VoIP SIP Account Thailand

VoIP for IPhone

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:33:00 +0000

Source: MyVoIPProvider.com - Author: Audrey, September 16, 2008

The 3G iPhone has people scratching and biting to download the latest applications designed specifically for the elite few who were fortunate enough to get their hands on the phone. Those who are savvy enough know that if a traditional mobile phone call drops then the same call can be attempted via VoIP on an internet signal. Apple has opened the floodgates and asked developers everywhere to help develop new applications for the phone and developers are paying special attention to VoIP applications.

More than 60 million new iPhone applications were downloaded in 30 days and I bet a great deal of those downloads included applications that enable VoIP phone calls. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable while we review a few VoIP applications for iPhone.

Let’s start with iCall, not only does their name conjure up thoughts of making cheap calls on an iPhone, iCall functionality enables incoming and outgoing calls via a WiFi connection. Their super-cool feature is that the program will switch calls to a VoIP connection when a WiFi connection is detected. Can you imagine what AT&T must be thinking…”Hey! Wait a minute!” The marriage of AT&T and Apple could have AT&T thinking that Apple is cheating on them by allowing VoIP phone calls which means AT&T can’t charge their usual rates unless of course they have figured out a way to only allow calls over AT&T cable signals (trust me, they can’t do this).

Then there is Truphone, providers of quality service for the iPhone with great design and functionality the special feature offered by Truphone is the strong integration with iPhone’s GUI (Graphical User Interface). Truphone lets you see and search stored contacts and access easy to understand account information right on the phone. One must however ask, how do VoIP Truphone calls sound? Apparently, Truphone passed tests with flying colors and calls were made and received without delay. Truphone allows users to call one another freely and naturally there are no roaming charges either. The download of the program is free from the iTunes App Store and after setup there is an introductory free credit so you can test it out for yourself.

PhoneGnome service inclues many easy features but what we like most on the iPhone is that PhoneGnome boasts the convenient visual voicemail feature and 1-click calling.

Talkety is a web based application whereby users can simply log into the Talkety website type in their telephone number and the telephone number of the person you would like to call and Talkety will connect you both via the internet like your own personal secretary. Talkety also claims to save international users 85 – 90%. They also offer voice conferencing with up to 50 participants but that requires a Talkety pro account. Another cool feature of Talkety is the ability to sync your contacts with the Mac OSX Address book.

Jajah is known for being a supporter of the iPhone and is similar to Talkety in that calls are connected over the internet, just enter Grandma’s number and your local telephone number and Jajah will connect you to Grandma.

Thankfully, opening up application development and the increase of competition means big phone companies like AT&T have to open up and accept that VoIP phone calls are here to stay even on an iPhone.

Facebook Gets New VoIP App

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:33:00 +0000

A new Facebook application called Phone-Me-Now allows Facebook members to place free calls from their friends' Facebook profile pages, without revealing either party's caller ID.

The company, Ifbyphone, was offering the first 1,000 accounts 100 free minutes per month to regular U.S. phone numbers, though we doubt there are any of those left.

Standard Ifbyphone subscriptions start at $14.95 per month.
After registering for a free Phone-Me-Now account in your Facebook profile, your Facebook friends can contact you from the friend's area of their Profile. You select the person you want to contact, provide your own number and Ifbyphone rings both telephones, blocks the caller IDs and conferences the two callers together.

This means you can have personal conversations with other members while still keeping your own number (and theirs) private.

"Even In this age of online social networking, there are times when only a real-time personal phone call can convey the right message between two people," said Irv Shapiro, Ifbyphone CEO. "Phone-Me-Now makes it easy to connect privately with a friend by phone, without automatically divulging personal contact details the way caller ID does, and without leaving Facebook to make the call."

The Phone-Me-Now application widget is basically a phone mashup other Ifbyphone mashups allow inbound, outbound and click-to-call telephone applications with integrated interactive voice response dialogs.

Phone-Me-Now is an extension of Ifbyphone's "voice of the Web" services which are designed for medium-sized businesses and enterprise-level Web presence deployment.

The widget is available under Applications at Facebook.com by searching under "Phone-Me-Now". Here is the link http://apps.facebook.com/phonemenow/.

VoIPNews.com.au

Fring launches iPhone VoIP client

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:31:00 +0000

There's been considerable talk about VoIP services one the iPhone. With the release of the iPhone SDK, it was just a matter of time before native applications for the iPhone started cropping up. And, it looks like leading VoIP provider fring has managed to beat out the competition by launching the first ever VoIP application for the iPhone.

fring says that their natively installed VoIP client for the iPhone is a "special pre-release R&D version of fring" created in conjunction with the Holon Institute of Technology academic research labs. The point of this release is to get feedback on the application in preparation for a full-blown, final release version later this year. You'll need a jailbroken iPhone and access to Installer.app (this is a native application, after all), so get to jailbreaking your iPhone if you haven't already done so.
You'll need to add fring's iPhone application repository ("http://fring.com/iphone.xml") to your "Sources" list. Just fire up Installer.app, hit the "Sources" button located along the bottom edge of the Installer window. Hit the "Edit" button in the upper right corner, and then hit "Add" in the upper left corner. When prompted, enter "http://fring.com/iphone.xml" into the URL field.

You'll see a new application category named "Fring" in your main Installer.app window. Click that and install the package - you'll be off and VoIP-ing in no time with fring on your iPhone!

Go install fring and enjoy all that fring-y VoIP goodness.

Thank: IntoMobile

Microsoft Pumps Up Small Business VoIP

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Sometime this summer, Microsoft plans to roll out the first service pack for its Response Point small business voice over IP system, and VoIP solution providers say it adds key features that were missing in previous releases.

Chief among the new features is what Microsoft calls digital voice services, which is known as SIP trunking in the VoIP channel. While earlier versions of Response Point allowed only analog lines to be connected to the PSTN, small businesses will be able to connect to the PSTN over the Internet, and that'll bring the benefits of cheaper calls and easier management, according to solution providers.

Ben Brauer, Microsoft's senior product manager for Response Point, says what sets Response Point apart is the fact that it's been designed with the specific needs of small businesses in mind. "Small business VoIP used to be enterprise phone systems that were cut down for small businesses, but these systems were often too complex and difficult to use," he said.

Response Point has added features that were missing in previous versions, such as click-to-call and the ability to see which users in an office are on the phone, says Trevor Dierdorff, president of AMNet, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based solution provider. "It certainly is a phone system has some features that used to be found in medium and enterprise level VoIP environments," he said.

One of the main selling points of VoIP for small businesses is that it enables them to appear larger than they really are, and the addition of digital voice services is a big part of this equation, said Brauer. Digital voice services enables small companies to use local phone numbers for their remote offices, and also lends itself to marketing campaigns by simplifying the process of setting up telephone hotlines, he added.

But while it's a important feature, the addition of SIP trunking brings with it potential problems for Microsoft, says Andrew Swingler, president of Crewe Technologies, an Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based VoIP VAR.

"The challenge with the new connectivity option is that some people are going to experience poor call quality if they don't set up the network correctly, and Microsoft has no way of managing or helping in that process," Swingler said. "That's why it's important that VARs really stay plugged into the Response Point product. "

But Response Point's ease of management will help companies avoid many of the pitfalls associated with VoIP, said Brauer. And the fact that Response Point is based on Internet technologies and what Brauer called a 'secret sauce' enabled Microsoft to add features like auto-discovery and provisioning.

"You can take a phone off the subnet and plug it into another LAN extension, and that phone will be auto-discovered and provisioned for a particular person or profile," Brauer said.

crn.com

Measures sought against VoIP spam

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:15:00 +0000

Over the next six to twelve months the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is to assess possible measures against "spit" (spam attacks against internet telephony connections). At the 71st meeting of the IETF in Philadelphia the proponents of a first draft architecture had a tough time with their proposal because reliable figures are not yet available for the current threat to internet telephony. However in the end, a majority of the developers did approve the setting up of a "reconnaissance group", tasked with documenting potential threat scenarios and possible countermeasures. A previous proposal for a regular IETF working group on countermeasures to VoIP spam had failed.

