Junction Networks announces that its OnSIP Virtual PBX is now the first Hosted PBX Service to support HD voice on all on-network and conference bridge calls. OnSIP is now wideband-ready, using SIP compliant, wideband telephony endpoints and conveys the kind of high-definition, in-the-room sound quality that is the next best thing to being there. Further, these high-quality HD calls will continue to be free on-net, thus further reducing telephone costs, while at the same time, offering additional features to users.

A growing number of companies have begun to offer high-definition endpoints -- IP phones and soft phones -- where the audio quality far exceeds that of traditional landline handsets. While all telephone audio quality has been measured against PSTN landlines until now, the fact is that the traditional PSTN conveys only about one fifth the range of frequencies the human ear can hear - a span of about 3500 Hz out of 20 kHz. With wideband-enhanced, high definition telephony, what was once hard to distinguish is now easy to hear.

Wideband or "high-definition" audio spans a range twice that of traditional PSTN voice, and has arrived with the proliferation of broadband VoIP. Further, the sampling rate of wideband audio calls is twice as high as traditional PSTN voice.

When it detects a connection between wideband extensions, OnSIP allows the two endpoints to negotiate a call using the standard wideband G.722 codec. Continuing the commitment to supporting any SIP compliant endpoints, OnSIP HD has been successfully tested with and between Polycom, Cisco, Linksys, Aastra and SNOM wideband phones, which customers can obtain and easily set up themselves as OnSIP extensions. Customers then enjoy in-the-room sound quality on extension-to-extension and on conference calls, as long as the person speaking is similarly equipped with a wideband endpoint.