Wireless VoIP Launches in Arizona

WebTel Wireless announced pioneering efforts in wireless voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service at Wireless 1999.

Aaron Haskal, WebTel Wireless president & CEO, said about 50 customers in Arizona are the first to take advantage of his service, which routes wireless calls over the Internet, bypassing long-distance toll charges. Customers pay a 24 dollar and 95cent flat monthly rate.

WebTel owns F-block PCS licenses for the Flagstaff and Prescott, AZ, BTAs as well as Stillwater, OK. Its VoIP service consists of five points of presence in Flagstaff, Phoenix, Prescott, Sedona and Tucson, AZ. With an eye to international tourists at the Grand Canyon, WebTel is using GSM technology.

To offer the wireless VoIP service, WebTel selected MultiVoice VoIP hardware and software from Ascend Communications, which runs on Ascend's MAX 6000 platform with interfaces to WebTel's network.

Ascend's MultiVoice is an architecture that delivers both packetized voice and fax services over a data infrastructure that can include IP, ATM and frame-relay networks.

Haskal said Ascend's solution is a perfect application for wireless telephony.

"Sending a packetized cellular call over an IP network actually improves its quality," he said.

The technology allows subscribers to place calls over the Internet using any type of phone, wireline as well as cellular and PCS. The caller dials a local access number to a WebTel gateway computer that converts the conversation to IP data packets and sends it to the other WebTel gateway. This gateway dials the destination phone number and converts the data back to conversation.

WebTel also offers other carriers a turnkey solution including access to its managed IP network. It plans to expand its services in the southwestern and eastern United States, Europe and Asia.