Jon Peterson, one of the leaders in the domain of real-time applications and infrastructure (RAI), said there was no evidence at the present time that a "spit" problem existed. In his opinion it was still, at best, theoretical. A representative of the NEC Lab in Heidelberg, on the other hand, said that work on possible solutions to "spit" had already been going on there for three years. At present, he said, the "spit" figures were still small, but "spit" was expected to become a serious problem as internet telephony became more widespread.

"The costs incurred if we do nothing are very high," warns SIP developer Henning Schulzrinne of Columbia University (note: this link is to a PowerPoint presentation). It had taken a long time before anyone reacted to the now-familiar email spam, he pointed out, and now the implementation of countermeasures was struggling along behind the problem. Schulzrinne is one of the authors of an internet draft that contains preliminary recommendations. "Do we really want to wait until we have a VoIP botnet problem?", Schulzrinne asked.

As with email spam, the developers who are already working on possible defences have no magic recipe against "Spit". Among the possible options mooted are solutions involving the identification and authentication of callers, statistical solutions - meaning the blocking of mass calls emanating from one account - or defence through the cost of making a contact (something that was considered for email, but was swiftly rejected).
The experts say that many countermeasures against spam are not very promising for preventing "spit". Filtering by content, the use of complicated addresses not open to automated attack, or the employment of CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart), for example, would make little sense. Even blacklists or hopes of legislation are meeting with reservations. Developers are pinning more hopes on white lists and approval procedures, which however would increase the necessary expense to users.

from Myvoipprovider.com

NEC Reveals 3G, VoIP Alternative

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Many consumers have already embrace VoIP, using Skype or similar programs instead of a mobile phone to make landline calls at home. Now NEC has unveiled a new technology Femtocell which is designed to deliver 3G mobile services via a standard IP broadband connection into a home.

A Femtocell is a small low-power plug-and-play consumer device that allows localised 3G coverage using a consumer's broadband connection. When a user gets home, the localised coverage immediately switches on, so they can use their mobile phone to make calls at a cheaper rate.

"Femtocell is a strategy by mobile operators to keep people on their mobile phones," said NEC's David Iacovitti. "It has the benefit of extending mobile coverage in the home, and allows users to make cheaper calls using their existing mobile handset."

"This means consumers will also have the convenience of having the one telephone number," he added.

The Femtocell solution has already been rolled out with success in Europe, Iacoviit said, and in Australia, is likely to be bundled with a broadband subscription by carriers, perhaps for an additional $20 / month for the service.

NEC Assistant Senior Vice President Yoichi Watanabe said: "The battle to retain a meaningful and profitable relationship with subscribers is heating up, with mobile operators facing competition from new entrants into the market. The company which can deliver customers with the communications services they require and will pay for is the one which will remain visible and relevant.

"As an established provider of mobile infrastructure expertise, NEC recognised that femtocell-based solutions will provide the best platforms for operators who are planning to offer true FMC services to subscribers and we are happy to announce that NEC Corporation has established NEC Europe as the Global Competence Centre for Femtocell".

Smarthouse.com.au

Is Someone Listening to Your VoIP Calls?

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:01:00 +0000

It's no secret that IP telephone calls are more exposed to eavesdroppers. Here are some simple ways to keep your VoIP calls private.

John Edwards on February 22, 2008

Internet telephony can connect you to the world. But what can you do to keep the entire world from listening in on your calls?

It's no secret that Internet telephony is vulnerable to eavesdroppers, much more so than conventional phone calls. That's because IP phones aren't part of the public phone network, where tapping requires a specific, physical wire connection. Calls transmitted via a LAN, a WAN or the Internet can be easily intercepted by anyone with a protocol analyzer, simply by capturing and analyzing the voice packets. This means that just about anyone can snoop on your business and personal calls, including employees, business partners, competitors, law-enforcement authorities and government officials.

Since you probably don't like the idea of everybody and anybody listening to your conversations, you'll want to take action to ensure your VoIP privacy. The best way to accomplish this is with encryption.

As you probably already know, VoIP voice traffic is data that is transmitted over networks. This means, like any type of computer data, VoIP can be protected by encryption. Unfortunately, while VoIP encryption tools are widely available, not many people have taken the minimal time and effort required to use the technology. That's a shame, because encryption can make it make it nearly impossible for someone to snoop on IP telephony calls. Here's a look at five different VoIP encryption approaches.

Zfone: Perhaps the easiest way to encrypt VoIP calls is with Zfone. The software's chief designer is Phil Zimmermann, who created PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), the world's most widely used email encryption software. The technology is simple enough to be installed and used by just about anyone. The latest beta version of Zfone can be downloaded for free. The software's biggest drawback is that it requires both callers to install the application. This means that calls to people you already know, at least those who are willing to install Zfone, will be secure. But calls to banks, brokers, government agencies, and various other organizations and strangers won't necessarily be protected.

Internal Encryption: Many VoIP clients have responded to customer security concerns by incorporating encryption into their software. Skype Ltd., for example, has installed encryption support into its proprietary software. Check your client's provider to see if any encryption services are available.

TLS (Transport Layer Security) and IPsec (IP Security): TLS and IPsec are handy ways of encrypting VoIP calls. TLS encrypts VoIP data traveling between two applications, while IPsec encrypts information for two devices and all the applications running on them. Both protocols aim to keep unauthorized parties from interfering with or listening to calls, and they are almost impossible to manipulate externally. Both approaches are well worth considering.

SRTP (Secure Real-Time Transfer Protocol): SRTP is ideal for protecting VoIP traffic because it has a minimal effect on call quality. For each call you make, a unique encryption key is created, which makes eavesdropping almost impossible. This attribute alone makes SRTP a good choice for day-to-day calls, as well as highly confidential conversations.

VPN (Virtual Private Network): If your business has a VPN, you can leverage its built-in encryption feature to protect your IP telephony calls. Best of all, this protection is extended to all users — even traveling employees who log in to the VPN from a laptop. Remember, however, that a VPN can only secure the data from gateway to gateway. Once calls are on your LAN, you'll need additional protection.

People expect their phone calls to be as private as when they're speaking to someone in their own office or home. VoIP technology by itself can't guarantee this level of protection, so it's up to you to provide the safeguard — encryption — that will keep your conversations confidential.

From : VoIP-News.com

VoIP Inc. folds owing Verizon $8 m.

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:18:00 +0000

Verizon is the biggest loser from the collapse of VoIP Inc., with the carrier owed $8 million and unlikely to see any of it. Verizon last year settled a long running claim by MCI World Com (now Verizon Business Services) for $8.35 million. VoIP Inc. agreed to pay a total of $2.2 million in equal monthly installments until November 2009, but with VoIP Inc. liable for $8 million if it defaulted on its payments. Unless Verizon believes in fairies, this money is as good as gone because the stock price is now at $0.008, creditors are already in the courts for big debts and VoIP Inc. is admitting it expects to have to write off its only real asset, its network business.
On Thursday we exclusively reported the company had filed an 8-k statement advising it was closing down its VoIP business and would concentrate on commercializing its pay-for-call ad technology. But VoIP Inc's demise should have come as no surprise to anyone. When a stock goes from $8.40 to a penny in just one year something is definitely wrong.

In its November Q3 earnings report, the Florida-based company said: "Since inception of business in 2004 we have never been profitable. We have experienced negative cash flows from operations, and have been dependent on the issuances of debt and common stock in private transactions to fund our operations and capital expenditures. Our independent auditors have added an explanatory paragraph to their opinion on our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2006, based on substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern."

