Archive for June, 2006
A new study by market research firm In-Stat finds that within the next four years WiFi GSM phone sales will take off, with more than 132 million devices having WiFi and cellular capabilities.
"In the end, most US cellular carriers will embrace Wi-Fi in their handsets, as carriers know that if they don’t, other carriers will, and these carriers will likely steal away some of their customers," says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. Combo handsets also offer carriers opportunities to provide services such as VoIP over Wi-Fi, lessening impact on their cellular data system.
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More predictions of doom for VoIP service providers like Vonage:
Imagine you are a decision maker at a very large U.S. ISP. You are annoyed because your once-lucrative phone business is slowly being eroded by a new wave of VOIP providers such as Vonage, Skype and Net2phone.
These parasitic phone services are running on your high speed data circuits without paying a connection charge or royalty of any kind, but constantly offering dial tone at a lower cost than you, essentially stealing from your profitable consumer and business phone plans.
Well what are you going to do? The answer is simple — just swat these blood sucking leeches and be done with them before they grow too big! You call all your henchmen together for a meeting, stomp your foot, just like something right out of a Hollywood script. "I want these buggers taken care of!" you’d shout.
That’s a dramatic scenario — and perhaps one that consumers don’t question. Believe it or not, however, the operators of large telco companies, though profit driven, do not run roughshod over the consumer. Below we’ll detail some of the more likely scenarios and trade-offs being made in the face of this new competition.
Microsoft announces its plans for VoIP service and other communications products:
Microsoft unveiled its Unified Communications product road map and announced new technologies that will be part of the forthcoming Microsoft Office system 2007.
Microsoft plans to bring together the corporate e-mail offerings of Microsoft Exchange Server, which includes new unified messaging capabilities, Microsoft Office Outlook, and Microsoft Speech Server, with updated versions of its real-time collaboration technologies and a set of new communications devices to form a cohesive unified communications solution.
"Unified communications will reduce complexity by putting people at the center of the communications experience. Our goal is to integrate all of the ways we contact each other in a single environment, using a single identity that spans phones, PCs and other devices. Our vision is to make it easy for people to reach each other using the mode of communication that is the most productive, on the device that is most convenient, while at the same time providing individuals with the highest levels of control over when and how they can be reached, and by whom," stated Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
More on applying taxes to VoIP service:
FROM my desk at home, I can pick up a telephone and talk to people without making a phone call.
If that sounds confusing to you, you’re not alone. The Federal Communications Commission doesn’t seem to understand it either.
That’s why it voted last week to tax Internet calls as if they were the same as those made with 19th-century technology developed by Alexander Graham Bell.
Unlike the descendants of Bell’s machine, though, the phone on my desk isn’t connected to a telephone wire.
It’s plugged into a device that converts sound into a packet of digital data and zips it out over a high-speed cable connection to the Internet.
The process is essentially no different from other applications used to send data on the Web, such as e-mail.
The beauty of Internet phone service, which I’ve had for about a year, is that it avoids the pitfalls of dealing with conventional phone companies. Caller ID, call forwarding and, most importantly, long-distance are included in the price. It also avoids the taxes and fees of a traditional phone line, which accounted for 40 percent of my bill with traditional service.
Reports indicate that Boeing is considering shutting down its Connexion in-flight Internet service. The service is offered by Lufthansa and SAS, among others, but no US-based airlines at this point. It has been a money loser for Boeing, with reports indicating that it may have cost as much as US$1 billion.
Connexion provides a high speed Internet connection while in the air, which is typically fast enough to support VoIP service.
Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 | Posted in VoIP News | 1 Comment »
Not something you can implement yourself, but it’s a good application, nevertheless:
Oregan Networks, a software provider that licenses its embedded solutions to convergence carriers and Consumer Electronic brands, today announced availability of a new feature for delivery of Skype message alerts and caller ID to TV-centric devices, aiming to further enrich the end consumer’s experience and interactivity. Oregan Media Browser, the embedded software product of the company, enables ‘ubiquitous’ Internet and IPTV services and is based on the established open standards for web content authoring and distribution.
The new feature enables a scenario, where consumers can be notified of Skype messages and calls whilst watching digital broadcast or IP television, with options to dismiss or respond without leaving the sofa.
The company views the Skype service as one of the most compelling features available for Internet users today. Delivery of Skype applications on TV is in line with Oregan’s mission to enable the non-PC market to tap into the advanced interactivity, "any-time, any-place" connectivity and fresh dynamic content - through Internet technologies.
