VoIP Now

Communication Breakdown: 5 Fake New Year's VoIP Resolutions

VoIP/ IP comm and related companies have made some boo-boos this year, and are probably making some resolutions for the New Year. Here's what they might be resolving to do.

1. Skype. We resolve to put more thought into our business version's design, and actually let bloggers know about new versions ahead of time. Well, at least a day or two.
2. Vonage. We resolve to boost our stock's share price to at least $15 in 2007.
3. Gizmo Project. We resolve to stop being the Rodney Dangerfield of VoIP services and get some respect. And more subscribers.
4. Google. We resolve to think through our click-to-call products before releasing them.
5. Cable companies. We resolve to stop screwing subscribers with ridiculous residential VoIP rates when we're already screwing them on TV subscription rates.

VoIP Is Movin On Up, To The Enterprise

CIO Today has an indepth look at VoIP in the enterprise, giving examples of planned rollouts at the Bank of America, the New York Times, Amazon, Chicago Public Schools, and more as an example of VoIP's scalability. They also point out that a shift in the telecom market from TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) to IP became evident in Q1 2006. The quote Current Analysis analyst Brian Riggs, who says "IP telephony has gone mainstream." Which is what Ken Camp was saying recently.

For those of us who write about VoIP, this is great news indeed, as I think we'd all agree that this is the kind of result we've all been hoping for.

VoIP Roundup - Sun Dec 31, 2006

VoIP Comm Now Mainstream?
Ken Camp points out that VoIP is no longer a niche and that it's gone mainstream.

San Fran Wi-Fi Is No-Fi
At least for now, San Francisco is delaying their citywide Wi-Fi network. Again. This is the network that Google is involved in. The issues come from within city council regarding who will own the network.

US Cellular Network Outages Kept Secret
When cell phone networks have service outages in the United States, they aren't announced. In fact, the FCC ordered "wire line" suppliers in 2004 to report them, but in turn removed them from the Freedom of Information Act. [via VoIP and Enum]

How Do You Define VoIP?

VoIP Central asks what is VoIP: information service or telecom service? This is in relation to a suit filed by the City of Baltimore, Maryland, against Vonage America regarding the latter's avoidance of a telephony excise tax. Baltimore obviously defines VoIP is a telecom service, which I'm inclined to do as well. Vonage say no, thus feeling justified in avoiding a US$3.50/month city tax for each telephony line. The tax was introduced by Mayor O'Malley to pay down the budget deficit.

If you ask me, I think it's kind of high, given how little VoIP monthly subscriptions often are. Even the FCC backed off on their proposed VoIP tax. But this kind of issue will likely be raised over and over again over the next several years, for as long as PSTN systems are around (likely quite some time).

The US Presidential Race: Pushing The Viral Video Angle

Senator John Edwards has already announced his plan to run for the 2008 US Presidential race under the Democratic banner. Edwards is the politician who had experienced a recent faux pas dissing Wal-Mart's labor policies on the same morning that one of his campaigners asked them to provide a (free) Playstation gaming console for one of his family members. Wal-Mart of course told him to stand in line like everyone else. Maybe they thought it had YouTube?

At any rate, he seems to have taken Peter Csathy's advice about video campaigning and had someone post an initial campaign clip on YouTube. Now if every politician listened to Peter, imagine how much in campaign savings they would garner. Wouldn't that show some proof of fiscal responsibility?

[sources: 21Talks]

Mobile Comm: Over A Billion Served?

It's agreed upon in many circles that the next billion mobile customers are going to come mostly from developing nations including India, China and a few other Asian countries and very likely a number of African countries (some are already heavily moving into VoIP and looking at phone number portability). But will these customers be served properly? Will they get what they need for their use? In many of these countries, average incomes make it difficult for everyone to have a mobile phone, whether they need one or not.

Imran Ali has a look at some mobile market studies done by various people - including Jan Chipchase of Nokia - and analyzes some of the findings regarding the sociology behind phone sharing, as well as other related issues.

Are You Phone-y Baby? Rowwwrrrr

Oh behave. The UK Sun reports on a BT poll that says about half those surveyed talk naked on their cell phones (though this is not what Robert Scoble and Shel Israel meant by Naked Conversations). Women, it seems, are more likely to participate in the buff. What's more, over 80% of people multitask while chatting. Maybe Andy Abramson was right about multitasking while video calling. Women are also more likely to answer the phone if a parent is calling [via 21Talks; Sun link not provided; NSFW - site not (always) safe for work]

I guess if you consider that cell phones (and cordless phones) actually enable this sort of thing. Imagine walking around au naturel using a landline phone. Speaking of stuff going on in the background while conducting business video VoIP calls on your laptop, there was a great TV commercial clip at Very Funny Ads (companion website of the TV show World's Funniest Commercials, hosted by Saturday Night Live alumni Kevin Nealon). Seems a young man is in the middle of a video conference for work, from his apartment, and his girlfriend unwittingly gets into her lingerie and tackles him. Except that it was there yesterday and it seems gone today.

VoIP Now Doesn't Rank?

Despite the number of VoIP-related "top such-and-such" lists that VoIP Now made it onto this year, it apparently didn't make it onto Alec Saunders' ultimate list of VoIP bloggers, which is based on Text-Link-Ads Blog Juice calculator. But a quick check at Blog Juice shows that despite some of the VoIP blogs mentioned in Alec's list, VoIP Now should actually in the top third of this list. Looks like someone was sipping too much eggnog and forgot us :) Hardly ultimate, now, right? :) Based on Alec's list, we should be in between the current 19th and 20th positions.

These lists are always fun (and a lot of work), but there are so many factors that have to be considered. My own personal tech blog, which discusses voice/VoIP about 40-60% of the time, actually would rank in the bottom third of this list (but isn't mentioned because there's no way Alec would know it). But  my Bloglines subs are low. My Rojo sub list is much larger, though that's not factored in into the Blog Juice calculator. I suspect the same goes for a lot of the other sites list, as I'm surprised to find many great blogs in the bottom third. Didn't Mark Twain say there were three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Reading: Some VoIP/ IP Comm Lists

Light Reading presents Heavy Reading's top ten noteworthy tech research findings for 2006. Several them are about VoIP or are directly related. This is one of those must-read lists. While you're there, you may also want to check out bad tech demos, about tech show demos the writer does not want to see in 2007. To supplement these lists, VoIP News has top 10 VoIP predictions for 2007.

In terms of predictions, eWeek's Paula Musich talks about the new roles that VoIP will take in 2007 (via Ken Camp and Luca Filigheddu). She quotes Burton Group's Dave Passmore in sayiing that Microsoft's joint partnership with Cisco, which will allow MSFT "to develop IP PBX functions that can run on any Windows server," and that this "will in 2007 hasten the demise of the hardware-based IP PBX." The gist of what Ken says in response to the eWeek piece is that "2007 is the year to watch the small players, not the big ones".

What small to medium players do I predict might stir the VoIP waters some in the coming year? Gizmo Project. Or at least, that's what I'm hoping. SightSpeed, who are already stirring things up in the video calling arena, with their free video click-to-call web page buttons.

Verizon Will Allows Ads On Mobiles

Subscribers of Verizon Wireless who visit certain websites on their mobile phones will soon find advertising as part of the content served to them [NY Times]. As I've no doubt said before, I'm opposed to advertising if I have to foot the bill. Cellular data bandwidth is not unlimited everywhere, and some data plans are expensive.

So if someone is going to make money off of me, I'd expect that there'd some concession, such as free bandwidth or at least reduced monthly rates. At least the rumored Google phone is expected to be free, to counter the fact that you'll see ads. Or so the rumor says. So, if your cellular provider is planning hit you up with ads, protest to customer support until they either reduce your monthly rate or, welll... You decide.