At that time, the company had negative working capital of $26.3 million, and contractual obligations of approximately $31.7 million. It claimed assets of $31.7 million, of which $24 million, or 77 percent, was goodwill associated with its VoIP network business Caerus. It was this same $24 million the company told the SEC last week it was likely to have to write off.

Once a tea trading company, VoIP Inc. was founded by serial entrepreneur and convicted felon Steve Ivester. Ivester is long gone but it was only two years ago VoIP still had ambitions to take on Vonage in the retail space. Even as late as December last year, VoIP Inc. refinanced through a $2.5 million private placement. In a Dec. 27 statement, CEO Tony Cataldo, said: "We are pleased that the existing investor group recognized the significant progress we have made over the past year, and elected to provide additional capital to support our growth." Investors are very unhappy and want the SEC to investigate the whole affair. For the VoIP brand it is not a good look.

Fiercevoip.com

Skype vs. Every Other VoIP Provider

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:49:00 +0000

Technology questions are inevitably lobbed my way when I attend family get-togethers, and the holiday that just passed was no exception. It seems that a couple of folks were seriously considering signing up for some kind of VoIP service (one pointedly remarked on the near-flood of promotional material he was receiving about the service from his cable company), when someone piped in, "What's this Skype thing I keep hearing about?"

All VoIP services allow you to make and receive voice calls via your broadband Internet connection, but there are important differences between Skype and other VoIP services. Here we'll compare them in some key areas so you'll have the information you need before deciding to try one or the other. The exact features and capabilities you get with VoIP service depend on the provider, but for purposes of this discussion we'll broadly divide VoIP services into Skype and non-Skype (the kind you obtain from cable and phone companies, plus third-party providers like Vonage).

Getting Started and Equipment
The process for signing up for VoIP service varies by provider, but it usually takes at least a few days to get service activated. If you want to use an existing phone number with a new VoIP service, the process can be lengthier, often taking several weeks. When starting service, most providers will ship you a device that either connects to or takes the place of your broadband router. To this device, you can in turn connect any existing corded or cordless phones you have. (When getting service through a phone or cable company, you may also have the option of using your wall phone jacks.)

Getting up and running with Skype should take all of 15 minutes—about as long as it takes to download and install the software (available for Windows, Mac and Linux) and set up a free account. Normally, you place and receive Skype calls using your computer's microphone and speakers; if you don't want to be bound by this limitation, there are a number of Skype-enabled phones you can buy that work independent of a PC, including Wi-Fi phones and dual-mode phones that work with both Skype and conventional landlines. There is a device available that will let you use conventional phones with Skype, but it connects to so your PC must be left on in order to use it.

Cost and Commitments
VoIP providers typically charge a flat rate for unlimited calls—at least within the U.S. and Canada—that's considerably less expensive than what you would pay for conventional phone service. Usually, the monthly cost for VoIP service is between $25 and $40, and you will often—though not always—be required to commit to a full year of service, especially if you want to pay the lowest possible price.

Skype uses a different pricing model that for most people will be extremely inexpensive. Skype lets you place unlimited voice calls (or video calls via a Webcam, for that matter) to other Skype users for free. If you want to use Skype to call actual phone numbers, you can buy blocks of Skype credit in $10 increments to cover per-minute charges, which start at 2.1 cents for the U.S. and Canada. Alternately, you can pay a flat $3 a month for a Skype Pro account that offers unlimited U.S. and Canada calls. To receive conventional phone calls on your Skype account, you can obtain a phone number for either $60 or $24 a year—the latter only for Skype Pro users.

Unlike most other VoIP providers, Skype does not let you transfer your existing number, but you can cancel Skype Pro service whenever you want.

Call Quality/Reliability
The quality of any VoIP service depends a great deal on your Internet connection. The faster your connection—both upstream and downstream, since voice calls make equal use of both sides of the connection—the better your call quality and reliability is likely to be.

VoIP performance is impacted not just by the speed of the connection but how much congestion is on your network, as well as the network of your ISP. A potential benefit to getting VoIP from the same company that provides your broadband connection is that they may prioritize voice traffic on their own networks, which can improve call quality and reliability. With service from connection-independent providers (like Skype or Vonage) you can usually use router settings at least to prioritize voice traffic on your own network.

No matter who the provider is, VoIP is still a relatively new technology—at least, relative to the century-old phone system. Therefore, while you can usually count on it, it won't be as reliable as an old-fashioned landline. Remember that if your Internet connection is down, so is your VoIP service.

One other thing to be aware off: VoIP service may or may not allow you to make 911 calls. For example, Skype doesn't support such calls, so you should never rely on Skype as your only phone. With VoIP from a cable or phone company, you usually do get this capability, but not always, so check to be sure.

The Bottom Line
While Skype uses similar technology to other VoIP services, as you can see it doesn't provide all the same capabilities (e.g., you can't use standard phones and you can't transfer your existing number). But Skype provides an easy, inexpensive, and flexible way to get your feet wet with VoIP, and for some it may be all the VoIP you ever need.

Wi-fiplanet.com

Fring Adds Mobile File Transfer To VoIP/IM

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:10:00 +0000

VoIP and Mobile 06 February 2008

Fring, a provider of VoIP on mobiles, has added new functionality in their latest release.

Beyond the VoIP and IM functions already included, they’ve expanded to allow the interchange of files between subscribers - mobile to mobile, PC to mobile, as well as between mobiles and PCs, if it runs an MSN IM or Skype client.

There’s no restriction on the type of files that can be sent, or indeed file size, as long as you’ve got storage to receive it. Suggestions are photos - an obvious use, and a considerable saving of use MMS; as well music files - which we suspect will raise the hackles of the music biz; videos and documents complete the list.

All of these mobile transfers all work well if the mobile subscriber is on an all-inclusive data plan, far less so when data is being paid for by the byte. VoIP and IM support
It’s not just fring to fring calls, or calls to landlines that are supported as you’d expect, fring also connect to many IM services including Skype. Support for Skype is both voice and IM, achieved through fring’s own gateway to Skype.

Marketing with skill
Fring has taken a good approach to selling their service, using extensions of the fring name, eg fring-sters to engender friendliness and the sense of belonging to a community.

Those wishing for their VoIP service to grow quickly, have to persuade the users of the service to get their mates onboard. Each of these new members is a potential growth source too.

Beyond the use of catchy names, fring has a series of videos up on the ever-present YouTube. They’re shot in a way of a friend telling you something about a service they’ve discovered and _must_ tell you about - clever. In these videos new features and function are explained and, more importantly, demonstrated.

Digital-lifestyles

Get an Education in VoIP

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:36:00 +0000

These days, you can study just about anything in college. If you have an interest, there is probably a degree out there to match it. If there’s not, you can attend a college that lets you design your own degree in order to get an advanced education in the topics which interest you most. But despite the prevalence of unique studies across the nation, many are surprised to learn that it’s possible to get a college education in VoIP technology. And many businesses may find that they can benefit from sending their students to advanced classes like these.

Believe it or not, there is a VoIP Lab that is part of the Illinois Institute of Technology Center for Professional Development. The lab was created in 2004 as part of a class’s semester project and has been used ever since by students who are interested in the development of VoIP technology. Designed to support multiple projects simultaneously, the VoIP lab is a true demonstration of how efficient VoIP technology can be in connecting people working together on various projects.

Some of the things that students can learn by using the VoIP lab include:

• The working applications of VoIP in various situations.
• How to tweak VoIP applications to suit the changing needs of any given project.
• VoIP routing technology.
• Remote collaboration in the real world using VoIP technology.
• Assessment of the quality of service provided by VoIP technology.
• Overview of VoIP security problems and solutions that help remedy those problems.

