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> Broadband Gear Report's VoIP Alert for September 15, 2006

Up Front

New Study: VoIP Sounds Better, Connects Faster Than Standard PSTN

In last month's issue of VoIP Alert, we discussed some recent concerns raised about VoIP quality. For example, one out of five VoIP calls were deemed "unacceptable" during the last 18 months, according to data released by Brix Networks. The info came from the company's TestYourVoIP.com Voice Quality Testing Portal, which offers consumers a way to independently measure the quality of their Internet phone connections for free.

The Power of Careful Deployment and Monitoring

"As [the Brix Networks] study may have created the impression that VoIP service is not capable of delivering PSTN-grade phone service, Minacom felt it should be clarified for both those in the VoIP industry, and individuals and enterprises considering VoIP service, that this report evaluated computer-to-computer (PC-PC) Internet phone service, similar to those offered by Skype, Google Talk, MSN and Yahoo Messenger," Minacom said in a statement. "The quality and service reliability of these applications does not compare to that of the VoIP phone services offered by telcos, cable operators and broadband VoIP providers who carefully deploy, monitor and manage the quality of their services."

Minacom went on to explain that PC-PC VoIP quality is subject to many diverse impairments, including firewall settings, computer performance, antivirus installations, high-compression codecs and Internet bandwidth shared with gaming, file downloads, Web surfing and email. By contrast, VoIP offered by service providers is switched using telecom grade equipment, uses lower-compression codecs and is prioritized over regular Internet traffic using sophisticated, standards-based MTAs, maintained and monitored by the operator.

Better, Stronger, Faster

VoIP phone service now sounds better and connects faster than the standard PSTN, according to data collected over the last 12 months by Minacom's standards-based, single-ended service quality test system. Results show that VoIP service quality increased steadily over the last year, with an average mean opinion score (MOS) of 4.2, compared to 3.9 for the PSTN. Based on a MOS threshold of 3.6, only 1 out of 50 calls in North America were considered to be unacceptable — 1 in 10 worldwide — while greater than 85% of VoIP calls exceeded average PSTN quality over the same period. Detailed results show that VoIP service bettered PSTN quality worldwide, and improved in all regions over the course of the survey.

In addition to superior sound quality, calls over VoIP connected quicker overall — 8.2 seconds on average, compared to 8.9 seconds for those placed over the PSTN," Minacom continued. "Regionally, the PSTN was faster to connect for calls placed to North America (4.3 seconds vs. 5.7 for VoIP), while international calls connected faster with VoIP (8.7 vs. 10.4 seconds for PSTN). Linear regression indicates that VoIP is closing the gap, connecting 2 seconds faster in July 2006 than a year earlier."

Minacom's tests were conducted over PSTN, managed broadband and cable VoIP lines, the same services offered to residential and enterprise customers by phone, cable and hosted VoIP providers. For more details on the tests results, visit http://www.minacom.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=36.

Gear Watch

IBC 2006: IPTV Sizzles in Amsterdam

When it comes to harnessing the potentials of IP, cable ops have focused heavily on how it can help them provide voice (VoIP). As for using IP in the video arena, the telcos have been leading the push, mainly because they want a way to get a piece of cable's video pie. Cable already has a well-established system for delivering video signals, so IPTV hasn't been on the HFC front-burner.

Telcos have been so IPTV-aggressive that the term is often used exclusively to describe TV over the Internet or a TV signal provided over the telco's twisted-pair networks. But that's not a complete definition, as the organizers of this year's IBC 2006 in Amsterdam pointed out when describing its "IPTV — The Future Has Arrived" session: "IPTV is actually the transmission of TV signals using the Internet protocol, a packetized transmission standard. The medium over which IPTV is transmitted can be fiber-optic cables, coaxial cables, twisted-pair copper cables or it may be modulated onto a carrier for radio transmission."

IPTV at IBC

Cable engineers walking the show floor at IBC 2006 in Amsterdam earlier this month saw some very familiar vendors' booths, but besides cable-centric video technology, many of those companies were offering IPTV solutions that would attract telcos, broadcasters and satellite providers as well.

ARRIS and RGB Networks jointly demonstrate an IPTV video solution over the ARRIS M-CMTS architecture at IBC. ARRIS has integrated RGB's Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) statistical multiplexer and video groomer with the ARRIS Cadant C4 CMTS and the ARRIS Keystone D5 Universal EdgeQAM to create a video over DOCSIS solution.

The combined solution "allows cable operators to seamlessly deliver broadcast quality video streams to TVs or PCs at home, along with high speed data and voice services. The RGB BNP product is engineered to deliver the video streams at the highest video quality within the specified available bit rates, allowing for concurrent provisioning of multiple advanced services on the same cable broadband service connection to each home."

Broadbus Technologies announced the latest version of its on-demand video platform in Amsterdam that features enhanced support for IPTV apps and new reliability features. The Broadbus B-1 video server and stream commander management software have been updated to provide video service providers with new on-demand functionality including support for H.264/MPEG-4, improved security, support for IPTV-based advanced video services such as nDVR and time-shifted TV, as well as enhanced fault tolerance and reliability.

Hot Digital Video Encoders

At IBC '06, Cisco's Scientific Atlanta featured new releases of its MPEG-4 advanced video compression (AVC) encoders — HD and SD MPEG-4 AVC technologies deliver up to 40% improvements in bandwidth savings compared with previously deployed MPEG-4 AVC encoders. Broadcasters and service providers can combine S-A's new-generation MPEG-4 AVC HD encoder and decoder for "a total HD delivery solution." In addition, S-A demonstrated new IP statistical multiplexing technology using MPEG-4 AVC HD encoders to deliver six channels of HD programming.

Tandberg Television used IBC to unveil its next-generation HD and SD MPEG-4 AVC encoding solutions. According to Tandberg, the move "brings a step change in digital video distribution by combining the broadest choice of density and enhanced features with the industry's leading picture quality vs. performance through bandwidth improvements of up to 50% over currently deployed MPEG-4 AVC units." For IPTV operators it enables two full-resolution HDTV channels over ADSL2+ @ 2 km. For satellite broadcasters, it delivers transponder cost savings and the opportunity to add in more HD channels, Tandberg reports.

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