Run VoIP in your House - get arrested

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Apparently, in Bangladesh if you try and resell VoIP services out of your house, you’re apt to get raided. Hope what happened to American Eliadah “Lia” McCord (forced to smuggle drugs, caught by Bangladesh airport security, gets 30-year sentence, but eventually pardoned thanks to help from Gov. Bill Richardson) doesn’t happen to people who run VoIP services out of their house.

I happened to see the Eliadah “Lia” McCord story a few nights ago on TV. It was a tragic story that ended up well, but not before spending 4 years in prison. In Bangladesh drug smugglers are typically executed (hung) and they don’t have the lengthy appeals (death row) process that happens in the U.S. and other countries.

Imagine getting executed for operating VoIP. Though I doubt even Bangladesh is that extreme. Probably just a 10 year sentence.

check it out:

Tk 1cr VoIP equipment seized in city

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment worth around Tk 1 crore were seized from two places in the city early yesterday.

A committee formed to inspect and detect telecommunication installations conducted separate raids on two houses at Kanthalbagan and Paribagh from 12:30am to 4:00am and seized the equipment.

Officials of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) are the members of the committee.

The equipment include 120 tellular of various models, 7 gateways and one 32 port channel bank, says a BTRC press release.

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Voodoo PCs Undergo HP Mumbo-Jumbo

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by VoIP & Gadgets Blog

voodooproduct_shot1_375.jpg
 It’s a sad day when Hewlett-Packard decides to merge its Voodoo PC business unit with its consumer business.

This were the ultimate gamer PCs from a one time stand-alone company that put a unique business model into play — high-end performance, outrageous design and high-end prices. I mean, take a look at that box above!

Now, Voodoo’s laptops and desktops will be sold alongside HP’s consumer Compaq Presario and Pavilion PC lines — sort of the opposite of the Voodoo model.  It is just the next step of integration into the business units that deliver Compaq Presario and HP Pavilion, said the company. 

PCWorld has more.

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Is Now the Time for e-Book Readers?

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Sony ReaderPRS505SC.jpgWith Sony announcing today that its Reader Digital Book will be able to read electronic books published using the .epub format — the same that many of the largest book publishers are using — ring in a new age for e-books?

Until now, Sony’s e-book reader could only read books available from the Sony e-book store, PDF documents and digital rights management (DRM)-free text.

Starting next month, the new PRS-505 Sony Reader will be able to access secure DRM- and non-DRM-protected content in the .epub format, formerly called the Open eBook format.

The Sony Reader Digital Book is the first e-book reading device to support the .epub format, which is the XML-based standard format proposed by the International Digital Publishing Forum. It allows publishers to convert books to different formats, protect the copy using DRM and adds the ability to resize PDF e-books and other text to better fit the reader’s screen size.

Such publishers as Harper Collins, Random House, Simon & Schuster and Penguin are offering texts in the .epub format.

CNet has more on this development here.

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Vonage UK launches new low cost V-Plan calling plans

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Vonage today announced two new low cost call plans for their Vonage UK subsidiary. According to Vonage UK, “Following customer research and reacting directly to consumer concern about increasing household costs and spiraling business overheads, Vonage has created two new fixed rate call plans.”

They added, “Vonage subscribers report enormous savings on their monthly bills and comment on the speed and ease of swapping providers as well as installing Vonage. The new call plans fly in the face of increasing utility prices and the new £6.99 plan has been designed for the high percentage of Vonage consumers requesting more cost efficient plans for North America.”

Vonage’s £7.99, £14.99 and £18.99 plans incorporating up to 45 countries remain unchanged. The two new call plans offer Vonage’s lowest ever rates and are called V-Plan UK and V-Plan US.

• £5.99 per month - unlimited calls to the UK (V-Plan UK)
- Premium features such as call waiting, caller ID, call diversion, voicemail, three way calling (normally billed as extras with other providers), are included as standard.

• £6.99 per month - unlimited calls to the UK, United States and Canada (V-Plan US)
- As above plus, for only £1 extra per month, unlimited calls to the US and Canada to include calls to US and Canadian mobile phones.

Here’s a screenshot of the various V-Plan calling options. Click image to see the plans:
vonage-uk-calling-plans.jpg

Vonage to Vonage calls are free. Also, there are no hidden costs with Vonage - prices are always quoted including VAT.

Vincent Potier, Managing Director of Vonage, said; “We recognise how important it is for customers to keep costs low and as predictable as possible - especially in light of the current economy. Our new plans enable customers to make worry free calls for as long as they want and show our long term commitment to listening and responding to our customers as well as offering the highest level of customer service and value for money”.

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Packet8 675xi VoIP for the SMB

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by VoIP & Gadgets Blog

I missed the 8×8/Packet8 news on July 16th about its new hosted small office “key” system and plug-and-play IP phones. Joan Citelli, Director of Corporate Communications emailed me asking for a briefing, but apparently I never replied since her email was still marked as unread and nothing in my Sent Items. Email overload I guess. The news was about 8×8, working with handset maker Aastra Telecom to provide a key system to the SMB market,which is part of the new Packet8 675xi series.

I happened to come across Carolyn Schuk’s article while surfing the web and came across her post about some 8×8 news that I missed. She writes, “8×8 is VoIP’s Rodney Dangerfield. It just gets no respect.” She has an excellent point and one which I wholeheartedly agree with.

