VoIP Now

Yahoo Messenger 8 IM - Text + VoIP Features

Yahoo! might just have come up with the ultimate text/ VoIP IM client around with Yahoo! Messenger 8. This IM is seriously tricked out with loads of plugins (180) that create a very entertaining experience. The problem is, you don't want to use this if you're trying to work, as your productivity might go down. Or up, depending on what kind of work you do.

There was an earlier version this year, but Messenger 8 has even more features. In addition to regular text IM and VoIP (with built-in video calling, etc.), you can add plugins for Yahoo! finance, news, weather, movie trailers, Music LAUNCHcast (streaming music with lots of choice), and much more. Not enough for you? The NewsGator plugin lets you browse RSS/Atom audio and video podcasts. There's an obligatory web search feature at the very bottom of the window, and loads more plugins that you can install with a click or two. You can also send email from your Yahoo account with the click of a menu item. (But oddly enough, because the MS Internet Explorer browser is fired up, you have to sign in with an MSN passport id such as your Hotmail account name.)

What a brilliant concept for an Internet command center. Stick in as many sources of content as possible, in collapsible sections, into a single IM client, and you ensure that anyone who has bothered to download this version is now more likely to use it than a competitor's IM, if only for the convenience. There's no need to use anything else. Or that's what you'd think.

With all these great features, they might've tried to obscure the fact that their call-in and call-out features still need to compete with other VoIP IMs. A Phone-In number is only US$2.49 per month and up, but only available in three countries: US, UK, and France. Come on. And a quick look shows that there are only phone numbers available for just a few cities in each country. Even New York is unavailable. Miami, L.A., and San Fran are, though.

Phone Out rates seem to be comparable or better than Skype and Talqer, but I have not done an item by item comparison. Phone Out credit has to be purchased in US$10 or $25 amounts, and there's an option for auto-refills of credit.

Voicemail appears to be free, and there's a nifty little popout control panel to check voicemail, missed calls, and call history. You can also distinguish between incoming and outgoing calls.

Yahoo is obviously interested in VoIP. Last year, they bought California-based Dialpad Communications, a VoIP service provider. (This year, Skype bought two VoIP companies, Sonorit Holding AS and its US subsidiary, Camino Networks.) But overall, Yahoo Messenger 8 has a ways to go to compete with Skype or Gizmo Project in terms of VoIP offerings (that is, in terms of country-to-country calling offers).

I'm having a blast using Messenger 8 as a sort of Internet command center. But all the extra fun, cool features/ plugins come at a price: this IM takes up a lot of memory. On my laptop, with Yahoo! News, Finance, Movie trailers and LAUNCHcast plugins installed, it takes between 50-100 mb of RAM, depending on which plugins are actually running. I really think I need to get some more RAM.

Nevertheless, Yahoo Messenger 8 has set the bar for other IM clients, whether just text or with VoIP/ WoIP features. Bravo. Now I just have to find someone who has it so that I can really test the audio and video calling quality.

P.S. The streaming radio sound quality is so impressive that I've been listening for hours. I've encountered no glitches in the past 16 hours.

VoIP Roundup #4

Skype will be getting SMS text messaging services courtesy of Mobile 365. The latter company already delivers 2 billion messages monthly. [via Biz Journals] Skype had already added a free SMS service in early 2005.

The Inquirer (British) thinks that Microsoft's real threat is Skype.

With all the inexpensive means of publishing content, citizen journalism is on the rise. People are recording war footage in the Middle East with their cell phones and posting the content to websites, including YouTube.com, as a way to share what the "camera person" is experiencing. Some even write a description, to express all the feelings. [via SF Gate]

New Zealand's Woosh wireless has broadcast rights from Sky TV to provide Internet TV using its WiMax network. [via NZ Herald] IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) is the next frontier in multimedia content over the Internet, with tests being conducted worldwide, including the US, India, China, and elsewhere, supposedly causing fear in cable TV companies.

Market Clarity, a telecom research firm in Australia, has a free online directory listing VoIP providers in that country. [via IT Wire]

Batelco in Bahrain has expanded VoIP calling from five destinations to over 200. They've also reduced rates for their international VoIP-based calling cards. These cards are valid for calls from PCs, PSTN lines, and cell phones. [via Trade Arabia]

IM Text/VoIP Lowdown

Last week was a busy one in the IM industry, for both regular text and VoIP IM clients, with loads of announcements.

Gizmo Project, a hopeful competitor to Skype, announced permanent free calling to 60 countries, for registered members. Skype couldn't beat that, but they did come out with a new Mac version and a Skype toolbar that integrates with Office products, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Clicking on a number within one of the apps triggers SkypeOut. iSkoot offers Skype-based mobile-to-PC (and vice versa) calling.

I haven't counted how many plugins Skype has, but if it doesn't have at least 180, then they'd better move over for Yahoo Messenger 8, which does have that many plugins. Once purely a text IM, it now has even more VoIP features than the new MSN Live Messenger (which it is also compatible with).

Yahoo also recently opened their IM to developers. Could it really be? Well, don't get too excited, as they're still not compatible with open source IMs such as Google Talk, Gaim, Trillian, Gizmo Project andothers. [I'll have a review of Yahoo Messenger 8 later on today.]

Not to be completely outdone, Google Talk added a couple of new features including file transfers, voicemail, and sharing info about the music you're listening to. As Michael Arrington of Techcrunch points out, Google Talk is only available for Windows computers.

And if the IM member emails I've been getting are any indication, several other IMs will be releasing upgrades. Services to support these IMs for mobile devices are being revamped as well. More details when Ifind out more.

Fastlinks for Mon Jul 24 - Fri Jul 28, 2006

For convenience, here is a list of links to VoIP-related articles posted this past week, in order of oldest to newest.

1. Creating A Real Global Village
2. Your VoIP Says Yes But Your Body Says No
3. Gizmo Project vs Skype?
4. Crystal Gazing - VoIP Voice-from+to-Text Applications
5. Network Inter-compatibility - A VoIP Holy Grail?
6. For Better Or For Worse - Is VoIP Quality Decreasing?
7. VoIP Roundup #1
8. Vonage Is Still #1 In VoIP Market Share
9. Dual-Mode Skype Phones To Come
10. VoIP Roundup #2
11. SayNow's Voice Services
12. SOHO Owners Most Interested In VoIP
13. Unlimited Cell Phone Data Plan - Mmm, Not So Much
14. Gizmo Project Soft VoIP Client Overview
15. VoIP Roundup #3

VoIP Roundup #3

Michael Kanellos sums up the value of using RebTel's VoIP service very nicely: instead of losing your unused monthly cell phone minutes, use them in international or other long-distance calls using RebTel. They create a bridge service by creating a dedicated local number that saves the caller long distance charges. For $1/week, that's not bad if you tend to put off long-distance calls because of cost.

BT (British Telecom) has been laying out plans to get into the internet telephony business (i.e., VoIP). They're looking to have one million internet phone customers in the next year. The company was formerly a monopoly and originally concerned about VoIP, but has changed its stance.

A Taiwanese government web page says that Taiwan is preparing for a VoIP explosion. The output value of VoIP-related products rose to US$460+ million in 2005, up from about US$370 mln and US$262 mln in the previous two years. A government-funded research institute has set up the ViTA (VoIP Taiwan) Forum to set up VoIP product certification standards in that country.

Arcosoft is offering VONaLink SoloRecord recording software for SIP-based VoIP phone systems, including Vonage. Either soft or hard VoIP services are supported. Calls are recorded in .WAV or .MP3 format, and an audio watermark can be audio to prove non-tampering.

Robert Poe of VoIP News shows why IP PBXs are going to replace their TDM counterparts in the enterprise.

Gizmo Project Soft VoIP Client Overview

This morning, an email from Gizmo Project arrived, focusing on their new "free VoIP calls to 60 countries" feature. Odd that this email came today, after websites have been writing about the announcement for several days. So I had a deeper look at the Gizmo Project website, in case there were some new VoIP features lurking.