As students study these things, they also develop new ways of using VoIP so that it can be more efficient. This helps to improve the technology in ways that are applicable to a variety of different users.

Many small businesses encourage their employees to continue studying their industry even though they have already graduated from a degree program. Technology is changing so rapidly that it requires regular education to stay on top no matter what type of industry a business is in. For this reason, some businesses even assist employees in paying for additional and ongoing technology education. Those businesses may consider looking into opportunities at the VoIP lab in order to have employees who are educated in updated information about this technology.

Learn more about the VoIP Lab from this report by No Jitter.

Skype Launches On PSP In Europe

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:55:00 +0000

30 January 2008

Officials from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) have announced that the new system software update for the PSP will immediately enable all owners of the newer PSP Slim & Lite model to make and receive calls using VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) telephone service Skype.

Available today, the update to firmware version 3.90 only allows Skype functionality on the new PSP Slim & Lite version of the console and not the older PSP 1000 series of consoles. The Skype software allows users to make free telephone calls over the Internet to other Skype users or make paid for calls to traditional landline and mobile phones. Originally announced in January, the Skype service was due to launch in Japan first but was postponed after two microphone products bundled with the software failed to pass Skype’s certification process. Although a headset and remote control is needed no hardware bundle has yet to be announced for the West.
Also added via the 3.90 software update is the Go!Messenger icon on the PSP cross media bar (XMB).

Compatible with all versions of the console, the software will allow for both video and voice chat at the end of February. Currently though, the icon only directs users to a website with further information on the service.

VoIP Over 3G Wireless Gets Real

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:08:00 +0000

A new report predicts there will be a shift to VoIP over 3G wireless in 2008. Expect bold new options for carriers and users.

Nicole Lewis on January 22, 2008

Mobile providers will shift toward delivering VoIP over 3G wireless networks in 2008, a report published this month predicts. According to Larry Hettick, the report's author and a principal analyst at Current Analysis Inc., mobile providers will introduce IMS (IP multimedia subsystems) supported VoIP, which goes beyond SIP (Session Initiation Pprotocol) and offers more robust service to customers. This trend will take place more slowly in the U.S., while Europe and Asia take the lead.

Once VoIP over 3G begins to take hold, U.S. mobile carriers can begin to bring credible unified communications services to their enterprise mobility portfolios. This will allow hosted solutions inside the central office and off-premise solutions to work equally well, as PBX functionality expands and enables better services from voice call features. It will also enable unified communication in which voice mail, email and fax converge into a single portal.
New Options, Low Cost

VoIP over 3G can open up a whole new world of possibilities for both carriers and users. From providing mobile features to laptops and improving mobile features in CRM software to offering customers a chance to click a Web page and listen to voice mail, carriers can offer a range of features at often-minimal costs.

Still, unlike companies in Europe and Asia that hold both wireless and wireline networks, major carriers in the U.S. are further behind. Some providers are offering 3G services, but major carriers like AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc. are not yet offering VoIP over mobile on a commercial basis.

However, Hettick said there are indications that the movement toward this trend is growing. “If you look AT&T or Verizon, they have a huge enterprise customer base of wireline customers, and they need to account for both protecting their wireline base as well as integrating it with a wireless platform,” he said.

According to Hettick AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth, in conjunction with its wireless division (formerly Cingular Wireless), has moved the company to look at delivering services equally well on both wireless and wireline networks. Verizon Wireless has hinted that it will be using its EV-DO Revision A technology for conversational voice, but as yet has not announced plans for VoIP over 3G. Meanwhile, Sprint has pushed further into the wireless market by providing advanced enterprise mobility services. At this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sprint chief technology officer Barry West said the company will launch its next-generation WiMax high-speed wireless network in April.

Still AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless have lagged behind Asian and European carriers in providing mobile unified communications. The reason? They have focused on a wireline infrastructure to the enterprise. Now that 3G networks have been built out, these companies are looking at the services they can port to wireless and wireline equally. In fact, while some speculate that VoIP is giving 3G a new lease on life, Hettick argued that it’s the reverse.

“One thing that’s really important for VoIP over mobile is that VoIP in a cellular network takes more capacity from the cellular network than a standard cellular network call, and so they really did need the greater capacity that a 3G network brings in order for VoIP to make sense from a pure voice call perspective,” Hettick said.
More Disruptive Findings

Hettick’s findings echo another report published in November by Disruptive Analysis Ltd., which forecasts 255 million active users of VoIP over 3G by the end of 2012. Users will be dominated by mobile operators, yet penetration will still be below 10 percent of total global mobile subscribers and around 20 percent of all 3G users, according to the report.

The report's author, Dean Bubley, also concluded that Europe and Asia are more advanced than the U.S. in 3G technology improvements, but he noted that all three regions will see companies improving their VoIP over 3G as a way to differentiate themselves — by offering customers more functionality with their PCs, laptops and smartphones.

“Carriers are more likely to do things like flat-rate data plans, while offering a better choice of devices,” Bubley said. “They’ve built up better coverage; where they’ve built the cell sites, they’ve got better backhaul connections into the network."

Bubley also noted that the addressable market is not huge, but over the next few years networks will add capacity and device capabilities, and software for VoIP will improve. Eventually, VoIP clients will be preloaded on some handsets.

“When we get to 4G networks — probably starting from 2012 onwards, depending on how you define 4G — the expectation is that 4G mobile networks will be all IP, and at that point you have to use voice over IP because there is no circuit there,” Bubley said. “You get to 4G and VoIP is mandatory unless you want to carry on running an older network in parallel in perpetuity."

Forrester analyst Lisa Pierce said that with the exception of select applications like push-to-talk over 3G, it's unlikely that 3G providers — especially those in the U.S. — will improve performance of the 3G networks to the point that conversational VoIP would operate well over 3G services. Since 4G networks are IP-based by definition, it's much more likely that providers will invest in 4G for this purpose.

“If 4G is going to be in service in four to five years, why would a provider bother doing something else in the interim? Especially when there is no compelling financial reason,” Pierce said. “Quite frankly, from an expense perspective, this would involve having to invest much more heavily than carriers plan, and in some cases that could mean having to reallocate spectrum between traditional cellular service and 3G. Why would they do that? If VoIP is ‘free’, financially there is no incentive."

Thank : voip-news.com

Call-Center FAQ: Automated Quality Monitoring

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Fast answers to crucial questions about buying, deploying and managing an automated quality-monitoring solution.

John Edwards on January 17, 2008

How can automated quality monitoring help my business? The technology offers several benefits, including enhanced customer service, more sales, fewer mistakes, improved government compliance and a more polished public image.

Why is automated monitoring better than manual monitoring? Automated solutions are less labor-intensive and offer more meaningful insight. They also cost less to run over time and generate more detailed records. That's why the technology is being embraced by a growing number of call centers. In a December 2007 report, DMG Consulting LLC estimated that sales of quality-monitoring and related solutions would total $2.3 billion in 2007, a 10 percent increase over 2006.

What should I look for in a solution? Compatibility with your company's existing call-center technology is critical, of course. It's also important to consider suites versus stand-alone solutions, pricing and delivery model — on-premise or SaaS (software as a service). Other points to ponder include security features, administration tools, recording/logging functions, retrieval/storage capabilities, the quality-monitoring environment, screen-capture support and reporting functions.

My call center has only 25 agents. Is automated quality monitoring a worthwhile investment for smaller call centers? According to quality-monitoring solution vendor Co-nexus Communications Systems, 90 percent of very large call centers use automated call monitoring, while only about 25 percent of small facilities (those with less than 30 agents) have embraced the technology. This is unfortunate, since small call centers have the same desire to improve call quality as their larger counterparts, yet they must tackle the task with fewer internal resources. This dilemma reinforces the case for automated quality monitoring in the small call center.

