September 5th, 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on September 5th, 2006.
Editor's Note: I hope this signals a turn around from all the mishaps so far. I am hoping Vonage doesn't go down in a blazing ball of fire. We need people like Vonage to put pressure on the baby bells to keep pricing low.
Vonage said Tuesday it had surpassed the two million customer mark, maintaining its position as the largest American VoIP communications provider. However, the company's recent disaster surrounding its IPO, along with slowing subscriber additions, have analysts saying that the company may be in for some rough times ahead.
The company ended the second quarter with 1.8 million lines of service. A UBS research report said that this represented a slowdown from 2,800 new adds per day to 2,200. Analysts have further said that competition from cable providers like Comcast, as well as smaller firms who are undercutting Vonage's prices, may begin to drag on the company's bottom line.
Source: Beta News
Written by Dal on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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It turns out Kiko, the web calendar that sparked a thousand bubble-or-not conversations, was bought by Tucows. Kiko had put itself up for sale on eBay and sold for $258,100. Tucows is a public domain name registrar that sells hosted email, website tools, et cetera. You might remember their shareware directory. The company set up a corporate blog to justify its recent purchase, with CEO Elliot Noss saying it was simpler for his company to buy a next-gen calendar to integrate with Tucows’ email rather than spend the next year building it. Apparently building calendars bores everybody. “[W]e have so many things to do in general and so many exciting things to do with email in particular that it was just not going to be possible until at least Q2 of next year and even then the plan didn’t really excite anyone around here,” writes Noss. Thanks for the comment, Ken.
Written by Liz Gannes on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software 2.0 and Startups.
Intel’s long agonizing foray into communications semiconductor business is coming to an end. Andrew Schmitt has the latest scoop that and says that Cortina Systems will buy Intel’s communications business for an undisclosed amount of money.
My initial reaction is mild dissapointment. I was hoping the divestiture of the Intel assets would trigger much needed consolidation in the Comm Semi industry
In the go-go 1990s, Intel went on a comm-buying binge and built a sizeable (if not quite profitable business) that included everything from network processors to SONET modules and what not. But like all big companies that rely on one core product line for most of their profits (in this case personal computers), Intel never really find its sweet spot in the communications business.
Written by Om Malik on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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TréoCiel is a nifty little program dedicated to the Treo 650 mobile phone that gives me localized weather forecasts in a chart report, with the abiliy to update forecasts when and where needed!
The local weather charts give a whole week in a single view, and you can also receive detailed hourly forecasts for the next days -- temperatures, precipitation probabilities and wind speed.
All of the information is presented on a single scrollable chart (see illustration at left).
It's easy to use, easy to read and there when you need it -- what more could you want from a weather forecast!
http://kigosha.com/treociel/treociel.php
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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Recent talk was that India's mobile phone market would be the largest
in the world. But not surprisingly, China might exceed that. The 400 million mobile phones
they'll produce this year make up half the world's output and will be
used in other countries, but they could just as well be used there, too.
As for India, its come a long way. One East Indian friend joked to me that in India,
even the janitor has a cell phone. Which was not meant to be
derogatory, but to indicate how far the country has come. Not so long
ago, it had daily power outages, but now has the juice to drive
cellular networks that include everyone in several financial classes.
However,
with the increasing number of middle-class citizens in China, it's more
than possible that the Chinese mobile market may exceed India's, where
they're focusing on IPTV for some reason. The VoIP market in Asia in general is growing. Though with issues such as VoIP service being illegal in China, I'm not sure if certain types of phones and PDAs are allowed in the country or not.
Even if China and India actually run close numbers for mobile use, broadband use in China is growing at about 80% annually and expected to reach 130 million users by 2010. Part of the increase will be a side effect of hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Given
the political situation in China, and the fact that VoIP is illegal
there, it might be difficult to understand how that government would
allow the estimated 80 million users playing online games. When you run
a country banning the use of certain words in print or online, it's
hard to let any sort of digital interaction go unmonitored. This sort
of atmosphere would permeate into a lot of things, including the way
events are handled and technologies deployed.
However, dig deep
into the history of the Olympics during the time that Juan Antonio
Samaranch was top dog of the IOC (International Olympics Committee),
and you'll see that the Olympics actually were repeatedly granted to
countries and regions where there was political, civil, and/or social
unrest,. The net result of hosting the Olympics in those locales
actually improved conditions considerably.
Whether or not this
happens in China, resulting in more open government policies, remains
to be seen. But if it does, China will likely dominate in Internet use
whether, whether mobile or stationary, and there will be an explosion
of VoIP services and possibly some innovations.
Written by ewriter on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Networks and Services and Regulation and Privacy.
