WIMAX

SPOTLIGHT: Skype like WiMAX

Doug Mohney — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:06:42 -0400

Skype COO Scott Durchslag said the company is looking to extend its business operations from PCs to mobile devices (OK, with 3 and an Java-based mobile client, no big secret there), with WiMAX as one technology where Skype services might have potential.
While in Taiwan, Durchslag said WiMAX was a "different case," since it was just another application across a data-loving network; on cellular networks, it competes with cell dollars. Durchslag was visiting Taiwan to seek opportunities between Skype and Taiwanese makers of handsets and mobile devices.

For more:
- DIGITIMES stalks Skype COO in Taiwan. Post.

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Skype's mobilized phone play - FierceVoIP
3 Mobile and Skype collaborate on VoIP phone

SPOTLIGHT: Clearwire Credits Better Revenues to VoIP

Doug Mohney — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:23:05 -0400

According to its second quarter 2008 financial report, U.S. WiMAX provider Clearwire's average revenue per user (ARPU, not Alpo) has grown to $39.29. It's an increase of $1.35 over this quarter last year and $2.42 more than last quarter. ARPU growth is attributed to increased sales of new services, including VoIP, among other things. Unfortunately, the company didn't break out VoIP numbers from the total increase in revenue.

For more
- Read Clearwire's 2Q08 results release

Related articles:
Clearwire to offer its own VoIP service
Clearwire launches wVoIP in Texas

Korea: Mobile WiMAX needs VoIP

Doug Mohney — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:24:21 -0400

For all the hype around the WiBro standard in Korea, it hasn't seen the adoption numbers carriers were hoping for. VoIP is needed to get to the next level, says VNUnet.com.

Korea is portrayed as the world's first and largest test market for mobile WiMAX when the WiBro service rolled out in 2006. The service is expected to have 250,000 users by the end of this year, up from 100,000 at the end of 2007. Analyst Ku Kang of the ROA Group attributes the lack of rapid market penetration to provide a killer app.

Kang says VoIP could be that killer app--if it can get through legal and other issues. Voice support is a must if WiBro is to compete with HSDPA and LTE. ROA group predicts the WiBro market can reach up to 2.5 million uses by 2011.

Korean researchers also are looking at upgrading WiBro to support up to 3.6Gbps to "slow moving" users and delivering up to 100Mbps to users in vehicles moving at speeds of up to 74 mph.

For more:
- VoIP key to mobile WiMAX in Korea, says VNUnet.com

Related articles:
T-Mobile CEO says wVoIP won't catch on
Mobile VoIP changes the game

NXTcomm08: Sonus continues Multi-Medium Push

Doug Mohney — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:06:04 -0400

NXTcomm08, Las Vegas--Not content with dominance in the wireline world, Sonus Networks continues its efforts in other areas with announcements in the WiMAX and cable worlds.

WiMAX operators can get a full solution package that includes Sonus ASX, GSX, PSX, EMS, NBS and Activator, a carrier-grade provisioning operational support system (OSS) solution. Operators gain the ability to turn up and manage Sonus services in a quick, cost-effective and customer friendly-manner. With the WiMAX market expected to grow from 2 million subs at the end of 2007 to nearly 80 million by the end of 2010, opportunities abound.

Sonus has teamed up with Camiant for IP multimedia services to the cable industry. Sonus has completed interoperability testing of its PacketCable 2.0 compliant set of products with Camiant's PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) compliant policy server. Testing of the Sonus products included its ASX call server for telephony services, servers for call/session control, security, and media control, and a PacketCable compliant service development platform for rapid development of applications.

For more:
- Sonus Networks releases on WiMAX voice solution and triple-play cable services

Related articles:
Sonus Networks to acquire Atreus Systems
Sonus Networks Reports 1Q Financials, Lots of Cash

The SBC: People just don't understand

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Talk of the Session Border Controller (SBC) going away as a stand alone box is uninformed, argues Acme Packet "People who don't understand the technology have these opinions," said VP Seamus Hourihan. "We've been winning the battle around the SBC since we announced our first products in 2002. It's a battle we've fought continuously."

In fact, Acme sees SBC market growth as "high and to the right," as carriers expand their services between wireline and expanding wireless service options such as cellular, WiMAX, and femtocells.

Stuffing SBC functionality into another appliance just to simplify an equipment diagram also doesn't make a whole lot of sense to Hourihan, "If you look at the history of communications equipment, while many people have pursued [multi-function, all-in-one] 'God' boxes, none were ever bought or delivered," he said.