At first glance, Gizmo Project seems like Skype. However, there are differences, some mentioned here before. One is an invisble feature, namely that Gizmo is SIP-based and therefore open sourced. So not only can you call other Gizmo members (PC, PSTN) but also members of other SIP-based networks. In fact, you can now at least IM Google Talk users, with actual softVoIP calling to come. (This I'm looking forward to.)

With the recent announcement, you can also call to PSTN phones in 60 countries for free - a potential market of 2 billion phones - provided the person you're calling is a registered member of Gizmo. If they're not, Gizmo CallOut (similar to SkypeOut) offers low per-minute rates. The free calling to 60 countries is a permanent feature, not a promo. (There is a noticeable absence of China and India on this list.)

Gizmo Call In gives you a free US-, UK-, France- or Spain-based phone number for US$3/m, payable in 3- or 12-month increments. Interesting that Canada is not part of that, especially considering Skype's 2006 promo for free calls between the US and Canada. (I.e., there's a VoIP market in Canada.) Over all, you can have a phone number from over 50 cities. (How cool would it be to have, say, an L.A. phone number yet live on the East Coast. East meets West.)

Essentially it means that if you live in one of the cities represented, you can travel and still receive calls as if you're local. Less cost for your friends. It's also ideal for people who've moved - or relocated temporarily - and want friends and family to be able to contact them without long distance charges.

One other call option is an US-based Area775 number, although in the same breath it's described as being both free and costing a small monthly fee. (Don't know how that's possible.) When other people dial your Area775 number, it can call both your computer or regular phone. Calls can be screened, transferred, or shuttled to voicemail. The latter has the option of generating SMS messages. (Having your regular phone called costs $2/call.)

For those of you that get calls from strangers - like I occasionally do - Gizmo Project has a Google map that shows you their call location. This is ideal for for flagging potential Vishers who tell you that they're from somewhere else.

If you have need of conference calling, Gizmo Project has FreeConferenceCallTM, which allows calls between landlines, cell phones, and Gizmo softVoIP users. Gizmo users initiate the call with a free conferencing number. Other phones have to dial a (non-toll-free) number, then the conference room #. Of course, if other callers are using Gizmo, there's no long distance cost.

There's also support for Asterisk PBX, an open source PBX designed for enterprise VoIP, and a host of other features. Or if you want to make outbound calls from a PSTN phone, you can buy Gizmo-compatible SIP adapters.

Finally, if you're a developer and want to build VoIP applications, they have an API (Application Programmer Interface) and SDK (Software Development Kit) for both Windows and Mac OS X, with a Linux SDK coming soon. The SDKs are unfortunately only in C++, but a lot of Java and other object-oriented programmers do not have too much trouble with C++.

At the most basic level, the API and SDK allow you to create your own branded SIP-based softVoIP phone, so businesses could have a soft client with their logo.

Gizmo Project is available for Windows 2000 + XP, Mac OS X, Linux, and the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. They're a member of the IM Federation, an organization promoting IM network intercompatibility.

Unlimited Cell Phone Data Plan? - Mmm, Not So Much

Nate Anderson has a great overview of how unlimited "unlimited" 1xEV-DO (=EVDO = Evolution-Data Optimized) wireless data plans on cellular phones really are. He mentions Verizon, but what he says holds true with a lot of providers.

EVDO is the wireless data network that some CDMA-based cell phones use, in a number of countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Canada and the US. (The Wikipedia link above has a fairly comprehensive list of carriers, phones and laptop data cards which use EVDO.)

If you have a smartphone or PDA that uses CDMA, the wireless data plan available is likely to be EVDO-based. If you've purchased, or are thinking of purchasing, an "unlimited" monthly data/ wireless plan, check your provider's fine print. More than likely, there's a bit of text that says you cannot use the service for VoIP, streaming music or video, and several other purposes.

When I called my service provider recently to upgrade to the "unlimited" plan, he told me that not only was that plan grandfathered, it had only ever been available on the laptop data card, not my Palm Treo 650. I insisted that the sales rep had said otherwise, but the rep wouldn't budge. So I ended up witha plan offering only 250 Mb/mth bandwidth, for something like $100/m. Ouch.

Consider that one day, when I had trouble with my regular Internet connection, I used my Palm Treo 650's EVDO connection, via a Bluetooth USB adapter (different from a Bluetooth headset) as a modem, from my laptop. In a regular half-day's web browsing for researching my daily articles, I used nearly 90 Megabytes. In a half day. No streaming music or video. Just one test of VoIP, because I was writing about a service.

Note: CDMA phones cannot use the phone and the wireless connection simultaneously, which usually means not being able to use most VoIP software directly on the device.

Obviously cell phone data plans are not for power web surfers like myself, but it sure would be nice to have options for a bigger bandwidth plan at a better.

SOHO Owners Most Interested In VoIP

A new survey by IDC [via Info Week] suggests that SOHO (Small Office Home Office) owners will be the people driving the consumer adoption of VoIP for next year, in the United States.

According to the survey home offices have typically been early adopters of advanced technology, and are doubly likely to be currently using, or soon adopting, VoIP than other US households. At present, nearly 40% of corporate home offices and almost 24% of home-based businesses have in interest in VoIP - at present or in the near future.

This makes a great deal of sense, considering the potential savings from implementing VoIP either in the home office or on a laptop during business trips. Any business owner who has travelled knows the cost of cell phone roaming charges or even hotel phone bills.

SOHO-based businesses typically have to bootstrap, especially in the early lean years. It just goes with the territory. So the bottom line is that costs have to be cut wherever possible. Since SOHO offices are more likely to be connected to the Internet on a broadband line than a regular household, owners are more likely to be aware of the advantages of VoIP.

However, as mentioned previously, a lot of free soft VoIP clients are not enterprise ready. A business owner who may want to set up a voice menu or some other sophisticated phone interface likely has to go with pure-play VoIP services instead of something like Skype. Though that's likely to change in the next couple of years.

SayNow's Voice Services

In a previous post, I speculated that VoIPing for profit might be something musicians could consider, and that fans would love. This speculation was based on a successful promo that ColdPlay and Skype offered recently, where band members spoke via Skype to the two young women who won the contest.

If you've followed some of the goings on of top popstars and actors, just a couple of years ago, fans were paying for daily voice messages from stars. The voicemails were accessible through a pay-per-minute phone number, and contained the daily goings-on of the star, as well as goofy messages telling the fans how much they were loved.

Well, someone got smart and realized the both the value and the (potential) profit in having musicians be in touch with their fans using voice services and the Internet. SayNow is a free service that lets musicians record voice messages, and for fans to respond to them. SMS messages are used as alerts to indicate new messages from a musician. Fan and musician phone numbers remain private.

The real killer feature, at least for musicians, is a map and head count of where fans are calling from, presumably based on their cell phone number (or possibly their IP address). Imagine the marketing tool that this could be turned into, if a few more layers of web service were added in - surveys, friendly VoIP chats, pre-purchase of tickets, CDs/ DVDs, merch, etc. While SayNow seems to be aimed at Myspace musicians, there seems to be no restriction in that regard, and no reason why only musicians can take advantage of this service.

Odeo is not the same thing, but combining it with twttr (SMS) and Hellodeo (video mail) gives you similar basic functionality. (Warning: Hellodeo displays recently recorded videos, and someone's already put prawn videomail up there.)

Still, none of this is true VoIP, yet I think SayNow shows that there's a  potential market for VoIP calls between celebrities and fans, provided that various safeguards are put in place to protect privacy or other situations. I mean, I'd really hate to have Carmen Electra Skyping me every hour, telling me that Dave Navarro finally succumbed to Rockstar Supernova's charming host Brooke Burke. Yeah, right.

VoIP Roundup #2

TechCrunch reports that SightSpeed 5.0 launched. Yet when I checked the Sightspeed site (10 PM Pacific time), there's a message saying you should return at 9 PM Pacific time. The new version apparently includes place-shifted TV, a new video codec, PSTN out- and in-calling, and more. The beta was available a couple of months ago. Sightspeed is a competitor to Skype, but went one step further by incorporating native call recording as well as video calling and free voice and videomail. [Update: 5.0 is now available for both Mac OS X and Win XP. Unlike Skype, Sightspeed is keeping version numbers for both platforms in line.]

