This is a pretty funny story only because it didn’t happen to me. This is what happens when airline luggage ends up in the garbage. In this case it was a Continental flight that had its bags “misdirected.”
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VoIP Central takes on the case of the City of Baltimore suing Vonage America. It’s certainly a hot debate, but what do YOU think?
Andy over at VoIP Watch hopes, like all of us, that the Skype Blog will be back up and running soon. Rumor has it that they lost their domain name, so it could be a little dicey for a bit.
And speaking of Skype, VoIP Now takes it next with their very own Skype roundup.
And lastly, if you haven’t coughed up the money yet for Mark Collier’s new book, you can get a sneak peak of it right here.
VoipReview.org is a helpful site if you’re in the market to add or make changes to your existing VoIP service. A shopping and information powerhouse, it covers both the residential and business ends of the spectrum and offers details on rates, availability, features and feedback on the wide variety of VoIP service providers out there.
They recently added nine new VoIP service providers to their database - Access Point, CallTower, FrontRange, IP 5280, Joiphone, Netlojix, PCCall, Telovations and VoicePipe.
Eric Laughlin, Chief Executive Officer of VoipReview.org, said in a recent statement, “The demand for VoIP among businesses and consumers is growing dramatically. VoipReview.org has expanded to include even more VoIP service providers to meet that demand. Whether they are seeking to learn more about the basics of VoIP or ready to immediately make the switch, VoIP shoppers can visit VoipReview.org to get the information and resources they need. With even more providers, visitors can be confident they’ll find the provider and plan that is right for them.”
Although still a relatively new company (they were only founded three years ago), VoipReview.org endeavors to make the whole process of shopping for a VoIP provider a breeze.
DIRECTV has extended their current contract with AT&T for another year, to the tune of a cool $33 million. By doing so, they’ll be adding VoIP in their call centers through AT&T’s Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) services.
Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of DIRECTV, Mike Benson, said in a recent statement, “DIRECTV relies on AT&T to connect our vast call center network, ensuring that DirectTV’s more than 15 million customers have easy access to customer service representatives on a 24/7 basis. The services that AT&T provides for DIRECTV enable us to better control costs while gaining the flexibility that we need in order to support our top-rated customer service operations.”
AT&T definitely has a lot of reasons to celebrate lately. They also just signed a five-year contract with Molson Coors Brewing Company to launch a VPN to connect all fifty of the brewery’s locations in both North American and Europe.
California-based Ditech Networks, Inc. seems to have gotten a lump of coal in their holiday stocking, in the way of a little note from the Nasdaq Staff. It seems that Ditech is not in compliance with Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14) because their Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2006 had not been filed on time. And because of this, their securities could be delisted from The Nasdaq Global Market.
Ditech has requested a hearing before the Qualifications Panel, but it’s certainly going to be an uphill battle to retain their continued listing.
Ditech Networks, has been in business over 15 years, delivering their VoIP and wireline networks products to over 34 countries on six continents.
Jinan Yinquan Technology Company, Ltd., a division of China VoIP & Digital Telecom Inc. announced recently that a major expansion is on the horizon, both in terms of server capacity, additional equipment and increased coverage. They are undergoing this through a partnership with China Tie Tong, one of only six licensed providers in the country.
Li Kunwu, President and CEO of China VoIP & Digital Telecom Inc., said in a recent statement, “Our cooperative venture with Tie Tong not only allows us to expand throughout the country, but may bring to our Company many other advantages such as accessing the network server, network bandwidth and telephone numbers as well as provide the Company with additional sales channels for its NP Soft Switch system. Our association with Tie Tong is critical to our growth plans and we are delighted to be partnering with such an outstanding organization which shares our dedication to excellence. Our mission is to become the premier provider of VoIP services in the People’s Republic of China. To accomplish that goal we need to always be several steps ahead of our growth so that we will never be in a position that we cannot adequately service our subscriber base. Therefore, we are adding two new servers to our current infrastructure, creating additional capacity for five hundred thousand new users (500,000). This brings our total infrastructure to twenty-seven (27) servers. All of our new servers will be installed in China Tie Tong’s equipment room, who provide us with the necessary access to bandwidth, network infrastructure and E1 interface. Expansion programs such as this will be virtually ongoing.”
December 20, 2006
Here’s a good cautionary tale for those looking to make the plunge into buying their first HDTV or getting a second or third set for the bedroom and study. With prices finally coming down to earth, many people have decided they’ve waited long enough and are snatching up the plasma or LCD thin screens of their dreams.
According to this great piece on Cnet.com by David Carnoy, a new HDMI standard — specifically HDMI 1.3 — is slated for incorporation into HDTV’s starting around the second quarter of 2007. Based on this information, you just might want to hold off a little while longer before buying that snazzy new set.
What is HDMI 1.3? HDMI, which stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, is a successor to DVI, and is the highest quality A/V connection available today that can transmit both digital audio and video signals. HDMI 1.3 supposedly supports twice the bandwidth as HDMI 1.2 (10.2Gbps vs. 4.95Gbps) and supports “Deep Color” – 10-bit, 12-bit, and 16-bit color depths — while HDMI 1.2 supports only 8-bit color. That translates into 17 million colors at 8-bit, and 1 billion at 10-bit.
Other benefits supposedly include:
December 20, 2006
The evolution of IP communications technology has wrought profound changes in the way communications networks and systems are architected and designed — and is surely well on its way towards completely replacing our legacy, TDM infrastructure.
But aside from the disruption this technology is creating within the global telecommunications industry, and the wealth of new features and capabilities being delivered to users, little is being written or said about some of the profound changes occuring in user behavior and expectations as a result of these new capabilities.