Garrett seems to think that Vonage's "woo hoo" TV commercial advertising is on the decline. His conclusions are not scientific but rather are based on his personal observations. I still have seen the
Vonage "woo hoo" TV commercials, but I did notice that they seem to be on TV less often. Perhaps Garrett is onto something? Maybe Vonage's exuberant "woo hoo!" was dampered to a sullen "boo hoo" after
the failed Vonage IPO, which resulted in less marketing cash available.
The most insightful part of Garrett's article is this:
Given Jeffery Citron’s previous strategy of drag racing (getting in early, spending huge on customer aquistion, branding, etc) is in full effect at Vonage. This strategy in theory (and many times in reality) thwarts competition as it causes competitors to have to continue to spend heavy on customer acquistion (as much as two to three times what Vonage initially had to spend) while simultaniously Vonage will lower their marketing costs, which will increase cash flow, profitability, etc. This should “protect” Vonage because the barriers to entry and cost to compete are too high for most companies. It has worked before for Jeffery Citron and given that I have experienced a recent decrease in visible marketing, the second phase could very well be in play.
Check out the
full article.On a related note,
Andy has some interesting comments on a recent
NY Times article on Vonage where they interviewed Jeffrey Citron.
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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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The Dixons Store Group (DSG) recently pulled the plug
[VNUNet] on their Freetalk VoIP service, after barely a year. Oddly
enough, they told existing customers they'd be switched over to Vonage, an obvious competitor. The company feels the VoIP market hasn't "lived up to its expectations".
Sure
there's a lot of competition, and sure some providers won't survive
long. But if they have such a short term view as this, their failure is
guaranteed. They can't expect to make money on VoIP in just one year.
The revenue potential in VoIP is not in service but in hardware
(phones, adapters, IP PBXes), consulting, and enterprise integration.
There is also a great deal of potential in voice data applications.
For
those companies focused on only a residential market, it's the hardware
where you'll make any real money. If you sell only service, you might
as well just hand your customer list over to your nearest competitor.
Of course, cable providers do have the advantage of being able to offer the triple-play services
- TV, internet, telephone. Other types of VoIP providers better be
innovative if they want to live long enough in the market to compete.
Written by ewriter on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Services and Business and Residential.
A quick browse through the website of a relatively large computer store
chain in the US and Canada shows that for back-to-school specials, they
are offering a free USB Skype phone (worth $99), with $1200 in
long-distance savings, when you buy a new desktop computer.
Oddly,
the phone doesn't come with Skype preloaded. But hey, if it works and
the phone offers some quality, how much trouble is it to download
Skype? In fact, the phone might just be a peripheral that runs Skype
software already installed on your computer.
Though the phone looks familiar, I can't tell from the website photo which brand it is. Though it's not mouse-shaped and it's not a wireless
Skype phone. But if other computer manufacturers and stores are wise,
consumers should start seeing more of these sorts of VoIP bundles.
Written by ewriter on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Phones.
As if we haven't already had enough (too much! actually), now Matsushita is recalling 6,000 notebook PC batteries that could overheat when subjected to a strong impact. 
According to published reports (thank you, Reuters and VARBusiness for the news ...), a Matsushita spokesperson declined to identify the supplier of the batteries in question, but said that neither Matsushita (best know here for its Panasonic brand) nor Sony had made them.
(Sony and batteries ...) 
When a notebook PC using the battery in question had been accidentally dropped on the floor or suffered any other strong impact, there was a chance that a tiny metal spring used in the battery pack could fall off and onto the battery cells, causing overheating. There have not been any cases of the batteries in question catching fire and no one had been injured.
The batteries are loaded in some of Matsushita's notebook PCs made in April and May 2005 and sold in Japan.
(Let's see if this bad news spreads to notebooks sold in the U.S. ...)
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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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I never thought that in 2006 I would have number portability problems. Hasn't number portability regulations evolved to the point where it is no longer an issue? Alas, I found out the hard way that number portability is
still very much a political game by the phone carriers and even the VoIP service providers to hold their customers hostage.
First, let me state that I've been a happy
Vonage customer for many years, and used it in two different home addresses with the same exact phone number, which was ported from AT&T/SBC. Thus, I've had the same phone number for about 10 years, which many friends and family know.
Recently, I decided I would
drop Vonage in favor of a triple play offering from Charter, which would give me cable TV, high-speed Internet, and "voice over cable" - all at a very reasonable price. My wife and I encountered too many network or Vonage QoS issues which affected our phone service. It was time to port the number to Charter, which advertised that they could port customer's numbers in a mailer we received. When I called to order, they said they could not port my Vonage number since "That Norwalk number (203-854-XXXX) is not in your rate area" I was told.