GigaOm points to a post on Andy Abramson's VoIPWatch about a new deal between SixApart and Gizmo Project. The new service would let LiveJournal webloggers VoIP and text IM site visitors. This is in addition to the recently announced Jabber-based text IM that LiveJournal would be adding. These kinds of integration of web services are going to appear a lot more often, as innovative companies like SixApart see the value to the end users.

Benjamin Higginbotham presents a compelling argument for why Skype has not won the VoIP battle yet, saying that while it's great in the C2C (consumer- to- consumer) market, it falls down in the B2B (business- to- business) and B2C markets. Skype did announce late last year, and again recently, that they were going after the enterprise VoIP market. That is despite saying their software was not enterprise grade. Nevertheless, I think I have to agree with Benjamin, as Skype (and most other softVoIP clients) support neither VoiceXML nor CCXML, which would really make a difference for businesses.

Dual-Mode Skype Phones To Come

Not satisfied with the Skype WiFi VoIP phones already announced by four companies (SMC, Belkin, Netgear, Edge-Core), Skype is working with other manufacturers to produce dual-mode phones for later this year.

Current parnters for these GSM/ WiFi dual-mode phones include Nokia and Motorola. Surprisingly, I didn't see this announced on Skype's website. One of the issues still to be worked out is whether the dual-mode phones will be released SIM-free, or whether they'll be able to work out deals with cellular providers. I hope it's the latter, as this sort of Skype experience would be more seamless than some of the current efforts to run Skype on smart phones, including PDAs such as Palm.

While GSM isn't going to be to everyone's liking, this is the kind of step forward that is likely to catapult Skype to the top of the VoIP market share, regardless of service category, and help them earn their keep. (Remember that eBay purchased Skype for US$2.6 billion.) Hopefully they'll be following up with similar announcements for other types of cellular networks.

Sources: [via Silicon.com]

Vonage Is Still #1 In VoIP Market Share

Despite the beating that Vonage (NYSE: VG) has taken in the stock market, they are still #1 in terms of pure VoIP service popularity, according to a survey by Telephia.

The survey (PDF, 3 pgs) shows that of all US households subscribing to "pure-play" VoIP services, Vonage currently has nearly 54% of the market. They're followed by Verizon VoiceWing and AT&T CallVantage, each with a distant 5.5%. The remaining providers in the top nine each hold between 0.9-4% of the market share, with tenth place being an aggregate of providers holding 20%. (Given that Vonage supposedly spends $20 million per month in advertising, it's only fitting that they're in first place.)

These numbers only include services categorized as Internet telephony providers, and thus excludes "digital phone" services offered by some cable and telecom companies. Soft VoIP services such as Skype are also excluded. Still, with Vonage so far ahead of at least a dozen companies, there's enough motive to want to bring them down. (What me? Sound like a conspiracy theorist?) I still maintain that Vonage needs to ally themselves with some big player, to save themselves, at least in terms of market valuation.

Telephia conducts performance measurements of both the converging communications and mobile industries. Their survey shows that of the reasons that customers might switch VoIP providers, call quality ranked highest (27.4%), followed by customer service (14.7%) and then plan price (13.4%).

A survey earlier this year by Telephia showed that residential VoIP increased to 3.1% of households compared to June 2005. That number is now 4.1% for Q2 2006.

via PC World, VoIP News

VoIP Roundup #1

This is a roundup of recent VoIP-related news from various sources.

Skype has just released V1.5 for the Mac OS X platform. New features include a new interface and ability to import addresses. Video support requires a plugin, and call recording is still non-native. [via Pocket Lint, Tech Crunch] Unfortunately, great VoIP recording tools like HotRecorder only run on Windows, at present.

Not sure if they'll be as hot as other cute monster novelties, but Verballs double as a USB-enabled hands-free Skype phones. [via Engadget] Apparently they wave their arms and move their lips. Scary.

The previously announced WiFi Skype phone from SMC is now available for US$199. It'll work over any WiFi connection that does not require browser authentication. [via Market News] SMC is one of four companies that recently announced WiFi Skype phones. Others companies include Belkin, Netgear, and Edge-Core.

A report by Telephia says that pure-play VoIP subscriptions are up but network call quality still needs improvement.

Newsday reports that there are over 1100 providers in the US that offer Internet-based phone services, but other than that, Internet phone service could be the future. Which is what I said the other day - all the more reason for softVoIP network compatibility.

For Better Or For Worse - Is VoIP Quality Decreasing?

Brix Networks, a company who makes monitoring tools to test VoIP networks, says that data collected on their TestYourVoIP website indicates that users are rating 20 percent of nearly a million calls tested as being of poor quality. This data spans 18 months.

My own experience is not substantial, but I say quality is getting better, at least in newer softVoIP clients. Over a year ago, I VoIPed a friend using MSN Messenger, which he was also using. The call quality was terrible. Since then, I've either used or briefly tested Jajah, Skype, and Talqer, all on the same laptop, headphones, and cheapo $1 microphone. Talqer had the best call quality. And I'm using a wireless connection. Direct broadband connections would probably offer the best quality.

It is of course to Brix' advantage to publish such disappointing findings. And if I've understood the BusinessWire press release correctly, the TestYourVoIP service is really measuring broadband quality, not actual calls. So the data might in fact be misleading, considering that there are a lot of other factors to consider in VoIP call quality testing.

What's your experience? Are you finding better quality? If you want to test your VoIP, try Brix Network's Google Gadget, which requires you to have Google Desktop Version 4 or higher.

Sources: ComputerWorld, BusinessWire [via FierceVoIP]

Network Inter-compatibility - A VoIP Holy Grail?

According to comScore [via TechCrunch and others], it appears that the Google  Talk IM does not have all that many users. Google Talk is a distant fourth in the list of IM clients. The top three spots are taken by MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and AIM. We're not talking total number of downloads, just number of users.

These numbers indicate that, as of May 2006, there are only just over 339 million IM users of all flavours, out of over 900 million Internet users worldwide. MSN is at the top with about 60% of the market and Google Talk has only 1%.

The numbers appear to be for text IMs only. Consider that for Skype, I've been numbers like 250 million (PDF, 1 page) and 280 million downloads, and 100 million registered users (which was passed in early May 2006). Google is nowhere close to neither Skype nor the top text IM clients. Note: the TechCrunch article points out that the comScore numbers do not include the embedded version of GTalk within GMail. Some GMail users apparently prefer to use the native IM.

Some of the above IMs (in fact, possibly all - I don't know much about AIM) have direct VoIP (PC-to-PC) capability. Windows Live Messenger and the latest Yahoo! Messenger now have VoIP ability as well.

Regardless, the numbers suggest that Skype has to be able to keep up, especially with the announced IM alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo! When their respective IM's become compatible, together they'll have over 83% of the IM market (using current numbers).

With that kind of market share, don't have to swallow their pride and use the open source Jabber/XMPP, but it sure would be nice. That's what Google, Trillian, and several other lesser-known IMs use. Can you imagine an Internet where you can choose your fave IM/ VoIP soft client and connect to anyone? Skype, MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Google Talk.... Nice.

As for Michael Arrington's suggestion (at TechCrunch) that Google come up with a strategy to grab more market share, I recommend they buy Vozin Communications. Their Talqer soft client turns Google Talk into a true VoIP client.

From my point of view, once all the technical kinks are worked out of VoIP services, including e911 and improved call quality, every person on Earth who uses a phone will be using a straight or hybrid VoIP phone or soft client. If they were to all become intercompatible, then these usage numbers might be perceived as meaningless - especially by the marketing engines of the larger companies. This would be a reason for them not to work towards compatibility. Too bad, because we could use more IM/VoIP network intercompatibility.

Aside: If you do a Google Search for "how many Skype users worldwide", you can see how fast Skype downloads increased in 2005. Or you could read Jean Mercier's post at SkypeJournal (about downloads in the US and Canada), which suggests that the number of downloads needs to be filtered for previous users who were upgrading one or more times since they first downloaded Skype.