Funding Free Municipal Wi-Fi

You've no doubt heard or read about all the muncipal Wi-Fi projects popping up across the United States and elsewhere. In some cities, there are several subscription options for different access speeds. In others, it's all free. One question that comes to mind is who is going to pay for the costs of this "free" Wi-Fi? In Portland, Oregon, Microsoft is involved in a full-speed wireless network that'll offer free access in return for showing users paid advertising. Dailywireless asks whether this will work.

My own feeling is that in any given city, some people will be more than happy to have free Wi-Fi, even if they have to watch ads. It's why VoIP subscription models like that of Globe7 could work. However, are there enough such people? Way back in the early 90s, I tried free regional long distance calling in return for listening to ads (pre-Internet) and got sick of wait, the crappy music, and the same old ads. If, however, I had to watch, say, movie or TV trailers for access to the Internet, I might be okay on that. What about you?

If there are not enough people supporting the advertisers of such wireless networks, however, what happens to the city? Do taxes go up? Do they force paid subscription on users? And when people say sayonnara, does the city tear down the infrastructure? That costs money, too.

The concept of free wireless access is relatively new. I'm not sure, but I think it was used by some ISPs for dialup Internet access, though I'm not so sure that succeed as I can't think of any examples. Only time (or indepth surveys) will tell if such payment models will work.

More Tips For Video Calling Etiquette

Andy Abramson recently offered his own six tips for video calling and planning, in response to something Peter Csathy said about video call pre-planning. Andy's tips are sort of supplemental to my own video calling etiquette tips of past months. However, we seem to be of differing opinions on some issues. I guess it depends on who you are and whom you're talking to.

• Vanity. It should be more about appearance than vanity, per se. If you look like a slob and are video chatting with someone that doesn't know you, what'll they think of your work?
• Multi-tasking. Sorry, but I have to disagree. Most people would consider it rude, especially if they don't know you. People who know me don't mind, usually because they are busy themselves. But don't do it for a first time meeting, unless you're very discreet.

Phisher Kings: Teach Someone To Phish?

Someone's psychology, sociology, and/ or electronic anthropology doctoral paper is lurking beneath all this latest research that shows phishers/ spammers/ scammers are using ever sophisticated methods to grab your attention so they can grab something of yours - preferably e-money.

Now I'm not going to get into the psych makeup of phishers; that's not my intent, despite my opinions. But the low cost of the latest communications technology and its ease of implementation makes it ever so much easier for you to at least be a target if not a victim. That means more vigilance in 2007 and beyond, as several experts are saying that the lastest avenues for phishers are vishing and smishing (SMS phishing). VoIP and SMS are, in fact, the latest tech platforms for phishers.

Tech intelligence and social intelligence seem unfortunately mutually exclusive in these cases. Fortunately, about computer-based crime in general, those getting caught are being given stiffer penalties.

Network Physics VoIP Quality Monitors

VoIP sys admins will have another potential tool in their arsenal with new VoIP quality monitors
from Network Physics. The offering, called NetSensory Solution Insight for VoIP, works as an extension set for Network Physics' appliances. These extensions measure over 60 metrics related to VoIP call quality.

As I've pointed out before, there are many factors that affect VoIP call service, but I wouldn't have thought there were even 60 IP metrics, let alone that many that affect call quality. Things I haven't touched on before, which Network Physic's solution does, includes using the appropriate CODEC (Coder-decoder) algorithm. Essentially, there are different algorithms to compress and decompress digital audio data, and some perform on the fly better than others, depending on issues related to both network and computing resources.

VoIP Roundup - Sat Dec 30, 2006

Who Loves Ya, VoIP?
ISP Planet has a list VoIP carriers and vendors that are "helping to shape and define this industry." [via VoIP News] It shows how much I need to learn, as I haven't heard half of these names.

WiMax In Italy
WiMax might be something you're only expecting in North America, particularly in the US. But the Italian Communications Ministry is offering licenses for sale starting June 2007. [via Red Herring] I guess no Korean WiBro for Italy.

Nokia N-Series vs Treo 700w
I've muttered on about how much of a love-hate relationship I have with my Palm Treo 650 PDA, but I have nothing to compare it to for you. But Ken Camp does have his own comparison of the Treo 700 versus the much ballyhooed Nokia N-series phones. Ken is one of the bloggers selected for the Nokia blogger relations program.

The Indian Bluetooth Gambit: Or How To Cheat At Chess

Grandmaster Bobby Fischer caused a ruckus in the 1970s. when he he denounced the United States - where he grew up - and made pointed political comments. More recently, he renounced his US citizenship to avoid deportation to the US and a 10-year jail sentence. He also spoke in Iceland about President Bush's "regime". By comparison, Umakant Sharma, an Indian chess player, might be considered less trouble, merely cheating at chess using a Bluetooth device stitched into his cap. Now, this isn't the Bluetooth ski cap Motorola offers, but this certainly would be one unexpected way to use it. It's not like it's hard to configure Bluetooth headsets.

His accomplices would run chess simulations on a computer and relayed info to him. Sharma has been banned for 10 years. Maybe he can join Fischer on the fugitive lecture circuit.

Tips For Shy Online Daters

With New Year's a couple of days away, there'll be a lot of socializing going on, in real or online. Online dating is hot, at least as an application and revenue generator (whether or not people actually have successful relationships or not). But each dating website has to be innovative and break new ground. PlentyofFish.com introduced free memberships and PPC (pay per click) advertising to pay for it. Verbdate introduced (I think) using Skype for willing members to talk to each other online (before video calling on Skype was enabled, I believe). Then Match.com implemented a white-labelled version of Jangl's semi-anonymity voice application.

Great, I say. But to mix metaphors, what good is all that tech if the horse won't drink the kool-aid? Match.com is now giving some tips to camera-shy online daters on how to build a profile of themselves.

Liar, Liar Phone's On Fire

Do you lie? Ever or at all? Seems if you are honest enough to admit your dishonesty, you probably do it on a mobile device such as a BlackBerry. Apparently, technology makes people feel less guilty about lying, but that doesn't extend to email. The poll conducted by UK-based 72 Point, of nearly 1,500 respondents, found that around 75% of them lied via technology. Nearly 70% also said they lied at work, with "being ill" the biggest one.

Interestingly, Karl at Techdirt says some people believe that having to look someone in the eye is why videophones have never taken off. That makes sense, though small screens, slow cellular data networks, and expensive monthly bandwidth plans don't help much either.

Now, what I'd really like to know is whether parents who use SMS txting to chat with their kids lie to them.

Skype Call In Numbers Not In Your Country?

With the impending SkypeOut pricing for the entire world to be revealed at the end of January 2007, you'd think Skype might also try to push their SkypeIn option. SkypeIn is essentially a local phone number. If you get one of these, people can call you on your computer from landlines and mobiles (and from Skype), just as if you had a regular phone number. Well, call quality issues aside, this a very appealing idea to me and no doubt some other Skype users. Except that SkypeIn numbers are only available in about 14 countries.

I sent an email to Skype support recently, and here is part of their response:

Thank you for your dedication to Skype.

We are doing our best to add more and more SkypeIn numbers in different locations. Sometimes there are more difficulties in negotiating with corresponding authorities than we expect, so it takes time to introduce this product in certain areas.

As soon as there are new locations added there will be an announcement on our web site.

We are sincerely sorry for keeping you waiting.

That's a reasonable, polite explanation, though it would suggest that some providers, such as Gizmo Project, are better negotiators, seeing as they have CallIn/ local numbers in 28 countries.