I was a bit annoyed Charter couldn't port my number, but I wasn't entirely surprised either. Since my wife and I didn't want to give up our number, we decided to stay with Vonage - held hostage to a phone number that Vonage owned. I should explain that a "rate center" is geographically tied to certain local exchanges. For instance, my current home address in Brookfield has (203-740-XXXX and 203-775-XXXX) as two of its most common local exchanges. Thus, since my current number (203-854-XXXX) wasn't in any of the Brookfield exchanges, they
claim they can't port the number.
But here is what I don't understand. Why is it that Vonage
was able to port my Norwalk number and yet they didn't have a geographical footprint in Norwalk - namely a rate center located there. Why aren't they bound by these geographical restrictions? Further, I was able to take my Norwalk number ported to Vonage to my new home address in Brookfield. Obviously, IP packets don't care where they originate, so as long as I had broadband, I can take my 203-854-XXXX number anywhere.
I figured maybe SBC might have better luck at porting if I agreed to sign up for SBC DSL and SBC’s voice offering. (Double-play package). They at first said they could port the number and even told me that they would take care of cancelling Vonage for me, which is typical when customers move to another phone service provider. I was feeling the
. But then they called me back 30 minutes later when they realized that they couldn’t port the number since I was outside the rate center. My heart
. I was already aware that I could port my Vonage phone number to Sunrocket or Lingo if I so desired, but I'm trying to
move away from "single play" VoIP providers. Thus, it would appear that you can port from a phone carrier to a VoIP provider, AND you can port from one VoIP provider to another VoIP provider, BUT you
cannot port your number BACK to a traditional phone carrier or a cable company. If my interpretation is true, this
clearly gives single play VoIP providers a key 'number porting' advantage over the traditional phone carriers and cable companies. In fact, I may have to update my controversial
Pure VoIP vs. Telephone and Cable VoIP article and add this to Single Plays' list of "Pros" (vs. Cons).
Summary of Porting:- Carrier/cable to VoIP – Good
- VoIP to VoIP – Good (if the number was originally owned by a phone company & ported. If the number was owned by the VoIP service provider when you signed up, most likely you will not be able to port.)
- VoIP to Carrier/cable – Bad
Back in 2004
I wrote about VoIP2Save.com, and how the VoIP service providers were holding their VoIP customer's "hostage" by not allowing them to port their phone numbers. In 2003, a federal law mandated customers of cellular telephone service be allowed to keep their phone number if they decided to switch carriers. Unfortunately, Internet phone companies were
not covered by the law.In that 2004 article, I wrote in part, "For example, if you started with AT&T, then signed up with Vonage, then wanted to switch to Lingo, you can port your number. However, if you originally started with Vonage and used Vonage's allocated phone number, you will have difficulty porting your number (if at all)." So it would appear that it is even
more difficult to port your Vonage number if it's a originally-owned Vonage number.
Under the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's)
"local number portability" (LNP) rules, you can switch telephone service providers within the same geographic area and keep your existing phone number. However, if you are moving from
one geographic area to another, you may not be able to take your number with you. In addition to switching from one wireless company to another, in most cases, you will be able to switch from a wireline company to a wireless company, or from a wireless company to a wireline company, and still keep your phone number.
The FCC's decision to "tie" geography to number portability open a
huge gaping loophole in the number portability regulations for the phone service providers to exploit. They can now deny to port a defecting customer's number simply based on geography. I should point out that many people move every 3-5 years, which means the phone companies can choose not to port their number. Now, I can certainly see if a person moves to another area code that porting the number should be restricted, but if you are simply moving a few towns over (same area code), why can't the customer keep their phone number? With the advent of VoIP, local exchanges (203-775-XXXX) or the famous 212-XXX-XXXX NYC exchange are
no longer tied to customers within a
specific geographic region. I recall an article where a Pakistani living in Pakistan (& using VoIP) had a 212-XXX-XXXX number so it could appear he had a New York City address for his business.
In 2004, VoIP2Save.com surveyed many other internet phone companies, including Vonage, Packet8, Voice Glo, Lingo and I-Connect. It found that none of the companies allowed customers to keep a phone number the company assigned to them, if the customer decided to switch to another phone company. I need to confirm whether or not this still holds true for all of them in 2006, but it at least holds true for Vonage, since I tried both Charter and SBC to port my Vonage number.
On KUTV, a SBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, it wrote a
recent article (May 2006) stating, that a family couldn't port their Lingo phone number to Vonage and cited the same
FCC number portability regulation that I did and pointed out that Voice over Internet companies were not covered by this regulation.
