Archive for October, 2006
InformationWeek has an article on Jahjah, a company that offers low cost calling services, but without connecting through a user’s computer, like VoIP service. Users enter the number they want to call in a box on Jahjah’s Web site and their phone starts ringing. When they pick up, the other end is already ringing to the number they want to call.
The firm’s rates range from free (for calls to other members) to 2.5 cents per minute for US, Japan and Western Europe, and also the latter rate for conference calls.
InfoWeek says:
Phone companies are losing about 2% of their customers every quarter to mobile carriers and VoIP providers like Skype
.
That 2% stat is probably the most interesting part of the article.
Consider Jajah the un-Skype, because unlike that service or Vonage
, its customers don’t need a Net-connected phone or headset to use its VoIP service. … Jajah’s on pace to surpass a million users by the end of the year, and Scharf hopes it will become everybody’s "second phone company."
Nothing new here, really. Calling cards offering cheap rates from phone providers who route the calls over the Internet have been around for a decade now. Jahjah’s million user mark is interesting, however. Though one must always consider how active those users are.
"Wireless world" seems to be a misnomer here, it seems they’re talking more about the Internet-connected world instead:
Canada’s spies risk going "deaf and blind" from the explosion of new wireless and other Internet advances that make it increasingly difficult to intercept terrorist communications, the country’s spymaster warned Friday.
The fast pace of technological advancement, particularly in telecommunications, is harming the ability of national security agents and police to conduct court-approved electronic eavesdropping on suspected terrorists, said Jim Judd, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
"We increasingly risk going deaf and blind in an environment where telecommunication providers regularly change their systems in the interests of improving service but in the process can literally leave us out of the loop on intercepts," he told a Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies conference in Ottawa.
Judd said the situation will only worsen with the availability of more and more wireless Internet access and Internet-driven phone systems (Voice-over Internet Protocol or VoIP), which are increasingly popular with terrorists who believe those transmissions are more technically difficult to tap.
These folks argue that "net neutrality" regulations aren’t necessary to have a free and competitive Internet:
If you doubt the effectiveness of simple slogans, the current debate over “net neutrality” should change your mind. As the heat of the rhetoric rises, the quality of the information has declined.
On examination, however, one truth is clear: While both sides are prone to hyperbole and exaggeration, net neutrality enthusiasts are also just plain wrong. And the error is dangerous. If the net neutrality proponents prevail, it is less likely the phone and cable companies that operate most of the Internet pipes will have sufficient economic incentives to build needed new capacity.
Net neutrality enthusiasts believe that if Internet service providers (ISPs) are allowed to charge content providers like Google and CNN.com, the ISPs will block Web sites for their own private gain, thus crippling the Internet. Those opposing net neutrality assert the opposite: that pricing freedom is the key to Internet innovation and deployment of the expanded networks needed to handle rapidly growing Internet traffic.
The fact is pricing freedom is a key to the success of the Internet. And existing government oversight, including antitrust authority, is sufficient to rein in any potential anti-competitive behavior in those unlikely circumstances where market forces fail.
Dialing Elsewhere For Dollars:
Telecom stocks sizzled over the summer, even as the overall stock market hit a rough patch.
But don’t be fooled by the relative good fortune. The competitive landscape for most phone companies still looks scary.
Prices are still falling for plain-old voice services. Phone companies have slashed fees for speedy Internet access.
And revenue growth in the wireless market — one of the few bright spots — has started to slow.
So why did investors snap up telecom shares this summer? Mainly to cloister themselves in the safe haven of defensive stocks.
Phone companies big and small pay attractive dividends. Their hefty free cash flow has fueled stock buybacks.
"This is a cash-flow generating industry," said Todd Rosenbluth, analyst at Standard & Poor’s.
To sustain that cash flow, phone companies are cutting costs. They’re also trying to stem the loss of residential customers to wireless and cable TV rivals.
Discusses AT&T, Verizon 
, BellSouth, Qwest, and VoIP providers like Vonage , SunRocket
, CableVision and Comcast.