Acme's SBCs are performing a lot of critical functions already, including managing security, satisfying service assurance and regulatory requirements, and sorting through multiple protocols across multiple border points. "We support IPv4 to IPv6 interworking, that will be a requirement down the road," Hourihan said. "We get asked all the time to fix signaling [stuff]. We fix a lot of SIP interoperability issues. People don't understand what we really do, but it's a lot."

Transcoding and lawful intercept are two functions that make sense within the SBC rather than being shipped off and taken care of somewhere else on the network. Translation between codecs and signaling formats is typically required at the handoff between different borders while in lawful intercept the SBC is already handling both media and data flows, so directing a copy of a session to the appropriate law enforcement agency is straightforward.

Mixing up routers and firewalls with SBCs is a non-starter. "There will be products with routers, SBCs, firewalls and a bar sink in them, but not in the core," said Hourihan. It might make theoretical architectural sense to combine routers and SBCs, but from an operational and troubleshooting side it "ain't going to happen." SBCs can support traffic from multiple router types and are more cost-effective being positioned behind the router. "You don't have to handle the full set of traffic of a router, only a subset."

For more:
- Dialogic: TDM Lives! SBCs doomed! Shopping! UC domination!

Related articles:
Cisco integrates DPI, SBC in new router
Acme Packet deploys open session routing

Telcos Have Google Envy

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

A new report by Heavy Reading asserts that when it comes to delivering differentiating next-generation services, Internet companies like Google have the edge, while major carriers aren't sure what to do. Surveyed firms--France Telecom, NTT, TelaSonera, and Verizon Communications--know what they don't know and realize they will have to partner with third-party application companies to deliver the advanced services consumers will ultimately want.

Telcos are looking at third-party applications and trying to find ways they can add value to them. Most of the carriers feel they bring value to the table with billing, security, and QoS; policy control is also an area which carriers are looking at, but it's very controversial and kicks up the net neutrality crowd.

The bottom line--traditional telephony--is a dying asset and if they want to keep growing revenues in the future they will have to partner up and open up their networks to third parties. Sprint and Verizon Wireless have already taken the first steps in opening up their network and movement is expected on the wireline side as well. When it comes to advanced services, carriers see Google as their biggest threat, but Google doesn't make money as a service provider. Instead, Google relies almost exclusively on online advertising for revenues.

For more:
- Light Reading's GoogleEnvy writeup
- Reinventing the Telcos Report

Related articles:
Verizon Wireless embraces open access
Sprint outlines Xohm WiMAX plans
Sprint: 'We're creating a platform for innovation'

Airspan says Aussie ISP cut corners in WiMAX network

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

There's a dust up brewing down under, where comments from the CEO of an Australian ISP that WiMAX technology was a "miserable failure" supported only by "opportunistic hype" drew a quick and acerbic response from its network equipment supplier, Airspan. The company contends the ISP cut corners when it set up its WiMAX network and made promises to customers it had no way of keeping.

Garth Freeman, CEO of Hervey Bay's Buzz Broadband, opened--and has since closed--a WiMAX network he said had poor line-of-sight performance, latency problems and woeful indoor penetration.

Airspan said it was no surprise--Buzz set up the network on the cheap. "In the case of Buzz Broadband, we know that there were significant under-provisioning issues in the core network which connected the Airspan equipment to the internet," said an Airspan spokesperson. "Very early in the relationship, Airspan technical services determined that Buzz's backhaul network was considerably under-dimensioned--again to save cost--and lacked sufficient quality of service, and that these factors were the direct cause of VoIP-quality issues in the network."

Grant Stepa, Airspan managing director is Australia, told ZDNet yesterday that Buzz "made no attempt whatsoever to follow our course of action" to improve the network, adding the two companies no longer are on speaking terms.

For more:
- Read about Garth Freeman's tirade in CommsDay
- And ZDNet's article

Related articles:
Aussie ISP rips WiMAX
HelloSoft launches VoIP for WiMAX Soc
Clearwire launches VoIP over WiMAX network

Moto demos CDMA/EV-DO Rev-A to LTE network handoffs

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

Motorola yesterday showed why Carl Icahn may have been on the right track when he pressured the company into spinning off it's depleted mobile-device division and its $1.2 billion in losses last year in an effort to showcase the part of the company that still knows how to innovate.