What's the best way to introduce automated quality monitoring to my agents? Be up front about the technology, and don't try sneaking it in (the agents will eventually figure out what you're doing anyway). Ask your agents for suggestions on achieving customer service and other goals. Be sure to recognize useful ideas with gift certificates and other rewards.

How do I counter agents' claims that the technology is designed to spy on them? Tell them the truth: that the technology's aim is to improve service, not punish agents. To back up your claim, show them how the technology will improve customer service and lead to enhanced interaction between agents and callers.

What percentage of calls should be monitored? Opinions vary, but most call centers seem to eventually settle on monitoring about 5 to 10 percent of calls. Call centers experiencing widespread or pernicious quality problems, however, may opt to up the percentage of calls monitored until the problem is resolved.

Which vendors offer automated quality-monitoring solutions? A variety of vendors offer solutions. Some of the companies to choose from include Autonomy, CallCopy Inc., Envision Telephony Inc., Interactive Intelligence, Knoahsoft, NICE Systems Ltd., OnviSource Inc., Telrex, Verint Systems Inc., VirtualLogger LLC and Voice Print International Inc..

What's the biggest mistake that call centers make when using automated quality monitoring? There are many ways to misuse an automated quality-monitoring solution, but perhaps the most grievous error is too expect too much from the technology. Seeking perfection is an impossible and wasteful task, so be satisfied with incremental improvements in key areas. Despite careful monitoring, agents will continue to make mistakes, and customers will still be annoyed — only to a much lesser extent than in the past.

How can I learn if the technology is living up to its potential? Don't expect immediate benefits. Supervisors need to learn how to use the technology to its full potential, particularly how to use the solution to pinpoint and fix specific problems. Analyze performance benchmarks periodically — at three-month intervals, for example — to see what impact the technology is having on various call-center activities.

Thank : VoIP-News

Call Center News

The Secret to Call-Center Productivity

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:12:00 +0000

Boost contact-center agent output — without causing burnout.

Cindy Waxer on January 15, 2008

If there’s one thing today’s call-center managers are likely to lose sleep over, it’s how to boost agent productivity. After all, you can save money by using technologies like VoIP, but the majority of contact-center costs lie in recruiting and retaining employees. As a result, any increase in their productivity can greatly enhance the return on investment.

But while much-ballyhooed bonuses and exorbitant incentive packages can increase productivity, they can also cause agent burnout. Here are four ways to get the most out of your contact-center agents — without driving them into early retirement.

Reassess your metrics. Just because you’ve reduced your average call-handle time doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve increased agent productivity, especially if call volume increases as a corollary result.

“Companies should re-examine how it is they’re measuring productivity and what that means,” said Colin Taylor, CEO of The Taylor Reach Group, a contact-center consultancy. “Most centers use the wrong metrics, and part of it is the fault of the center management, and part of it is center management not being willing or able to educate senior management."

Taylor said that although “the vast majority of centers are running almost exclusively on quantitative measures” — like handle time and available time — a more accurate indication of productivity rests in qualitative metrics, like first-call resolution and customer satisfaction.

Apply technology properly. So you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the hottest contact-center technology. But don’t expect to get your money’s worth unless your agents are schooled in the tools' most effective applications. For example, “A big inhibitor to agent productivity is multiple desktops," said Taylor. "It is not uncommon in a number of centers for agents to have six different windows open at any given point in time.” The result is the constant rekeying of the same information into several disparate systems — a huge waste of time and money.

“Putting an incentive on reducing average handle time is going to be nowhere near as effective as eliminating one or two of those windows,” Taylor advised, adding that comprehensive product knowledge can also help mitigate widespread misuse of call-center tools.

Educate your work force. Many of today’s contact centers train an agent just once; the remainder of his or her employment education comes from co-workers over the next six months — not exactly a reliable source of information, Taylor said. For this reason, “Training agents to better utilize the tools they have goes a long way,” he said. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of cost-effective, Web-based training solutions that promise to get agents up to speed in a timely and reliable fashion.

Empower your agents. “Agent empowerment can be a huge productivity booster,” said Taylor. If trained properly and armed with the right job skills, there’s no reason for agents to constantly seek assistance from their superiors. Encouraging top-notch agents to take matters into their own hands, directly address customer concerns and take ownership of their job responsibilities is a surefire way to bolster work force morale, as well as productivity levels.

Call Center News

VoIP Trends to Watch in 2008

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:20:00 +0000

Five developments that could save you money or bring you better service this year.

Behind the doom-and-gloom headlines, the VoIP industry has been innovating like crazy. Much of the evidence suggests that the innovation will continue in 2008, but other forces are shaping the industry, too. Any self-respecting capitalist, even the venture type, will admit that creative destruction is as important as creative innovation. So VoIP will certainly have its ups and downs over the next 12 months. Here, in no particular order, are five VoIP trends that may affect you as the year unfolds.

1. VoIP/PSTN Integration: Casual observers may still think that VoIP simply means voice calling over the Internet, or at least over all-IP networks. More and more providers, however, are using IP switches and feature servers to provide the flexibility and functionality that make VoIP so attractive, but they are relying on conventional carriers to deliver calls to and from users over PSTN (public switched telephone network) or cellular circuits. One reason, which TalkPlus Inc. makes a point of mentioning, is that PSTN delivery provides superior voice quality with little sacrifice in cost. And at least as important is that it lets providers extend their services to people who are not near a wireline or wireless broadband-Internet connection, particularly the demographically desirable types who do most of their talking over their cellphones.

2. Shutdown of the Internet VoIP Bargain Basement: Whether or not Vonage Holdings Corp. survives or thrives, the shutdown of SunRocket Inc. has made it clear that selling Internet VoIP on price alone is an iffy proposition. Low subscription fees and thin margins require high volumes, but boosting volumes requires serious spending on marketing, as there are dozens of competitors with essentially the same product. More marketing spending, of course, makes it hard to keep prices down. The only way out of this vicious cycle is to focus on more and better features. And that, in turn, means concentrating more on small businesses as opposed to consumers, since ambitious, growing companies can both appreciate and afford at least a few bells and whistles, not to mention distinctive ring sounds.

3. Vendor-Based Calling Communities (or, Viral Goes Corporate): Global Crossing has been doing it since mid-2006, under the name VoIP Community Peering Service. Fonality jumped on the bandwagon in August of 2007, offering trixNet service free for buyers of three trixbox Pro editions. Both approaches let different customers of the same provider call each other without long-distance charges. Global Crossing customers' calls go over the provider's international IP backbone, Fonality's travel over the Internet. It's sort of viral marketing in reverse: buy the product first, then find out whether your clients and suppliers are part of your free-calling community. Look for it next time you're shopping for VoIP.

4. Smarter Integration with Social Applications: It's not enough to merely put a click-to-call button on someone's profile page. VoIP integration with social applications will only succeed if it provides the right kind of calling at the right time. Privacy and the ability to block unwanted callers may actually be the easiest part of the equation. Balancing such protections with convenience and appropriateness of the calling experience is a lot harder. Particularly important will be minimizing the amount of work the user must do to sign up, download software, transfer contacts and the like. As Yoomba CEO Elad Hemar put it, the application should work for you, you shouldn't have to work for the application.

5. Easing VoIP Transitions: One of the biggest concerns for small businesses contemplating the move to VoIP is the risk of leaping into the technological unknown. Providers have begun finding ways to ease those concerns. RingCentral Inc., for example, lets customers of its hosted IP PBX service start by having their calls delivered over the PSTN through their regular phone lines. If and when they're ready to move to full Internet VoIP, RingCentral's recently introduced DigitalLine voice will be ready and waiting.

Similarly, Junction Networks Inc. lets customers start with hosted VoIP. When their needs grow, they can transfer their settings and messages to identical software running on premise-based PBXes with no disruption of service. Expect more vendors to realize that small companies can't afford big risks any more than big companies. Betting your business on a new technology is just as traumatic with 30 employees as it is with 30,000.

