AT&T’s CallVantage VoIP service received a very high endorsement from the San Jose Mercurey News’ Mike Langberg today.
In the article Langberg did point out a problem related to NAT, which is more than likely an issue that some users of older routers or cable modems could suffer. NAT which stands for Network Address Translation and the need to do MAC address cloming were issues that used to arise more often in the life cycle of broadband in the home a few years back. It would effect some users because the cable operators chose to go all DHCP versus static IP due to the scarcity of IP addresses. Now updated router firmware usually solves many of those issues. Still, it was great to see a reporter actually draw attention to the problem, and the fact that the AT&T team was able to solve the problem.
NAT as an issue remains for many, not only in the VoIP sector, but also with Wi-Fi. The biggest issue will be VoIP endpoints such as handsets and PDA’s that need to be found for effective two way communications.
This is a bigger problem than just users. It will require additional work between the carriers and hardware/software manufacturers to develop a new standard, before IPv6 arrives.