Saturday, October 21st, 2006 | Posted in WiFi VoIP | 1 Comment »
Barablu, the free calls community, demonstrated the world’s first free calls between several Symbian Series 60 based Nokia GSM mobiles and Microsoft Windows Mobile based GSM mobiles. Barablu’s announcement extends VoIP interoperability to two of the largest and fastest growing categories of Wi-Fi enabled mobiles. Using its small footprint download, Barablu also enables IM sessions, video calls and conference calling all for free within the Barablu community.
Any Barablu enabled device (PC, PDA or Mobile) can also be used to make Barablu Out calls outside of the Barablu network at rates competitive to Skype.
The company believes that the benefits of interoperability, mobility and presence awareness will drive greater traffic to the network that first offers it as a complete package. The combination of free mobile-to-mobile cross-platform calls, free chat, and a unique PC-to-mobile instant messaging service, delivers Barablu a substantial competitive advantage. Barablu plans to drive growth by strategically linking with Wi-Fi network providers, manufacturers, mobile operators and PC and IP phone[1] manufacturers to offer more choice, therefore appealing to the widest audience.
Barablu CEO, Pascal Isbell, says "Millions of people globally now benefit from free PC-to-PC calls via VoIP. Now they want to add mobility to this facility. Barablu is the first company to provide consumers with this technology interoperably in the mobile arena by offering free mobile-to-mobile cross-platform calls, utilising VoIP, via a Wi-FI standard."
The Philippine National Telecommunications Commission has approved two more VoIP service providers to sell IP phone services in the Philippines: BC Net, Inc. and Broadband2Go Communications. The licenses are valid until October, 2007.
3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) today announced a new wireless, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based IP phone that provides enterprise users with greater mobility by delivering full-featured Voice over IP (VoIP) communications on a wireless LAN (802.11b/g) infrastructure. The 3Com® 3108 Wireless Phone enables users to roam a building or campus environment and stay connected with customers, partners and co-workers while utilizing VoIP, wireless email and data applications.
With the 3Com 3108 Wireless Phone, users are connected to an enterprise phone system so they can receive calls destined for their desks while they are anywhere in a building or campus environment – unlike a mobile cellular phone. Designed for people that have mobility requirements on the job in markets including education, government, healthcare and retail, end-users can also use the phone to transfer calls to other departments, gain access to a live receptionist and listen to office voice mail. These capabilities are delivered with no expensive per minute usage fees, enabling the 3Com 3108 Wireless Phone to be more cost effective than cellular phones.
“In today’s interactive world, many employees are no longer spending hours tied to their desks. To be productive, employees have to be mobile to effectively engage customers, solve problems and collaborate with partners and other employees,” said Brian Allain, vice president and general manager of 3Com’s Data and Voice Business Unit. “Organizations know the cost savings and business benefits of VoIP and the flexibility a wireless infrastructure deliver. This phone brings these capabilities together. With 3Com, customers can go to a single vendor to provide all of the elements of a secure, converged network – IP Telephony, wireless and data switches, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and a single service organization to provide support and make sure it all works.”
The 3Com 3108 Wireless Phone delivers reliable and secure voice communications over any standards-based IEEE 802.11b/g wireless LAN infrastructure. Secure communication is assured with compliance to the latest Wireless Protected Access 2 (WPA2) protocol and advanced encryption. Since the phone is SIP compliant standards-based IP telephony systems can provide the phone with call control and applications for delivering robust communication capabilities and secure voice communications.
The 3Com 3108 Wireless Phone features a sleek clamshell flip form factor with a high-quality color display. The phone’s keypad and intuitive four-way cursor lets users manage calls, access their phonebook, view call logs and view e-mails. Personal settings, such as ring tones, speed dials and connectivity settings, can be configured on the phone or via a Web browser-based management tool.
The 3Com 3108 Wireless Phone complements the recently introduced 3Com Unified Gigabit Wireless PoE Switch 24, which makes it easy to add the phone to a corporate wireless infrastructure. The new switch provides 24 ports of Gigabit Ethernet switching that can be used to provide connectivity and where necessary power to any combination of traditional wired devices or wireless access points. It is part of a complete portfolio of enterprise class and small business wireless networking solutions.