10 VoIP Companies to Watch in 2008

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:12:00 +0000

Change will come from a broad variety of sources as the industry evolves.Robert

Poe on January 9, 2008

All kinds of companies will be agents of VoIP change in 2008. They'll range from high-tech giants to low-budget startups. They'll be in the hardware, software and services businesses, and they'll be in spaces that are none — or all — of the above. Here are 10 companies that represent the range of change-makers. Together, they provide a good idea of where the VoIP business is going this year. Interestingly, as we put the list together, they seemed to almost naturally sort themselves into similar or contrasting pairs, which is the way we'll present them. Perhaps it just goes to show: In a dynamic and evolving market, creativity loves company.

Vonage and 8x8 Inc.: The coming year will make clear whether Internet VoIP pioneer Vonage will begin to thrive or continue to struggle. It has resolved its legal woes stemming from patent-infringement litigation, including a lawsuit by Nortel Networks that cropped up in December. But its payments to AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless, amounting to some $200 million or more, will make it all that much harder for Vonage to compete as a low-cost provider of consumer VoIP services, especially given its high churn rate and cost of acquiring customers. 8x8, for its part, started avoiding Vonage's mistakes before most of the world knew they were mistakes. It developed its own technology from the start and focused on small-business customers before the conventional wisdom pronounced consumer VoIP a shaky business. It has integrated its Packet8 hosted-VoIP offering with CRM and hosted call-center services, giving small companies big-business capabilities — all the right moves for the emerging era of small-business VoIP.

Digium Inc. and Fonality: The lively rivalry between these two open-source leaders should continue into 2008. Digium has been particularly active as of late. It acquired Switchvox in September, then turned around and offered both hosted and free editions of Switchvox software. In August, Fonality offered new Pro editions of the trixbox version of Asterisk, which came with free Internet calling between any of its users via the newly introduced trixNet service. Look for the competition to heat up even more over the coming year as small businesses' interest in IP telephony expands.

JAJAH and Rebtel: JAJAH and Rebtel, the two Web-activated VoIP providers, are trying to find their way out of the discount-calling trap. Both start by letting you log on to their Web sites and enter your landline or mobile number, as well as the overseas one you want to reach. They then set up local calls in both locations and connect the two via cheap long-distance VoIP links. But even while refining their services to make them more convenient, the companies need to offer more than just low rates. JAJAH took steps in the right direction in 2007, developing an "advertising engine" that lets users hear ads overlaid on ringtones. It also struck a deal to provide both its international-calling and advertising capabilities to Jangl Inc. (below), taking advantage of that company's ties with social networks to offer services that fit users' interests and needs. Look for more interesting deals from these two over the next year as they strive to expand their horizons.

Jangl and Jaxtr Inc.: These two click-to-call companies see the key to success as integration with social networks, and they provide not just low-priced calling but also calling that happens the right way and at the right time, with the perfect combination of convenience, context and privacy protection. In fact, in its deal with Jajah (above), Jangl effectively outsourced the international-calling function. That lets it concentrate on building relationships with social-network users, based on efforts such as its tie-up with Facebook last May. Jaxtr, for its part, works hard to make it easy for users to add widgets to sites such as Craigslist, eBay, Facebook and MySpace.com. The pair may be the best bet yet to make integrated VoIP popular among large numbers of online social networkers.

Microsoft and ShoreTel Inc.: This pair is a study in contrasts, but both have the goal of bringing IP telephony to all kinds of businesses that didn't have it before. Software giant Microsoft wants to use its Office Communications Server to make voice just another software application that runs on corporate servers. Tiny ShoreTel, which went public in July, wants to deliver IP PBX functionality on ultrareliable hardware it designed using all solid-state storage, to eliminate the reliability hazards of server-based solutions. How the two approaches fare in 2008 will tell us a lot about how seriously the proliferation of Microsoft's vision of VoIP will threaten the future of the stand-alone PBX.

Thank : VoIP-News

Make VoIP Phone Calls with your PSP!

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:34:00 +0000

Sony officially announced it for the Slim, the Noobz team officially make it happen — for both Fat and Slims! It’s beta software so please report any problems. See readme.html to get started.

Fanjita notes the audio quality needs some work, the interface needs a makeover, and video calls aren’t working quite yet. Nonetheless it’s usable and demonstrates pure awesomeness. Source code is also available for homebrew developers to advance on. Kudos team!

“Furikup” highlights:

It’s free software — in both the beer, and speech senses.
You can use it anywhere in the world, subject to signing-up to a suitable local SIP-based voice-over-IP provider and being near a usable wifi access point. e.g. with SIPGate, in the UK, you can call to your PSP from any standard phone (landline or cellphone) for just the standard local call cost, and from PSP to another SIP phone (another PSP or a PC) for free.
It runs on both slim and fat PSPs.
It uses open standards, for maximum compatibility with other phone systems.
You can use a Go!Cam (Chotto Shot), Talkman microphone, or SOCOM-style headset for audio input. (And even if you don’t have any of those, you can still send audio from a WAV file in a pinch).

This program allows you to use your PSP as a phone, using Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology. We got a bit bored waiting for Sony to release their PSP phone offering, so we thought we’d do it for them. Such is the freedom of homebrew.

You can use your PSP to make and receive calls to and from other PSPs, or to other VoIP users, or even to standard landline and mobile telephones, depending upon the VoIP service that you use. Calls are generally free, or at least cheaper than standard landline rates - again, depending upon your VoIP provider.

This is an initial release, currently supporting audio-only calls, and with a very basic user interface. But it works, and that’s the main thing.

The VoIP engine is implemented as a standalone PRX, with a well-defined interface. As well as using our simple phone application, we encourage other developers to make use of this technology for other applications. We’re sure that someone can write a nicer user interface than ours, so please do. There’s also scope for plenty of other uses - such as a CFW plugin for calls within the XMB, or teamtalk-style add-ons for games etc. Go wild!

Download : Furikup - PSP SIP Phone v0.1

Thank : psp-hacks.com

The Top 10 VoIP Blogs of 2007

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:54:00 +0000

Influential voices you can't afford not to hear.

David Hakala on December 26, 2007

Back in the mid-1990s, when VoIP first caught the collective eye, a handful of visionaries took to the bulletin boards, newsgroups and magazines to holler, “People, phone calls just gotta be free!” Now a commonplace technology, VoIP does not inspire quite the same kind of passion these days. But there are still voices shouting in the darkness, telling the world what’s good and what's dangerous about VoIP. Here are 25 of the loudest and most influential.

The Jeff Pulver Blog : Jeff Pulver single-handedly jump-started the VoIP industry in the early 1990s. His evangelical experiments in free IP calls for the masses proved the concept. Pulver founded the VON (Voice On the Net) conference and expo, which still runs today. Now, Jeff is urging the VoIP industry to move beyond its telcolike business model to “social media,” and he's jumping headfirst into the Internet video world. It remains to be seen whether he’s right again.

VoIP Watch : At age 14, Andy Abramson’s high-school newspaper writing led him to a job with the Philadelphia Wings hockey team. Today, he is the founder of Comunicano, a PR and marketing consulting firm that has gravitated to the Internet telephony market. He is immensely influential in publicizing all aspects of cutting-edge communications. Abramson’s VoIP Watch blog is brimming with timely news and analysis of VoIP issues.

Saunderslog.com : Headlined as “an explosive mix of VoIP technology and the Web,” Saunders’ blog delivers a diet of both. Saunders is the CEO of iotum Inc. in Ottawa, Ontario, an Internet telephony services company with especially good conferencing capabilities. His postings are concise, stimulating and widely read.