Crystal Gazing - VoIP Voice-from+to-Text Applications

Marshall Sponder at WebMetricsGuru talked about a colleague of his, Bill Tancer, who injured himself in a cycling accident, temporarily being unable to write for his website. Tancer turned to Dragon Naturally Speaking software as an alternative, which worked out fine. Now of course, this isn't VoIP software, but it got me to thinking. If voice recognition software has come along far enough, it could be harnessed into VoIP-to-text applications. The same goes for voice translation software to create text-to-VoIP applications.

For example, Asterisk is offering MailCall, a free email-to-VoIP application. It reads your email to you over Asterisk-based VoIP phone, and works POP3 and IMAP accounts for numerous web-based and standalone email clients. Imagine the fun listening to your spam email. Psychologists will have a field day studying the effects. On the positive side, text-to-voice could be coupled with voice-to-text to build a VoIP system for users who are hearing-impaired. Such a VoIP-based system would replace the expensive human-generated voice-to-text systems that piggyback PSTN phones.

So far, these examples are for human-to-human interaction. VoIP applications could be used to control the ubiquitous VoIP-controlled SEDs (Service Enabled Devices) that'll be appearing any time now. If you in fact did have a wired home, you could potentially VoIP home to your private web server and control SED appliances, such as the sprinkler. I've said that before, but I didn't think about voice recognition software as part of the bridge for being able to talk to appliances and control them.

Of course, you'd have to use a fairly limited grammar, and have a suitable processor. There are already markup language grammars such as VoiceXML for telephone system menus, but as far as I know, there's nothing for ordering around SEDs. If someone devised a command language wrapped up in XML and made it open source and extensible, in a few years, we might all be talking to our appliances with ease. Dare I say, the same language could be used to ask robot maids to make scrambled eggs in the morning?

Failing a George Jetson existence, if you're interested in building Skype apps, check out the Skype API Intro page, complete with a video. Be an early adapter and be one of the first to start building VoIP-controlled web services. I think voiceWeb/ VoIPWeb will form the next wave after web 2.0.

Gizmo Project vs Skype?

Last week, SIPphone announced that Gizmo Project softVoIP users would be able to talk free to other Gizmo users in up to 60 countries. It's interesting that Michael Pollock of Solostream was asking, back in July 2005, is Gizmo is really a Skype-killer?

What's more interesting to me is that Pollock stated back then that one of Gizmo's advantages is built-in VoIP recording, but that Skype should be able to do the same thing natively. Well, one year later, Skype still has not done that, resorting to third party plugins and standalone software (e.g., HotRecorder). While there's nothing wrong with that per se, Skype users do have to resort to downloading an extra piece of software.

Service-wise, when the free North American Skype calling (specifically PC-to-PSTN to numbers in Canada and the US) ends just before New Year's Day 2007, I'm wondering if there'll be a surge of VoIP users transferring to the open source SIP-based Gizmo Project. However, with less than a million Gizmo users and over 100 million Skype users (or 280 mln, depending on who you believe), Skype does not have much to worry about. Yet.

Your VoIP Says Yes But Your Body Says No

Thousand-person VoIP conferences might not be my thing, but 4- to 8-person video conferencing seems like a manageable sort of meeting. However, despite being impressed by Sightspeed's 4-person video conferencing ability, I'm not entirely sure yet that I really look forward to videophones, VoIP/ WoIP-based or otherwise.

As I've more than hinted at, I work from home, and that means being scruffy and unkempt for most of the week. Regardless of my own preferences, WoIP (Video and Voice over IP, aka video-VoIP) will probably become commonplace when more people have broadband connections (and more RAM on their laptops).

When that does happen, there'll be some etiquette rules to follow. Nuno at 21 Talks has a screenshot of a Japanese poster showing recommended body posture and body language for video conference calls.

Here are my own 5 rules of appearance for home VoIP video conference attendees:

(1) Shave, if you're a guy, and have three or four days of stubble. (Unless you're growing your beard, of course)

(2) Brush your teeth. We may not have SoIP (Scent over IP) yet - thank goodness, you don't have to bathe - but no one wants to see you repeatedly running your tongue over your teeth because they feel furry. And your hand over your mouth isn't fooling anyone.

(3) Comb your hair, for crying out loud. Didn't your mother teach you anything?

(4) Don't get caught with your pants down. Clothe yourself and spare us the view of your ripped wife-beater undershirt and the boxers with something stupid on them - or for women, torn bra and granny panties.

(5) But seriously, make the area of your home that you're working from at least somewhat presentable. What will the neighbors think?

I'm praying that VoIP video calls are not common practice for a while. (At least until I have time to clean my place up.)

Creating A Real Global Village

eWeek's Paula Musich recently wrote about TalkShoe, an American company that's created a web service that enables VoIP conferences involving thousands of participants.

While in theory that sounds like a great idea, and the technological accomplishment is to be applauded, I'm not so sure I'd want to be one of those participants, unless there were some "rules of VoIP conference order" established.

Roberts Rules of Order and Parliamentery Procedure were established for in-person meetings, to make sure that participants wouldn't all try to speak at once, an activity that sometimes causes VoIP calls to cut out. But even armchair anthropologists should have noticed that in the past 12 years in particular, our attention spans have shortened. Many people can't carry on a  polite conversation with just one other person.

Even someone like myself, who was once long ago a diehard "manners" person, can't have a text IM conversation without interrupting the other person, let alone an in-person or VoIP/ PSTN conversation.

Some people blame the Internet for this reduced attention span; others blame video games. Regardless, given poor conversational abilities and the still-developing call quality of VoIP, try imagining a thousand-person VoIP conference. I shudder to think.

Soft VoIP For Your Mobile Devices

The other day, I reflected on SoonR, a relatively new application that integrates with Skype to supposedly let you Skype from your cell phone, PDA, or other mobile device, provided it has both a phone number as well as a wireless data plan.

I didn't have much luck getting SoonR to work on my Palm Treo 650, as I pointed out in that post, where someone supposedly named Keith Richards left a comment. "Keith" openly left his email as being on the rock.com domain,  where I'm currently listening to the screamingly funny Dave Navarro live streaming Spread Radio show - music + (uncensored) talk. Dave is of course married to the ultra-heavenly Carmen Electra, and is a producer of the Rockstar Supernova TV show, where the unbelievably revolting Tommy Lee is a judge. While I seemingly digress, Dave was actually talking about IMing one of his DJ friends, but didn't mention what software he used. Anyway, on to "Keith Richard's" question:

What about installing softphone software on your mobile device? Could this be used for VoIP mobile conference calls on Skype or is this PC only software?

Well, Keith, if it's really you, you and Mick and the boys should drop by some time for some of my Curry Elvis' special curry chicken, seasoned with Brown Sugar. I could explain it to you then; just leave the syringes elsewhere.

Otherwise, I'll say that most PC-based softVoIP clients simply cannot be installed on PDAs or other smartphones. There are text IM clients designed for Palm OS such as Chatopus, which is built on the open Jabber/XMPP, and thus compatible with your Google Talk account. However, that's just for text, not VoIP.

As for VoIPing from a mobile device, there are various solutions that work for Microsoft Mobile OS-based as well as for people running Skype on Mac OS X devices. For Palm OS, there are fewer solutions, and most do not work on Treo 650, or suffer from some other technical issue - at least in my experience.

I've also tried EQO for Palm OS, but my mobile carrier isn't supported, and my support question has gone unanswered. The problem is that Palm Treos, and some other PDAs, seem to have a problem, especially if they are running the Palm OS operating system, of handling simultaneous data and cell usage. Which is why SoonR, because of the way it works, simply will not work for some Palm OS devices. (Palm devices running Microsoft apparently do not have this problem.)

To answer the last part of your question, Keith, SoonR actually sets up a conference call between your cell phone and the party you're calling, using your computer's Skype to initiate the VoIP conference. They also claim on their website to be able to handle conference calling, so presumably you'd be able to have mobile VoIP conference calls. Just not on Palm devices running Palm OS.

TalQer Enhances VoIP For Google Talk

Someone was commiserating on their blog the other day that Google Talk had not had a great deal of success in the VoIP arena - it might have been Charlie Paglee of VoIPWiki blog, and head of Vozin Communications, but I can't remember. So why no full VoIP capabilities from Google Talk?

