Hands-Off Calling Service

Want to offer IP-based phone service, but don't want to handle any of the technical details? Maybe this is the program for you.

by Gerry Blackwell

This month we look at yet another way ISPs can skin the voice-over-Internet-protocol cat—in this instance, without even investing in VoIP hardware.

In a business model proposed by hardware manufacturer TEK DigiTel Corp. and Internet telephony service provider (ITSP) partner/distributors such as ePHONE Telecom and CentreCom Inc., the ISP becomes essentially an agent for the ITSP.

The TEK DigiTel VoIP hardware resides at the end customer's premises, and is supplied, for free, by the ITSP.

It's a model that reduces the ISP's investment, technnical complexity, and VoIP learning curve to something approaching zero.

The 'traditional' way
Central to the VoIP caling process is the digitization and compression of the analog voice signal into IP packets to send over the Internet—or managed IP network. In many VoIP business models, that translation happens at the ISP's premises.

The customer uses a regular phone to call the provider's VoIP gateway device, which in turn generates a second dial tone cueing the caller to dial the number s/he wants to reach.

The gateway then packetizes the audio signal and routes it to another VoIP gateway closer to the call's destination, using the routing information from the dialed number.

The receiving gateway could be at an ISP with which you have a "peer" arrangement (wherein you've agreed to terminate each other's calls) or at a third-party service provider offering gatekeeper and/or networking services (see last month's column).

The TEK DigiTel way
By contrast, in the TEK DigiTel model, customers (typically, small or SOHO businesses) install the company's V-Server iGATE router/gateway device at their own premises and plug in a phone or small PBX.

Users then dial calls normally. The H.323-compliant iGATE digitizes the audio signal and sends it along with routing information from the dialed number over the customer's Internet link to your POP—where your data routers pass it on over a link to the ITSP's managed network.

The important point here is that you don't need VoIP gateways, just standard data routers.

Rock-bottom investment
According to TEK DigiTel's director of marketing James Sturgess, the financial investment by the ISP in this model is "effectively no cost."

"You're really just signing up subscribers to [the ITSP's] services," Sturgess says. "The reason they set up partnerships with the ISPs is to get access to their customers."

The result, he says, is "fairly large-margin revenue, just from the marketing partnership."

ePHONE and CentreCom have only recently begun rolling out service using the TEK DigiTel technology.

Free calling come-on
Customers can also use the iGATE product to make free calls over the public Internet, bypassing the ITSP's managed network. Of course, this means no revenue for the ITSP.

Free calling over the Internet is supposed to be the siren call that lures customers. And for the customer, it's a pretty good deal. They get the iGATE unit for free. And they can configure it to call up to 25 numbers over the public Net for free.

The theory is that once customers see how much higher quality a connection they get using the ITSP's managed network, they will use it rather than the public Net—and pay. That's how the ITSPs generate revenue, some of which they pass on to you.

To support free calling over the public Internet, TEK DigiTel recently established VoiceServer.net, a free VoIP portal service that provides the necessary gatekeeping functions and routes calls.

Can you lose?
If you want to stay competitive by providing VoIP services, but don't really want to get your hands dirty doing it, this may just be the route to take.

The obvious downside: You have zero control over the service.

—End

Read other VoIP articles by Gerry Blackwell

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