DECT could win over WiFi for in-house wireless VoIP
Talking about creative ideas, here is a third idea of the day: A hardware add-on that can be plugged into an IAD (through an Ethernet port) serving as a base station for a DECT phone. That is what I thought SiTel had announced recently. However SiTel is a chip company and I should have known better. The Netherlands based company announced a DECT chip that can be placed in existing IAD applications with telephone connections.
Modem manufacturers have been shipping IADs and cable modems with DECT base stations for quite some time now. Thomson has shipped more than 1 million DSL+DECT to BT for its residential VoIP offering. Starting later this year, BT will be sourcing its DECT enabled IAD from a Germany based vendor in addition. The Germany based vendor uses SiTel chip. SiTel expects about a million of their DECT VoIP chips to be integrated inside IADs by the end of this year. Majority of these IADs will land inside residential customers in Germany.
That sounds rather optimistic given that SiTel is up against the likes of Infineon and DSP Group in the DECT VoIP segment. And also the fact that DECT VoIP chip shipment per quarter (worldwide across all vendors) stands at around 250k right now.
When it comes to cordless VoIP, DECT is up against WiFi. However, for voice application, DECT is a better choice due to performance (range and battery life time) and price issues. DECT is better optimised for voice while as WiFi still battles with wireless data. But WiFi is ubiquitous and VoIP-over-WiFi is driven more by WiFi enabled ubiquitous cell phones rather than single mode VoIP-over-WiFi phones. I guess we will see boxes like that of BT that offer a combination of DSL+WiFi+DECT.
Whether WiFi displaces DECT for in-house wireless VoIP remains to be seen. In the short term, however, cost is likely to play a critical role. DECT is much cheaper than VoIP-over-WiFi. Currently the BoM (Bill of Materials) for a DECT phone is around $10 whereas it is twice to three times as much for a VoIP-over-WiFi phone.