Brunei To Regulate VoIP?

The Brunei Times says that AiTi (Authority for Info-communications in Technology) in Brunei is creating awareness about "regulatory and licensing frameworks of the local telecom industry." This is spurred on by the increased use of unlicensed VoIP providers. The acting CEO of AiTi,  Abdul Mutalib Pehin Dato Yusof, did admit that control would be a challenge. Apparently, soft clients such as Skype would not require registration. Commerical apps would have to be approved by the AiTi.

Of course, Brunei isn't the first country to ban or to want to regulate VoIP and they won't be the last. India recently decided to crack down on unlicensed VoIP providers. And of course the UAE, South Korea and China all have some form of VoIP ban or regulation.

Microsoft Gives Laptops To Bloggers

So what's the big deal? Microsoft and AMD gave away [InformationWeek] Acer Ferrari laptops to select bloggers (six are identified in the InformationWeek article). It's not like they were the first to do this. Other companies have given stuff to bloggers, though Nokia only loans out their phones for review. Is this more integrity-preserving? Meh, I don't think so. I praised Nokia for their program, but unless Microsoft is demanding something in particular, I don't see a problem.

The laptops sound pretty sweet: over $2200, 64-bit processors, and the new Vista OS. I have no plans to switch to Vista, ever. Personally, I miss not using Linux and Mac, so my next two computers/ laptops are going to be Mac OS X and some undecided flavour of Linux.

So if anyone wants to send an Apple iPod Phone (when it comes out) or a Linux cell phone, I'll do a thorough review. I'm not proud and have no shame. Laptops with wireless and VoIP tech are welcome, too.

Some Tech For VoIP Lovers

Gizmodo has a couple of articles discussing some interesting new tech ideal for VoIP and wireless work. First, there are these wee little portable USB Phonebook devices that plug into your cell phone and laptop, for easy transfer of your address book. Then there's Gefen's Wireless USB hubs with a 100-foot range. I have to admit, I hadn't really understood the concept of wireless USB, in the sense that "what's new here?". But these UWB (ultrawide band) hubs have something going for them, possible even as a replacement for Bluetooth tech, which can be notorious energy hogs. I'll have to look into this further, but the equipment is a bit pricey.

VoIP Roundup - Fri Dec 29, 2006

Stop, Phone Thief!
The Jan 2007 wired has an overview of 4 anti-theft technologies for cell phones: a screamer from RemoteXT, a gait and voice recognition system from VTT, a holster sensor from Research in Motion, and a GPS tracker from NTT DoCoMo.

Stop, Wi-Fi Thief!
If your neighbor has unsecured Wi-Fi just begging to be used, you may want to think twice. Same goes for Wi-Fi at the local cafe. Seems arrests for inappropriate use of Wi-Fi networks is increasing these days. Techdirt has a suggestion: offer the leeches coffee. Makes sense, and generates a bit of revenue. Though I can't see a neighbor doing the same. Maybe you could ask for a cup of sugar?

Stop, Phoneblogger!
Just kidding. ComputerWorld has five fantastic phone tricks to get more out of your phone, including the lowdown on a free phone blogging service called Plusmo.

3D Interface vs Voice Recognition

Which is more important to you: a 3D user interface or voice recognition? I've long waited with bated breath at every voice recognition advance over the years. It comes from being an armchair linguist. But 21 Talks points out that respected usability expert Jakob Neilsen says voice recognition is less useful than a 3D user interface.

This is an interesting comment and I have to respectfully disagree. I've studied learning methods since the late 1970s, and my impression from my research (including pre-grad school papers) is that  most people have limited 3D hand eye coordination - athletes and video game players excepted. Older research stated that females especially didn't have much in the way of 3D visualization skills. This was later shown to be false, and that any child, male or female, who was introduced early in life to architectural toys such as Lego or Meccano could form 3D visualization skills.

Still, this is not the same as being able to use a 3D interface. It might all be a matter of conquering the learning curve, but until then, voice recognition seems to be rather more valuable and more immediately usable. It's also arguably far more advanced a technology niche, though there are still issues about accents and grammar to be conquered. Still, I won't say no to either type of interface.

Digging Into The Skype Protocol

Nuno at 21Talks reveals a bit about the inner workings of Skype. I've speculated before, but he confirms that Skype uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol), a connectionless protocol, instead of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). This backs up my previous speculation as to why Skype sometimes has crappy voice quality: data packets can arrive in which order they want to. TCP, on the other hand, orders packets going in and coming out. So if there are network problems, Skype will exhibit the "warbled" voice phenomenon. This could also happen if free RAM and/or processing cycles on your computer are low, resulting low quality VoIP calls.

It might be due to the holiday season, but my cable connection has been especially horrible for over two weeks now. While I've only used Skype for VoIP during this period, I'm hazarding a guess that any VoIP service is suffering some sort of problems.

Skype Trojan Attack?

Who woulda thunk it? Skype recently suffered from a Trojan horse attack in the Chat mode, which on some computers tried to get users to download an sp.exe file. Apparently, the Yahoo Messenger IM had a Trojan virus as well.

These events show that certain types of VoIP service are susceptible to some form of attacks. Now security experts have been saying that things will be worse in 2007. This is on top of vishing attacks, which are expected to grow. Add to this the fact that e-911 is being mandated of VoIP providers in the US by the FCC. This could be yet another advantage for pure play VoIP services such as Vonage.

Expanding E-Learning With Skype Conferencing

Ask any schoolchild and you'll probably find that they enjoy learning about other cultures, other children. A teacher in South Carolina  has a project to hold videoconferences between his class and one in Peru. And not surprisingly, the kids loved it. Me, I was happy to see the moon landing or an eclipse on the "A/V monitors", as we called the the bulky video players way back when. Video conferencing would have been way cool (though impossible back then). So I'm glad to see that teachers are using technology in innovative ways, expanding the global village and simultaneously involving children in a sort of electronic living anthropological experiment.

Hopefully, other teachers will follow suit. Video conferencing has many uses, not the least of which is e-learning/ tutoring - i.e., as a teaching aid.

Skype Roundup - Tues Dec 26, 2006

Skype Journal
One of my fave VoIP blogs, Skype Journal, hasn't been been posted to in several weeks. Phil Wolff commented elsewhere on some technical problems that they are trying to sort out. But I just now looked and it appears the domain expired on the 19th. Jim, Phil, I really hope you guys get this sorted out, as it'd be a bloody shame if you lost the domain. Hopefully you didn't forget, while trying to sort out the other technical problems.

Share Your Music
A Last.fm playlist badge is one of the popular ways that bloggers let people know what music they've been listening to. Now, you can share your Last.fm playlist in Skype 3.0 with an Extra, as well as build a customizable radio for yourself. The Share Skype blog gives more detail.

Disruptive VoIP Pricing To Come
Skype has already announced disruptive SkypeOut pricing for North American users. But they've also let on that there'll be a disruptive pricing strategy for all 136 million users. That'll be revealed Jan 18th, 2007. Will this move forever set the standard for VoIP pricing around the world? We'll know in a few short weeks.

Skype For Business?
With a poor and subdued showing in Skype 3.0 For Windows - Business Edition, many of us VoIP bloggers have been wondering what it's really in store. A recent article quotes VP Mobile + Telecom Services Michael Jackson joking about no Skype trucks in the future (to configure business installations), though there may be independent Skype integrators. Also mentioned is that Skype for business functions will evolve, but that they'll be relying on an "ecosystem of third parties" in the short to medium term. Wait and see, I guess.

Communication Breakdown: Ahem. How's My Voice... Tech?