Original Release
Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 | Posted in E911 | No Comments »
Vonage America Inc., a subsidiary of Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) , a leading Internet telephony provider, today announced that over 91% of its U.S. subscriber lines are now equipped with Enhanced 911 (E911) service — a feature that automatically associates a physical address with the calling party’s telephone number.
In less than 30 days, Vonage has equipped an additional 80 locally-run emergency call centers across the U.S. with E911 — bringing the total number of calling centers with emergency 911 service to over 5900.
Vonage’s nomadic E911 solution gives customers the ability to reach a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), or 911 center, through the dedicated 911 network infrastructure. With Vonage’s nomadic E911 solution, a customer’s call is automatically routed to the appropriate 911 center, with the caller’s registered street address and telephone number appearing on the dispatcher screen — regardless of where or what exchange they are calling from. Vonage will continue to turn up and test new PSAPs that are VoIP-ready every day.
"Today over 91 percent of our U.S. subscriber lines have full E911 capability, which is a tremendous step for Vonage. The company will continue to work diligently to deploy E911 to its subscribers across the United States," said Vonage CEO Michael Snyder. "Our goal is to get every Vonage customer help when they need it and we will not stop working with the FCC, regulators, Congress and PSAPs until there is equal access to E911 for Vonage’s customers."
In under 30 days, Vonage has added the following counties to its list of those with E911 capabilities -. bringing the total number of calling centers with emergency 911 service to over 5900.
Vonage study says that small businesses could save a bundle using VoIP phone service:
Operational costs for small firms in the UK have reached an all time high as the recent round of utility price hikes begins to bite, research published today has claimed.
…
The study, carried out on behalf of internet phone company Vonage, also claims that many small firms are paying too much for their fixed and mobile phone services.
Some 61 per cent of small businesses are paying up to £300 a month on landline bills and over half are paying £400 a month on mobile phone bills.
Almost 90 per cent already have an existing broadband connection, but 22 per cent have never considered changing their traditional telephony supplier in favour of a VoIP service. A third of respondents had not heard of VoIP.
Reasons cited by small businesses for not changing their telephony set up included sticking with the ‘obvious/easiest choice’ (26 per cent) followed by ‘not having the appropriate equipment’ (18 per cent).
Kerry Ritz, managing director of Vonage UK, said: "As the cost of running a business continues to rise, small businesses need to start thinking more like consumers and ’shopping around’ for services if they are to see money stay within the company.
Turn a Mac Mini into the world’s smallest VoIP PBX:
Berlin-based 4S newcom GmbH presents iBlue®, the world’s slickest IP PBX, which is delivered on an Apple iPod Shuffle® and is the world’s smallest IP PBX.
iBlue® is based on the 4S IP PBX, a software-based IP PBX. It uses SIP for VoIP communication and runs on a Mac mini, providing the technologically advanced VoIP software of 4S newcom with the appropriate housing.
In order to use the Mac mini as an IP PBX, it is booted off an iPod Shuffle, which has been engineered to host the complete system, from OS to IP PBX, as well as continuing to serve as the world’s most elegant MP3 player.
“We have put our complete IP PBX on it [the iPod Shuffle]”, says Dr. Harry Behrens, Managing Director of 4S newcom. “It is so compact that even on the smallest iPod Shuffle (512 MB) enough room is left for 4 full hours of music.”
Once the system is booted off the iPod shuffle, it can, of course, be installed on the built-in hard disk, leaving the user to enjoy the iPod Shuffle safe in the knowledge that it will also serve as installation media in case of emergency.
The iBlue® entry level system consists of a Mac mini, the iPod Shuffle with the 4S IP PBX licensed for up to 250 users and 30 parallel calls, as well as five snom300 VoIP phones. It will be priced at 2,999.00 Euro, making it an absolute bargain. Online sales will commence on November 6th 2006 – just in time for VON Europe, which will be hosted in Berlin between November 6th and 8th.
