VoWF (Vo-IP over Wi-Fi)

Abstract

Wireless telephony has become very popular in the past few years. However, the high costs of cellular systems make it necessary to find different technologies that can reduce the prices while keeping the efficiency and mobility. For this reason we explored the advantages and disadvantages of VoIP over Wi-Fi (VoWF), which means using wireless networks based on the IP protocol (like internet) to transmit voice. In this project we tested the performance of VoWF using Skype and X-Lite which are VoIP softwares and demonstrated to have similar behavior. We also used a software called WirelessMon that allowed us to monitor the status of the wireless network. Although VoWF has many advantages like low cost and easy implementation, we concluded that this technology is not ready to substitute cellular systems like GSM because it has three major problems which are: long handoff time, low range and low capacity. However VoWF can be a good complement for GSM.