Three years running now, I’ve taken family trips to Grand Cayman. As you can imagine, it’s hard for me to “shut off” work while on vacation, especially since we’re selling the tools to help people work anywhere, anytime!
As I sipped mojitos last week (while watching my three children chase iguanas), I couldn’t help but smile as my in-laws passed my iPhone around to one another making calls to US phone numbers for 3.2 cents per minute using none of my outrageously priced international cell phone minutes. Instead, they were using my OnSIP account, the hotel WiFi and a superb software client on the iPhone, Bria.
While some may debate the sample size of my vacations, it’s clear the evolution of my SIP experience in Grand Cayman over the past 3 years has been a telling tale. We believe at OnSIP that the evolution of Internet real time communications (voice, video, etc.) is just beginning. And it will take an upheaval across many industries to make it happen. This includes service providers, software and hardware manufacturers, hosting companies, etc.
My three year “study” was conducted to see how well I could stay connected to my corporate voice network, including dialing extensions, making outbound calls with company caller ID info, receive calls to my extension from outside callers, etc.
Here’s my “study data”:
Year 1 (2009)
- SIP provider - Obviously OnSIP
- WiFi – Sucky. Not free. Not available in most parts of the hotel.
- SIP phone Software Client Options – really only one: X-Pro by Counterpath.
- Hardware - Had to bring my laptop, back then, there were no options for SIP clients other than a handful of hardware phones and Counterpath’s MAC and PC software
- IPhone SIP software available – NONE
- Inbound & outbound audio interface – clunky headset
My experience: Terrible. I’d periodically leave the pool to return to my room, plug the laptop into the WIRED network, fire up my laptop and make calls which had terrible delays, sound quality, etc. My in-laws were puzzled, at best whenever I did this. I’m sure they were asking my wife - What exactly does Rob do for a living? Very disappointing, all around.
Year 2 (2010)
- SIP provider - OnSIP
- WiFi– Not Terrible. FREE! Available in most parts of the hotel.
- SIP phone Software Client Options – More options, but still Counterpath products, like Eyebeam, rule the day
- Hardware - Had to bring my laptop again. Counterpath’s MAC and PC software products are improved and still way ahead of the next best option.
- IPhone Software Clients Available – NONE
- Inbound & outbound audio interface – clunky headset
My experience – Better. But not great. Wifi was far better, but Internet connectivity was still a stumbling block for quality from time to time. I was able to take my laptop to the pool and make calls there, which on the surface is an improvement, but also made my computer the “can I check my email” machine for my wife’s entire family which was annoying. Personally, it’s still strange to make calls using a headset and laptop.
Year 3 (2011)
- SIP provider - OnSIP
- WiFi– Excellent. FREE! Available down to the high tide line of the ocean!
- SIP Phone Software Client Options – Many options, some good, some bad, Counterpath is still the lead dog, with expanded products to cover XMPP as well as SIP.
- Hardware - NO COMPUTER! iPad and iPhone.
- IPhone (and Android) Software Clients Available – A few. And wouldn’t you know it, Counterpath came out on top again with Bria for iPhone for me.
- Inbound & outbound audio interface – iPhone
My experience – Dramatically better. The big change was simply using a PHONE to make and receive calls. What a concept! I had the iPhone on me wherever I went, and Bria regularly registered with the Wifi Network. Call quality was good and all of the required actions (transfer, extension dial, outbound/inbound calls) worked flawlessly. I actually negotiated a real estate lease on a call while lounging on the beach. I don’t think they guy had a clue I was on vacation.
Other evidence of the change came from my wife’s family. Instead of “can I borrow your laptop to check my email?” I got “can I make a call with your phone?” and “is it really not using your cell phone minutes?” and “didn’t you have to turn on roaming or international data for that?” They still don’t understand what I do, but now at least they have a clue that I do something of value!
What am I looking for next year: When one of my in-laws asks to use my phone to dial someone via sip address, and NOT by phone number, I’ll know the wave has come crashing ashore!