iPod VoIP coming down the pike?

Monday, February 27th, 2006 | Posted in VoIP News, VoIP Phone | 2 Comments »

Some interesting speculation from Red Herring on Apple’s latest mystery:

When Apple talks, people listen—and chat among themselves—and the computer company’s announcement about products to be unveiled Tuesday had watchers speculating about a VoIP-enabled iPod.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is a fan of hugely-hyped product introductions and this latest campaign, set to take place at Apple’s Cupertino, California headquarters, has the same buzz factor as past ones. It started as usual with a vague reference to “some fun new products” in invitations to the media sent out last week.

What is known: the invitations were issued by the iPod and iTunes media department, suggesting that the announcement is likely related to those two.

Talk of Wi-Fi on personal media devices like iPods has generated speculation that the company might roll out VoIP-enabled media players.

Since 95 percent of PortalPlayer’s business is iPod-related, many believe Apple’s device will be the first to sport the technology. Wi-Fi could enable iPods to make VoIP phone calls and could allow them could download iTunes content directly from the Internet—bypassing the content fee-share issues of cellular providers.

“Instead of a phone, maybe in a year Apple could have a VoIP-enabled iPod,” said Current Analysis analyst Chris Crotty.

But others believe an actual Apple phone, sporting iTunes software, makes more sense, especially since Wi-Fi availability is spotty while cellular networks blanket areas with coverage.

“We still believe there will be a phone from Apple by holiday of 2006,” Mr. Munster said.

…

McHugh: VoIP transition ‘will take 20 years’

Monday, February 27th, 2006 | Posted in IP Telephony, VoIP News, VoIP Phone | No Comments »

Bucking the trend, HP’s networking chief says that it could take 20 years for VoIP to oust circuit-switched telephony:

The ’slow retirement’ of the old PBX phone shows how long network infrastructure takes to change, he told a Netevents forum in Garmisch, Germany.

…’It is going to be a slow erosion [of legacy telephony] over 15 to 20 years,’ said McHugh, VP of HP’s Pro-Curve networking.

He predicted that by 2010 10Gbits/sec links to the desktop over copper lines would be available to a privileged few, but 1Gbits/sec would be sufficient for most links between company premises and metropolitan trunk lines.

Mobile roaming will be ‘transparent and robust’ and video calling from handhelds will be widely available and largely unused. ‘That’s because people simply don’t want it,’ McHugh said.

VoIP Service E911 Concerns?

Friday, February 24th, 2006 | Posted in IP Telephony, VoIP News, VoIP Regulation, VoIP Service Providers | No Comments »

Here’s an informative post from Russell Shaw over at ZDNet on the VoIP E911 issue, which has been a concern for many of our readers:

Concerned about VoIP E911? Here’s a list of all PSAPs in the U.S.

The recent imperative by VoIP service providers to make their E911 service compatible with the U.S.’ nearly 8,000 Public Safety Answering Points has generated a new focus on what these PSAPs are and what they do.One might think that PSAP territories totally overlap jurisdictional city and county boundaries. No, they don’t.So what PSAP are you [...]

Microsoft VoIP offering triggers mobile phone operator fears

Thursday, February 23rd, 2006 | Posted in IP Telephony, VoIP News, VoIP Phone, VoIP Service Providers | 3 Comments »

In a Valentine’s Day keynote address at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Steve Ballmer announced the latest addition to the Microsoft Live Communication Server – VoIP service for mobile phones running Office Communicator for Windows Mobile.  The service allows users to make free VoIP phone calls from their mobile phones or other portable devices over WiFi Internet connections.

Some analysts have responded to this news by hyperventilating, with claims of a coming "bloodbath" and the floor falling out of mobile phone operator stocks:

"Internet voice does not even have to take market share to force traditional operators to cut their prices. The mere thought of free voice is enough to make customers push for price cuts," said Mewawalla, predicting a bloodbath for mobile operator stocks.

and

Mewawalla continued: "The premium for wireless voice, without mobility, will disappear as wi-fi networks spread. By our estimates, that puts 75% of the market for mobile voice revenues at risk of a substantial price downgrade (in the order of 50%-80%). For some international calls, prices could fall by 90% or more."

But wasn’t this entirely predictable?  Why would there be surprise causing major declines in mobile operator stocks?  It’s certainly no secret that Microsoft is always looking to expand it’s reach and offerings.  Adding voice service to its Communicator line was an obvious next step.

(more…)

Test shows VoIP call quality can improve with SSL VPN links

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006 | Posted in IP Telephony, VoIP News, VoIP Phone, VoIP Security, VoIP Service Providers | No Comments »

Excellent article from Network World, where they ran a test of VoIP over VPN:

VoIP is often written off as an application that will not work well over an SSL VPN link. To test that argument, we examined 10 SSL VPN products in four network scenarios to see how well VoIP calls were handled by the products’ network extension clients.