So how is it that VoIP companies can get the traditional phone companies to always port phone numbers for their new VoIP customers? If the traditional phone companies aren't obligated to port any number to any customer "outside" a geographic region, how do the VoIP companies convince the carriers to give up the number?
One theory I have is that since VoIP service providers have no "rate center" (they simply pay/rent the phone numbers from the phone companies), they don't have any geographic limitations. Thus, they can tell the phone company that Customer A wishes to leave and "port" their phone number. If the phone company asks if Customer A is going to be in the same geographic region, the VoIP companies
can lie and say "yes" even if the customer has moved. Tracking IP packets to a specific location is difficult - not to mention it requires a court subpoena - so how are the phone companies going to "prove" that their defecting customer is still in the same geographic region? Since they can't the phone companies are forced to give up / port the number to the VoIP service provider. In my "phone shopping scenario" with Charter and SBC - they have an obvious geographic footprint, bound by wherever the coax or copper wire is installed, which limits the local exchange numbers they can provide as well as port. I guess that's the beauty of IP which is location agnostic.
This is just a theory, but it seems to be the most logical conclusion. There may be some other law or regulation I am missing, so feel free to post a comment.
What did I end up doing? I went with SBC's "double play" package (voice & data) for $50/month with unlimited voice calling. $25 for voice and $25 for data. Alas, I lost my old 203-854-XXX number and now have a new one. I also dropped Charter cable and went with DirecTV. My bills as a whole will be cut like $55/month, making it worth losing my old number. So yes, I have dropped VoIP entirely in favor of SBC traditional voice - forgive me for my sin. Well, I do still use
Skype and plenty of other VoIP products, so I'm still high on VoIP.
So let me just finish this by saying
"number portability my ass!" (Sorry for the profanity, but it had to be said.)
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Comments on this Entry:
(Michael on
Sep 5, 2006 3:32 PM)
So, you were able to port the number to SBC?? If yes, is that because SBC provides service to the geographic area of you number, whereas Charter does not?
(Tom Keating on
Sep 5, 2006 4:00 PM)
No, I wasn't able to port my number. I lose my number. I clarified my original post.
Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and VoIP and SBC and Triple Play and triple play.
Editor's Note: Keep them coming. Every major city should have some sort of comprehensive wireless coverage. Ok now Seattle needs to get there act together. Being the home to the largest software company in the world it is sad that we do not have any solid wi fi coverage. The only attempt I remember was the old Ricochet (aka Metrocom) network that installed noded on street light posts.
BelAir Networks and US Internet today announced that the city of Minneapolis has chosen US Internet to build and operate a broadband wireless network to cover the entire city with BelAir Networks industry-leading mobile broadband mesh networking solutions. The city's wireless initiative, known as 'Wireless Minneapolis', will result in one of the largest wireless cities in the U.S.
"Learning from the experiences and challenges faced by other cities, Minneapolis has chosen both a business model and a technology solution that ensure immediate, ongoing, and sustainable benefits to our citizens, visitors, municipal workers and public safety personnel," stated R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis. US Internet, a fast-growing Internet and hosting provider will deploy BelAir Networks equipment throughout the 54 square mile city, creating a broadband wireless mesh network that delivers industry-leading broadband performance and scalability, and carrier-class capacity and reliability.
Minneapolis CIO, Karl Kaiser explained: "US Internet offered the best proposal, and we were very pleased with the performance of their pilot network and the BelAir Networks technology." "After extensive research into competing solutions and deployment of the live pilot network, it was clear that BelAir Networks delivered proven technology that can concurrently handle the many applications and services we need to deliver - at true broadband speeds," said Joe Caldwell, US Internet co-founder.
"World-class cities like Minneapolis need networks that will deliver broadband performance, scale with increasing subscriber and services growth, and support new technologies like WiMAX. BelAir delivers these wireless broadband mesh networks today." With thousands of wireless mesh nodes operating in more than 150 deployments worldwide - including the City of London and Toronto - BelAir Networks mobile wireless mesh networking products are field-proven, delivering high-performance broadband Quad-play services (voice, video, data and mobility) for municipal, residential and business applications. "BelAir Networks is pleased that our comprehensive portfolio of mobile broadband mesh products has been chosen by US Internet to serve the needs of workers, visitors and residents throughout Minneapolis," said Jim Freeze, senior vice president, marketing and alliances, BelAir Networks.
"Increasingly, we're finding that cities and service providers who want to deliver true broadband performance on a future-proof mobile network are turning to BelAir for our proven cost-effective mobile broadband mesh solutions." BelAir Networks comprehensive product portfolio delivers high performance, cost effective, flexible deployment options and a migration path to future technologies.
