Recent Survey Reveals Newport Networks Face Service Quality Challenges

 

At a recent  networking software event, SofNet,

Newport conducted a survey to sample what users associated with the telecoms industry actually think and know about VoIP. Although the sample was just a few dozen delegates , the company was able to know what exactly people think about their service.

The biggest obstacle that VoIP services face, according to the poll, is  Quality of Service and  this beat security concerns into second place with worries over how to charge and bill in a lowly third place. In a way, this is no real surprise as VoIP services still are in the process of shedding the cheap and unreliable image (think how Skoda had to re-invent itself). They are worried that rates of those transitioning to VoIP services may slow dramatically if quality and security issues are not dealt with soon.

Second on the list was security, a surprising 60 percent of delegates believed that VoIP is 'reasonably secure' with 1 in 10 considering it to be secure with just 30 percent believing it to be insecure. This figures are interesting considering that the majority of SIP based VoIP services do not use encryption on signalling or media. Therefore, any reasonably well informed hacker can 'sniff' VoIP credentials from unsecured wireless networks.

Another question asked related to security was who should be responsible for security.

A significant 60 percent of delegates surveyed believe that service providers should be responsible for security, followed by 35 per cent feeling that both the service provider and subscriber should be responsible.

When asked what were the biggest perceived threats to VoIP services, nearly half of delegates named lack of quality (again), followed by identity theft (28 per cent), lack of interconnect between services (20 per cent), and denial of service attacks (9 per cent).

Drawing a conclusion, VP of Product Marketing at Newport Networks, Dave Gladwin, said that

it is clear that service providers need to take action to address fundamental issues such as reliable quality of service and effective security to ensure they continue to retain or increase their market share. But also consumers need to be more aware of the security implications of using VoIP services, particularly when on the road where they are most useful. VoIP hacking may be in its infancy at present but you can be sure that hackers are taking the opportunity to "case the joint".  As consumers we can do our bit by securing our home WiFi, but ultimately it will come down to the service providers to offer a secure service.