GigaOM : Founded by a senior Business 2.0 writer, Om Malik, this blog is driven by professional journalists and covers a wide spectrum of new technology and venture-capital issues, including VoIP. It claims a monthly audience of 1.5 million readers. Before starting GigaOM in 2006, Malik covered telecom and broadband beats. The Voice/VoIP section of the blog reflects Malik’s interests, with frequent postings on the minutest issues in the VoiP world, such as the quality of VoIP calls on Facebook.

IP Telephony, VoIP Broadband Blog : Russell Shaw got his credentials with tech publisher Ziff Davis Inc. He’s now with the ZDNet Web-publishing spinoff, where he opines on telephony and broadband issues with a bold, no-nonsense style. Shaw’s many years in the journalism business give him the contacts to pull off scoops that others can only envy.

Skype Blogs : A collection of blogs hosted by Skype, this site is one of the busiest VoIP-related blogs on the Web. There is content for developers, business users, Mac and Linux users, and many other subcategories. But if you don’t use Skype, it’s not as interesting.

VoIP Blog — Tehrani.com : Rich Tehrani is president of TMCnet. Tehrani’s blog is for deep-thinkers — people who want to know not only what happened, but what it means. Here you will find thoughtful analyses of FCC (Federal Communications Commission) minutes and decisions; what was discussed at the latest conference; and what Google could mean by its Android development platform.

Skype Journal : Very nearly as well-patronized as the aforementioned Skype corporate blogs, this private venture run by Jim Courtney has more of a traditional blogging style. The posts are lengthy, detailed and helpful. News reports from around the world keep readers informed about the entire Skype community and all kinds of VoIP-related issues.

O’Reilly Emerging Telephony : O’Reilly Media Inc. is best known as a publisher of technical books, but its blogs are also great sources of information. The Emerging Telephony blog was edited by Bruce Stewart, a computer scientist with a strong background in telephony systems. The posts tended to be short, right on point and well-written. This is in the past tense, because in October 2007, O'Reilly Media pulled out of the Emerging Telephony blog and the VoIP space, but this blog still makes the cut for 2007 because of the depth of coverage it had before it came to an end. For a form of successor, see the eComm (Emerging Communications) 2008 Conference wiki.

VoIP Central : Run by one or more anonymous administrators, VoIP Central is an active source of news about new products and services. The blog's readers contribute quite a bit of content as well as comments. News of industry events such as litigation also keep VoIP Central lively, despite the derivative nature of much of the main content.

VoIP-News

Vonage Woes: 2007 was Tough Year for the VoIP Firm

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:24:00 +0000

Vonage is facing some customer complaints over a multi-day outage this past weekend. But that's the least of its worries. On Friday telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks filed a lawsuit against Vonage in a U.S. District Court in Delaware claiming that it violated nearly a dozen patents.

This past year has been a rough one for the voice over Internet protocol company. I have to say, the long-term outlook is getting bleaker for the firm as it faces a seemingly endless stream of lawsuits.

At this point Vonage's lawyers should be experts with patent infringement lawsuits after the dealings with patent lawsuits filed by AT&T, Sprint-Nextel and Verizon. Those patent fights alone cost the broadband telephone company a grand total of $239 million, according to reports.

It's been a sad tumble for Vonage after bursting onto the scene as one of the most promising VoIP firms out there. Oh, how quickly things have changed. 2007 has been particularly bad with the resignation of CEO Michael Snyder, plans to cut 1,800 jobs and non-stop barrage of lawsuits.

If anything is more telling of the life of Vonage, it's the stock prices. It opened up on the NYSE at $17 per share and will likely end the year less than $2 per share.

One of the shining moments for 2007 was when Vonage the development of two work-arounds for the three VoIP patents Verizon was suing over. This was until this past weekend when the multi-day outage hit a number of users and the Nortel lawsuit loomed over the collective head of Vonage. One Vonage user posted the outage was an "extreme situation" at the site Broadband Reports where many other Vonage customers swapped weekend outage stories.

The biggest problem facing Vonage is its inability to keep up with its competitors. Many broadband providers like Comcast, Time Warner, and Cox offer a digital telephone service and the convenience of bundling services such as Internet access, cable TV, and phone services. Other VoIP solutions like Skype eliminated the need for proprietary equipment, like Vonage requires.

I'm not a betting man, but if 2008 goes anything like 2007 did I'd be surprised if the company can make through 2009. My fingers are crossed Vonage can turn its bad run around. If for no other reason I would hate to see its brilliant TV commercials vanish.

PCWorld

Siemens sees 400% jump in uptake of VoIP systems

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:13:00 +0000

20 December 2007

The number of businesses using Siemens HiPath 8000 real-time VoIP (voice over IP) UC (unified communications) system have jumped more than 400% in the last year.

The company suggests that increased user collaboration and productivity are the reasons, and states that it’s seeing uptake in all industry sectors and across companies of all sizes.

Siemens says it now expects uptake to increase even further, with the release of new features, including over 40 new UC Foundation features, such as enhanced one-number services, larger business-groups for managed service providers (MSPs), new business continuity and disaster recovery options and UC inter-working with IBM and Microsoft systems.
“The migration to IP-based enterprise communications is leading to the integration of real-time communications with business applications,” comments Jerry Carron, vice president research of analyst Current Analysis. “The worlds of IT and communications are rapidly coming together, and platforms such as the HiPath 8000 are facilitating that shift.”

And Thomas Zimmermann, Siemens Enterprise Communications COO adds: “Today’s large enterprises, institutions and managed service providers don’t need ways to deliver yesterday’s communications capabilities. What they need is a strategic IT technology like the HiPath 8000 to integrate real-time communications and presence into their day-to-day business processes. That way they can optimise the performance and potential of their employees or managed service customers.”

mcsolutions

Automated Call-Center Solutions That Won't Drive Your Customers Crazy

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:59:00 +0000

Use these call-center automation solutions to cut costs and please customers.

John Edwards on November 13, 2007

While most businesses eagerly embrace call-center automation solutions in order to streamline their operations and cut costs, the general public often takes a different view of the subject. In fact, there's a widespread perception that automation tools make life more difficult for callers by forcing them to navigate confusing voice menus, listen to canned music and messages, and talk with agents located on the other side of the world who may not be native English speakers.

Fortunately, there are a variety of call-center automation solutions that manage to benefit both businesses and callers.

Automated Attendant: By prompting callers to respond to certain voice-menu selections, automated attendants benefit both businesses and callers by categorizing and shortening calls. Automated attendants get a bad rap when they are poorly designed and configured, so it's important to thoroughly test the systems before deployment and make periodic adjustments based on caller feedback.

IVR (Interactive Voice Response): IVR solutions — like automated attendants — serve both businesses and callers. IVR systems can support many more caller choices and are generally easier for users to navigate than automated attendants. The technology is often used to automate routine tasks (such as balance inquiries), which allows call centers to get by with fewer agents and enables callers to receive fast answers to their questions. Like automated attendants, IVR systems require careful configuration and occasional tweaks in order to operate at maximum efficiency.

Screen Pops: Using CTI (computer telephony integration), screen pops allow callers' records to be automatically retrieved and displayed to the agent as soon as a call arrives. The solution speeds calls by allowing agents to serve callers without first interrogating them for routine information such as addresses, order dates and product serial numbers.

Skills-Based Routing: No caller likes to be bounced from agent to agent in search of an answer. Skills-based routing automatically matches caller inquiries with the most appropriate agent or resource based on customer requests; service levels; and agent skill, availability and workload.

Visible Queuing: If there's one thing callers hate more than lengthy wait times, it's being kept in the dark. Visible queue technology tells a caller the estimated wait time as soon as he or she enters the queue. The best solutions also provide periodic updates as the caller waits. Visible queuing benefits users by reassuring them that their wait time is actually dwindling and helps businesses by reducing the number of abandoned calls.