While Clearwire is pushing WiMax and attempting another go at an IPO, One IP Voice is filing Chapter 11. BCE Inc. (Bell Canada Enterprises) sold its satellite division for $3.4+B, and Nortel signed a $2B CDMA EV-DO contract for 5 years with Verizon Wireless. (Nortel is the Canadian company once known as Northern Telecom that pretends it's American. I think that's because it has so many American shareholders. BCE used to be part owners, but I don't know if they still are.) Google is planning a Google Phone, possibly with Orange, and Linksys/ Cisco beat Apple to the punch with their own registered iPhone brand. Apple's Steve Jobs is expected to announce their iPod Phone in January at MacWorld. Skype announced disruptive pricing for SkypeOut in North America, though they have more disruptive plans after Jan 31st, 2007, for the whole world. More to come.

Rogue Airport Honeypots

No, that's not the name of some fictional character from the old M*A*S*H TV show, it's what might greet you at airports (possibly near VoIP lounges). Lifehacker has a few tips about fake Wi-Fi networks in airports, setup for the explicit purpose of grabbing personal info off your laptop, by luring you with the "honey" of free Wi-Fi.

Instead, be your own Wi-Fi hotspot. If you have a smartphone/ PDA with a cellular data plan, use that connected to your laptop instead. You'll either need a special USB cable, or if you have Bluetooth on your phone and laptop (just get a Bluetooth USB dongle), you can configure both to talk to each other. Although the password is only 4 digits, you're probably going to be transient enough in the airport that it's no big deal.

Alternately, if you have an EV-DO cellular data PCMCIA laptop card, you don't have to bother with the phone/ laptop sync. Either solution is better than giving up your details to random honeypots in strange (or not so strange) airports.

Coulda Be A Contenda: Google Phone

Rocky Balboa, the final installment in Sly Stallone's boxing movie saga just released, and it's more than a contender for hot holiday entertainment. Other hot, more relevant news is the Google Phone. Is Google in talks with Orange to build a branded phone that would run Google Talk? Would Google's move into another aspect of our lives be embraced or shunned?

Personally, I like Google Talk. Its interface is simple and clean, and because it's only a VoIM client (no calls out to landlines/ mobiles) quality has been crystal clear. I spoke to someone a couple of months back who was half way around the world but sounded as if he was in the next room. So I welcome a Google Phone, preloaded with Google Talk.

Now, Om Malik analyzed a UK story last week and said that the Google phone may go on sale by 2008 (a long ways off). So that doesn't fit in with the whisperings of earlier this Fall about the phone being free, with the cost being ad viewing. I still think that'll be one of the options. Though I have my own theories of Google's even doing this. But regardless, we'll have to wait and see whether Google Phone will be a contender.

Will The Real Slim iPhone Please Stand Up?

This should prove interesting. While Apple's going around trying to bully companies using a little "i" in front of their product names (because they own that letter, dontcha ya know), it appears they've been trumped by Linksys (which I didn't know was a division of Cisco). The name "iPhone" has apparently belonged to them since 1999 (though I can't find the reference).

Linksys has been introducing a range of Wi-Fi VoIP phones, but apparently the term iPhone is being used by them to represent all types of new phones that don't work together, according to Ted at MacVoIP. So Cisco's (or Linksys) has been holding the name for several years but just now, in December, announces phones under that brand, barely a month before Apple is expected to announce their phone, which will probably now be called the iPod phone.

By the way, the Linksys iPhone runs Skype. And the Apple iPod phone might have Jajah.

VoIP Roundup - Mon Dec 25, 2006

Natural Cell Phone Charging
Cellular-News reports three ways to "naturally charge" cell phones, all of which are based on solar and/or kinetic energy recycling, thanks to some techniques developed by ModeLabs Group. The display their technology in three new concept phones: The Yo-Yo, The U-Turn, and The Runaway. The latter, designed for athletes, especially uses all kinetic energy to recharge.

BT Outsources To India
UK telco BT pass some of their big multinational customers to Tech Mahindra in India for support services. Tech Mahindra will get US$1B over 5 years. [via Silicon]

Patent Awarded To VocalTec
A patent for "method and apparatus for transmitting packets" was awarded to VocalTec Communications Ltd, an IP comm solutions provider. What's interesting about this is that according to LightReading, the patent was filed on Feb 2, 1999 but wasn't awarded until Nov 28, 2006. About 7.5 years. The company's portfolio includes 11 IP-related patents.

8% Of US Households Use VoIP?

Dal at Asterisk VoIP News discusses In-Stat's findings that 7.9% of US households use some sort of VoIP. While that's good news, I think VoIP isn't ubiquitous enough yet for anyone's statistical sampling techniques to come up with an accurate figure. I don't know how many "households" there are in the USA, but according to In-Stat and their "newly launched Residential VoIP Tracker Service", over 9M US households are using VoIP. That is, one or more people are using some form of VoIP service.

Now if they have that kind of hard evidence instead of approximations based on questionable Neilsen-type survey household defintions, that's great: very good news indeed. This apparently includes both soft client services like Skype and broadband phone service like Vonage. Skype also announced their new disruptive, unlimited North American calling at $29.95/yr ($14.95 until Jan 31st, 2007), which is likely to increase usage, at least, say, among homesick college students.

More Anonymous VoIP/ Voice Services

Jangl may have been the first VoIP/ Voice provider (not sure about that) to come up with semi-anonymous phone numbers intended for the online dating market, but Craigslist has come up with another application for semi-anonymity. As Luca Filigheddu points out, it's not clear who is providing the service. However, the online classified listings market is an ideal application.

Many people who have something to sell or rent probably never bother because they don't want their phone numbers listed. Sure, they could have an anonymous voicemail, but an anonymous phone number is much more immediate. No fuss, no muss; people can get in touch with you directly. And the Craigsnumber is auto-expiring: it ends when the classified ends.

Brilliant idea, but it raises some technical questions. Will they be reusing numbers? Probably. I've never used Craigslist, though I have browsed it. If their listings stay published online after a classified expires, will the number still be visible? If so, what happens when seller B starts getting calls for seller A's expired listing? (Assuming numbers are eventually reused.)

The Craigsnumber factsheet says the service is still in beta (the main page is essentially blank as of this writing). So I guess they'll be working on this. I wonder if Craigsnumber is using Jangl, considering that the latter offers white-labelling of their service.

More Cheap or Free VoIP/ Voice

Just a reminder that Jajah has free calls to 80 countries today, Christmas 2006. Vinay at VoIPGuides weblog also has several posts for free calling:

• 5 free VoIP providers for international calls (one of which is Jajah).
• A hack for free calls through Free Call Planet.
• MediaRing free calls from Dec 20 - Jan 6.

Nuno at 21Talks pointed out that Jajah is also offering ad-supported calling in Europe. This is something that Globe7 has been offering for quite some time, though in their case, you have to watch video ads and trailers. Of course, Google is planning to give away mobile phones in return for your eyeballs watching advertising on the phones.

Mega-RAM Jam For Mobile Phones

Only a few years back, 1 Gigabyte of RAM memory on your computer sounded like a lot. Now, 1-2 Gb is fairly standard on new computers. Well thanks to a memory innovation from NEC, we might be seeing 10Gb standard without needing extra slots. The same technology would also make 2Gb standard on mobile tech such as cell phones. The latter would lead to fast video playback and 3D graphics.

With faster wireless neworks such as WiMax and WiBro starting to peer out, mobile TV might become more common. This kind of memory on smartphones certainly won't hurt VoIP/ VoIM clients such as Skype, which is available on a wide array of Windows Mobile and Pocket PC devices.

