Seeking wisdom from CCNA Voice candidates

Hi,

I am currently finishing up my LPIC and want to decide soon on what I will be doing. HOnestly, the certifications will primarily serve as a resume booster as I will be looking for a job mainly in research. I have following options in mind;

1) CWNA
2) SCSA
3) CCNA Wireless
4) CCNA Voice

After reading a bit I think CCNA VOice can be benficial because I am trying to get in to the wireless broadband (WiMAX/LTE) sector.

What I want to know is how hard is CCNA Voice really? I see lots people say they have read couple of books and done simulators and also worked with real hardware.

So what I want to ask is;

1) Isn't there a single source I can 'most' of the material?
2) How good is the 'Exam Cram' book?
3) Do I need to have a VoIP background?
4) Must I work with real hardware?

and finally;
5) What is the best and most efficient (by this I mean spending minimal time as time is what I do not have) combination.
For example;
Exam Cram + CBT Nuggets.

OR you can be honest and tell me to forget Cisco certs because they are difficult and cannot be done in a rush.

Your advice will greatly help me in choosing my certification.

Cheers.

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Comments

wastedtime

Well to answer your questions:

1) I would recommend multiple sources but I felt either CBT Nuggets or Cisco Press would be alright for the test.
2) Never used it.
3) No but would be helpful. Voice is a whole other beast all together.
4) No but would make things more difficult.
5) Depends on the person but I thought CCNA Voice was easier than CCNA.

I tried to write up the most of the stuff in my post http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-voice/44541-passed-ccna-voice.html.

m26k9

Thank you very much wastedtime.
That made me a little bit less worried. I read your post. Seems you have done quite a lot of studying

Would like to have some more opinion.

Cheers.

kryolla

WiMAX and LTE are 4G technology based on a higher data throughput than say EVDO at least here in the states. We currently dont have LTE but some providers should be releasing it soon. With that said learning voice in my opinion would not help on cellular 4G technology but it also isnt going to hurt as the providers already have a voice network set up i.e 3G or 2.5G. Also on a cellular level VOIP is going to be different than cisco voip that is taught. What is taught is basically whats going on in the enterprise to replace their PBX with cellular you have a whole new network. I would concentrate on wireless or CCNP side which should allow you to work on the core of WiMAX or LTE which is IP based. Have you looked at the WiMAX or LTE forum. This is just my opinion

m26k9

kryolla wrote: »

WiMAX and LTE are 4G technology based on a higher data throughput than say EVDO at least here in the states. We currently dont have LTE but some providers should be releasing it soon. With that said learning voice in my opinion would not help on cellular 4G technology but it also isnt going to hurt as the providers already have a voice network set up i.e 3G or 2.5G. Also on a cellular level VOIP is going to be different than cisco voip that is taught. What is taught is basically whats going on in the enterprise to replace their PBX with cellular you have a whole new network. I would concentrate on wireless or CCNP side which should allow you to work on the core of WiMAX or LTE which is IP based. Have you looked at the WiMAX or LTE forum. This is just my opinion

Thank you very much kryolla. You are correct.

After I read the post I read the table of contents of the CIsco study guide for Voice and yes, I don't think it will help me. It is about putting an IP phone system in a company. I thought it would be helpful if WiMAX/LTE is going to exclusively support some kind of VoIP service but this certification will not teach me anything that is happening at the provider/backbone side.

I think for the same reason CCNA Wireless is also out of the question.

I like to do CCDA, but I have read it takes more work than CCNA.

Thank you very much.

new2net

kryolla wrote: »

Have you looked at the WiMAX or LTE forum.

Hey...Where is this forum..... I couldn't locate it under the main forums page...

mens

new2net wrote: »

Hey...Where is this forum..... I couldn't locate it under the main forums page...

My guess is here:
4G Forums - Discuss 4G Wireless Broadband: WiMax, Sprint XOHM, Clearwire, LTE : 4Gforums.com

Doesn't look very active though