Fact is, I use Google Talk several times daily to text-talk with friends and clients via the IM. Surprisingly or not, most of these people do not have a mic/ headset; some have no Internet, computer or even cell phone. (My name is not Fred Flintstone.)

That means I have to call my neanderthal friends on their landline. But at present, Google Talk's VoIP capabilities are limited only to other Google Talk users, or those of any compatible softVoIP clients. So Vozin Communications, big fans of Google Talk and its open source code, decided to change that with their Talqer soft client.

Talqer (pronounced "Talker") is a downloadable client that either integrates into Google Talk or can run on its own. If you choose to run it from Google Talk, that client will now have a button to launch the Talqer dialpad.

Talqer keeps a history of your calls and has a mini-phonebook. It's also integrated with MS Internet Explorer, in that you can highlight a number on a web page, right-click your mouse, and select "Call with Talqer". Pretty cool. So why not with other browsers? Firefox integration is coming, they say.

So I downloaded Talqer and installed it to run with Google Talk, then called myself twice from PC to home landline. The quality was amazingly clear, even with my cheapo $1 microphone. But Talqer didn't tell me how much I owed for the call. So I Skyped Charlie Paglee, head of Vozin Communications. The Talqer call had been relatively clear; the Skype call was crackly. (That was actually my first VoIP call on Skype; I've only used the text mode previously.)

Charlie very kindly filled me in on a few details, indicating that new Talqer members get a few minutes free - hence the reason I could make the call without seeing a charge. After a few minutes use, you'll need to buy TalqOut credit, which is similar to SkypeOut, to call someone's landline or cell phone from your PC. Rates are better than Skype's, the Talqer site claims.

Or there's TalqIn, with free voicemail, which lets people call your PC as if you had a regular phone number. For US$3/mth, that's comparable to SkypeIn. A special, time-limited promo gives you a number in over thirty area codes  in Canada and the US for 20% off the annual rate = US$2/m. Two bucks a month for a number? Not bad, I say.

If you're a Chatty Kathy like me, you can opt for UnTalq, which is their unlimited calling plan for calls to Canada (excluding area code 867) and the continental USA (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands). The rate is US$12/mth or $120/yr, exlcuding any applicable taxes. This plan also applies to someone living outside of the valid calling areas but who wants to call those areas.

Just my opinion, but with a seemingly better VoIP call quality and rates that are comparable to or better than Skype's, Talqer could potentially give Skype and other softVoIP providers a run for their money.

Charlie Paglee, by the way, is also the blogger who not only broke the story about the Chinese Skype clone, but got the call from the clone in the first place. He hinted to me during our conversation that Talqer will be announcing some very interesting services later this year. As a fan of Google Talk myself, I'll be watching.

VoIP Providers' Business Model Makes Sense

On VoIPWiki, Charlie Paglee talks about how Skype's business model seems counterintuitive to traditional business models, but is actually working for them. In fact, most softVoIP providers are following the same model.

Their model of giving away the software as well as some of the calls makes a great deal of sense. But in traditional bricks and mortar business it probably wouldn't work. It'd almost be equivalent to car makers giving cars away for free (although even that may not help Ford Motor Co right now) and charging for the gas - provided they had a monopoly on the gas.

Jajah, Babble and lately Gizmo Project are some of the softVoIP providers following along in the same model, allowing not just free PC-to-PC calls, but some other combinations involving PSTN phones/ mobile phones. The model works, I'm thinking, because the Internet, although vast, is essentially a closed system, and any softVoIP provider is satisfying the needs of a different user than hardVoIP providers.

On-The-Fly VoIP Call Language Translation - Sort Of

Language translation on-the-fly is one of those killer apps that there is a demand for, given that free or inexpensive VoIP services have made the world into a virtual global village. Also, VoIP providers are encouraging international communication with their very low calling rates.

Bilingual skills are rare - at least amongst North Americans and others in officially English-speaking countries - so those doing business with customers/ vendors/ partners from other countries often find they need a conversation to be translated. A universal translator may be unachievable, but it's likely to be unnecessary.

What's much more likely is that two people need someone to translate for them. Nuno at 21Talks wrote about a new dual-handset phone from Language Line that facilitates not a machine translation but an on-the-fly human translation of a conversation.

Language Line is a company that has been offering language translation services for 20 years. They were founded originally as a volunteer organization in San Jose, California, by a policeman and a language instructor. They were later incorporated and ownership has changed hands a few times, including AT & T.

Their dual handset phone can be used in a number of ways, although Language Line's intent is that the two people requiring translation are in the same room Each person uses one of the handsets, and the translator is at the other end of the call. Alternately, a non-Language Line translator could be with one person physically and they would use the dual-handset phone to call a person elsewhere.

Customers of Language Line's translation services get the dual-handset phones free of charge, except for a $3.00/mth fee per phone (unlimited phones). Even if you do not need/ want the dual-handset phone, you can use Language Line's services via conference calling - whether VoIP-based or otherwise - at a per minute rate, and for 150 languages - probably the most of any global translation service I've heard of.

Use a relatively inexpensive, potentially free VoIP  conferencing service such as Skype's, and the savings probably pay for the translation services.

SoonR Lets You Skype From A Mobile Phone

SoonR is one of the new breed of web 2.0 applications that integrates another web application. In this case, SoonR has a number of applications that synchronize your PC and mobile phone, one of which lets you make VoIP calls from your mobile phone (to PC or PSTN) using Skype's conferencing feature.

To start with, you must have Skype and SoonR Desktop installed on your computer (with Internet access). Your cell phone or PDA must have a (wireless) data plan, as you have to access the SoonR site from a mobile web browser. There is no PDA software to install.

From the SoonR site, you click on a Skype "buddy" (auto-retrieved) or enter a phone number. SoonR Talk triggers Skype on your computer and sets up a conference call to the person you want to talk to.

Unfortunately, this a complicated way to do things, and you have to leave your computer on, despite their claims that you no longer have to be tied to your PC. I gave SoonR my "gee-whiz not-too-techy" acid test by downloading, installing and following obvious instructions, but without digging into details.  Upon setup of the SoonR Desktop app, it asked me to provide my cell phone number and to create a SoonR account. Did all that, and SoonR sent an SMS text message to my phone. A link from the text msg fired up my mobile browser pointed at the SoonR site, which automatically logged me in.

From the web page on my PDA, I could see my laptop's "My Documents" folder, but for some reason was not able to "get" a simple text file. Also, the VoIP calling isn't quite right - at least not for my Palm Treo 650. Entering the number I'm calling requires holding down my shift key and entering the digits. Except if keep the shift key down, the entry gets messed up. So I have to press down and release the shift key with every digit I enter. Going back to my laptop's Skype and adding the number to my contat list there helps, because a link shows up on my mobile browser. (So make sure you've added the most common PSTN numbers you call to your contact list beforehand.)

But the VoIP calling they've set up seems odd. What's strange is that SoonR first calls my cell phone and then the party I'm calling, via a Skype conference call. Except that I'm using the data access, so Skype gets my voicemail. (This is symptomatic of Palm Treo and certain other makes and models of PDAs and smartphones. They have a problem in that they cannot handle a phone call at the same time that the wireless modem is being used.)

I'm just wondering, though, why the heck SoonR tries to act like it's Jajah? Isn't the point is to save me my cell phone minutes? Depending on what country you're in, you may also have to spend SkypeOut minutes calling your own cell phone, which would not be the case were you calling from Skype on your computer.

Still, I tried calling my buddy with SoonR, and when he answered his phone, he heard only silence, and then some woman's recorded voice with instructions about his message. Effectively, the call was equivalent to my friend calling my voicemail. (Because of the Treo problem.)

So for some PDA users at least, VoIP that functions correctly is still a fable. (I've made other attempts at  VoIP calling from my Pam Treo 650, without success.)

Had this worked for me, it would have been great, during those times of day that I have free minutes on my cell. Still, some people will benefit from SoonR. Unfortunately it's not me.