Moto yesterday announced the first successful packet-switched network handoff between CDMA EV-DO Rev-A and LTE technologies in a demonstration with VoIP calls and streaming video. The technique shows how service providers using CDMA-based networks can integrate broadband OFDMA and IP packet-based wireless broadband technologies like LTE into their network, enabling the roll-out of more interactive services like HD mobile blogging and broadcasting, HD video-on-demand and online gaming.

For more:
- See Motorola's release

Related articles:
Mobile VoIP key to next-gen networks
Motorola demos WiMAX handoffs in Windy city

Australian operator says VoIP won't work on WiMAX

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:56 -0400

VoIP providers may be eagerly anticipating Clearwire and Sprint's next dance onto the nationwide WiMAX network floor, but at least one early adopter, Australian Garth Freeman, CEO of Hervey Bay's Buzz Broadband, labeled the technology a "miserable failure." Freeman, who operated--and closed--Australia's inaugural WiMAX network, told a pro-WiMAX audience at a Bangkok conference last week that the technology was rife with bugs that made it unacceptable for use with VoIP and other Internet apps. Specifically jitter and latency rates as high as 1MS, and "non-existent" line of sight performance beyond 1.8 miles. Add poor indoor performance outside a quarter mile, and WiMAX-supported VoIP installations begin to look a little pie-in-the sky.

Buzz isn't alone in decrying WiMAX penetration issues. At an IEEE conference in 2007, India's VSNL said it was recording loss of signal just two football field's away from base stations.

Freeman went on to lambaste the "opportunistic hype" surrounding WiMAX, concluding with a warning to the gathering that "WiMAX may not work." A year ago, just months after launching WiMAX, Freeman said Buzz had signed 10 percent of its target WiMAX market, using VoIP value as a come on.

For more:
- Read about Garth Freeman's tirade in CommsDay

Related articles:
HelloSoft launches VoIP for Soc Report
Clearwire launches VoIP over WiMAX network Report

Vodafone swings behind VoIP

Tom Burton — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Vodafone Germany is launching a mobile VoIP service using WiFi that expands the reach of the cellular service indoors and removes international roaming fees. The converging of the WiFi and Cellular service makes Vodafone the first major carrier to embrace mobile VoIP in Europe. Vodafone is a 45 percent owner of Verizon Wireless and is the world's largest operator by turnover.

The move to use WiFi to expand the footprint of the service follows a similar announcement by German-owned T-Mobile to offer WiFi coverage in homes of their U.S. customers. T-Mobile customers can talk on this service to anyone in the U.S. for a very competitive $10 a month.

Cellular operators have been predicted to embrace mobile VoIP for several years. But the technology was largely resisted by operators because of concerns it would cannibalize their profitable cellular plays. The move by the industry leader to begin using VoIP represents a significant new development and comes as several start-ups have begun promoting new VoIP calling widgets for smartphones.

The current 3G networks are generally considered not ready to provide a quality VoIP service, but the transition to super-fast 4G networks is likely to herald a rapid switch to data-based calling. Most of the cellular players are looking to adopt LTE platforms with timing still up in the air, but around 2011. Sprint may move sooner and adopt WiMAX as its 4G platform.

For more:
Back to the future of mobile voice Article

Related articles:
T-Mobile gets endorsement Article
T-Mobile offers $10-a-month calling Article
FierceWireless is sponsoring The Path to 4G seminar at next month's CTIA trade-show

ALSO NOTED: Skype wonders where is WiMAX; Claro selects Nortel; and much more...

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:59:52 -0500

> Skype: Where are all the WiMAX devices Article

> Claro selects Nortel for IP network Article

Clearwire to offer its own VoIP service

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:59:56 -0500

Wireless broadband provider Clearwire is getting into the VoIP business, teaming up with Nortel to offer a SIP-based IP voice service from its own infrastructure. The move into voice is a expansion beyond Clearwire's traditional broadband offering, although Clearwire has offered VoIP as a reseller in many of the markets it operates in. Clearwire was founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw in 2003 and operates mainly in the U.S. but also in several European markets using a pre-WiMAX infrastructure.

Nortel's Application Server 5200 and Communication Server 2000 will power the service with the application server acting as the conduit for switched calls into the IP network. Calls to Clearwire customers will be delivered through Clearwire's wireless technology.

