From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Voice over WLAN
Nortel VoWLAN phone
VoWLAN (Voice over Wireless LAN) is the
use of a wireless broadband network accord-
ing to the IEEE 802.11 standards for the pur-
pose of vocal conversation. In other words,
it’s just like VoIP but over a Wi-Fi network. In
most cases, the Wi-Fi network and voice
1
Voice over WLAN
components supporting the voice system are
privately owned.
VoWLAN can be conducted over any Inter-
net accessible device, including a laptop,
PDA or the new VoWLAN units which look
and function like DECT and cellphones. Just
like for IP-DECT, the VoWLAN’s main advant-
ages to consumers are cheaper local and in-
ternational calls, free calls to other VoWLAN
units and a simplified integrated billing of
both phone and Internet service providers.
Although VoWLAN and 3G have certain
feature similarities, VoWLAN is different in
the sense that it uses a wireless internet net-
work (typically 802.11) rather than a Cellular
network. Both VoWLAN and 3G are used in
different ways.
Applications
A company with fixed warehouses or loca-
tions would take advantage of their existing
WiFi network and use VoIP (hence VoWLAN)
for employees to communicate with one an-
other. This system can also be used like Land
Mobile Radio System or Walkie-talkie sys-
tems with push to talk and emergency broad-
cast channels.
Another example would be a company that
has mobile workers very much like the FedEx
delivery person or the CocaCola delivery
driver who delivers goods to a store. These
workers need to take advantage of 3G type
services whereby a cellular company (like
Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint/Nextel)
provide data access between the handheld
device and the companies back-end network.
Benefits
A voice over WLAN system offers tremendous
benefits to organizations, such as hospitals
and warehouses. The primary benefits are
mobility and cost savings. For example,
nurses and doctors within a hospital can
maintain voice communications at any time
at less cost as compared to cellular service.
In most cases, it’s possible to receive a re-
turn on investment within three years.[1]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Voice over WLAN

Types the Wi-Fi network must provide seamless

roaming between access points.[2]
1. as an extension to cellular network using
Generic access network.
2. as a local network independent of cellular
See also
company. • GAN
• IP-DECT

Design Considerations •
•
Mobile VOIP
VoWi-Fi
A Wi-Fi network that supports voice tele-
phony must be carefully designed in a way
that maximizes performance and is able to
References
support the applicable call density. A voice [1] "VoWLAN Applications and Benefits".
network includes call gateways in addition to http://www.wireless-nets.com/resources/
the Wi-Fi access points. The gateways downloads/VoWLAN_C1.html. Retrieved
provide call handling among wireless IP on 2008-10-09.
phones and connections to traditional tele- [2] "VoWLAN System Components".
phone systems. The Wi-Fi network support- http://www.wireless-nets.com/resources/
ing voice applications must provide much downloads/VoWLAN_C2.html. Retrieved
stronger signal coverage than what’s needed on 2008-10-09.
for most data-only applications. In addition,

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_WLAN"

Categories: Wireless networking, Voice over IP

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