What is QOS?  QOS is “Quality of Service” and is a hugely important when considering the move to an all wireless VOIP solution.  Without QOS rated wireless, a company’s voice communications will be unsatisfactory.  In a nutshell, QOS is a function of your wireless LAN’s ability to “prioritize voice” transmissions on the network in order to maintain the appropriate performance levels.  These performance levels can be measured with a “MOS score” to measure “Toll Quality Voice”.  MERU’s Virtual Cell technology and Air Traffic Control show powerful results in independent testing.  In the testing procedures, the evaluation group compared MERU and two other big names in a multiple testing format of combined VOIP and laptop users with the largest single test being a combined 48 data users and 24 simultaneous VOIP users.  In this last scenario testing with 15 APs, MERU and another competitor tied for MOS scores of 4.5 while both maintaining data throughput of over 33 mbps  using 802.11g gear.  When the AP count was reduced from 15 to 10 with the same number of clients trying to connect to the network (48 laptops, 24 VOIP phones), MERU’s throughput stayed above 33mpbs and its MOS score only dropped to 4.0, the bar for “toll quality voice”.  The other guys’ both came in below 5mpbs in throughput and MOS scores of 3 and 1.4, well below the standard for toll quality voice.  This testing showed us that MERU’s WLAN is very scalable, requires less infrastructure to perform at the same or better levels to support voice and data, more easily managed without the need for costly RF planning, and outperforms its’ closest competitors in the market place at nearly every level.

This technology has been around for a few years but only now is the small business starting to take advantage of the benefits.  There are different ways to leverage VOIP in your business;  1) install a single VOIP phone at home on a Comcast connection to allow key employees to “telecommute”,  2)  connect a Seattle office with a Portland office over the internet eliminating interoffice long distance, enabling 4 digit dialing, and sharing resources from one site such as “networked voicemail”,  3) enable a mobile sales person to always be on the move yet outbound calls from a “soft phone” installed on a laptop no matter where the rep is in the world.  ITN is currently working with an ITN AVAYA IP Office phone system client who is expanding into an adjacent building next door.  Rather than trench the parking lot and install a 900’ fiber/copper backbone, ITN can use their robust internet connections at each site, QOS rated firewalls, and two separate AVAYA IP Office systems tied together over VOIP!