Web Call-Back Transaction: A call-back is a transaction that allows a Web site visitor to request a phone call from the call center. The method can be used to request more information on goods or services, make a reservation, or complete an order. Deploying call-back support requires linking the call center's ACD (automatic call distributor) to the Internet via an Internet gateway.

Web Call-Through Transaction: Like a call-back transaction, a Web call-through is designed to get Web site visitors in fast contact with a call-center agent. The call-through transaction begins when a site visitor clicks a button on the Web page and is directly connected to an agent while still viewing the site. However, call-through technology requires the visitor to have a computer or mobile device equipped with VoIP technology, so the approach isn't as widely used as call-back technology.

VoIP-News.com

The Skype-Based Call Center: Applications and Examples

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:29:00 +0000

Basing a call center on Skype technology opens the door to lower cost and enhanced functionality — but not without trade-offs.

John Edwards on December 12, 2007

With its rock-bottom pricing and extensive feature set, VoIP-powered Skype enables just about any business to deploy an enterprise-class call center on a shoestring budget.

For as little as $10 per agent, per month, vendors such as OnState, PrettyMay Team and SKY-click provide Skype-driven call-center solutions that support virtually every type of call-center function and activity, including voice mail, auto attendant, IVR (Interactive Voice Response), call routing and call recording.
Applications

For outbound call centers, Skype technology allows calls to be made worldwide at rates that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago: as little as 2 cents per minute between continents, and nearly always at rates far below those charged by conventional telcos.

While inbound call centers don't have to worry about the cost of outgoing calls, these facilities can take advantage of Skype to cut infrastructure costs. A Skype-based call center doesn't require various types of call-routing technologies or telco-oriented hardware, and existing data networks can often be used. The software itself also tends to be relatively inexpensive. PrettyMay Team, for example, offers a $150 package that supports as many as 30 lines.

For virtual call centers, Skype technology provides a cheap and efficient method of linking agents spread across cities, states or even continents with callers, call recipients, and call-center supervisors and managers. Record keeping is also simplified, since call originations, destinations, durations, dates, times and other relevant data are automatically recorded. Tech-support centers, meanwhile, can use Skype to send SMS text directly to user devices, as well as provide conventional voice-based support services.

Many businesses need to offer automated information services — such as store locations and hours, travel directions, and storm alerts — to employees or customers. All of the major Skype-based call-center technologies allow businesses to set up automated, prerecorded messages that users can access and listen to at their convenience.

Perhaps the biggest benefit that Skype provides is fast and easy integration with Web sites and internal computer systems, enabling call centers to support services like Web-initiated callbacks and screen pops that instantly present caller information to agents.
Trade-Offs

Despite its multiple benefits, Skype isn't perfect, and businesses thinking about adopting the technology need to be aware of its limitations.

Like other VoIP services, Skype's audio quality is highly variable. Most of the time, voice quality ranges from perfect to acceptable. But sometimes — depending on the condition of the Internet connection between the call center, Skype and the user — the audio may sound jittery, garbled or out of phase. Skype service is also subject to occasional dropouts and spontaneous disconnects.

On the positive side, Skype service is rapidly improving as the company strives to improve its technology — and as ISPs become more experienced at handling high-priority VoIP call traffic. Still, businesses expecting service matching the quality of higher priced, traditional telcos will likely be disappointed.

The other big drawback that Skype-based call centers face is limited scalability. While some Skype call-center vendors promise three-digit-or-higher agent counts, the real-world practical limit is about 20 or 30 agents. Larger deployments tend to exceed the limitations of current Web-based voice technology, making it necessary to use hardware to direct and manage calls.
The Bottom Line

Skype call-center technology is both inexpensive and mature, but adopters must be willing to accept its limitations.

Not Waiting for the Big One

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:06:00 +0000

Why your VoIP security efforts should start sooner rather than later.

Robert Poe on December 5, 2007

It's a blame game waiting to happen. Networks and services are vulnerable. Hacking tools are plentiful and increasing. User numbers are growing large enough to be inviting. It adds up to one certainty: Significant VoIP attacks will happen, and probably sooner rather than later. The only real question is whether the necessary preventive measures will come before or after the attacks do major damage to individuals, companies and careers.

Sachin Joglekar, vulnerability research lead at Sipera Systems Inc.'s VIPER Lab, said that hackers have plenty of interest in VoIP. He noted, for example, that the VoIP Security Alliance's Web site lists a number of tools freely available on the Internet that allow attacks of various types on VoIP networks and services. One, called Vomit, loads on a laptop and lets it emulate a wifi hotspot. An intruder thus equipped can sit at a coffee shop and capture VoIP conversations from wifi-enabled laptops or smartphones nearby. People wouldn't be developing and distributing such tools if other people didn't want to use them, Joglekar claimed.

In fact, VoIP will soon be irresistible to attackers, if it isn't already. Research firm TeleGeography forecasts that the number of consumer VoIP subscribers in the United States alone will reach 15.2 million by the end of 2007, representing approximately 13 percent of U.S. households, and will rise to some 25 million by the end of 2011. Europe will be even more inviting, with total consumer subscribers increasing from 29.9 million at the end of 2007 to 61 million, or 40 percent of total households, by the end of 2011. ABI Research projects 1.2 billion VoIP users of all types worldwide in 2012.

Big numbers, of course, always make for attractive targets. Hackers prefer Windows computers, Joglekar observed, for one reason: There are more of them. Indeed, a recent McAfee Inc. report predicted that VoIP attacks would double in 2008.

The attacks could come in a variety of forms. DoS (denial of service) assaults, although possible, would likely prove the least profitable to professional intruders, because all they could do is stop organizations or individuals from using their phones. That's not to say they won't happen: DoS attacks do, after all, have a distinguished history as an extortion method, as they can force companies to pay money to stop the attacks.

VoIP eavesdropping could prove lucrative for attackers who knew what to listen for. But the most valuable secrets are in large corporations, which typically use VoIP networks with substantial security protection. Trying to ferret out the occasional valuable secret from among huge numbers of residential or small-business VoIP calls would be largely a matter of luck for eavesdroppers. Still, the potential loss or embarrassment from a single incident is so large that even a small risk may be more than most small- to medium-size businesses want to accept.

Spoofing a VoIP user's or server's identity could pay off for hackers in two ways. First, it would let the intruder make free calls on the user's account. Second, it could allow "vishing" (using VoIP along with social- engineering techniques) to trick individuals into revealing personal or financial information that the intruder can then use to steal from them.

The most common and annoying problem will likely be the one everyone has already heard about: SPIT (SPam over Internet Telephony). Imagine getting unwelcome recorded messages all day long, as if do-not-call lists had never existed. With easily faked caller IDs, it will be hard to know whether a call is legitimate without answering it.

And if easily deleted email spam is profitable for its perpetrators, such hard-to-avoid voice spam should be even more so. That should make it hugely popular with hackers. If it catches on, in fact, SPIT could be at least as hard as spam to eradicate.

The only thing harder, in fact, would be finding someone to blame for not foreseeing and preventing it.

Vyke launches full commercial mobile VoIP service

noreply@blogger.com (boydchan) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:18:00 +0000

Vyke, the mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider, has launched its commercial mobile VoIP service from any of The Cloud's 9,500+ UK and European hotspots and metropolitan area networks.

This brings free access to Vyke's mobile VoIP service to the millions of individuals that enter into The Cloud hotspots each day. To use Vyke's mobile VoIP service from a The Cloud wireless network, Vyke users need only to connect to Vyke as normal from their mobile phone, no separate The Cloud account or signup is necessary.

This launch will be supported by a mass marketing programme, due to also commence today, initially focusing on central London and featuring 200 black cabs bearing the Vyke logo and message.

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