WiFi

SPOTLIGHT: Israel greenlights VoIP over WiFi test

Doug Mohney — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:36:17 -0400

Israel's Ministry of Communication has granted a special license for a "marketing experiment" to deliver domestic fixed-line phone services using VoIP through a WiFi hot spot.

Under the license NSR Ltd is providing VoIP through end-user equipment, including a WiFi "interface." The experiment is supposed to examine "participants' motivation" to use the service, plus operational and marketing aspects.

Last week the Ministry published a document on amending the country's wireless LAN policy draft on hotspot telephony.

For more:
- Cellular-News UK reports on Israel's changes in WiFi VoIP policy

DeFi reviewed

Doug Mohney — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:01:08 -0400

DeFi Mobile, a service currently focused on the international traveler, enables a user with a dual-mode phone to make calls over a low-cost WiFi VoIP connection, rather than more expensive cellular roaming service.

For $40 a month, users get a phone number in the country of choice out of a list of 40 (with 20 more to be added soon). Users can make and receive unlimited global WiFi calls at that price and can add on two more numbers in other countries for another $10. The flat monthly fee includes use of a lot of WiFi hot spots, including AT&T Wireless, FON, Orange and T-Mobile; there's more than 50 partnership agreements covering upward of 75 countries, 15,000 hotels and 120 airports. Currently, DeFi Mobile's client software download supports Nokia Symbian handsets with other versions in the works. DeFi's special sauce claim is on call quality. The company has established direct connections with "hundreds" of telecom carriers at a colo facility, proving direct IP links to other IP networks, including cable providers.

DeFi sees big potential not only with overseas travelers, but for U.S. users. The company says that cell phone users are in a WiFi zone about 60 percent of the time when they are making calls. College students are viewed as a big market since they're always looking to save money and they're in a WiFi zone most of the time.

For more:
- VoIP News gives the skinny on DeFi Mobile. Article.

Alcatel-Lucent gets ClubMed account

Pete Wylie — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:01:22 -0400

Alcatel-Lucent added ClubMed to its big name customer roster Friday and will install about 30,000 total lines in a complete VoIP telephony system for ClubMed resorts, sales offices and corporate HQ initially with more rollouts planned for the future.

The companies signed a seven-year service agreement that will see Alca-Lu's OmniPCX enterprise telephony solution deployed across Club Med's 87 locations. Club Med will use the solution to streamline existing communications, cut costs, and manage telephony centrally, and the resort chain can now add locations easily through the centralized management tools Alca-Lu provides.

Plans are also being discussed to roll out softphones in resort room TVs and WiFi in every guest room, which would cut back on costs for guests and Club Med alike. Alca-Lu has had an executive shake up this month, and big partnerships like this could help to assuage wary investors. Focusing an enterrise story about cutting telephony costs with WiFi and VoIP capabilities also seems like a wise idea going forward.

For more:
- see the press release here

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SPOTLIGHT: iPod Touch finally VoIP-able

Pete Wylie — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:04:45 -0400

Clever hardware buffs have found a pathway to enable VoIP calls on the newly released iPod Touch and Classic. Apple enabled the headphone jack to accept external microphones, with the intention of letting clients record voice memos on the devices. But with the right application, users could manipulate the external microphone capability to enable VoIP calls over WiFi through clients like Jajah and Skype.

Apple has yet to clarlify on its stance on VoIP calls over WiFi; the company expressly forbids VoIP calls using either the EDGE of 3G networks.

For more:
- see the blog post on macrumors.com

SPOTLIGHT: Tesco offers consumer WiFi VoIP service

Doug Mohney — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:21:02 -0400

U.K. supermarket conglomerate Tesco is now offering yet another lower-cost VoIP service. Tesco is using Freshtel's service to offer cheap dual-mode cellular/WiFi VoIP calls over WiFi. The service requires a download, and, currently, the only handsets being supported are Nokia's Series 60 line; more handsets are expected to be added soon.

Earlier in the year, Tesco signed a five-year, $200 million deal with C&W to set up more than 1,800 Tesco sites with VoIP and mobile UC functionality, including picocell deployment.

For more:
- Into Mobile reports on Tesco VoIP WiFi offering. Article

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WiFi on the rebound (again)

Doug Mohney — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:32:48 -0400

Slowly, but surely, WiFi continues to creep forward into near-ubiquity. It is a good thing too, as people reach for VoIP calls on their iPhone and want mobile UC apps without having to clock cellular minutes.