Free Phone Calls This Christmas With Jajah

It's festive time and you're probably calling friends and relatives across the globe to wish them well. Well, on Christmas Day 2006, Jajah is offering free phone calls, conference calls, scheduled calls, and text messages to any person in 80 countries. Jajah is a web-based service that uses a VoIP bridge, which allows you to use your regular phone (and sometimes mobiles) to call other people. No installed software is used.

Here are the preconditions to satisfy and the steps to follow.

Preconditions that apply

• You need to register at Jajah first (free).
• That you are calling people in countries listed in zone 1, zone 2 and zone 3.
• If you are making a call to or live in a zone 3 country, you can only use a land-line to make the calls. Also zone 3 has no free text messaging.
• The person whom you intend to call need not be a registered user of Jajah.
• You can call friends and relatives at any time (24 hours) on the day of Christmas for free, in your time zone.

Steps involved to make the free calls

1. Log in as the registered user. Make sure your calling number is registered.
2. Enter your the mobile/landline number you are calling.
3. Click on the 'Call' button that appears on the web page.
4. Your phone will ring. Pick it up.
5. Wait until the phone rings at the other end and your intended party takes the call.
6. Enjoy your free call.

Skype 2.2 Smartphone + PocketPC Beta

Skype 2.2 Beta for Windows mobile devices was released recently and you can start using Skype on your smartphone/pocket PC device. Though obviously you'll need a mobile data plan, preferably unlimited.

Features
The list includes:

• More Windows Mobile and PocketPC devices supported.
• Status displays (whether your friends are busy/ available).
• Alerts on missed calls.
• Chat messages and voice messages.
• Suport for HTTP, HTTPS, HTTS/SSL and SOCKS5 proxies.

Hardware requirements
Minimum hardware configuration requirements for Skype 2.2 as per Skype's website:

• OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile Smartphone 2003, Microsoft Windows Mobile Smartphone 2003 Second Edition (SE), or Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0Smartphone.
• Display: 240x320, 320x240.
• CPU: 195Mhz OMAP, 312Mhz Intel or 300Mhz Samsung.
• Network: Wi-Fi, 3G or EDGE.

Disk  space requirements

• 10MB disk space for installing on smartphones. After installation, 6MB is sufficient
  for running the app.
• 13MB disk space for installing on Pocket PC. After installation, 7MB of disk space is enough.

Existing problems

• The Skype forum lists some possible problems you might face with Skype for Windows Mobile 2.2.0.18.
• Quality of the calls via Voice over IP may not be great. Call quality is influenced by many factors.

RIM's Profit Cup Overflows But Balsillie Doesn't Get Penguins

RIM, who recently sued Samsung over their Blackjack phone name, had an overflowing Q3 2006, taking in just over US$800M, a near 50% increase from Q3 2005. This meant nearly $180M in profit and almost $1 per share. Part of this increase is due in part to the over 800K new BlackBerry subscribers, mostly from North America, probably thanks to their Pearl camera phone. European interest has not been as strong, though the Pearl is now offered by 20 mobile carriers there.

Now as much money as CEO and billionaire Jim Balsillie probably will make due to the lovely quarter, he doesn't have what he really wanted: the Pittsburgh Penguins. NHL hockey commissioner Gary Bettman wouldn't allow the team to be moved, even though former player and majority owner Mario Lemieux has said the team will possibly be seeking relocation outside of Pennsylvania state. However, depending on what article you read, people still interested in the team include Pittsburgh native and motormouth Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban, Canadian owner of Steelback brewery Frank D'Angelo, and even Jim Balsillie himself, who is reconsidering now that the Penguin's new stadium deal fell through. (They've got the oldest rink in the league, at 45 years.)

Nomadic Workers + The Global Village

Andy Abramson writes about his Working Anywhere project, which, as he puts it, is about the nomadic worker. He talks about how he has to work in a virtual office because of far-flung clients and colleagues. As a former nomadic worker myself, I know exactly what Andy is talking about. At one point, I lived in one city, worked in another, sometimes visited clients in several nearby cities, then hung out in yet another city at the end of the day, where most of my friends lived, oddly enough.

To swing this nomadic behavior, at one point, I had two pagers and two cell phones. One pager and one cell phone had 1-800 toll free numbers (which was allowed at the time; no more) so that friends could call me. The second pager was for work. The second cell phone was mine but had the same area code as work. I had to replace my trouser belt a lot, what with the weight of VoIP didn't exist then, or at least not reliable. And smart phones were just popping into existence. So mobile VoIP was not even an option. And high-speed connections were hard to come by due to poor coverage in my neighborhood, so telecommuting wasn't an option back then for me, either.

Now, I work entirely from home but regularly collaborate with people in at least six time zones across the world. I've been using text mode chat for many years, and it's helps me get by now, too. For collaboration, I have several desktop sharing options including AIM Pro and the Unyte add-on for Skype. And for voice chat, I've used Skype and Google Talk, the two most common VoIP and VoIM soft clients amongst my colleagues. Without IP communication, there'd be no way for me to work entirely from home, away from the rat race, road rage and traffic jams of my previous career. Yay VoIP.

The electronic global village is enabled by IP communications. Though strangely enough, despite the growing e-learning/ e-tutoring and online education markets, there are some things that just can't be done over the Internet: attending live workshops and industry conferences. And that means that despite all this great technology, I'll be moving back to the big city within the next year for that reason.

Yahoo Messenger Share + Collaborate Plugins

Yahoo Messenger 8 allows you to add all manner of plugins. Here are a few focusing on sharing, collaborating, and conferencing.

Untye Desktop Sharing
Unyte's reasonably good destop sharing add-on for Skype is now available as a plugin, Unyte Lyte, in for Yahoo Messenger. Unfortunately, it failed during installation, and after two tries, I'm not going to bother again.

Video Sharing
Found a video on YouTube or Google Video? Share it with a Yahoo Messenger contact in the IM window. Is the irony lost on you? Google, Yahoo's search engine competitor, owns both Google Video and YouTube.

WebEx Co-Browse
The WebEx Co-Browse plugin lets jointly browse the Internet with someone. This is great for shopping or booking travel. Pretty cool in concept. WebEx, I believe, is the company behind the desktop sharing feature in in the recent AIM Pro IM.

ConfreeCall
Need to combine conference calls via a regular telephone as well as the Yahoo Messenger IM? try ConfreeCall. A bit of a tongue twister, but if it gets the job done, great. Any long distance charges to the conference bridge number are borne by the caller.

FCC's e-911 Decision Upheld

Jeff Pulver writes that the DC Circuit Court has upheld the US FCC's decision to require VoIP service providers to offer e-911 emergency calling services. Providers have 120 days to comply, though it's not clear from what date. The presiding Judge Kavanaugh indicated that the requirement is justified even if providers cannot meet the deadline.

The FCC also wants to ban the marketing and sale of any VoIP service that cannot make the deadline. However, the legality of this ban was apparently not ruled upon (other than the Judge saying that the FCC had the "lesser authority" to go ahead with it.

Curiouser and curiouser. If the FCC does go ahead with its ban, this could really tank most soft client-based VoIP providers. They will, I think, have the greatest technical hurdles in offering functioning e-911 service. This could be the leg up that pure play VoIP providers like Vonage need to compete against other types of providers. Vonage already has a growing coverage area for their e-911 service, outdistancing every soft provider I can think of.

Skype Coping Well

Skype may have had a number of management shakeups and an exodus of staff, but they not only seem to have that under control, but Version 3.0 for Windows went live (i.e., past beta) and Skype 2.2 for Windows Mobile was released, with support for 120 smartphones and Pocket PCs.