Jajah Phone Buddy Desktop Dialing Software

Jajah Phone Buddy is a little software application that touts itself as being able to add "automatic telephone dialing to almost any [Windows] application" via Jajah's VoIP software.

Jajah, a recent competitor to Skype, already has a plugin for Microsoft Outlook, and there's a Mac OS X Address Book Plugin as well. Phone Buddy gives you similar abilities in virtually all Windows programs. By clicking your mouse on a phone number in your Windows app, you can then press a Hot Key that scans the phone number and triggers Jajah. Voila, you can make your VoIP call.

You'll need a Jajah account (free), and Phone Buddy will tell you the cost of the call per minute, and the currency (based on what you selected when setting up your Jajah account). However, Jajah does give you a few dollars free (it was US$3.00 for me). Jajah is free between users.

I randomly tested Jajah Phone Buddy from a number of applications running in Windows XP, including Skype's "contact edit" window, and everything seemed to work fine. The assumption is that the number you've clicked on is a valid phone number; there is no parsing done to validate numbers.

Additional sources: [Jajah Phone Buddy]

VoIP Security Issues: Skype and Asterisk

By now you've likely heard that a clone of the ultra-popular Skype VoIP client was supposedly created by reverse engineering. Charlie Paglee, a blogger and head of VoIP provider Vozin Communications stirred up the Internet recently when he claimed a friend called him from China with the supposed clone, a screenshot of which is posted at his VoIPWikiBlog.

Skype has denied the claim. Because Skype's system is proprietary, there is nothing officially compatible with their soft client. Skype must have been sure that no one would crack their code, though, because apparently, they never patented their protocol.

Art Reisman thinks the Skype clone is unlikely and gives a great explanation of why (via a discussion of encryption), and why it doesn't matter. Even if a clone did exist, for Skype, a large-scale migration to clones would crash their network, but would not otherwise be a security risk.

Security issues are more likely to occur in other components of VoIP systems, such as the hardware or software switching mechanisms, particularly in PBXes (Private Branch eXchanges).

In fact, two flaws have just been patched in Asterisk, an open source VoIP PBX package. The flaws, were they not patched, could lead to DOS (denial-of-service) attacks, thus bringing down a business's VoIP phone system.

DOS attacks have been used in the recent past to bring down websites for a variety of reasons, including attempts to take the site over, or just have mischievous fun. In the case of enterprise VoIP phone systems, the purpose would be to inhibit a business' telephony functions. For some businesses, that obviously means a temporary shutdown of operations.

A DOS attack is usually accomplished by overloading a web server or, in this case, a VoIP PBX. Version 1.2.10 of Asterisk PBX has fixed the flaws in the IAX protocol that would have allowed DOS attacks.

Additional sources: [ZD Net UK, CIO Tech Informer]

Microsoft + Nortel Unified Communications Project Not A Big Deal?

ZDNet writer Russell Shaw thinks that the recently announced Microsoft/ Nortel "unified communications" alliance is destined for failure, stating that Cisco is already doing the "Internet phone hardware-software integration thing."

In a similar vein, CNBC TV's Mad Money host Jim Cramer pooh-poohed Nortel when a caller asked about their shares during a "Lightning Round". Cramer felt that the alliance with Microsoft was not going to make much difference to Nortel stock, but did not elaborate.

Cramer also said nothing about Microsoft. Shaw on the other hand said that they "don't have a clue what to do with enterprise VoIP, and even less of an idea how to get into the consumer VoIP business."

That made me chuckle, because that's exactly what I'd been thinking. At least until Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski announced that teamup with Microsoft would generate $1 billion in extra revenues just for Nortel alone. And surely Microsoft's other announcement, an alliance with Yahoo! to make their respective VoIP-enabled IM (Instant Messaging) clients compatible would address the consumer VoIP issue, at least in part.

Sorry Russell. I agree that Microsoft has been directionless in VoIP, as you put it, but I think they're at least trying. And Cramer, who I love immensely as a TV host that fires up small investors and big alike, has been to shown to be about 50-50 with his predictions. Surely a stock that's currently trading around $2 is going to benefit from a billion in extra revenue?

Do VoIP Services Need Real Phone Numbers?

If you're using VoIP and do not have a "real" phone number to go with it, it may affect your ability to conduct banking or carry on the way you would with a regular phone or cellphone. That's according to Nuno from 21 Talks, who is quoting Brian Youngblood.

Youngblood's experience was that he called customer support at his bank using SkypeOut, and because that person could not tell what number he was calling from, they flagged his account. Unwittingly, he tried unsuccessfuly to pay for lunch the next day with his ATM/ debit card. That's obviously a good thing in terms of banking security, but also an unexpected convenience. Not displaying a real phone number might become a problem for some VoIP services.

Interestingly, I used Skype last night to call my own cellphone and the display said the caller was "0123456". Then I used Skype to call a buddy (one who has no voice mail and no cell phone and never intends to get either) and his display said "long distance - unknown caller". He's probably an extreme case, but seeing "unknown caller", he would not have answered his phone. That's just the way he is. In fact, the only reason he did answer was because I'd called him from my cell a few minutes previous to let him know what I was trying.

I had another experience yesterday with Skype, that may or may not have been because of the "unknown caller" issue. I called one of my website hosting providers - a very large, very well-known hosting provider - to fix a tech issue in trying to sync an existing web domain of mine with a newly purchased hosting plan.

The guy who answered didn't say anything about the audio quality of the call, but he was unusually rude and short-tempered. I'm not big on their atrociously confusing website or their customer service in general, and I only called once before. That was from my cell phone, and it cost me big because they do not have a 1-800 number (they are a budget host after all).

The result was that I didn't get my issue resolved, and cannot do it via email. What could have been a good experience in customer support most definitely was not. (Although I suppose it didn't help that I didn't know the 4-digit pin on my account, which someone else normally manages.) For now, though, I'll stick to email support and filling out annoying, hard-to-find web forms with some companies, or use a regular phone in situations like these.

Microsoft + Nortel Teamup Expected To Generate $1 Billion In Revenue

Microsoft's and Nortel's announced teamup for unified communications (e-mail, instant messaging, telephony, and multimedia conferencing), which includes VoIP, is expected to be a financial boon.

Mike Zafirovski, president and CEO of Nortel, says that they feel that moving their voice technology into software, and teaming up with Microsoft, is going to bring Nortel an extra billion in new revenue.

Nortel's stock (NYSE: NT) is currently around $2 and has seen a steady decline this year - way off the high of $100+/share of late 2000 - early 2001. Microsoft's stock (NYSE:  MSFT) has been relatively flat for the last 5 years, hovering around the $20-25/share range.

Unified communications can be expected to include both video and voice over IP. This move into the VoIP market for both Nortel and Microsoft might mark a postive step for share prices, as well as for customers who would rather put trust in these two companies than some upstart unknown VoIP provider.

Source: [Microsoft]

Microsoft's Showing Strong Interest In VoIP

Microsoft is showing its intense interest in VoIP lately by partnering up with not just Nortel but Yahoo as well.

Microsoft and Nortel are working on a new project focusing on unified communications, which the MS press release says includes e-mail, IM (Instant Messaging), telephony, and multimedia conferencing. Take the latter to mean WoIP - Video as well as Voice over IP.

Nortel has proven itself to be an innovator in telephony hardware and software in the past. This is also a great step forward for Microsoft in the VoIP market. Can they do the unthinkable and make this unified communications thing open? You never know.

They're at least trying to unify MSN Messenger IM with Yahoo! Messenger - both of which now have VoIP capabilities - in a new alliance. Between the two IMs, that's about 350 million users. Now what's the chances that they'll switch to SIP, thus making themselves compatible with true VoIP IMs such as Gizmo Project and Sightspeed? [Note: despite an earlier post about finding VoIP plans, Sightspeed is in fact SIP-based.]

Additional sources: Microsoft [via FierceVoIP].

Improving VoIP Audio Quality

The consumer market for VoIP grew by over 250 percent in 2005. This refers to people who actually subscribed to a VoIP service, which amounts to over 3 million people. That number is expected to nearly triple in 2006, and be nearly ten times in 2009. [C|Net News] Call audio quality is going to be an issue sooner or later, if it has not become one already.

