Ok, so I got a couple of the EWB100s. The vendor had only one in stock, and had to wait for a few weeks for the second one. Not much use for one walkie talkie, but it did give me a chance to work out the configuration.The configuration was a b.tch.
The phones require an open WiFi network with addressing in the 192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0 subnet. Also, you need a server that will send the configuration to the phone at a certain IP address.So I got an old Linksys WiFi router, which supported that net block. Not all of them do.
Push-to-Talk (PTT) PTT involves less bandwidth than VoIP, as it is designed to run on a half-duplex WIFI network. It is user friendly, with fast setup of a session (less than a second) and no dialing involved. But VoIP can be more than just telephone, and that includes push-to-talk,' he said. In fact, there may be a natural fit. 'Push-to-talk is in some ways easier to do than telephony. With push-to-talk, the system starts collecting your voice, turning it into packets and sending out those packets. When you release the button it stops.'
And an old laptop, on which I installed the software.One of the first problems I had was that the configuration didn't seem to 'take'. No matter how I tried, the phone would just keep its default configuration. I think I need to keep the phone off the cradle in order for the settings. Also, there is a progress bar, which shows if it's working or not.So problem one.
![Talk Talk](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125661787/282882066.png)
Second, I noticed that the phones were not associating with all access points. I couldn't figure it out. I turned off access points to try to force them to associate with some, but no go.So I called support. They said they couldn't really help since I had ProCurve access points, but they sent me a document with a bunch of wireless settings in it anyway. (That's always the problem isn't it - vendors pointing fingers at each other?)It turns out that the phone only works on channels 1, 6 and 11. Since I had the APs on Auto channel, the channels were all over the place.
That was the reason why it was only associating with some access points.But once I got it working, it seems to be pretty good. The guys on the floor like them a lot. They still lose the signal sometimes for a second or two, announcing 'No Signal', but maybe adjusting the AP locations would help. There is an affordable wifi IP (SIP) phone that now supports PTT.
Incom ICW 100GI tested and worked nicely, as long as you have a good wifi network and your switches allow multicast you can use as a perfect replacement for old traditional radio PTT. It allows to define channels so you can group them.In addition to PPT it also work as a regular SIP extension so it can be integrated into any IPPBX that supports standard SIP enndpoints.Incom developed this model on top of the Unidata WPU 7800 so the hardware and software should be very mature.