There's also been recent talk of coming support for Symbian phones, but there's been nary a peep about support PalmOS-based Palm Treos. I'm waiting patiently for St. Niklas (Zennstrom) to announce this, but somehow I think it won't be this Christmas. Ah well, real mobile VoIP will be out of reach for me for now.

Skype Management Changes: Insider News

Jaanus (not Janus Friis), who blogs at Skype, talks of the management changes and how organization charts were being drawn up and were then thrown out because of even more changes. And here's the scoop. (The employee defections aren't mentioned.) At least, it seems to be: Niklas Zennstrom, one of the founders (along with Janus Friis)

will continue to run the company according to his vision with the rest of his original core team that started Skype more than three years ago.

The eBay people brought in will stay on as advisors. It's pretty much spelled out in between the lines of contradiction. They've brought St. Niklas back in. Maybe that's why TVP (The Venice Project) didn't meet its mid-November release date? Whatever the reasons for this, it's a good thing, for who would know the product better?

Gizmo Project: Local Numbers In 28 Countries

Gizmo Project just sent out an email with an announcement that they're offering local numbers in any of 28 countries, starting from US$3/mth. These numbers can be forwarded to any mobile or landline phone at the "almost free" Gizmo Call Out rates. Essentially, it means that you can redirect your calls to wherever you are, without that costing your callers extra. They'd still pay for any cost of calling to your local Call In number, though.

Now while Skype may have more users than Gizmo Project, the latter is not only based on an open standard, it also offers call in numbers in more countries. If I recall, Skype's are limited to just the US and UK, which is pretty strange considering, for example, that they've got a North American promo that includes Canada, not to mention promos in France and other countries. You'd that Skype would strike while their iron's hot and offer Call In numbers in at least the promo countries. If you're interested in the Gizmo offering, see what countries have local number support. (Also see 6 ways to give your customers free calls and read the item about Gizmo Project and Voxbone combined.)

Friends By Skype

Jaanus snuck in a little tidbit of information on the Share Skype blog indicating that

over half the people using Skype use it to meet someone new.

Very interesting. How do you meet people online? For me, I've mostly met new friends and acquaintances this year via interaction in the comments section of weblogs and community sites, and sometimes through PM (private messaging/ pseudo email at community sites). I have met some people via Skype for interviews, but then, I'm not actively seeking to meet people due to a busy schedule. How about you? (Though I did find four hello messages on my Verbdate profile the other day. Verbdate uses Skype click-to-call buttons to enable members to chat with each other, by opt-in.) How do you meet people online?

VoIP Roundup - Mon Dec 18/06

Design Skype Wallpaper, Win Skype Phone
The new Skype 3.0 lets you add your own wallpaper to create your own customize look. And if you come up with something that you think other Skype users may like, enter it into their wallpaper contest before Jan 13, 2007, midnight, GMT. The best 3 designs will win a US Robotics USB Internet Mini Phone. Here are some sample wallpapers.

Say No To POTS
POTS = Plain Old Telephone System. Time to show it the door.

To Approve Or Not To Approve?
Question: Why go through telecom deregulation in the 1990s to reduce unfair monopolies only to allow still giant telcos to merge in the 2000's? Answer: I wish I had one. The US Justice Dept is being accused of messing up their antitrust business analyses before the approval of two mergers.

Vodafone Gets Huge Fine
Greece's telecom regulator is fining the local Vodafone division 76M Euros for their part in a wiretapping scandal. Ouch.

5 New + Recent Terms In IP Communications

IP telecommunications is obviously a huge area with many facets, and new ones popping up. While those in the industry and some VoIP bloggers may know the terms, the general public likely does not. I often use Google Trends to compare terms and their relative search volumes. Which is what I've done witih some of the terms below. These are terms to watch, because we'll see them mentioned in the media more often.

1. Spot dialing.
   Brian McConnell came up with this to describe make a call over a Wi-Fi hotspot. I.e., as a replacement to Voice over Wi-Fi (which some people call VoWiFi but is rather techy).
2. TVoIP, teeVoIP.
   Ken Camp wrote a very evocative piece called Ken's magnificent Seven for 2006, about what he thinks have been the hot growth areas for IP Comm. He came up with the term TVoIP to represent user-generated content such as that at YouTube and blip.tv. I've been referring to this as a facet of IPTV, though that's probably incorrect.
3. vVoIP, VVoIP, WoIP.
   This aren't new, per se, as there are references to it back to at least 2004, possibly earlier. But Google Trends says there isn't even enough search data for them to show a comparative graph. But there are three ways to signify this, possibly causing confusion. Should we use any of these or come up with yet another one and hope it'll catch on? Video calling works for me.
4. POVS.
   Garrett Smith came up with POVS, Plain Old VoIP Service to refer to any VoIP service mimicking traditional phone calls. I.e., what some people call pure play, when you use a regular telephone with an ATA (Analog Telephone Adaptor), such as with Vonage and PhoneGnome.
5. FMC, Fixed Mobile Convergence.
   Most searches for FMC are probably for one of two companies with "FMC" in their name. (Google doesn't give hard search volumes.) The longer version doesn't register in Google Trends. But true FMC will push dual-mode cellular/ Wi-Fi calling forwards, though maybe it needs a friendlier name.

What do you think about these terms? A bit technical, in some cases. Got any suggestions for alternates?

Communication Breakdown: 5 Growing Pains of Voice/ VoIP/ IP Communications

It's pure coincidence but as I'm working on this brief article, I've just finished hearing Led Zeppelin's classic Communication Breakdown song. Radio 3net has their own 500 top albums for listening for free online. Yeah, 500. And all the classics are there; all you need is Windows Media Player to listen.

That said, this is a brief overview of some of the issues that could make or break how widespread IP communications becomes. Or at least delay ubiquity.

1. Countrywide bans.
   First, numerous countries in the Middle East and some in Asia (China, South Korea) either fully or partially banned VoIP services - except to the status quo providers in some cases. Then India, who recently allowed Yahoo to provide VoIP services, decided they were going to ban outside providers.
2. Jail sentences.
   Seriously?! Vietnam sentenced a South Korean business man to 16 years in jail after he set up five VoIP systems in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). It's amazing to think that in the 21st century, there are still people in power who are short-sighted. Or do such people just gravitate to government? Why not absolve him, make him pay a provider fee and a fine, and actually utilize his entrepreunerial spirit? That would actually make sense. This is a similar VoIP crime to what five Asian men did in Namibia, but were out on bail.
3. e911, e999, emergency services.
   Or lack of them. Let's not forget that 911 in the United States was not ubiquitous until, I believe, the late 80s. Still, that's no excuse. In E911 still struggling after 10 years, Wayne Rash says that there's a 16% chance your wireless 911 call won't go through, or that the emergency center won't know where you are. Sad but true. (I didn't know that it's been 10 years since the US FCC mandated e911, aka enhanced 911.) In the UK, they call it 999, and pending regulations by Ofcom (the regulator) could put lives at risk according to ITSPA (Internet Telephony Services Providers Association).
4. Perceived security issues re closed protocols.
   I.e., Skype, which in some cases is the reason countries, corporations and universities have banned Skype in particular.
5. Wiretapping.
   Let's not be naive. Several countries including those considered democracies already have widespread wiretapping in place, whether you know it or not. But Internet tech experts have openly said that architecting a backdoor into VoIP soft clients is not only very difficult but a bad idea.

6 Ways To Give Your Customers Free Calls To You

There are oh so many ways to give/ get free calls via VoIP services and software. But if you are running an SMB (small or medium business), you're really close to the concept of value for money. And you probably want to reduce costs for your customers as well. Here are five ways you can give your customers free calls via web-based voice/ VoIP services, sometimes from anywhere in the world.

