August 01, 2006
VoIP Roundup - Tues Aug 1/06
Verizon reports that their net revenue for Q2 2006 was down $500M. Part of this had to do with costs involving their FiOS fiber-optic broadband service. The other reason, although it doesn't explicitly mention VoIP, is that the company had a more than seven-percent drop (over a year) "in the number of switched access lines in service", due to customer migrating to other technologies. [via InfoWorld]
Microsoft had egg on their face when a live demonstration of their IVR (Interactive Voice Response) voice recognition software completely misunderstood the demonstrator and, after fitfully trying to interpret what he was saying, actually typed out some gobbledygook about erasing everything. [via CNBC TV, InfoWorld] (Now do you believe me when I say that the domain name wewillassimiliateyou.com - or something like that - was once registered to Microsoft?)
While the software in question was not VoIP-based, voice-processing is increasingly become a part of popular VoIP packages, typically through add-ons or plugins. Microsoft has also expressed a strong interest in VoIP lately
You know VoIP's about to go mainstream and become a household word when the Motley Fool personal finance and investing website starts talking about VoIP. [via Motley Fool]
In the article, Fool contributor Tim Beyers mentions that in the eight months since using Skype instead of a landline in his office, he's had a lot of dropped calls but ended up with a total (prorated) annual savings of nearly $450. However, he's opted to stick with a regular landline at home, for a variety of reasons. In all, a fairly balanced look at the pros and cons of using VoIP.
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) describes how one branch of the Health Services Union assessed their undesireable phone system situation and, after considering a number of vendors, went with a US-based VoIP provider, Zultys Technologies.
This is an interesting read because the Union branch was not obviously a candidate for VoIP, especially because there's no need for long-distance calls, and most calls were expected to be inbound from 20,000 members. [via SMH]
--
Did you enjoy this post?
« VoIPing For Profit - Ether Consulting | Main | VoIPing For Profit - Jyve Talking »
