Optimum Lightpath upgrades to HD voice for VoIP

Optimum Lightpath this month becomes the first U.S. service provider to roll out High-Definition voice services as part of its hosted VoIP offering, and the Cablevision subsidiary is offering this new feature at no extra charge, beyond a one-time fee for the enhanced phone set required.

HD VoIP enables a higher sound quality by using uses voice energy that lies outside the 3 kilohertz frequency of traditional telephone calls, to create much richer voice quality based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technology and the G.722 wideband codec standard. Optimum Lightpath already has G.722 wideband codes deployed in its network, said Glenn Calafati, director of Product Marketing at Optimum Lightpath, so the only upgrade required to offer the service is deployment of an HD phone set at the customers’ premises.

There is no one application driving HD voice deployment, other than the general demand for higher quality VoIP, said John Macario, senior vice president, Product Strategy and Management, for Optimum Lightpath.

“We have a significant number of high-end clients in our location – financial services companies, hospitals, educational institutions – and we have heard interest in this across the board,” Macario said. “If two traders are talking in a relatively noisy environment important they heard each other clearly and concisely. Doctors, same thing. The driving application is just voice. Our view here is that this is an advance in technology that is made possible by IP and in this case, hosted IP, and we want to offer it to our customers.”

Optimum Lightpath uses an all-fiber, all Ethernet infrastructure to deliver its data and hosted voice services. Optimum Lightpath chose not to charge for the additional quality because its standard approach to upgrades has been to offer them without additional cost, Macario said.

“We’ve added HD voice to the equation as just another feature, and we are not going to start charging people on another feature,” Macario said. “HD handsets are more expensive so there is a small non-reccuring charge that they will pay based on the number of the latest Cisco handsets they want to buy. That covers the cost differential between those handsets and the standard IP phones. That charge will vary depending on how many HD phones you want. That’s how we handle any upgrade to the phone.”

As part of the Optimum Lightpath Hosted Voice service, Optimum Lightpath handles all installation and upgrades, along with equipment maintenance and 24-7 customer support, Marcario said.