Deploying Voice over Wireless LANs

Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) is an emerging technology that extends Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) another step. The recent emergence of handheld phones that communicate using over standard computer Wireless LANs has enabled the use of VOIP in wireless situations. The functionality is basically the same as using a wired VOIP, but the user can walk around the plant while using the phone. Furthermore, a VoWLAN phone can operate from Wi-Fi hotspots, enabling a person to make use of the same mobile phone while away from the office. Some phones enable the user to make calls over the cellular network if a WLAN is not available.This book is about setting up a VoWLAN system. It of course features Cisco equipment as it is published by Cisco press. However the underlying technology is the same regardless of the brand of equipment.This book is less a heavy duty technical tome like many from Cisco Press than a general introduction talking about things like return on investment, security, support requirements, etc.

The author repeats himself over and over with a lacking writting style. The contents could have been presented in 100 pages. I also felt some concepts were outdated and biased with Cisco gear. I had to use this book during a graduate degree program and found myself more than ever frustrated by the overall quality of this material.

I have read Jim Geier's whitepapers and articles for some time. However, I found this book to be a "Cliffs Notes" of everything wireless, and hardly anything VoIP related. This book rarely discusses 802.11g as a technology, but a HEFTY amount of 802.11b It has a one page overview on controller based architecture. Newer Cisco wireless phones are out now. It almost seems like a draft of this book sat on Cisco Press' shelf for two years, and they just now decided they should print it.The cover says "The definitive guide to planning, architecting, deploying, supporting, and creating..." NOT EVEN CLOSE. No real information on Cisco best practices or deployment guidelines. Save your hard earned money, and download the best practice whitepapers at Cisco's website; you'll be far better off.

I stopped reading this book after few pages. Full of typos and technical mistakes:- In some pages the author said that the maximum power for 802.11 network in USA is 1 Watt and in others, 100 MWatts.- The half-duplex nature of 802.11 protocols is not even mentioned, even when this is one of the main drawbacks for sending voice over wireless.- The LWAPP protocol is not even explain... and the Cisco transition from independents AP to lightweight is never mentioned or explained, a very crude and misleading comparison between LWAPP and independent AP solution...This could follow on and on..