The move to bundle Clearwire's wireless broadband service with its own VoIP offering underlines the problems for the pure play providers such as Vonage who find themselves increasingly squeezed by providers like Clearwire and now AT&T with established customer bases and marketing channels. The infrastructure play also readies Clearwire for the increasing convergence of fixed and mobile communications, a trend Clearwire believes it can clearly win from.

For More:
- Nortel Press Release
- Clearwire Breaks Into VOIP Market Article

Related articles:
Clearwire launches VoIP in Texas Report
It's been a big week for wireless with a new WiMAX service announced

New Motorola chief

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:59:55 -0500

Major IP vendor Motorola has succumbed to investor pressure to lift its performance replacing CEO Edward Zander with insider and former chief operating officer, Greg Brown.

Motorola has been in a battle with its major shareholder Carl Icahn over lack luster performance, especially from its mobile division which has lost market share after not being able to follow up with a successor to the popularity Razr phone.

Motorola is a major player in the IP space, especially in the IPTV space. Paul Sagawa, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, told the New York Times "the key will be whether, under his leadership, Motorola can produce the kinds of technologies that can help it turn itself around. The cavalry has been slow in coming when it comes to new products."

For more:
- Motorola goes for an insider Report
- Zander steps down Report

Related articles:
- Motorola invests in Tilefile Release
- Motorola showcases Wimax Report

ALSO NOTED: Freescale rolls out reference chip; VoIP over WiMAX; and much more...

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 06:59:52 -0400

> Freescale Semiconductor of Austin, Texas says it's introduced an embedded VoIP reference platform for industrial applications. Press Release

> Tech Republic's executive editor provides a thorough overview of what WiMAX will mean for VoIP. Article

> BT scores contract to provide VoIP to U.K. hospital. Article

T-Mobile offers WiFi Blackberry

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:59:55 -0400

T-Mobile rolled out a WiFi-enabled BlackBerry this week in the form of the 8320. Aka, the "BB Curve," the phone uses UMA (unlicensed mobile access) to hand calls between T-Mobile's network and its HotSpot@Home WiFi service.

AT&T started offering a WiFi Blackberry last week. AT&T's model, the 8820, was rolled out by Research In Motion of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in July. It was RIM's first dual-mode BlackBerry handset.

The WiFi technology enables faster Web surfing than typical data networks, but it doesn't automatically open the handsets up for any VoIP provider. Steve Shaw with Kineto Wireless in Milpitas, Calif., tells FierceVoIP that UMA technology allows the service provider to control the WiFi connection. (See today's editorial, "WiFi doesn't mean VoIP freedom.")

For More:
- Business Week profiles both WiFi BlackBerries here
- infosync reviews the T-Mobile HotSpot@Home service here

Related Article:
Motorola showcases WiMAX handoffs Report

VoIP Phones: Nokia N800 tablet Image

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:22:00 -0400

Nokia N800 tablet
The Nokia N800 tablet, rolled out at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January, features WiFi capability and a headphone jack with a mic pin. A WiMAX version is said to be coming next year.

< Previous Phone | Next Phone >

Vote for your favorite VoIP handset from the FierceVoIP list

VoIP phones walking

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Nationwide wireless broadband will likely become a reality within a few years. A substantial chunk of radio frequency spectrum now occupied by digital TV stations will be freed up, and Sprint Nextel will have its WiMAX network built out. There will be dead spots--the Grand Canyon, for example--but for the most part broadband connectivity will resemble today's mobile networks.

Mobile VoIP handsets will become the rule instead of the exception. The devices won't even be considered mobile VoIP handsets. Everybody will carry around one device with an iPhone-like interface that allows for every type of communication imaginable while powering SETI@home in sleep mode. It will be powerful enough to dock into a monitor that's both a computer and a TV screen, with remote control and voice-activated interactivity. It will automatically be able to screen calls and answer with preselected responses or bring up a telepresence connection on-screen. It will have an interactive program guide feature that searches for video like a TiVo and directs downloads. It will control the thermostat, the burglar alarm system, the microwave, the coffee pot and the Roomba, it will calculate the odds of every active lottery in North America simultaneously, it will be solar powered, and perhaps most importantly, it will look very, very cool.