Besides hardware-based VoIP, many more people are using soft clients such as Skype, including some PDA users, without any subscription plan. Some may even be using the voice capabilities of IM (Instant Messaging) clients such as Google Talk or MSN Messenger. For Skype alone, there are an estimated 100 million users worldwide.

Up till now, people may be putting up with poor call quality, simple because for soft client users, VoIP calls are very cheap or even free. My own experience suggests poor audio quality is fairly common. If you're a VoIP soft client user, here are a few things to consider, to improve your audio quality:

(1) Don't use a $1 microphone if you intend to record VoIP calls, particularly for podcasts. You mic doesn't have to be expensive either. You're not recording vocal tracks for a music CD. For standard calls that will not be rebroadcast, you can probably use a sub-$30 mic or headphone + mic headset combo. (My $1 mic works just fine, if my laptop RAM is free.)

(2) Make sure the RAM on your computer isn't maxed out. For my daily work, my RAM is constantly topped out and it affects my audio (and especially my video when I use a WoIP soft client such as Sightspeed). If you notice poor audio quality, you could try closing some other programs on your computer. Sometimes it's the program itself. I noticed that the free Babble.net client is unfortunately a memory hog.

(3) Expect poor audio quality if you have a slow Internet connection. If you're using a Wi-Fi setup, it might be a matter of positioning. Try moving around.

If any of the above problems arise, you'll probably get audio artefacts including warbling, echo, or buzz. Electrical interference can cause your microphone to generate hum as well.

As for the audio quality of calls over VoIP hardware or networks, that's something manufacturers and providers have to work on. As the C|Net article says, PSTN phones use dedicated networks, thus providing high quality calls. Early VoIP adopters are putting up with issues of poor audio quality and reliability. However, as VoIP usage spreads, newer customers are less likely to put up with poor service. Someone also has to come up with a reliable e911 emergency calling solution.

Net Neutrality Hypocrisy In The Korean VoIP Scandal

The issue of members of the US Military not being allowed to use their VoIP services at a base in South Korea has been temporarily resolved, but it took the US government to step in.

Interestingly enough, as VoIP News points out, the reason for the whole kerfuffle has to do with several Korean telecos feeling as if the military base members were not paying for the bandwidth they were using. Gee, where have we heard that * cough * net neutrality * cough * before?

So it's okay that the US government can interfere when another country's telcos feel they're not being compensated, whether rightly or wrongly. But when interested parties here feel that the American telcos are doing the same thing in the United States, why is the government turning a deaf ear? Do private US citizens not matter as much? Isn't this called hypocrisy?

I've been using the Internet since 1991 or 92, when it was the "web", and consisted of only a few services such as FTP and limited email. The one thing that I was regularly reminded of was that the Internet was free and open - it was the purpose for its creation: to share information. Sure, commerce took over. But anyone who thinks the telcos were not compensated for their services forgets that a T1 line cost about $1000/month in 1996, and prices went up exponentially from there.

I maintain that it's still just bully boy politics, with telcos seeing their bottom line disintegrate to cheaper VoIP service. Indications are that the number of VoIP subscribers will more than quadruple in just four more years. Telcos, your tactics are transparent. So, if you can't beat'em, VoIP'em and strike up alliances.

Who's Making Money In VoIP?

Om Malik paints an interesting VoIP application scenario with an in-beta service called Jangl. Jangl deals with issues of VoIP presence as well as security using a unique bidirectional phone number that allows two parties to communicate without revealing their own phone numbers.

The example Om gives is one applying to the dating scene. Considering that there are online dating services like Verbdate, which integrate Skype's VoIP software to allow people to talk to each other for free, there's obviously a market for VoIP dating applications. But with the way the world is, partial anonymity, or at least security from having to reveal personal info, is a boon. Jangl does this by assigning a phone number between two parties, which acts as a bridge, regardless of the numbers they are using to make the call.

Jangl joins the growing list of new companies that are opting for private financing instead of going IPO. However, history shows that when a VC firm pumps in money, they want to not only make their money back but get a return on it. That's kind of why VCs exist, right?

Jangl is only in beta, so it's yet to be seen whether they can make money from their model. Still, with all the free VoIP options available these days, the ones taking advantage of the Long Tail phenomena will be most likely to succeed. That is, give away parts of your service/ product offerings for free, and hope that a large number of people will use your paid services once in a while. Or if you're lucky, frequently. (Which is why I think that Skype's plan to enter the enterprise VoIP market is a bad idea, besides the fact that their Skype is not enterprise grade.)

But since so much VoIP service is free, it's the companies that give good value-added services at a reasonable price who are candidates for business success.

Here's my jaded prediction: new tech (and web 2.0) companies will continue to stay private for the next year or two, followed by a large number of IPO offerings in the very late 00s, capped by a market crash in 2010. History (i.e., market data and news archives) shows a recession at the beginning of every decade since at least 1970, which inevitably means tech stocks crash and burn. Only those VoIP companies who develop a stable footing in the next year or two are likely to survive, and that means having private funding, instead of suffering the vagaries of the stock market and suddenly finding that cash is low.

Finding The Best VoIP Plans

With all the choices for VoIP service now available, it's probably confusing for newbies to figure out what service is best for them. The questions you have to ask yourself, in finding a good rate and service, includes how you'll use VoIP.

Do you plan to call from your computer to another person's computer (PC-to-PC), to their phone (PC-to-PSTN), from your phone to their computer (PSTN-to-PC), or from phone to phone (PSTN-to-PSTN)? (Note: PSTN = Public Switched Telephone Network.)

The cheapest choice, obviously, is free, which PC-to-PC calls tend to be. Your choices at present include Skype, Sightspeed, and Gizmo Project. The latter uses the SIP standard, which means that users of other VoIP SIP-based soft clients can talk to each other across their networks. Clients such as Skype and Sightspeed cannot do that because they use proprietary systems. There are many more choices than those three, but they are the common ones.

For PC-to-PSTN calls, there are services like Babble.net, who have 3-month promo of up to 30 minutes free for calls to certain countries. Skype has this for Canadians and Americans until the end of 2006. For PSTN-to-PC calls, the target person needs to have something like SkypeIn service, which essentially provides a worldwide phone number.

Then there's RebTel, who've made international PSTN-to-PSTN calls very affordable, especially for mobile-to-mobile phone calls. Jajah also offers a combination of free call options, including PSTN-to-PSTN, and is based on the SIP open standard. Possibly to compete with providers such as Babble and RebTel, Skype is currently offering free weekends in July for calls to certain countries.

You can also use the free VoIP capabilities of some IM (Instant Messaging) soft clients such as Google Talk, MSN Messenger, etc., but they are strictly PC-to-PC and are client-specific.

These are just some options available right now. Keep in mind that most of them currently have poor to no support for emergency calling.

additional sources: Times Onilne UK.

CORRECTION: Despite my incorrect comment above, I have previously correctly stated that Sightspeed is SIP-based. Thanks to Peter Csathy and Andy Abramson for pointing out the error.

Could RFID Transponders Be Used For VoIP e911 Caller Verification?

If you've been following our sister publication, RFID Gazette, you'll know about a new type of RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag called RuBee with IP addressing capabilities. This means that if an SED (Service-Enabled Device) is equipped with a RuBee tag, it could be accessed via the Internet. This could be a potential solution for the VoIP e911 problem.

SEDs could be any networked device, including a digital camera, digital toaster, digital lighting system, etc., which can communicate with each other, based on predefined roles. What this also means is that if a transponder with a RuBee tag were devised, it could potentially be used as a means of directing and responding to VoIP-based e911 emergency calls.

Now this is pure speculation, and there are still a lot of technical issues that have to be solved. For example, RuBee-based transponders would have to be stationary and thus not attached to VoIP phones or to any mobile device such as a laptop or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). However, any device used to make a VoIP call would have a RuBee tag to transmit emergency status to the nearest transponder. The transponder would be designed to route the call appropriately.

