MVOX units suffer significant problems. The MV100 can be found a US Radio Shack locations for a mere $5, free if you buy a large package of their batteries.

The thing your article fails to mention is the fact that the Polycom device can act as a speakerphone for ANY soft phone. I have used it with Gizmo, X-Lite and Firefly with equal success. Those softphones don't support the higher quality codec that Skype uses, but it works nonethless. Only the dedicated keys don't work as they do with Skype.

It's worth noting that the wideband codec used in the HD Voice scheme are now available in one or two of the Polycom SIP desk phones. There is a trend towards "wideband" audio coding now that Skype has established that people really do notice and even care about voice quality.

The trouble with wideband audio right now is that in order to hear the benefit the entire audio chain must pass the new codec without translation into one of the more established codec. As a practial matter that means that in-office calls phone to phone (or Skype-toSkype calls) sound great. Calls that pass out to the PSTN don't sound any better.

In the telecom world there is another emerging trend in peering between end users. This is where IP based calls from one comapnies IP-PBX are passed directly to another comapnies IP-PBX via network rather than being passed to a telecom provider as traditonal TDM calls. Such peering holds out hope for beeter audio quality by bypassing the establish Telcos, and their legcay plant & habits, altogether.

Michael Graves

Michael; has there been any update on phone quality using VoIP. I'm wondering if it's possible to use Internet /VoIP for business to business quality.