Supporting Wi-Fi, 4.9 GHz Public Safety, and WiMAX mesh, the portfolio includes the flagship four-radio BelAir200 Wireless Multi-service Switch Router, the dual-radio BelAir100 Multi-service Node, the BelAir100C Multi-service Node featuring point-to-multipoint backhaul, the BelAir100S, the single-radio BelAir50C and BelAir50S, and the six-radio BelAir300 Converged Multi-service Wireless Node, all seamlessly managed by the BelAir BelView Network Management System.
Source: US Internet
Written by Dal on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Brekeke Software, Inc., provider of voice and data communications technology, today announced a partnership with Solegy, a provider of managed service deployment and back office systems for VoIP, wireless and cable networks. For Solegy, Brekeke will provide SIP-based IP-PBX and SIP Server software for the creation of VoIP telephony solutions.
Brekeke's SIP software is managed through a web-based administration tool with scalable and flexible PBX features for basic to advanced telephony configurations. The use of Brekeke's IP-PBX integrated with Solegy's ServicePDQ platform will enable Solegy to offer a managed PBX service. "Brekeke's IP-PBX features are perfect for combining with Solegy's ServicePDQ platform," said Shin Yamade, CEO of Brekeke Software, Inc.
"Combining Brekeke's products and Solegy's managed service to develop next generation VoIP services and products can give businesses an advantage over competitors by drastically reducing the upfront costs and manpower needed to roll out a competitive service." Solegy's managed ServicePDQ platform is a multi-service software system that offers a single point from which to develop, deploy, manage and bill for network services across heterogeneous networks.
At the center of ServicePDQ is the Real Time Billing Engine (RTBE), an efficient and customizable web-based IP billing solution which helps service providers to manage all their customer accounts and billing information. ServicePDQ is a high performance, fault-tolerant software platform for developing and deploying revenue-generating network services. "Brekeke's IP-PBX was the best solution to interact with our managed VoIP back office.
We explored many IP-PBX vendors in our search to find a product that fits the needs of our customers wanting an on-premises solution," said Stu Sleppin, president of Solegy. "With its many features, ease of use and technical support, selecting Brekeke's OnDo PBX was an easy decision."
Written by Dal on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.
Editor's Note: What kind of steaming pile is this? Blocking access to web services to protect revenue streams. I hope this does not become a trend. If I have the ability to get online (most likely paying for it if traveling) I should not have any other roadblocks to work around. UAE's telco should retract this policy if this is the case.
We have just heard an odd piece of news. Apparently Skype cannot be used to make calls out of the UAE anymore. We were able to make a Skype-in call without any difficulty. ISPs may be blocking Skype's website, preventing downloads. In addition, for Skype users already using the VoIP tool, the tool no longer seems to work. In addition to Skype, Windows users are having trouble using other common VoIP tools like MSN and Yahoo. Apparently Google's tool still works - but one cannot be sure for how long.
This is a troubling trend. If Telcos (via ISPs) are able to block access to these tools then they can obviously protect their revenue streams. Travelers who are now used to free calls will have to pay the horrible rates that are, frankly, theft.
Anyone who has a work around please let us to know so that we can post it here.
Written by Dal on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype.
Editor's Note: On paper this looks like a nice little headset. Supports upto 3 seperate SIP accounts and WiFi security WEP64/128 and WPA for upgrade security. 3 hours of talk time is "okay" but I would like to see more like 4-5 hours. Time to see if I can get my hands on one.
UTStarcom, Inc., a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and services, today announced the global launch of its newest portable WiFi handset - the F3000.
With a sleek, clamshell design available in both black and gold, UTStarcom's F3000 WiFi handset bridges the gap between traditional WiFi phones and today's state-of-the-art cellular devices, offering consumers a combination of form and functionality. Measuring 85 x 43 x 22mm and weighing approximately 90g, the F3000 features a full-color, 1.8" (45.7mm) LCD screen, polyphonic ringtones, text messaging capability and talk-time of up to three hours and stand-by time of approximately 75 hours.
The phone supports a range of voice protocols, including SIP, SDP, RTP/RTCP and RFC 2833/inband DTMF, and utilizes ITU codecs G.711 and G.729. It operates at WiFi 802.11b/g 2.4GHz and supports WiFi security WEP64/128 and WPA. The F3000 also supports a variety of user interface languages, including English, French, Spanish and Chinese, and standard PSTN features, such as call waiting and three-way calling, are also available. It is easily configured, supporting auto-provisioning and remote software upgrades.
Additionally, UTStarcom's F3000 features an Auto-Search capability, enabling users to locate WiFi networks within range and store these profiles for later use. Moreover, the handset can be programmed with three separate SIP accounts, providing both service provider and access point flexibility for the end user.