This means that each transponder would have to be geocoded, possibly in sync to a postal/ zip code grid. Alternately, in cities with Municipal Wi-Fi, e911 transponders could be integrated wherever signal boosters are installed. That at least helps narrow down where a call is coming from, even from a VoWiFi phone. Finally, household or neighborhood transponders could also be made available, for those interested. Of course, in the latter case, you wouldn't want the transponder accessible to just anyone over the Internet. Just speculating.

Your Privacy - More About CALEA and VoIP

As mentioned in the previous post, CALEA and Sarbox regulations are reasons you should record corporate VoIP. The problem is, VoIP does not lend itself well to wiretapping. Fortunately, VoIP carriers have until May 2007 to comply, which provides the industry nearly a year to work out a solution.

While Sarbox is aimed at publicly-traded businesses, CALEA applies to any business or private citizen. Even people that do not use VoIP could be affected by this act.

Some of the drawbacks of eavesdropping on VoIP data for CALEA is that more than just voice traffic has to be captured. Thus, a significant amount of irrelevant data has to be filtered out, including other VoIP users calls. What it amounts to, from a privacy perspective, is that some law enforcement official could then know a private citizen's every activity online. This goes beyond the objective to wiretap calls "of interest" and moves towards something potentially more sinister.

There are also other technical issues such as firewalls, and even Wi-Fi access that is not secured. For example, if you have a Wi-Fi network at home but have left it as open access, either because you don't care or don't know how to secure it, you might have a problem. What if your scruffy-looking neighbour across the street conducts questionable phone calls from his VoWiFi (VoIP over Wi-Fi) handset using your Wi-Fi?

Similar issues will probably suuround calls over Municipal Wi-Fi. For example, a project in Taipei City, Taiwan, expects to have 200,000 VoIP phones in use, by year's end, by administrative and public school workers. After that, they hope that private citizens will use the network for VoWiFi calls. How do you wiretap VoWiFi calls that could be made anywhere in the city, outdoors or indoors?

Another question people are asking: should CALEA extend to soft clients such as Skype? Truth is, I wouldn't be surprised if text IM clients such as Google Talk or any of the Messenger-type of software are already "monitored". But VoIP clients are another issue.

Sources: Network World [via FierceVoIP]

Why Your Company Should Record VoIP Calls

The other day, I gave a lengthy rundown on how you could record VoIP calls from Skype using HotRecorder, as well as links to other articles and methods. What was not mentioned was why your company just might want to make VoIP call recording a standard practice.

In a nutshell, businesses using VoIP should consider recording calls to comply with portions of both Sarbox (Sarbanes-Oxley) and CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) regulations. Sarbox is an US SEC securities regulation, and was signed into law by President Bush in 2002. CALEA is a 1994 act that gives law enforcement agencies the right to conduct surveillance on any new communications networks.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), has a fairly comprehensive explanation of what CALEA means to the average person and business. A government site, AskCALEA, also provides information.

Both Sarbox and CALEA supposedly operate on the principle that your data (in this case your VoIP recordings) are safe and are only required in case an investigation is necessary. Since this means long-term archival of conversation recordings, there will be VoIP audio file storage issues to consider. VON magazine has an article about recording corporate VoIP and some available solutions. [via FierceVoIP]

Skype for the Mobile Warrior

Earlier this week, Skype and SanDisk announced a couple of Skype-certified SanDisk smartdrives  preloaded with Skype: the Cruzer Micro and Cruzer Titanium with U3. In addition to saving users the need to download software, this also makes it easy to use a friend's computer to make the call. Skype also says that this reduces the need to change settings/ preferences on other computers, such as in hotels, Internet cafes, etc., and is suited to anyone using multiple computers.

Interestingly, Skype mention student use because the latter tend to use multiple computers. However, at my local university, they've disabled all of the USB ports for security and virus protection reasons. [To wit: about 2 yrs ago, when I set up an alumni email account, there were over 500 spam messages waiting for me, the first time I signed on.] I'm not sure whether other colleges and universities disable USB ports as well, so this may not be a solution for all students.

Still, this move towards installing software on USB memory sticks/ cards is a growing trend, having mostly started with web servers, then web browsers, and now VoIP clients. With web-based word processors and spreadsheets like ZohoWriter and ZohoSheet (and other Zoho stuff) available online, and Wi-Fi access more widely available, you could conceivably leave your computer and your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) smartphone behind.

However, if you love your PDA, Skype has been available for Windows-based devices for a while but has been surprisingly unavailable for Palm OS-based devices. At least until EQO announced EQO Mobile for Skype, supporting Palm Treo 650 and Motorola ROKR, SLVR, and RAZR mobile phones.

EQO currently has a free beta program, but you should read EQO's how it works page to get an understanding of the software, as it doesn't seem all that straightforward. What's more, during signup, you have to specify your cell carrier. Mine - a large carrier - isn't listed, so I can't try it out to give you a rundown. (Get with, EQO.)

While EQO is available for Mac OS X, the SanDisk Cruzer drives are not, as Mac does not support U3 (Windows 2000 and XP only). The Cruzer drives come in four models ranging in price from US$39.99-$119.99.

Time-Limited Skype Freebies for Canadians + Americans

Skype just announced that US and Canadian Skypers can make free international "SkypeOut" calls for three weekends starting July 15th. Call destinations include the U.K., Mexico, and Japan, and the duration is 48 hours on each weekend.

I'm wondering if they're starting to feel the effects from competitors such as Jajah, Sightspeed, Babble, and Gizmo Project, not to mention VoIP-enhanced IM clients such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and Google Talk.

The press release did say that 70% of their users, of those surveyed, use Skype to keep in touch with friends and family overseas. In fact, 25% of users use Skype for 100% of their international calls.

So why those countries? Did they do some research and find that there are more, say, Japanese Canadians than, say, Jamaican Canadians? Not exactly, but they say that according to the 2000 US census, the total count of people in the US from those countries exceeds 10 million (less than 4%). In Canada, the count is 650,000 (2%).

Given that these percentages are pretty small, can North Americans with roots in other countries expect similar upcoming promos? The release didn't say, but I wouldn't be surprised, given that Skype is currently available in 27 languages.

Microsoft and VOIP

With European Union giving Microsoft a slap upside the head, they've got more to worry about than their share price. Their shares have been fairly level over the past five years, and some people think it's because they have stopped become innovators, with few forays into the newest technologies on and off the web. For example, when you think VoIP, do you think Microsoft?

Back last fall, when they acquired Teleo, it was expected that Microsoft was making a big leap into the VoIP market. What have they done with VoIP since? If past history is any evidence, they'll buy a company with wide presence - often with a free product - and embed their offerings into enterprise applications. That's their thing, their forte. But the web hasn't been about enterprise. If they want to dominate the Internet, Microsoft should take advice from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and give it away, give it away, give it away, now.

I shouldn't be too harsh, though. They did release Windows Live Messenger, with the expectation of upstaging Skype. But early in February, we asked is Microsoft serious about VoIP? Then late that month, they announced a free VoIP app allowing Office users to make free calls on Wi-Fi phones - preferably with the Windows Live Messenger-compatible VoIP cordless phone they teamed up with Philips to launch in January. In March, we were sure Microsoft's serious about VoIP.

So they're obviously trying. Personally, I'm glad they didn't buy Skype (did they even make an offer?) or Sightspeed, else the products might have been buried deep in other offerings. I think they need to consider offering products purely on their own merits, which don't need other MS apps installed to run on.

Recording Your VoIP Calls

With all the recent free VoIP services available, like Babble.net, Skype, Sightspeed, and Jajah, there are obviously a growing number of VoIP users, and thus an increased interest call recording. In fact, it's a common question on various VoIP forum websites.

Enterprise audio file storage issues aside, there are some relatively simple methods to record VoIP calls. The method to use does depend on whether your VoIP is hardware- or software-based, as well as which service you're using. Some software clients have recording built in; others require a plugin or even a separate standalone program. For example, IPcelerate has a product called IPstudio for recording VoIP calls, but it must be integrated into their IPsession platform. [via FierceVoIP]

Tom Keating of TMC has written frequently about recording VoIP calls, including using HotRecorder, and