There’s no question that voice over IP has come a long way in terms of adoption and quality, but Kim Murtagh, senior product manager for Panasonic (News - Alert) Business Telephone Systems, says VoIP still suffers from a reputation problem with many people in the general population who believe the technology is risky and doesn’t deliver the availability and quality that the PSTN does. However, HD voice, she says, can go a long way toward debunking that misconception.

“It’s our belief that HD voice is more of a standard than a novelty,” Murtagh adds, “and it’s really the future, and it’s just going to grow from there.”

Panasonic is among the companies making sure that happens, offering support for the G.722 HD voice codec in all its products. That includes Panasonic’s KX-UTG200B and KX-UTG300B SIP phones, which feature high-definition, wide-band voice in the handset, headset, and full duplex speaker phone.

Assuming G.722 is supported by endpoints at both ends of a call and the network in between, callers experience a “crystal clear” audio experience, during which it sounds as though the other person is right next to them, says Murtagh. But here’s the rub: Even if one or both of the endpoints are G.722-capable, if any part of the connection between them (like the access link to the hosted PBX (News - Alert) service) doesn’t support G.722, the call defaults to standard definition. The good news, says Murtagh, is that the telecommunications industry is aware of and working on this issue, and that for those businesses using MPLS – which segments out voice – this is a non issue. 

HD voice is the wave of the future, and VoIP is here to stay, Murtagh adds, noting that the U.S. government and key telecom stakeholders are putting in place new rules to move away from the old technology of the PSTN and toward broadband networks and services.