Source: UTStarcom
Written by Dal on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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No one should be surprised that little more than 24 hours after Steve Irwin's death was announced, clips are hitting the visual community telegraph of our age.That'd be YouTube.Some are fan tributes, some are actual clips from his "Crocodile Hunter" shows.Here's the link that when you click it, will spawn a list. So much more [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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There's some sort of a super-secret Apple event scheduled for San Francisco on Tuesday September 12. Some of us think that a wireless, cell or even WiFi-enabled iPod (maybe a bit like that patent sketch I show you up there) will be one of the announcements.But according to a survey of 3,000 people by [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and Research.
In our Digital Micro-Markets blog, colleague Donna Bogatin's "Will Netflix CDs Go The Way Of AOL CDs" post explores the risk to Netflix' competitive model from faster, movie download services.Donna makes some salient points. Heck, I've even written about my perception that Netflix's current thru-the-mail model is one with a fairly narrow time horizon [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends.
Fellow VoIP blogger Tom Keating is most circumspect when it comes to even PG-rated four-letter words.Today he writes of his incalculable frustration attempting to port his Vonage number over to Charter Cable. He had intended to do so because he was frustrated with some Vonage call quality issues, but was also attracted by Charter's multiple-services [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and General and Charter Communications and SBC-AT&T.
Yesterday's New York Times feature interview with Vonage Chairman and Founder Jeff Citron came awful close to a puff piece.Much of the story engaged in happy-talk stenographical recitation of Jeff's main talking points: Vonage (which reported its two millionth subscriber today) is in "good shape," the V-Phone is sure spreadin' the mojo around, and statements [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and General.
I'm a big
Hugh MacLeod fan - and this cartoon is hilarious given all the chatter about Web 2.0 recently, including some comments on a podcast made by
Tim Berners-Lee.
Written by Mark Evans on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page.
Facebook holds itself above other social networks because of its focus on real-world relationships. The company sees itself as a utility, providing up-to-date information about your friends and what they’re doing.
Sometimes Mark Zuckerberg and his crew of big-picture thinkers try too hard to separate themselves, calling a blogging tool “notes” or adding a company blog without a feed. But other times they seem to really get it — for instance, today’s new features: news feeds that show, chronologically, your friends’ most recent activities across the site, and your own most recent activities across the site. In 30 seconds, I can find out what my family, my college friends, my current friends, and even some of my work contacts have been doing. If I think my own “mini-feed” has too much information in it, I can adjust it item-by-item to leave no trace.
In the past, while Facebook users hung out changing things on the site all day long, it appeared static. To figure out what was new, members had to organize their friends’ pages by most recently updated, or visit their pages to get their current status (for some heavy users, this is frequently adjusted down-to-the-minute location/state of mind information). It’s not clear that Facebook is worth billions of dollars, but it’s nice to see the company forgoing page views and its old way of doing things to make itself much more useful.
Written by Liz Gannes on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software 2.0 and Startups.
As readers of my blog know, I do a weekly podcast series for Pulvermedia titled Canadian IP Thought Leaders. Podcasts are a great vehicle for discussion, but unlike live radio, it's pretty tough to tell who your audience is. I have a rough idea of how many people listen to my pods, but very little sense as to who listens or what people think, other than the comments that come back. It's also great to see that many of my guests are featuring the pods I do with them on their websites, so that's another form of validation.
Having said that, it was nice to see this blog post from Bruce Stewart of O'Reilly Emerging Telephony. It ran last week, but it just crossed my path over the weekend. He's got a great blog, and it was nice to see his good words about my last pod - with Jim Van Meggelen on Open Source - and my podcasts overall. It's nice to be heard, and I hope you keep on listening Bruce - I've got lots of good ones lined up for the Fall!
Technorati tags: VoIP podcasts, Jon Arnold, O'Reilly Emerging Telecom, Bruce Stewart
Written by Jon Arnold's Blog on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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I was checking out Technorati when I noticed a new VoIP blog called
TheVoIPGirl.com linked to one of my posts. Curious about the domain name, considering there are plenty of
gadget girl websites, I was intrigued to see what this new blog was about.
VoIPGirl just started her blog about 3 weeks ago (August 11th) was the first post. In
her About me link she writes:
This is NOT a blog about women, or even necessarily about women who use VOIP services – I mean how boring is that. I called it The VOIP Girl because well I'm a gal. And I want to write about this industry. That's about it. What really prompted me to get going however, is the fact that there are no women commentators on this subject. I'm curious to see if my perspective will be any different.
Well amen to that! There are
way too many male VoIP bloggers, so it's about time we have some VoIP bloggers from the fairer sex. Maybe you'll crack into
Garrett's Top 30 VoIP blogs? You're already arguably the #1 female VoIP blogger.