Carolyn then lays out her case: “Consider how it stacks up against its far better-known pure-play VoIP competitor, Vonage: In the last five years, 8×8 revenues grew 460.3 percent while Vonage’s grew 0.0 percent. 8×8 made $700,000 during the first quarter of this year. Vonage lost $8.9 million and is shopping for a $215 million refinancing deal to stay out of bankruptcy. 8×8 holds 73 patents. Vonage just got its first. Despite this, Vonage’s stock price is $1.58 while 8×8’s is $1.03.”

She goes on to explain that the news coverage of the new Packet8 675xi series was sorely lacking, which sparked the Rodney Dangerfield comment. I’m guilty as charged, since I didn’t cover the news. Though it wasn’t for a lack of respect that I didn’t cover the Packet8 news. Sometimes it’s just impossible to cover all the daily VoIP news in addition to my testing of VoIP products, managing the MIS department as CTO, etc.

Well, better late than never. Today, I thought I’d give an overview of the new Packet8 675xi series, which is actually part of their Packet8 Hosted Key System Services. Perhaps most importantly, this offering supports “call appearances” commonly referred to as “shared line appearances” or SLA, which enables you to know when someone is using a line. It’s a popular feature of key systems and one which is often difficult to reproduce on VoIP systems. Supporting SLA is often a key selling advantage when targeting the SMB which is used to call appearance functionality.

First off, the Packet8 675xi IP phone series consists of three models — the 6753i entry level phone, 6755i intermediate phone and 6757i CT advanced phone. Essentially these are OEM’ed versions of the Aastra 53i, 55i, and 57i CT but with a special firmware load. Each model offers full duplex speakerphone functionality, programmable softkey appearances, LCD display screens, embedded XML browsers and up to nine call appearance lines. All models support Power over Ethernet and come equipped with dual auto-sensing switched Ethernet ports.

Here’s pictures of all 3 models:
packet8-virtual-office-6753i-ip-phone.jpg
packet8-virtual-office-6755i-ip-phone.jpg
packet8-virtual-office-6757i-ct-ip-phone.jpg

The Packet8 675xi series include intercom paging and direct dial from a searchable corporate directory. Prices for the Packet8 675xi series range from $129.99 for the 6753i to $349.99 for the high end 6757i CT model which includes a DECT cordless phone as part of the bundled offer. The 6757i CT model’s built in DECT antenna allows the user to roam up to a 300 foot radius from the 6757i CT base telephone. The Packet8 675xi IP phones also feature corporate directory display and lookup, intercom paging, and shared line appearance.

The Packet8 675xi series of IP phones incorporates 8×8’s advanced NAT traversal technologies. This allows users to simply plug the phone into any Internet connection and immediately make or receive calls without performing any network or firewall configuration.

The high-end Packet8 6757i CT includes an integrated cordless handset with coverage up to 300,000 sq ft. It has a large 144 x 128 pixel graphical backlit LCD display and 6 dynamic context-sensitive softkeys, and with its large screen it can take full advantage of XML based programs.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the Packet8 675xi series use SIP trunking to Packet8’s network infrastructure. All of the telephony functions such as transfer, conferencing, voicemail, etc. reside on the Packet8 network. Thus, you don’t need any costly IP-PBX hardware at the customer premise - you just need IP phones. This can be a huge cost savings for SMBs looking for an inexpensive VoIP solution, especially as the costs and margins for IP-PBXs continue to shrink with growing price pressure from more competition and open source solutions like Digium’s Asterisk.

Packet8/8×8 certainly has earned my admiration with some great products and services, a cool videophone, and more VoIP patents than you can shake a stick at! My ‘respect’ has been duly given.

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Mobile Broadband Growing, But Fixed Still Rules

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by Andy Abramson

Fierce Wireless has pointed to a Forrester Research report that says that while mobile broadband will grow, there will still be a heavy demand for fixed broadband. To me, this translates that WiFi will remain the dominant wireless access technology for quite some time.

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Telerupted: Worldwide Communication

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by Daniel Berninger

The disruption potential of VoIP lies not so much in its ability to push down the cost of telephone service than in its ability to get consumers to ignore the telephone business altogether. The nature of the Internet makes VoIP advantageous even after the cost of plain old telephone service goes to zero. […]

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Taking a Vacation From The VoIP Weblog

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by The VoIP Weblog

I will be taking a break from my various blogs for the next week and a half-including this one. I will be on vacation with my family, visiting friends and enjoying my time away from the usual day-to-day of my life. VoIP will be the farthest thing from my mind.

Unless one of the other roaming bloggers posts something while I'm away, expect The VoIP Weblog to be silent until I return.

See full article.

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More VoIP Allowed in Wi-Fi Spots

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by VoIP News - Making VoIP Connections

This is pretty interesting. A UK publication is reporting that more Wi-Fi hotspots are allowing users to make VoIP calls.
According to Telappliant:
The report, by ABI Research, found that the Wi-Fi market is expected to grow by 40 per cent compared with 2007 and its business model has been changing rapidly.
It found that companies such as […]

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VoIP 911 Law Passed

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by VoIP News - Making VoIP Connections

Good news for those who are eschewing landlines for mobile phones and VoIP: A new law has been passed that ensures the improvement of the country’s 911 system so that it can handle routing calls from cell phones and VoIP systems.
According to The Murfreesboro Post:
The new law will shore up the nation’s 911 networks by […]

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