The news is generally good. In high-bandwidth, low-latency environments, there is virtually no difference in quality between an unencrypted VoIP call and the same call made over an SSL VPN (see chart). Even better news is our discovery that a VoIP call made over SSL VPN on a typical broadband Internet connection is of higher quality than an unencrypted call. The only bad news comes with truly awful network connections: ones with high loss and limited bandwidth. In this environment, neither unencrypted VoIP calls nor SSL VPN-protected calls will be considered acceptable (for example, below a mean opinion score [MOS] of 3).

Except for Fortinet’s Fortigate appliance, the vendors included in this test are the same as those that were tested for our blow-out SSL VPN test conducted last December. AEP Networks’ Netilla Security Platform, Array Networks, SPX-5000, Aventail’s Smart SSL VPN, Caymas Systems’ Caymas 525, Check Point’s Connectra, F5’s FirePass 4100, Juniper Networks’ Secure Access 6000, Nokia’s Secure Access System 500, Nortel’s VPN Gateway 3070 and SonicWall’s SSL-VPN 2000.

While our results do show some differences between products, small variations in the MOS should not be considered significant. What is more important, our testing demonstrates that SSL VPN and VoIP work together well over broadband networks, even in the face of some network loss and congestion. We also found that datagram-based SSL VPN techniques, such as those used by Nortel and Juniper (both optionally), do not appear to offer any real advantage for VoIP traffic and may give poorer results than TCP-based SSL VPN from the same vendors.

SMC introduces wireless travel voice gateway for VoIP users

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006 | Posted in IP Telephony, VoIP News, VoIP Phone | 1 Comment »

A cool, travel-sized VoIP enabled WiFi router:

SMC Networks, a technology provider of LAN hardware, broadband connectivity devices and SOHO/home wireless products in India, recently announced the launch of an all-in-one travel device, the new SMC Wireless Travel Voice Gateway (SMCWTVG). 

The SMC Wireless Travel Voice Gateway (SMCWTVG) integrates the functions of wireless gateway and VoIP technology into one device for the business traveler. Users can now select a myriad functions based on their specific needs in different networking environments and at the same time also have the option to use the RJ-11 voice interface for VoIP calls and life line function.

For security, built-in features like, Network Address Translation (NAT), SPI Firewall and VPN pass-through provides users the capability to construct a secure network. While using the public hotspot network, the SMCWTVG enhances security through its advanced Wi-fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) and Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption. At the same time, the wireless SSID broadcast on/off capability and MAC address filtering serves as an additional safeguard.

The built-in 802.11b/g module and internal antenna allows the SMCWTVG to be compatible with both IEEE 802.11g and 802.11b standards, and it can be operated in access point, wireless client or repeater mode. Included in the device are 1 FXS and 1 FXO interfaces with RJ-11 connectors which can be connected to traditional telephones. When an analog telephone is plugged into the SMCWTVG, through the FXS interface, low cost VoIP calls can be made.  The FXO interface can also be connected to PSTN for regular telephone calls or life line function.

Chicago considering city-wide wireless broadband

Saturday, February 18th, 2006 | Posted in IP Telephony, VoIP News, VoIP Phone | No Comments »

Chicago Gears Up for Wireless Broadband :

CHICAGO – The nationwide rush to go wireless appears poised to extend to its biggest city yet. Chicago is launching an effort to offer wireless broadband, city officials said Friday, jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon as similar initiatives proceed in Philadelphia, San Francisco and smaller cities.

Chicago has hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots in places like coffee shops, bookstores and libraries, where anyone can walk in, sit down and connect to the Web. Hoping to extend that wireless blanket to all 228 square miles, the city plans to ask technology companies this spring to submit proposals for the project.

While it’s too soon to say how the system would operate, the goal is to make Internet access "broad and affordable" for residents and heighten Chicago’s appeal for businesses and tourists alike, according to Chris O’Brien, the city’s chief information officer.

The city did not specify goals for how much the system would charge for access. In Philadelphia, EarthLink Inc. is building a citywide network that will charge a wholesale rate of $9 a month to Internet service providers that would then resell access to the public at an undetermined price.

"We think it’s important for residents of the city and tourists and businesses to have lots of different ways to connect," O’Brien said. "For a city as big as Chicago, with the vibrant business community and diverse citizen base that we have, you want to make sure all kinds of technology are available to them as they work and enjoy entertainment options."

If all goes smoothly, the system could be running as soon as 2007, O’Brien said. That would all but certainly leave the city behind Philadelphia, which hopes to have its entire system in place late this year or early next year. But the size of a Chicago network would dwarf Philadelphia’s planned 135-square-mile network or anything now in place.