Ironically, in one of her posts titled
Bye Bye Vonage, she talks about how she is jumping ship from Vonage. She writes, "Perhaps not the most auspicious way to start off a blog about VoIP but I'm being honest here." She explains her rationale and it's certainly worth a look. On a related note, I've finally jumped ship myself from
Vonage - but more on that in a separate blog post. Take a guess which VoIP or phone provider I went with. I bet no one will guess correctly.
In another one of
VoIPGirl's posts she writes, "
Tom Keating recently talked about how to pure VOIP providers like Vonage stack up against the cable and telco companies offering broadband Internet VOIP phone services....
Who is Tom Keating? He owns the VOIP and Gadgets Blog and is CTO, VP and founder of TMC Labs, one of the
leading sources for unbiased opinions and reviews in the VoIP, call center, datacom/telecom industries."
Well, aw shucks. Now you done gone embarrassed me.
Thanks VoIPGirl for the nice kudos for me and TMC -- and welcome aboard the VoIP blogosphere! Let's give her a hearty welcome in the comments here or on her blog.
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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and VoIP.
Summer is officially over, and you can feel it in the air, at least here in Toronto. The kids are back to school and it's time to think ahead to the Fall.
Next week is Fall VON - #10, so it's a big one. The buzz is not hard to find, especially on Jeff Pulver's blog, and hopefully I'll see you there.
I've never been busier with shows, and wanted to post about my schedule so people know where to find me if we happen to be doing the same things.
After Fall VON, I've got a bunch of shows in October, and a few others lined up for later in the year. My current schedule is up on my website now, and will be updated as things develop.
Technorati tags: Fall VON, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates
Written by Jon Arnold's Blog on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Vonage has been on our minds lately. A UBS Research report reminded us that we were right in our skepticism about the future growth prospects, and there are signs of a slowdown.
The company had ended the second quarter with 1.8M lines in service. Assuming the company crossed the 2 million mark yesterday, it would imply a pace of roughly 2,220 net adds per day. This represents a slowdown from the roughly 2,800 subscribers added per day in the second quarter. The current pace would imply 2.057M subscribers at the end of 3Q06, roughly in line with our estimate of 2.128M.
Written by Om Malik on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP.
If the Web is attacking the newspaper industry, former Knight-Ridder president Tom Mohr believes the newspaper industry has to fight back by joining forces. If you're in the newspaper business, his lengthy "Manifesto" (aka Switzerland Inc.) is a must-read. Ceding the fact newspapers will not be online innovators, Mohr believes newspapers will survive through strong leadership and alliances with online vertical partners. "Newspaper industry leaders are frogs in a pot. The water’s starting to boil, and it’s time to jump," he said. "Only 19 percent of 18-34 year olds read a daily newspaper; 44 percent of them go to a Web news portal. Broadband penetration has reached 57%. The blogosphere is doubling every 5 ½ months. Search provides instant access to the world’s information. User-generated content has turned the authority model of institutional media on its head. Peer-to-peer networks, tag clouds and reputation engines are fundamentally changing how people engage with content and communications." For more, check out John Battelle and blackrimglasses.com.
Written by Mark Evans on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Media.
CounterPath, the company behind Eyebeam soft phone client is seeing some serious insider activity, according to a reader who tipped us on the furious buying that is going on.
Steven Bruk and Larry Timlick are turning out to be big buyers of the stock of this company which trades on OTC BB. Is he related to the chairman and co-founder of the company, Mark Bruk? Timlick, incidentally is a former Cisco executive who joined the company right around the time our good pad, Erik Lagerway left the company formerly known as Xten.
Earlier this summer CounterPath’s stock came under heavy selling pressure, and perhaps the folks related to the company are trying to prop up the stock. The company said it would meet its over-$10 million in sales for fiscal 2007 forecast, and added, “CounterPath’s recent price decline may be a reasonable entry opportunity.” Of course, no mention of profits! Maybe they are eating their own dog food.
The company has managed to get some traction for its software. BT BroadbandTalk Softphone, Packet8 Softalk, and Adtran IP Softphone are all using white label CounterPath.
Talking about soft phones, both Jeff and Andy were lamenting the fact that US telephone companies haven’t launched their softline services, unlike British Telecom. I guess, the Fat Belly doesn’t much care for softphones… yet!
Written by Om Malik on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP.
After the dot-com bust and IT slowdown nearly crushed the startup he co-founded, entrepreneur Alok Mittal realized India’s business environment had a major shortcoming. There was no money for early stage companies. He survived–selling the startup he co-founded, jobsahead.com, to Monster.com for $9 million in 2004—but his five-year roller coaster ride gave him another idea.