1. SkyNET-Tel 1-800 number.
   Forward your SkyNET-Tel toll-free number to any VoIP "call in" number (such as from Skype, Gizmo Project, and SightSpeed), and reduce costs on your end, too. Customers can call you from any phone.
2. Sitofono.
   Pay a flat rate, provide your business telephone number (no mobiles), add a click-to-call button on your website, and voila: free calls to you from your worldwide customers via their computer. That's Sitofono.
3. Sitofono, iotum, and GrandCentral. If you want customers to be able to reach you while you're about, read Andy Abramson's A natural hat trick, about combining these three services to route calls to wherever you are. There's so much going on in features with this trio, though you should understand all options as some may result in charges for some customers, depending on geography. That aside, this trio means being able to change your contact numbers without having to inform everyone, as well as being "found" whenever and however (office, mobile, etc.) you dictate. By the way, Phil Wolff shot a video of GrandCentral in action, and Luca Filigheddu explains some GrandCentral's options.
4. Gizmo Project + Voxbone.
   Brian McConnell gives a great explanation of how you can set up "local" numbers in 40 countries around the world. That means they can use any phone. You can also use just Gizmo Project, but that means that each and every customer would need to register with Gizmo first. (GizmoProject offers free calling in 60 countries.)
5. Skype click-to-call.
   Place a Skype Me button on your website. You will need to have Skype on your computer and so will your customer.
6. SightSpeed click-to-call.
   Now with video support. SightSpeed just released their "enhanced" Version 5.0. But what really excites me is the video click-to-call functionality. Your customers can see and talk to you, and it won't cost either of you anything for the service. Of course, they have to use a computer.

If you really want to cover your bases and satisfy the widest range of customers, use a combination of all of the above. Your total monthly bill will probably still be a lot less than with just regular telephony and an internationally-usable 1-800 number. So as not to clutter your web page, use a single custom "call me" button to link to a special contact page displaying all specific. Your customers will call you to thank you.

New North American Skype Promos

A quick glance at the Skype website shows not only a brand new home page but a new 50% off promo for North American users. If you'll recall, N.A. Skypers can call any phone in the US and Canada for free until Dec 31st. Now, you can get one full year of unlimited calling in these two countries for only US$14.95. (Skype has also had promos in the UK, France, and other places.)

Not a bad deal, and you can use PayPal to pay. Except that my most recent conversation using Skype, which was actually to another Skyper, was of terrible quality. It may have had something to do with my running Audacity to record the conversation, but having successfully used HotRecorder and Skype on a laptop with one less processor and half the memory, I'm not so sure of that. In fact, because of this, I opted to use my mobile phone to make a long distance call today to a tech support team (not Skype) instead of worrying that sound quality would suck.

The sum of $14.95 is paltry, especially if it'll save you more than $1.25/mth in long distance. But if the quality is questionable, you have to decide on your priorities. (That said, my cable Internet connection has been terrible the last few days, so maybe it's not Skype's fault.) Though if you do opt for it, they throw in US$50 in coupons for a Motorola headset, Netgear Wi-Fi phone, and Polycom speaker phone. What I would have liked to see is, say, an unlimited calling plan for $39.95-$59.95 for one year that includes a free Skype-certified Wi-Fi phone.

A couple of notes. After Jan 31st, 2007, the plan's price goes back to US$29.95. During the first three days after signup, you can only use Skype for 7 hours per day. Seriously. Even a chatterbox like myself has never spent more than 6 hours on the phone in a single day.

Talkster Interview With James Wanless

James Wanless, one of the three entrepreneurs behind Canadian-based mobile-to-VoIM service provider Talkster has been a busy man, flying here and there to promote the service. Talkster relaunched this past Monday, but he managed to fit in an interview chat with me last Friday - a follow-up to a previous chat.

You may have already read about Talkster elsewhere, so instead of repeating that Talkster is a cool mobile-to-VoIM voice service, I'll quickly synopsize what James told me about what's happening with the company.

Their plan, he said, is to market to businesses. As he mentions on his blog, in the post The Great Race (To Zero), VoIP/ VoIM providers can give some of their services away for free but they have to have a monetization model to keep the business going and offer quality. And when you're a company started by three self-employed, self-funded people, you have to find a way to monetize.

That said, James said that Talkster is not only looking for funding but channel partners. If you have an idea for a way to integrate Talkster into your own voice application, they encourage you to contact them. The interface is based on the open standard XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), but their API is only revealed to channel partners. (This is the same approach that SightSpeed seems to have.) If you think you might have some ideas in this regard, contact someone at Talkster.

Show Me The Money In VoIP: Is Free A Four Letter Word?

Pat Phelan asks where will it all end, in regards to all this free VoIP and VoIM going around. How long can a free model sustain itself? Will ad-paid models like that of Globe7 be accepted? Will Google's rumored free phones in return for ad-watching take over the world?

I had a second chat last Friday with James Wanless, President and COO - one of three entrepreneurial spirits behind Talkster, a new mobile-to-VoIM service that just relaunched on Monday. He made a very astute comment to me regarding free services, and wrote The great race (to zero). I'm paraphrasing him (so any misquote is my fault), but he said that so many [startups] think that giving away everything for free and grabbing a subscriber list is sufficient enough for someone with deep pockets to buy them up. He then pointed out that while Skype gave away a lot, they still had a monetization plan that they implemented, including CallOut minutes.

Exactly my point. We can hope that maybe we'll have some sort of idealistic moneyless society as portrayed in the Star Trek TV series, but the truth in my eyes is that we are very distant from any such reality. And that means that if you're giving away your VoIP for free, without any monetization plan, you are not going to last very long. And as James Wanless said in his blog, quality costs money. Would you use a VoIP service because it's free but the quality was poor? [Irony of ironies: Skype was misbehaving when we had our chat.]

Configuring A Bluetooth Headset For Desktop VoIP Software

If you already have any Bluetooth headset for your cell phone, note that it can be used for VoIP soft clients such as Skype and SightSpeed. You'll need to either have a built-in Bluetooth card on your PC/ laptop, or get a Bluetooth USB dongle. Next step, configure your VoIP soft client to change the input/ output device. Shut down any program that uses sound first, else they'll be rerouted to your headset. It's not fun listening to TV or music over a single-ear headset.

That's all you need to do, but you may need to fiddle with your soft client's sound settings to get it to work right. As for comfort level, I ditched my Logitech Mobile Express after only two or three weeks of use. It sits on top of my audio mixer, no longer used, because the earpiece chafes parts of the ridge of my inner ear, which was bruised for many days after only the first two days of using it. I found that, at most, I could wear it for about 1-1.5 hours before it became uncomfortable. The Motorola Oakley Bluetooth sunglasses are said to be more comfortable, though not only is the unit expensive, it's unlikely you want to wear your sunglasses at night, especially indoors.

Acatel-Lucent Scores British University Contract

Alcatel-Lucent is the merger that took an American President to approve (ever heard of that before?) and already they are gaining large deals. The University of the West of England (UWE) is implementing VoIP with Alcatel-Lucent's converged communications solutions. The project will take place over several years and will tie 4,400 UWE users over seven campuses. The resulting system will have both IP and TDM (Time-Division Multiplexing) components instead of pure VoIP. The university claims that new buildings already linked have reduced costs and management overhead. What prompted the entire project is a new student village and sports center.

sources: Irish Dev.

Covad and Centrepoint Offer IP Phone System For SMBs

Small business owners cringing at the cost of telecom solutions may want to check out TalkSwitch from Centrepoint Technologies. Covad is offering TalkSwitch and a bundle of services for US$459/mth. The system is said to be easy to install and can handle eight simultaneous calls, which Covad feels is suitable for offices of up to 25 employees.