Five WiFI VoIP security issues

Thursday, February 16th, 2006 | Posted in IP Telephony, VoIP News, VoIP Security, VoIP Service Providers, VoIP Wiretap | No Comments »

Five WiFi VoIP sercurity issues from Unstrung:

Here’s a Top 5 list of enterprise WiFi VOIP security issues, and some ways to guard against them:

Widespread deployment equals a security headache:
Because of the "ubiquity of deployment" in many enterprises, attacks can spread quickly and be targeted to take down multiple devices at once. IT managers should stay up to the minute with phone upgrades, and consider running phones over a separate physical or virtual LAN as a defense against these attacks.

Many points of attack:
As the phones get more sophisicated, so could the points of entry for malicious attacks increase. Bluetooth, email, client Web browsers, SMS, WiFi, media players, and image viewers could open back doors for hackers. Though users can use open-source and commercial tools to continually test their phones and networks, they’ll ultimately have to rely on vendors to do proactive testing on these devices.

"Some vendors may engage in this testing while the majority will not," warns Merdinger.

Targeting phones in public environments:
For example, a Bluetooth scanner could be hidden at the entrance to a major airport or train station and be used to grab user data. It may be best to keep Bluetooth and other wireless features swicthed off when not needed.

Rogue again:
Meanwhile, at the office and on the road, users and IT departments will have to keep their guard up and scan for rogue access points. Hackers will set up access points to specifically target WiFi phones in the corporate space as well as at hotels, conferences, and other places business people like to congregate. Good device authentication and encryption can help provide protection here.

Targeted attacks:
Targeted attacks on specific voice-over-wireless networks could also be an issue, albeit one that the victims may try to downplay. "There will be targeted attacks on VoIP networks [from hackers or competitors] that will be kept quiet if there is no legal requirement for disclosure or obvious public knowledge," Merdinger says.

Users, however, shouldn’t get in a snit about VOIP calls that are often unencrypted and therefore easier to listen in on. Unless attackers are targeting a specific user, it is much simpler to find useful information sent by the user or held on the phone than to listen in on calls, even if you’re the NSA.

"Most attackers are going to go after text information — much easier to parse for the juicy information," says Merdinger.

Web sites hawking phone records shut down

Saturday, February 11th, 2006 | Posted in VoIP News | No Comments »

This story isn’t directly VoIP related, but it seems relevant nonetheless, in case VoIP service providers decide to start tracking VoIP phone calls:

WASHINGTON — Following a wave of negative publicity and pressure from the government, several Web sites that peddled people’s private phone records are calling it quits.

"We are no longer accepting new orders" was the announcement posted Wednesday on two such sites, locatecell.com and celltolls.com.

Thank you for your patronage. It was a pleasure serving you," the sites said.

The Federal Trade Commission this week conducted a sweep of 40 sites known to have been selling private phone records. According to the FTC’s Lydia Parnes, more than 20 sites have recently shut down or stopped advertising for new business.

…

Rotenberg urged lawmakers to ban a practice known as "pretexting," in which data brokers or others call a phone company, impersonate a customer and then persuade the company to release the calling records. Those records usually include whom a person called, who called them and the duration of the calls.

In one case that received a lot of attention recently, a blogger was able to buy the phone records of former Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark. All the site needed, it said, was Clark’s cell phone number and a credit card payment of $89.95.

Pretexting for financial data is illegal, but there’s no specific law against pretexting for phone records. Broader fraud laws can be used to prosecute the companies but several witnesses at the hearing suggested a specific law could help halt the shady sales.

Vonage hopes to raise US$250MM in IPO

Friday, February 10th, 2006 | Posted in VoIP News, VoIP Service Providers, Vonage | 1 Comment »

After all the speculation and rumors about buy-outs, further private offerings, or an impending IPO, it’s finally settled that Vonage is going the IPO route:

In a coming-of-age for the fledgling Internet-based phone industry, No. 1 provider Vonage plans an initial public offering to raise up to $250 million, the company said Wednesday in a regulatory filing.

The Vonage offering would mark the first IPO by an Internet-based phone company that markets almost exclusively to consumers, says Stanford Group analyst Clayton Moran. Net2Phone and several other publicly traded companies largely provide wholesale services.

"It definitely signals that it’s having a significant impact on the (telecom) market," Moran says, noting Vonage also faces tough challenges.

The terms of the offering have not been set.

Vonage has far outpaced its rivals, drawing 1.4 million subscribers since its start in October 2002. The total number of Voice over Internet Protocol users is projected to grow from 3.3 million to 18 million by 2009, research firm In-Stat says.