For example, I’m sure many Skype users (and I expect members of other competing Web telephony cum “voice community” services) have received calls from complete and total strangers — even without the “Skype Me” status selected that invites such serendipitous communications.
Recently, I received a surprise call from a student from Moldova looking to make some new friends in America and an opportunity to practice her English speaking skills, which turned out to be fairly decent. (I was surprised since my Skype status was set to “away”, and as a result I was not expecting to receive any calls.)
At first, I was sort of taken aback, uncertain how to respond. OK, l’ll admit it — I was suspicious — deeply suspicious. I wondered if this was some scammer, looking to perpetrate some nefarious crime. After a while, though, I started to realize that my hesistation to engage in conversation with a complete stranger was firmly tied to the old TDM telecom world, where you would NEVER, EVER dialup a stranger, except of course when misdialing a number. You’d certainly never try to engage a stranger in conversation — they’d surely think you were some kind of kook, making a phony phone call, or worse, and just hang up.
And in addition to the social incorrectness of it all, the prospect of significant toll charges are a great inhibitor to making International TDM calls — especially from somewhere like Moldova to the U.S.
It turned out she was quite fun and pleasant, and we had a great conversation. After spending a few minutes with her, I realized that she was a new Skype user and was simply enjoying her newfound Skypeness. She was doing what is a normal — and indeed encouraged — practice in terms of the Skype culture. And it didn’t hurt that the call was completely free.
Her excitement reminded me of the excitement I felt, when many years ago, I made a telephone ring in Moscow the day International circuits went live between the US and the Soviet Union (I’m sure I made it onto some government watch list as a result
At first, I was sort of taken aback, uncertain how to respond. OK, l’ll admit it — I was suspicious — deeply suspicious. I wondered if this was some scammer, looking to perpetrate some nefarious crime. After a while, though, I started to realize that my hesistation to engage in conversation with a complete stranger was firmly tied to the old TDM telecom world, where you would NEVER, EVER dialup a stranger, except of course when misdialing a number. You’d certainly never try to engage a stranger in conversation — they’d surely think you were some kind of kook, making a phony phone call, or worse, and just hang up.
And in addition to the social incorrectness of it all, the prospect of significant toll charges are a great inhibitor to making International TDM calls — especially from somewhere like Moldova to the U.S.
It turned out she was quite fun and pleasant, and we had a great conversation. After spending a few minutes with her, I realized that she was a new Skype user and was simply enjoying her newfound Skypeness. She was doing what is a normal — and indeed encouraged — practice in terms of the Skype culture. And it didn’t hurt that the call was completely free.
Her excitement reminded me of the excitement I felt, when many years ago, I made a telephone ring in Moscow the day International circuits went live between the US and the Soviet Union (I’m sure I made it onto some government watch list as a result
So, it’s clear that the open, opt-in communications culture of Skype and it’s ilk is changing social practices and people’s behavior with respect to engaging in live, voice communications. There is a grand experiment occuring before our very eyes (and ears), and it’s going to be quite interesting to see how it all plays out in the years ahead. And it raises some interesting questions — especially about protecting our privacy — in this brave new world.
What do you think? Have you had any amusing, interesting (or even scary) Skype moments you’d like to share?
December 18, 2006
‘Tis the season for VoIP deals a plenty. Also, the new, annual “all you can eat” plan from Skype was bound to make waves in the industry, and lo and behold, the competitive response from other service providers are beginning to sound out.
This morning, ViaTalk, a New York-based VoIP service provider that provides residential broadband telephony service of the same ilk as Vonage (they also have SMB plans), announced that they too are putting a little something extra under the Christmas tree this year. As part of a special holiday promotion, new ViaTalk customers can get a free year of telephone service when they pay for the first year of service in advance.
The residential service is normally $199/year — with the promotion, new customers can get a full year of unlimited calls to the tune of $99.50 a year for two years. It’s doesn’t pack the same punch as Skype’s deal, but then again, ViaTalk is competing primarily against Vonage and other broadband VoIP providers, not Skype.
The offer is available for a limited time, and is open to new customers who have not had ViaTalk within the past 60 days.
December 14, 2006
A new market survey, conducted by BBDO Consulting and commissioned by Outsmart Ltd., a provider of network convergence, IMS, and IN-based solutions, reveals that over 65% of fixed and mobile operators plan to implement Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) services into their product suites over the next three years. The survey also found the dual-mode handset to be the most recognizable type of FMC service.
The survey participants included operators, vendors, analysts, VCs, SI and others. When asked to define the types of services or benefits they associate with FMC, and being able to mention more than one, 75% of respondents chose a dual-mode handset. Others solutions included one phone bill (34%), a home zone rate plan (27%), voicemail convergence (13%), a Skype-like solution (9%), or other (11%).
As for planning to implement FMC into their services, 26% of respondents said they have already implemented it, 11% said they planned on implementing some services by the end of the year, 18% said they planned on doing it by next year, while 13% said they intended to implement some FMC services within the next 3 years.
With regards to specific types of FMC services, such as a converged service that allows one to make calls on their mobile line over a PC, more than 91% of respondents said they would use the product either while traveling abroad, at home, or in the office, while just 9% said they would not use the product at all.
84% of respondents said they would use FMC services, with 55% saying they would use it both at home and in the office, 21% saying they would use it only at home, 8% saying they would use it only for the office, and 13% saying the wouldn’t use these services at all.
In addition to focusing on the FMC market in general, the survey also focused on specific brand recognition of major FMC service providers and their products. Outsmart was named as one of the top recognized companies to offer FMC products and solutions, along with Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens.