We had plenty of exciting news this week in voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) routers, a development that itself makes plenty of sense given the importance of this technology for driving the growing movement to transfer more voice traffic to the Internet. With all this news, seeing how it all fits into the grand scheme of things can be difficult. To help that process out, we have a weekend for time, and our Week in Review coverage to help keep it all straight.

First we had word from Polycom, who welcomed in a new Platinum Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Service Provider (ITSP) as part of its Polycom Choice Partner Program. Specifically, that new firm was VoIP Supply, a company that offers a variety of products and services in getting VoIP services up and running. With the move to the platinum level, VoIP Supply has proven its commitment to Polycom (News - Alert)'s line of products, and will accordingly gain access to a set of new benefits from Polycom itself.

Next came a new line of white-label SIP softphones from SessionTalk. With three separate packages to choose from, each with a variety of features to offer, SessionTalk's new line of softphones helps provide a useful hardware base for ITSPs, calling card providers, and other such firms to work from. The phones in question will work with both SessionTalk Softphone for both iOS and Android devices, currently found in the respective app stores, with plans for a BlackBerry (News - Alert) 10 version to follow.

DNS Made Easy offered up the next bit of news, with plans of expansion to a fifth location: Australia. Previously available in the east and west portions of North America, as well as Europe and Asia, adding the continent / country to DNS Made Easy's roster proved to be a smart idea, particularly as the company was experiencing a substantial increase in queries based on geography.  With the new location in the works, DNS Made Easy can offer better service by allowing for a new, geographically-specific router to be used to move traffic.

Then came a new report on Ooma, who netted top honors from PCMag as the new top overall provider of VoIP service in the United States in 2014. Ooma was the only company, according to reports, to garner above a 9.0 on PCMag's scale, landing a full 9.4 and putting it well ahead of its competition. As to why the company did so well on PCMag's listings, one of the major reasons was that it had a particular focus on the small business operator, providing a more “personal touch” to its operations.

Finally, a bit of good news for Florida businesses arrived as AT&T's Project Velocity IP brought fiber service to 40,000 business locations that previously didn't have access to said service. Such service opens up a variety of new possibilities for said businesses, including the ability to handle large files as both upload or download, to engage in videoconferencing or VoIP service, or to offer better service to more users.

That was the week that was in VoIP routers, and plenty was on hand this week to change the way we think about these tools that help users connect with comparative ease. Our global online community was right at the tip of the spear, bringing back all the best news the sector could offer. So be sure to join us back here next week for all the biggest developments in the field, and every weekend as well for our Week in Review coverage!