It hasn't been an easy road. Back in 2003, AT&T, IBM and Intel teamed up to launch Cometa Networks, a venture to roll out a national Wi-Fi network. A couple of years and $60 million later, Cometa dissolved into vapor. At the same time Cometa launched, Verizon was running WiFi hotspots in NYC by recycling pay phone infrastructure, but pulled the plug after they had a problem monetizing the effort.

Another bump in the road has been well-intentioned efforts to build all-encompassing muni-WiFi networks that met the reality of "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Town fathers wanted all the benefits of cheap wireless broadband but were reluctant to dedicate the resources necessary to make it happen (Or they wanted to reap the benefits and get additional fees from leasing antenna spots). On the other side, the private sector seemed to have crazy ideas that, if they built it, profits would come. Earthlink reportedly lost $80 million in 2007 trying to build out muni-Fi projects.

Yet WiFi continues to proliferate, a storefront at a time. The Baja Fresh around the corner from my house offers free WiFi and many of the local non-chain restaurants are also turning up WiFi. How fine dining and wireless access go together is beyond me, but to each his own. Do I need to mention McDonald's here?

Proliferation of WiFi makes VoIP and UC all the more valuable, because it enhances the ability of people to make non-PSTN calls. And with more ubiquitous connectivity, the possibility of new and better IP communications apps also increases.

- Doug

The death of FMC spreads

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Brilliant minds think alike. In the UK, DialaPhone's mobile phone blog has joined with FierceVoIP in toasting the death of FMC and the emergence of Mobile Unified Communications as the Next Big Thing.

When it comes to FMC, femtocell technology, and unified communications, there's a lot of confusion as to what it means for the customer and what it means to people within the industry trying to promote the different flavors of technology. From a purist standpoint, people are confusing FMC and what it can do (single-number access, dual-mode phone use within the enterprise, pipe calls on WiFi within the enterprise to keep things cheap) with femtocell technology (extending the reach of the cellular network within the home by using a mini-base station plugged into a home broadband connection, no dual-mode phone required).

UC takes the cake and all the layers by uniting all forms of communication, including voice, email, fax, VoIP, conferencing, and desktop applications. The FMC camp is rebranding themselves as "agents of Mobile Unified Communications."

For more:
- DialaPhone's Discussion on the Death of FMC
- FierceVoIP's Mobile UC replaces FMC manifesto

InterOp's wireless VoIP flavoring

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Go to InterOp, see wireless VoIP-flavored promotions or technology. Agito Networks and Trapeze Networks both have Wireless/Mobile VoIP technology to show off in Las Vegas.

Agito is announcing details of the Enterprise Fixed Mobile Convergence (eFMC) Infrastructure Passport program, an ecosystem to get all the moving parts of services and local LAN bits to play well together. As part of your enlightenment, you can run around with a paper passport on the show floor, collect stamps by visiting at Agito's partners, and return back to Agito for a chance to win a dual-mode Nokia phone--they're not giving away an iPhone! Agito's mobility router appliance does smart management of dual-mode technologies using location-based technology and plays well with many other boxes and software.

Trapeze Networks will demonstrate its NonStop WirelessTM technology at Interop. Voice sessions over VoIP handsets over Trapexe MP access points and MX mobility controllers will be setup, then they'll pull the plug on an MX controller during an active call to demonstrate fully automated dynamic redundancy and scaling. Claims for NonStop WirelessTM technology include non-stop operation, in-service upgrades, and hitless failover while dramatically simplifying redundancy configuration.

For more:
- Agito Networks eFMC Infrastructure Passport release
- Trapeze Networks NonStop Wireless release

SPOTLIGHT: How to troubleshoot your VoIP phone setup

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:53 -0400

Over at ZDNet, Rik Fairlie outlines a series of steps for troubleshooting your VoIP setup. Rik uses a Vonage phone over a wireless connection, so he had two groups of problems to wrestle with. First, he did battle with the baggage of 2.4 GHz WiFi; first moving around his cordless phone and phone adapter away from his WiFi router and later springing for a 5.8 GHz cordless phone. Second, he gives advice on various ways to tinker with your network configuration and settings, including taking a shot at replacing your cabling.