Another offering is SpeakEasy, which is priced by the number of users (minimum 10) plus the cost of a T1 broadband connection. SpeakEasy VoIP services is available in 22 countries. Covad's Chair Charles Hoffman was selected as one of the 50 most influential people in VoIP, for "leading a major push into small business VoIP."

sources: Sharewatch.

Show Me The Money In VoIP: Emerging Markets

Could emerging markets hold the key to the future growth of telecoms? That's what a new Gartner report says. There is promise in emerging markets, especially because of the large potential customer base. But the fact is, disposable income is smaller in many of these countries compared to developed nations. Thus cost per call is is higher relative to income compared to other parts of the world. (Then there's the minimum startup and infrastructure costs.)

Those are the hurdles telecom operators face. Regardless, the Gartner Group says that emerging markets will account for nearly 90% of the 1.5Bln increased mobile phone connections by 2010. Throw fixed connections in the mix and emerging markets may account for as much as 70% of all new total phone connections by 2010. Cellular News has several tables showing a breakdown of potential revenues by region.

Skype Blocks The Blockers

When Skype recently released its version 3.0 for Windows, it introduced a version that was harder for Skype blockers to detect it. No doubt this has caused grief in the hearts of all those sys admins in countries (and universities and corporations) who have been told to block Skype. Dal at AsteriskVoIPNews provides some technical details about how Skype achieved their cloaking, and what Skype blockers are doing as a result to detect and block the software.

Speaking of blocking, Nokia has launched their own VoIP blocker. What are they thinking? This is the company that announced IM over all their latest cell phones. Why do this then?

VoIP Roundup - Sat Dec 09/06

MIT Runs VoIP Pilot
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is running a VoIP pilot involving 500 users. That's a tiny fraction of the 20,000 phone lines (desk, fax, form, circuits, elevators) at the educational institution, but the IST (Information Services and Technology) department will announce detailed plans in early 2007. [source: The Tech]

GPS Services To Enjoy Huge Growth
Currently in the North American, there are about a half million subscribers to "personal locator" services for their GPS-enabled phones. ABI Research says that this number will grow to over 20M by 2011. sources: Cellular News.

SunRocket Damage Control
Alec Saunders has been talking about the problems he had with cancelling his SunRocket VoIP account, which he tried to do via email and which they refused to accept. However he reported recently that SunRocket's PR guy and contacted him and the matter has been sorted out. The issue is simply that you can't cancel by email.

My 8 Fave VoIP/ Voice Ideas + Ideamakers

Xmas + New Year is a time for journalistos/ bloggers to navel-gaze. It's that "what have I done with my life this year" sort of thing. But I'd rather speculate on "what has the VoIP industry done with itself lately?" So here are a few ideas that get me thinking about the possibilities... whether I've tried them or not. In no particular order...

• Nokia blogger relations.
  Kudos to Andy Abramson for the great work. While he's a VoIP blogger himself and has his finger on the pulse of the industry, it's still a lot of work. It's great for everyone: readers, bloggers, and Nokia. Just remember to include us next time, Andy :) Hopefully other mobile tech companies will follow suit do the same kind of thing.
  
• Apple iPhone.
  Yeah, I know it's not out yet, but if it has, say, Mac OS X on it, I'm already salivating. For  Xmas turkey, I want Apple with my stuffing. Just make sure, Steve, that it has a camera on the front (unlike my Palm Treo 650) and a large screen for videos. At least 3.5" diagonal. And if VoIP bloggers are lucky, there'll not only be VoIP/ VoIM on the iPhone, but Apple will hire Andy Abramson (or someone else) to manage relations with us bloggers.
  
• Linux phones.
  iPhone in one hand, a Linux phone in the other. The Mobile Linux Initiative (MLI) is on. What you could do with a Linux phone, in terms of customization. (Insert Homer Simpson ecstatic gurgling sound here.) I'd be calling myself on the darn things. You might even be able to install a mobile webserver on it. Or Asterisk? (Not sure of either.) I want one!
  
• Jangl.
  Jangl's voice services are a brilliant idea, and would greatly serve a particular niche - those who want a throwaway number for casual interaction. No need to give out your real number. Dating is one market, but there are others. I'm still waiting for that interview, Tim :)
  
• Talkster.
  I haven't written about Talkster for technical reasons, but loads of other VoIP bloggers have. It's VoIM on mobile phones, with some additional exciting upcoming features. Though I'm still waiting for that followup interview, James :)
  
• Sitofono.
  Very cool. Luca Filigheddu and AbbeyNet are offering Sitofono, based on a click-to-call service model. Pay a flat monthly rate, post one of these on your website, and customers can call you toll-free. Brilliant. These are sprouting like mushrooms on some VoIP blogs.
  
• Asterisk PBX. Yowzah. Can you say "inexpensive, fully customizable VoIP IP PBX for small business" boys and girls? I thought you could. That's Asterisk IP PBX. Read Ward Mundy's Nerd Vittles and Dal at Asterisk VoIP News. (Yeah, I linked to them already, but so what?)
  
• SightSpeed video click-to-call. Wowzah. Can you say "free video click-to-call for anyone" boys and girls? I knew you could.

My 7 Fave VoIP/ WoIP Blogs + Bloggers of 2006

Why so few? That's not to say I don't enjoy other blogs and bloggers. My freelancing means it's a necessity that I subscribe to 1,000 web feeds, and regularly scan 60-100+ websites and weblogs relating to voice, VoIP, IPTV, and IP communications on a near-daily basis - except when I fall horribly behind posting like I have the last two weeks. I can't actually more than scan everything, but there are a few bloggers that I'm eager to read as much as possible.

In no particular order:

• Nuno Bastei@21Talks.
  Nuno blows me away with how many original (but sadly short) posts he does, on a wide variety of topics relating to voice. Where he finds all these cool stories I'll never know.
• Ward Mundy@NerdVittles.
  Ward has tons of great tutorials and utilities, with most of his focus on the Asterisk PBX. Great for other up and coming VoIP nerds who want to utilize the power of the open source Asterisk.
• Luca Filigheddu@ThoughtsOnVoIP.
  Luca's writing about VoIP and IP communications really comes across as very thoughtful and refreshing. It really is like participating in a sort of meditation. (Though Luca, sorry but the new blog colors - meh, not so much. Not as meditative.)
• Peter Csathy@DigitalMediaUpdate.
  Peter challenges you to think, and does he ever know his stuff regarding video VoIP and the incredible value of this functionality. This is a man focussed on one specific niche of IP Comm, and he does it very well.   
• Russell Shaw@IPTelephony.
  I agree with Russell about 60-70% of the time when he goes political on us, but I love reading his extremely informative IP communications posts and topic variety, and respect the research and effort he puts into his articles. Sorry Russell; I refuse to read Huffington Post, so I can't read your blog column there, but I love your IP Telephony.
  
• Om Malik@GigaOm. Om's the man! He breaks a lot of the hottest stories that set the rest of the blogosphere buzzing. And he's got a great crew. It's not all VoIP/ IP Comm, but there's enough, and GigaOm covers the spectrum well.
• Phil+Jim@SkypeJournal. SJ gets my vote for my fave VoIP blog, even if it's only about Skype. There are other bloggers, but Phil Wolff and Jim Courtney seem most prominent lately.

So don't be offended if you're not on this VoIP blog/ blogger list, because I'm still reading you almost everyday, the best I can. With the exception of Om Malik, Phil, and Jim, I've picked singular bloggers, not blogs with multiple bloggers. (But Om did singular blogging before his VC deal.) These are the bloggers that I feel I know the best, and I'm getting to know the others over time.