We're not there yet. Today, VoIP-compatible handsets are relatively new. We've put together 10 in this issue of FierceVoIP. Check them out, and let us know what features you'd like to see in a handheld comms device. Also, be sure to vote for your favorite VoIP handset. The Nokia E51 is quite nice, but it's a tough call between that and the Hello Kitty Skype. As always, your thoughts and feedback are encouraged at dmcadams@fiercemarkets.com.

xMax VoIP to deploy in November

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:59:54 -0400

xG Technology said its xMax VoIP phone service will be commercially deployed in November in Daytona, Fla., and six to eight other markets shortly after that. The Sarasota, Fla., firm made the announcement a few days ago at a technology demonstration in Fort Lauderdale. It also said it is on track to deliver 4G VoIP technology as early as next year.

xG made a stir last year when it demonstrated its xMax technology, a wave-based RF transmission format that functions in lower frequencies than WiMAX, giving it a longer range with lower power--up to 15 miles at 40 Mbps using less than 1 watt.

The developers intended for the technology to give rise to grassroots wireless VoIP provision over the last year, but it appears now to be taking community approach. With municipal WiFi projects hitting the wall in some cities, most notably, Chicago, xMax could be right on time.

For More:
- xG's progress report is here

Related Articles
xG Technology to offer low-power handset Report
xG, xMax, xcetera Report

ALSO NOTED: Qwest hosts VoIP; wholesaler logs 50th client; and much more...

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:59:52 -0400

> Qwest Communications does three-year deal to provide One Flex hosted VoIP for the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic organization in Princeton, N.J. Press Release

> Momentum Wholesale, a digital voice wholesaler in Birmingham, Ala., says it has grown its customer base by nearly 70 percent in three months by signing its 50th wholesale client. Press Release

> NexTone of Gaithersburg, Md., is providing session border control and exchange platforms to Xyrous Communications, a Vienna, Va., concern specializing in international VoIP. Press Release

> Greenfield Communications, a provider of fiber-to-the-home infrastructures located in Dana Point, Calif., contracted GlobalTouch of Los Angeles to provide the VoIP services for its projects. Press Release

> Huawei, a network architecture provider in Shenzhen, China, has been contracted to create and deploy the first WiMAX network in the Middle East by Saudi Telecom. Press Release

> Pingtel of Burlington, Mass., has released a new line of turn-key SIP IP PBX gear. Press Release

> Packet Island of Santa Clara, Calif., said it's supplying management tools for the small business customers of enterprise VoIP provider Vinculum Communications of San Diego, Calif. Press Release

And finally… Time Warner Cable's New York/New Jersey franchise is offering 3,000 minutes of international VoIP for $19.95 per month. TWC avoids the word "unlimited," and the talk time doesn't appear until the boilerplate, which states, "International OnePrice provides customers with 3,000 minutes of calling time per month… Time Warner Cable reserves the right to monitor usage for possible abuse of service. More than 3,000 minutes a month of retail use is considered beyond normal residential use and may be investigated…" The caveat suggests VoIP abuse is a sizeable problem. TWC's offer is here.

DirecTV plans VoIP offering

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 06:59:56 -0400

DirecTV has cut a deal with Current Group of Germantown, Md., to deliver a broadband/VoIP offering to direct broadcast satellite customers. Current provides broadband-over-powerline service to 1.8 million customers. BPL allows subscribers to connect to the Internet via any electrical outlet in the home. The technology is reported to provide symmetrical speeds of up to 10 Mbps. The service will launch in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area toward the end of the year.

DirecTV has 16.3 million subscribers in the United States. It will have access to Current's existing footprint and its future launch sites. The deal gives the DBS operator more leverage to compete with cable operations that provide broadband and voice services over proprietary infrastructures.

Current and DirecTV have a previously established corporate relationship with Dr. John Malone's Liberty Media. Current's investors include a Liberty entity, Duke Energy Corp., EarthLink, Google, Hearst Corp., GE, EnerTech Capital and Goldman Sachs & Co.

Liberty wrested control of DirecTV last December when Malone traded his 16.3 percent stake in News Corp. for it. News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch was only too glad to take it and be rid of Malone, aka the "Darth Vader" of business deals. That swap put Malone back into the television distribution business after an 8-year hiatus following his sale of TCI to the old AT&T. No one in the business world has bested this savvy doctor. A WiMAX-based quad-play is not far behind, and probably a strategic alliance with EchoStar so complex that regulators won't have a legal leg to block it.

For more:
- Writing for Light Reading's Digital Cable News, Jeff Baumgartner provides extensive background here
- The official announcement from Current is here