IP Telephony Problems & Challenges – How Long Is The Party Going To Last?

Problems And Challenges

• VoIP requires use of an Analog Telephone Adaptor, IP telephone or a computer. All of these require power and will not work if there is a power shut down. Solutions can be a UPS back up. POTS works on the power from the central office, works even though there is not power, and may continue to be the choice of people who fear loss of communication during power failures.
• Present online security measures cannot adequately handle VoIP processing requirements and changes in protocols and mechanism will take time for a hassle free, secure voip service. This includes internet vulnerabilities like Denial of service attacks, Phishing, snooping and spoofing.
• Latency (delay) is another problem in connections that are made. You will find that it takes quite some time before you hear the other person’s voice. And if security measures are implemented to provide encryption then the latency factor will increase causing loss in quality of voice. VoIP is a real time service and computing power can speed up a few things this will push up the cost of equipment.
• Misuse of the technology by hackers, advertisers (spam/spit) has been a problem with the internet and will be so with Voice over the internet as well.
• Backward compatibility is another major factor. VoIP protocols do not seem to effectively work with older firewalls and NAT-Network Address Translation that is a part of some LAN and WAN networks. Voip problems; vulnerability of the network is basically a compromise of the security of the network. The problem is also of other equipment and its operation with the present network mechanism and regulations.
• Wi-Fi hotspots offered by PSTN and even other Wireless services offered for Internet is not as secure as it proclaims to be. Many have raised additional security concerns and these have not yet addressed.
• With many tests done on the equipment and connections, another problem is that with ISP’s and that is a relatively small upstream bandwidth. The ISP gives you a greater bandwidth to download files and streaming video. The upstream capabilities are only one tenth of the down stream capacity and may negatively affect voice communication on the net.
• As the number of users increases and every service converges to the internet network. There is bound to be problems with bandwidth for the large number of users. Quality of service and reliability for real time application is a major problem and may cause loss of words in a conversation when there is congestion in the network.
• Interoperability between the various networks poses another big problem with various overlapping standard. Not all companies especially by major players may accept proper interconnection and standards framed.
• Investment into previous technologies and advances in those technologies prevent the adoption of newer technologies. Being accustomed to the old and not wanting to make a change due to various factors is another problem.
• Regulatory development and its impact on IP telephony is still a challenge. IP telephony is unregulated in most countries and regulatory authorities are monitoring the situation closely. Some countries have addressed specific problems like the FCC ruling for direct 911 calls. This is specific to countries where 911 is the number for emergencies and is an issue for the 911 operators. Further details are given below.

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