Boydo's Tech Talk

Last time, I covered the Panasonic washing machine that was shown off at the recent Panasonic home appliance launch last week. Today, I am going to cover off the new cordless phone that will be added to the existing lineup.

Granted, these days landline telephony might be viewed more as a legacy service compared to the convenience and relative cost effectiveness of mobile services (particularly with cap plans that can cover even the most insatiable needs for talking and texting). One thing that landline telephony does offer over mobiles is its ability to keep working despite a blackout in your neighbourhood for a prolonged period of time. Sure, you can still keep using your mobile but if your mobile wasn’t already fully charged and you have no backup charging solution (like a HyperMac external battery or a UPS) you’re going to have to make that battery last somehow (turn off data, turn off 3G, turn off mail account refreshing, turn down screen brightness, etc).

So great, landline telephones (in a pre-NBN world) can be powered over the copper lines from the telephone exchange but that does you no good if you have a cordless phone (which a lot of people have in their houses). If the base station has no power then the link between the cordless handset and the exchange is lost which means no phones calls in or out. Of course, if you have a traditional corded telephone (like the Telstra Touchfones that have hung around for years) then you’re golden but you’re also tethered to a spot with maybe a radius of a metre or two.

You’d think someone would make a cordless phone that’d work in a blackout, it’s 2011 afterall.

Well, Panasonic have come up with something to handle such a situation and it’s a simple and elegant solution called the “Power Failure Talk System”. With the new 803 series cordless phones due for release in February 2012 all you need to do is pop a handset into the base station (which is also the charging station when there is power). You can then make phone calls using the speakerphone function on that particular phone in the event of power loss. Otherwise, you can use one of the other handsets paired with the base station normally in cordless mode while a handset is in the base station providing power.

Another gripe that I have found with cordless phones is that range can be an issue if you have a multi-floor house or if you have a sparse property (so maybe a single level house with a large backyard). You might be doing some work in the backyard or up on another level in the house that is out of reach of the cordless base station. To mitigate this issue, the 803 series cordless phones also include a “location free repeater”. Much like how a repeater works for Wi-Fi this device repeats the signal from the base station to the phone and vice-versa. If you are looking to maximise range you should place the repeater towards the edge of the existing coverage provided by the base station (but not right on the edge where coverage drops off). Once you have found the best place you can hide it behind a plant or a lamp or somewhere convenient where there is a power socket.

The other main feature of the 803 series cordless phone is the inclusion of a 1.45 inch TFT LCD screen (which apparently a first for a landline cordless telephone).

Panasonic 803 Series Premium DECT Cordless Phone

It looks nice and it might be a bit easier to read in the evening if you get a phone call. The buttons are also backlit so you don’t need to reach for a light just to dial a number.

Some other notable features are:

• Answering machine (including message counter),
• Night mode (disables the ringtone during the night if you don’t fancy receiving late phone calls),
• Pairing of up to six handsets,
• Speakerphone, intercom and handset locater functionality,
• Call conferencing and call waiting compatibility.

Traditionally, people have relied on landlines and more recently mobile phones to keep in touch with their friends and loved ones. Sure, costs to call people interstate or internationally have come down over the years and mobile caps are helpful to a degree but you still end up having to bear the cost of communication.

What if you could use your Internet connection and computer to make high quality voice calls and perhaps see the person with whom you are talking – for free?

You might of heard of Skype which has very much become one of the big names in Internet voice and video communications. The application looks very much like any standard instant messenger and you can interact with your contacts in a number of different ways, including:

• instant messages,
• voice calls,
• video calls
• sending files,
• sharing your screen.

Skype (Contacts Window)

Getting started is as easy as double clicking on a contact to start an instant message session or right click on the contact to another method of communication.

Skype (Conversation Window)

Whilst in an instant message session, you can also start a voice or video call using the green buttons up the top. Call setups times are surprisingly quick and the call quality is much better than you’d get on a standard telephone or mobile phone. Video quality is dependent upon the webcam being used, the calibre of computer being used and the speed of the Internet connection. As long as you have a fairly modern computer and a broadband connection you should be fine.

Skype also has the ability to send and receive higher quality video but you need to use specific models of Logitech webcams (pretty much the higher end models). I happen to use the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 which includes auto- focus and RightLight technology which will improve the contrast of the video you are sending when the light is dim.

Skype (Video Settings)

All you need is the other person to be using Skype with a headset and an optional webcam and you can be up and running without too much fuss at all. Best of all, it’s free!

You can also use Skype for making calls to traditional phones but you will need to buy Skype credit. Personally, I don’t use this as I favour my mobile for such calls as I am on a cap plan.

Skype is available for Windows, MacOS X, Linux and a variety of smartphones including the Nokia N900 and the iPhone. So give it a go, you might be able to save yourself a bit of money in the process!

Having studied data network and telecommunications concepts and principles at university, I know the difference between circuit and packet switched networks but I suspect that the regular person on the street does not have the same level of knowledge or awareness. As such, I thought I would flesh this out a bit so that people would have a basic understanding of these concepts.

To put it simply, telephones delivered over copper to a Telstra exchange are examples of circuit switched networks (i.e. there is a dedicated line from your premises back to the exchange for the primary purpose of making and receiving phone calls). Putting aside digital wizardry at the exchange that handles call waiting and conferencing, the circuit cannot be used to make or receive other calls at the same time.

Packet switched networks are a different beast. A typical Internet connection is an example of a packet switched network connection whereby one pipe can be use simultaneously for many different things and makes use of packets (small chunks of data) to send and receive data. The packets are then routed between the origin and destination and the reconstructed at the other end in the same order. In this fashion, packet switching can emulate circuit switching networks without the drawback of allowing a single use of the pipe at any one time. Of course, slower connections are less capable of this emulation due to potential lag and can be easily overwhelmed. Broadband speeds help alleviate this problem, especially when it comes to the delivery of services such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

So is this of any significance? I guess the answer is “it depends”.

The NBN will essentially provide a single packet switched connection into a premises that can fulfil the requirements for telephony, television (courtesy of IPTV) and data over fibre and you would plug in various devices (such as set top boxes, VoIP telephones, computers, etc) to make use of that connection. This may not be such a foreign concept for some people given that we have had dialup and ADSL modems that plug into telephone lines and subscription television and cable modems that plug into the coaxial socket on the wall.

Certainly, packet switched networks are the way of the future and with continually increasing bandwidth it makes sense to move away from dedicated circuits. Of course, packet switched connections that have a sole purpose (such as inter-office VPNs) will have a place.

So if you didn’t know about the above, I hope this has given you a very general understanding of the difference between these sorts of networks