Covad Communications will trial a line-powered version of voice over IP within the next three months, in hopes of opening up the consumer VoIP market to its wholesale customers.

Many of those customers have been buying UNE-P lines from incumbent telcos and soon will not have that means of access. MO< "This is a way for our partners who have a UNE-P base to move it over onto a VoIP service," said Rob Pilgrim, director of new product development at Covad.

The line-powered VoIP test will use digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs) from Nokia and from Zhone Technologies, the company announced.

The service works by converting the analog voice signal to an IP stream at the central office, instead of at the desktop using an ATA. The conversion is made using an analog to digital converter with digital signal processing within the CO-based DSLAM. Instead of being routed to a Class 5 CO switch, as happens today, the voice signal goes into Covad’s softswitch architecture.

Because the CO to customer connection is traditional analog, the line can be CO-powered, said Pilgrim. That builds reliability into the service so that it works in the event of a commercial power failure.

"Currently the VoIP service we offer is for businesses," he said. "This would open up the consumer space for us. The end-user experience is very similar to traditional telephony. There’s no need to replace phones, and the change is a hot-cut within the CO."

Covad will start its trial in the late first quarter or early second quarter and could have a commercial product as early as this summer.