NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: JEFF CARUSO ON HIGH SPEED LANS
11/11/04
Today's focus:  Mailbag: Voice over WLANs

Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED],

In this issue:

* Readers lend insightful comments on running voice over WLANs
* Links related to High Speed LANs
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:  Mailbag: Voice over WLANs

By Jeff Caruso

To be honest, I didn't receive many responses to my newsletter 
last week about voice over wireless LANs - but the few responses 
I did receive were quite interesting, so I'd like to share them 
here.

One reader at a statewide healthcare system said WLANs have 
already been installed in a couple of hospitals and a support 
services building, with another hospital expected to go wireless 
in January:

"Our initial application for this WLAN will be voice. We have 
currently deployed the Nortel Companion phones at all of our 
locations. We will be initially augmenting then replacing these 
phones with the SpectraLink i640 phones. We currently have pilot 
programs going at both facilities with WLAN installed as well as 
our support services building and the trial is going very well.

"Very shortly, we will be adding laptops to our WLAN for 
Emergency Department admitting as well as an application to scan 
the patients bar coded wrist band and their medication using a 
Symbol 8846 device."

Another reader has more of a WAN perspective, and said that the 
WAN wireless technology called EV-DO "will eliminate the need 
for WLAN for over 80% of current applications."

"WLAN is a nice thing to have," this reader says, "but when you 
have unlimited wireless data plans for less than $50/month with 
speeds in the 300K bit/sec to 500K bit/sec range, do we need 
WLAN?"

I guess the real answer is, it depends on what you're going to 
do with that bandwidth.

Finally, this reader hails from a wireless systems integrator, 
and he had this to say about installing WLANs with voice in 
mind:

"It's criminal the number of wireless systems integrators or 
network VARs who are telling their clients that they are putting 
in a 'VoWLAN capable' WLAN, when they know perfectly well that 
they are surveying to -84 dBm and instead wireless VoIP requires 
-70 dBm, minimum. In fact, Cisco 7920 phones stipulate -67 dBm, 
with 15~20% overlap (!).

"It's also criminal how many customers cannot appreciate what 
amount of incremental work is required to create overlapping 
cells at -70dBm with low noise, such that SNR is 25+ dB or 
better. In general, they just don't 'get it,' even though you 
get blue in the face explaining it in kindergarten terms.

"Sorry for the rant, but I'm just so tired of people looking at 
me with blank stares when I tell them that their existing data 
WLAN needs to get ripped out and replaced by a WLAN that is 
properly surveyed/engineered for voice."

There's no need to apologize for a rant. Just keep sending me 
your thoughts at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Many thanks to those 
who wrote in.
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Jeff Caruso

Jeff Caruso is managing editor of online news for Network World. 
He oversees daily online news posting and newsletter editing, 
and writes the NetFlash daily news summary, the High-Speed LANs 
newsletter and the Voices of Networking newsletter. Contact him 
at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
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