Rik's full VoIP troubleshooting discussion makes for a good read, but I can't help but think it is an equally good argument to ditch WiFi for critical applications given the number of problems 2.4 GHz can introduce.

A fring fling on iPhone

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

fring has released a mobile VoIP application for the iPhone, designed to be used over a WiFi connection. The application also enables chat and presence with other fring users, as well as a laundry list of other IM clients ranging from Skype to SIP. Fring also has a built-in capability to recognize related public network WiFi hotspots, so if you've previously logged into one network hotspot, it will recognize other hotspots within the same network and log you in.

On the other hand, cautious users may be put off by language in the release describing the nature of the software such as a "light, sneak preview R&D version" and "pre-release" version. You'll also need an unlocked iPhone.

The pre-release version is designed to sate iPhone users calling for a fring and generate user feedback in order to influence the development process of the full release version, due for launch later this year. fring says it's signing up in excess of 100,000 new users per month since January 2008.

For more:
- fring iPhone release.
- iPhone fring buzz from iPhoneBuzz

Related articles:
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A fring fling on iPhone

Doug Mohney — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:24:54 -0400

fring has released a mobile VoIP application for the iPhone, designed to be used over a WiFi connecting. The application also enables chat and presence with other fring users, as well as a laundry list of other IM clients ranging from Skype to SIP. Fring also has a built-in capability to recognize related public network WiFi hotspots, so if you’ve previously logged into one network hotspot, it will recognize other hotspots within the same network and log you in.

On the other hand, cautious users may be put off by language in the release describing the mature of the software such as “light, sneak preview R&D version” and “pre-release” version. You’ll also need an unlocked iPhone.

The pre-release version is designed to sate iPhone users calling for a fring and generate user feedback in order to influence the development process of the full release version, due for launch later this year. Frink says they are signing up in excess of 100,000 new users per month since January 2008.

For more:
- Fring iPhone release.
- iphone Fring buzz from iPhoneBuzz

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TruPhone Buys SIM4travel

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

VoIP operator TruPhone has bought roaming operator SIM4travel, planning to combine operations and provide travelers with low cost phone calls over cellular. TruPhone is paying around $2.64 million in cash and $2.56 million in stock to get SIM4travel's travel SIM capability and its' Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) platform. Other assets in the deal include SIM4travel's infrastructure, customer base, distribution, and staff in Portugal and London.

TruPhone has been providing free and local calls through the Internet and WiFi, supported through a VoIP client on Nokia N and E-Series phones. The deal now gives the company the ability to provide global mobile operator services. It also provides a consumer channel since SIM4travel sells SIM cards through Tesco, WHSmith, Carphone Warehouse and other stores.

From a regulatory standpoint, the purchase might make it easier for Truphone to claim to be a mobile operator and get mobile termination fees. T-Mobile and Truphone are in court, T-Mobile arguing that it doesn't have to pay such fees since a Truphone call routed over the Internet costs nothing to deliver.

For more:
- Truphone blog announcing acquisition of SIM4 Travel
- Register write-up of Truephone SIM4 Travel deal

WiFi phone sales leap 60% as support improves

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

It's funny what a little support can do for a product. Infonetics Research says WiFi phone sales increased more than 60 percent last year--682,000 units were sold worldwide--because vendors did more to support wireless VoIP.

"IP telephony has matured, and wireless LANs have also matured," says Infonetics analysts Richard Webb. "Companies started to build wireless LANs to put data on them, but now they are looking for other applications."

For more:
- Read the release from Infonetics Research

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ALSO NOTED: Credit woes worry techies; Aruba looks anew at WiFi and WiMAX

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:52 -0400

> A litany of bad news for Wall Street has sent ripples of woe deep into the tech world. Report

> Aruba Networks takes a new look at WiFi and WiMAX Release

Ojo video phone service returns

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

The bitter dispute between video phone operator WorldGate and its major client, SnapVRS, has been resolved with WorldGate turning on its service again. WorldGate makes the Ojo videophone and had been in dispute with Snap over payment for 3,000 phones ordered for Snap's deaf customers. These clients dial a video phone and communicate with an interpreter using sign language, while the interpreter simultaneously relays the comments in spoken English to a standard telephone user.

