Minacom Tests VoIP Via BlackBerry

By Greg Galitzine

 

For starters they’re small. They’re also pervasive, addictive, and frankly ever more applicable to most any use: e-mail, voice, and now apparently VoIP Testing! I’m talking of course about the BlackBerry (News - Alert).

 

Minacom, a leader in VoIP test systems for telcos and cable MSOs, today introduced residential VoIP service quality testing using BlackBerry wireless devices, which now support Minacom’s PocketDQ Web-based VoIP testing client.

 

The news comes on the heels of MInacom’s most recent product introduction: the Zoey interactive VoIP test agent.

 

In a press release, Minacom described Zoey as “an automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) agent customers can call to test their own service quality.”

 

Using Zoey, VoIP subscribers can check the quality of their VoIP by evaluating factors such as noise, echo, and fax transmission, Minacom explained in its announcement.

 

The new product can be integrated into existing service providers’ 1-800 customer service systems, and is capable of objectively reporting service quality in simple language.

 

Using PocketDQ on their BlackBerrys, technicians can initiate VoIP tests and review results that benchmark the existing phone service under replacement, verify Multimedia Terminal Adapter (MTA) installation, validate VoIP service quality, and identify inside wiring problems. Results are presented in a simple pass/fail on-screen report.

 

Tests are conducted by Minacom’s PowerProbe 6000 Service Level Test Probe. To perform the test requested from the BlackBerry, the PowerProbe 6000 calls the phone number of the subscriber under test. The test call is answered by a PowerProbe 30 VoIP responder, connected to any two-wire line jack in the house. In less than a minute, the test system measures Speech Quality (MOS), Call Connectivity, Network Responsiveness, codec performance (Packet Loss, VAD), Echo, Noise, Voice Path Delay, Frequency Response, DTMF (touch-tone) and Fax transmission metrics. Results are immediately available on the technician’s BlackBerry.

 

Tim Hall, Technical Operations Manager for Mountain Cablevision has deployed PocketDQ on the BlackBerrys every field technician regularly carries with them. “Thanks to Minacom’s PocketDQ running on Blackberry wireless devices, our technicians now have another high performance tool to qualify and troubleshoot services on our advanced HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) networks. Having technicians carry a compact, multifunction, cost-effective wireless device to perform VoIP testing, and to access test and management data from the field, reduces manpower requirements and the amount of test equipment needed for installation and troubleshooting.”