Server to user: Sorry, no VoIP for you.

Imagine picking up your phone to make a call, only to hear that your license has expired. Sorry, no dial tone for you. That's exactly what happened to me on Monday morning when I put on my voice over IP head set in my home office, fired up my laptop, and launched the soft phone program I use to connect to Computerworld's hybrid VoIP/digital PBX some 105 miles away. The problem set in motion a series of events that finally resulted in restoration of service yesterday afternoon - nearly four days later.

Fortunately, this is not a production implementation - I'm participating in a pilot program, so this is exactly the kind of thing that one might expect early on. Wanting to make this pilot project work, however, I had steadfastly refused to put a land line in my new office. In this way I, as the only pilot user relying on VoIP as my primary phone service, would be forced to use VoIP. Or so I thought. Instead, for the last few days I was forced to work from my old location. That has made life confusing, to say the least.

There are some interesting lessons to be learned from my experience - and some choices you can make to avoid my mistakes.

First off, if you're depending on your phone for daily business use, as I am, relying solely on a soft client may not be the best way to go. There are other options.

Secondly, the delays in fixing this problem, while mostly due to the fact that the system is still very much in pilot, bring to light one potential caveat of using a hybrid VoIP/digital PBX system. At Computerworld the facilities people manage the digital PBX and VoIP gateway, but the IT people manage the VPN and the Siemens licensing server through which VoIP calls must pass. This equipment resides in two different buildings.

In my situation the licensing server stopped communicating with the PBX. Was the issue the PBX or the licensing server? In the end it was the server, but it took a coordinated effort by both groups to resolve the problem. This back and forth required extra time that would have been disastrous had this been a production system in use company wide.

Had we been using a native VoIP system such as Cisco Call Manager, there would be no switch/server dichotomy and lines of responsibility would be cleaner. A hybrid system requires some additional planning and cross-training.

Here's another interesting twist: IT has an incident management system that tracks progress of a trouble ticket, but facilities does not use that system. Who should take ownership of the problem and keep the user informed? To keep up with the situation I alternated between reading comments in the trouble report log, adding comments on the status on my end, and talking by phone with facilities.

To date the VoIP system has been used only as a cool supplemental technology by people on the road. If it failed, that was an annoyance, but no big deal. No one was depending on it. Right now I'm the only user going cold turkey with VoIP. If your remote offices are to depend on it, however, you'll need coordinated support as well as policies that make sure everyone understands that any change to the various elements of the network and server infrastructure that VoIP touches have the potential to take the entire VoIP portion of the phone system down.

As for using a soft client, that is commonly used in call centers, where VoIP may be routed internally and the PC configurations are locked down and tightly managed. As I've learned, using it in a general office over broadband is a different matter - especially if you have no backup.

When your telephone hand set is just another application on the Windows desktop, reliability suffers. The machine can crash. Applications can freeze up for no apparent reason. The VPN, required in this case to route the call to the corporate VoIP gateway over secure channel, can suddenly disconnect in the middle of a call. And new applications can conflict with the soft client. I know. I've had all of these things occur.

A soft phone also creates an extra step before you can dial. You can't just pick up the hand set to get a dial tone. You have to log in and enter a password first. No validation, no phone. It's as simple as that.

I make a lot of calls, and the business benefit behind VoIP is to save money by running all calls through the corporate switch so it can take advantage of bulk rate discounts Computerworld receives for long distance services. Using VoIP to make the connection to Computerworld also gives me the flexibility to use my phone and receive calls from anywhere I happen to be working, so long as I have a broadband connection - a great feature. In my old office I had a separate Verizon line that did not benefit from those discounts, and when I left the office I left my phone behind.

It's decision time, and at this point I see three options.

1. Stay with the soft client.
2. Use a VoIP desk phone with a VPN router when in the office. What's nice about this setup is that it bypasses the Windows Desktop and licensing server entirely, taking two potential problem points out of the loop. It makes the connection to the VPN and to the switch and if the connection is lost it reattaches automatically. My phone becomes an appliance once again. Sweet.
3. Throw in the towel and get either a local phone line or an off-premise extension, which is essentially a leased line that connects a digital phone in my office to Computerworld's PBX. The latter, if available, would allow Computerworld to get those bulk rate discounts and give me a line with a guaranteed service level - eliminating the ongoing issues I've been having with call quality over my local DSL connection (It's interesting to note that call quality appears to be better over Comcast broadband in my old location than over Verizon DSL in the new office). I could still keep VoIP, but as a second-class service for use only when traveling.

So far I've stuck with the soft client, but perhaps it's time for plan b. I could use one or a combination of the options above.

I'm new to this, but maybe you're not. Been there? Done that? I look forward to your suggestions.