Both sides were coy about the settlement terms and expressed regret at the inconvenience of the network turnoff. Snap had bought 3,000 of the stylish Ojo video phones for interpreters. WorldGate closed the network on Jan. 30 after releasing a form 8-k announcing it intended to wind down the business declaring it was in "a dispute with its largest customer over the payment of significant monies which the Company believes are owed to it."

In mid-February WorldGate advised the SEC YA Advisors had declared WorldGate in default of a $6.7 million convertible note debt and that YA Advisors was calling in the debt. The dispute centers on disclosures WorldGate allegedly contravened and now disputes.

For more:
-WorldGate turns Ojo back on
-SnapVRS videophone announcement and video

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ALSO NOTED: Polycom demos WiFi; Digium and Westcon partner; and much more...

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:52 -0400

> Polycom Introduces Applications, WiFi Phone and Microsoft Video Integration at VON.x Show Article

> Digium and Westcon Group Partner to Bring Value-Driven VoIP Release

VoIP developers fire up for iPhone

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

Steve Jobs' green light for third party apps for the iPhone--including WiFi based VoIP--is expected to see several voice widgets quickly come to market. U.K. provider Truphone had already released a demonstration model late last year. Over the weekend, they issued a careful statement acknowledging their interest and indicating they would be developing a fully fledged application. DSL Reports also wrote that video chat developer SightSpeed was working on a VoIP app, but that iPhone's camera placement was proving problematic.

The big question is what Skype is up to. The sheer popularity of the iPhone--and the chance to share in the $100 million developer fund Apple and its VC partners have put on the table--makes it an almost certainty Skype will move quickly to be part of the play. Certainly that is what the expectation is from the analysts who closely watch Skype. The combination of iPhone and Skype would definitely make the cellular industry worried--if they are not already. But while some see Apple's VoIP announcement as a game changer, others such as ZNet's Russell Shaw cautions that Vonage offered VoIP over WiFi and dropped it. True, but that was pre-iPhone and we have already seen enough evidence to suggest the iPhone is the breakthrough product for the internet moving to the wireless space.

For more:
- Apple iPhone SDK and developer fund Release
- SightSpeed works on iPhone VoIP app Article
- VoIP on iPhone a possibility Article
- Truphone a starter for iPhone VoIP Blog

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Vodafone swings behind mobile VoIP Article
T-Mobile offers $10-a-month calling Article
FierceWireless is sponsoring The Path to 4G seminar at next month's CTIA trade-show

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

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T-Mobile offers $10 a month VoIP

Tom Burton — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

T-Mobile has dramatically challenged the market structure of the residential VoIP market offering a bundled cellular and at-home VoIP service for an extra $10 a month with a cellular plan. The deeply discounted VoIP offering is almost certainly to be matched by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which already have access to stand-alone VoIP offerings.

The T-Mobile announcement most obviously threatens Vonage, which has a stand-alone VoIP offering starting at $25 a month. But it also challenges the cable companies, currently without wireless offerings to support their VoIP products.

Deutsche Telecom-owned T-Mobile is trialling its "Talk Forever" VoIP service in Seattle and Dallas; its success is likely to depend on its quality and its ease of transition. Users of the VoIP offering will pay a one-off fee of $50 for the VoIP converter, which connects to a line between the phone jack and the telephone. New VoIP providers have typically had to endure high churn rates from customers dissatisfied with the quality of both the actual service and customer support. Vonage is still losing a third of its customers each year.

The VoIP PR was overshadowed by the flat price announcement by Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile itself, each offering unlimited mobile calling for $100 a month.

For More:
T-Mobile Advertisement

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AT&T Starbucks mobile VoIP deal

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

AT&T's deal to offer WiFi in Starbucks may give it the distribution footprint to launch a series of new wireless Internet voice and advanced IP communications services. In a thoughtful piece, Garret Smith has joined the dots on AT&T's various plays. He concludes the communications giant is now ready to offer mobile VoIP using its WiFi and Cellular infrastructures. The theory goes that with AT&T now able to offer VoIP through its CallVantage and U-verse service, high speed data lines through its pervasive cellular network, and WiFi through 17,000 Starbucks and 8,000 McDonald's outlets, AT&T now has a classic fixed to mobile convergence infrastructure in place.

Throw in the game-changing iPhone and that AT&T is offering its broadband customers free WiFi and you have a competitive bundling that is light years ahead of any U.S. competitor.

For more:
- Is AT&T The Next VoWiFi and Mobile VoIP Player? Article

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