Taxes to be applied to VoIP Service:
Wireless and Internet-based phone subscribers will likely face higher bills after federal regulators voted Wednesday to change how those industries help fund communications services for rural areas and the poor.
The Federal Communications Commission approved a measure requiring Internet phone companies such as Vonage Holdings Corp. to contribute for the first time to the Universal Service Fund. Wireless carriers also would have to pay more than they do now, the FCC said.
The $7 billion fund subsidizes telephone service in low-income and high-cost areas and helps connect schools and libraries to the Internet. Traditional phone companies and wireless carriers typically pass the charge on to consumers as a line item on monthly bills.
FCC officials refused to estimate what the change would do to consumers’ bills. But telecom experts predicted that Internet-phone customers who now pay $25 a month will have to pay an extra dollar or two. For cell phone users, the increase should be smaller.
The service fund has faced a looming shortfall after the FCC last year exempted digital subscriber line, or DSL, services that deliver high-speed Internet access over traditional phone lines. That added to pressure on a fund already experiencing increased spending and shrinking revenues.
Telecommunications companies currently must pay 10.9 percent of their revenues from long-distance and international calls into the fund. That proportion is adjusted quarterly and will soon drop to 10.5 percent.
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 | Posted in Vonage | No Comments »
The VoIP service lawsuits never end:
The bad news for Internet phone provider Vonage keeps piling up, as the company now faces a patent infringement lawsuit from telephone giant Verizon Communications.
On Monday, less than a month after the company’s disappointing debut on the New York Stock Exchange, Vonage acknowledged that Verizon, the second-largest phone company in the United States, has filed a lawsuit charging that Vonage infringed on seven of its patents related to its voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, service.
Verizon’s complaint was filed last Monday in a U.S. District Court in Virginia. It alleges that Vonage infringed on patents held by Verizon that describe technology for completing phone calls between VoIP users and people using phones on the traditional public switched network, authenticating VoIP callers, validating VoIP callers’ accounts, fraud protection, providing enhanced features, using Wi-Fi handsets with VoIP services and monitoring VoIP caller usage.
Vonage’s service uses software that turns voice signals into packets and then transmits them over broadband connections, essentially turning any Internet connection into a telephone line. Verizon sells a similar service, called VoiceWing.
More on the net-neutrality debate and it’s impact on VoIP service:
Inexpensive Internet phone calls could get more expensive under provisions added to federal legislation that sparked heated congressional debates over pay television competition and equal access to data networks.
Internet phone companies such as Vonage Holdings Corp. worry that their new service is being subjected to old rules at a time when the Republican-led Congress and the Bush administration are deregulating the telecommunications industry.
If approved, those rules could drive up prices for Internet calling, which allows customers to make inexpensive or even free calls worldwide using technology similar to the way e-mail is delivered. That, in turn, could hamper the industry just as it is getting started.
"It’s got me to the point of absolute depression," said Jeff Pulver, a pioneer in bringing the technology — known as voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP — to the mass market.
An amendment to the first major telecommunications legislation in a decade would give states authority over payments to state universal service funds and over rates that Internet phone companies pay to complete calls.
Saturday, June 17th, 2006 | Posted in VoIP News | 1 Comment »
Is VoIP service a bubble ready to burst, or is VoIP still an emerging technology with plenty of room for steady growth? Here’s one take:
It’s looking more and more as if the VoIP hype bubble is going the way of the Internet bubble. Skype, bought for up to $4.1 billion by eBay, is turning out to be a bad investment, and as for the Vonage IPO — it’s more than 40% under its IPO price of a few weeks ago, and heading south.
eBay has shown a variety of ways that Skype will integrate with auctions and with PayPal. You’ll be able to make or request PayPal payments from Skype. You’ll be able click links in auctions to talk to others via Skype. You’ll be able to talk to eBay customer service reps via Skype.
All very nice. But not $4.1 billion nice. As I’ve said before, eBay got taken for a ride.
Vonage investors also got taken for a ride. The IPO went out at $17 a share. It’s now under $10, and may well keep sliding. If there’s any justice, it should keep sliding, because there’s no future in this company.
eBay and Vonage investors got carried away with irrational exuberance over The Next Big Thing. VoIP is the future! VoIP will change the world! VoIP will make you rich!
In fact, VoIP is the future, and it will change the way we all communicate. It just won’t make anyone rich fast. It’s a great technology, and it certainly is the future of voice.