With even venture capitalists looking to invest as much as $1 million-$3 million, Indian entrepreneurs badly needed angel investors willing to commit smaller amounts in, and more importantly, provide guidance to, very early stage, pre-revenue companies.
To shore up the gap, together with Saurabh Srivastava and some other people, Mittal informally started Band of Angels, India, modeled on Band of Angels and Angel Capital Association, to provide not just money but also high-quality mentoring to budding entrepreneurs. The group that formally launched this April has 30 investors from a variety of industries and has made three investments.
The only one Mittal will name is Knowcross which makes software for the hospitality industry. The others, he says, are a technology retail chain and a heritage restaurant property that plans to scale up to a chain of high-end restaurants.
GigaOM recently chatted with Alok Mittal, who is also executive director at venture firm Canaan Partners’ India office, about the kinds of companies and the sectors Band of Angels is looking to invest in. Here are some excerpts of that conversation.
– On the minimum investment required by a Band member:
Alok Mittal: There is no real minimum. We are setting an expectation that members will invest about $50,000 a year. Every member doesn’t have to invest in every company. Also, simply some one with $50,000 to spare is not the kind of member we are looking for. We are passionate about entrepreneurship and we want to help build companies as well so we want members with experience and a proven track record.
–On the sectors Band of Angels, India, is looking to invest in:
AM: When we started out, the first set of members was strong in technology. Now only half of the 30 odd members are from the technology space. We always had a broad charter and want to support different kinds of businesses, because ultimately all of us are excited about entrepreneurship. We are looking at the Internet space, telecom technology and embedded domains, media and entertainment, BPO, retail and biotechnology, among others.
–On some proposals they are currently looking at:
AM: We are considering some projects on the Internet side, like e-learning and social networking. These startups need $100,000 to $300,00 and we are well designed to do these smaller investments. We are looking at telecom technology, like billing software, and also at smaller BPO plays but those that have demonstrated success.
–On the Band of Angels members being able to recoup their investments:
AM: This is a very new concept for India where even the venture capital industry is so nascent. Very few companies can really expand with $200,000 from an angel investor. So unless the next stage (venture capital) is available an angel can incur losses. Our success in a sense will depend on how the rest of the ecosystem is developing.
With VC investments increasing in India, this may just be the right time for angel investors, so anyone wanting to approach Band of Angels with an idea read this first and go, get funded.
Written by Shailaja Neelakantan on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Featured and Startups and India, Inc..
We all know about South Korea, where broadband adoption has been driven by a gaming culture nonpareil. Hong Kong City Broadband, a company that sells 100 megabit connections for peanuts (I have written about them in the past) is now starting to push a gaming service called, Imagine. It is throwing in some kinda boots as well.
“…subscribers are exclusively entitled to special Fiber weapons for this game, the most powerful being “Fibre Bootsâ€, which helps to increase the wearer’s pace by up to 10%…”
No, I am not making this up… seriously…No seriously, check them out yourself. Gives a whole new meaning to that song, These Boots Are Made For Walking Gaming. But on a more serious tip, broadband providers are realizing (something GamePC makers already knew) that gamers can be a good demographic to target. Verizon just launched its online gaming service. Cable providers have been making noises about this as well. Parks Associates recently forecasted that the online gaming (for US only) will hit $4.4 billion in 2010, up from $1.1 billion in 2005.
Written by Om Malik on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on online games and Broadband.
For obvious reasons, I have been preoccupied, but I wanted to take a moment to point out the Vonage story in the New York Times, which despite being well intentioned fails to ask the tough questions, and falls back on rather tame and self serving comments from analysts. Lets break it down…
- Vonage now has two million customers, which is great, except that Time Warner, Cablevision and Cox are getting there, and Comcast has just gotten started.
- Those two million customers came after Vonage spent over half a billion dollars. It will need three million more to be profitable. As NYT itself notes, the company loses “2.3 percent of its customers each month.”
- Qaisar Hasan of Buckingham Research raised his rating to hold but his price target is still $6 a share. In other words, if you took his advise, bought some shares and held them for a while as he suggests, you be out of $3 a share. “This company could be belly-up in three years’ time or be very successful,” he tells the Times. Grrrr! [By the way, in an online poll following Vonage’s IPO, nearly 29% of 755 voters said the stock is going below $5 a share. 33% had predicted it would sink below $10. ]
- Price war rages, and spend-and-pray competitors are still nipping at Vonage’s heels.
- The V-Phone… how about using this device that costs $5 less and still does more including making free phone calls.
Mark Evans, Andy Abramson, Jon Arnold, and Aswath have more on this.
Written by Om Malik on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP.