Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog

In November 2005, the Keep USF Fair Coalition�  released its report entitled “Losing Numbers:�  How America’s Most Vulnerable Consumers Could Suffer Under Universal Service Fund (USF) ‘Reform’” noting:

“The currently consumer-friendly ‘pay for what you use’ approach to funding the Universal Service Fund would be replaced under the Martin plan with a regressive, flat-fee arrangement of $1–$2 or more per phone line — regardless of whether or not consumers even make a long-distance call. For a consumer who now dials only a handful of long-distance calls per year and pays correspondingly low USF taxes, the effective tax rate under the Martin plan would soar by more than 1,000 percent on an annual basis! With low-income and elderly consumers already socked with high gas prices, the prospect of soaring winter heating bills and continued inflation in medical prescriptions, the wide range of diverse groups in the Keep USF Fair Coalition are opposing the Martin ‘numbers’ based plan.�  These groups caution against balancing USF finances on the backs of the very consumers who use long-distance the least and are unable to afford phone bills that would rise under “numbers” simply in order to subsidize high-income/high-volume callers.”

Today the group announced it will present data disputing the FCC’s claims on Monday February 27..

Interested parties can join the live, telephone-based news conference and Q&A, by dialing 1-(800) 860-2442 prior to the 1:30 p.m.

Change. Growth. Evolution.

My wife and I took our children to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC this past week, and it was an interesting study of human evolution.

The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), today announced new estimates showing FTTH deployments now passing over 3.6 million U.S. homes, an increase of almost 1 million homes in four months.

The new figures show the most rapid growth of FTTH deployment to date, with more than 230,000 additional homes passed every month.

“Typically telecom construction slows in winter months,” said Michael Render of market research firm Render, Vanderslice and Associates, which prepared the estimates.�  “To see acceleration at this time of year indicates increased preference for FTTH as an infrastructure of choice.”� 

The figures also show acceleration among homes connected by FTTH, which normally lags homes passed by several months.�  Over the last four months, the estimate shows, homes connected with FTTH have increased by 70% — to 548,000 subscribers from 322,000.

FrontRange Solutions� today announced the release of IP Office Suite - their new complete IP telephony phone system and the foundation of their Communications Management solution family.

Designed entirely in software, IP Office Suite is designed to provide IP-based telephony functionality to the SMB and distributed enterprise. According to a press announcement, FrontRange's expanding Communication Management family demonstrates a tipping point in the adoption of VoIP by proving that IP is no longer just being adopted as a 'tech' application but truly being used to improve business processes and customer satisfaction throughout the organization. Moreover, these new solutions enable the SMB and distributed enterprise to benefit from enterprise level technology without having to sacrifice enterprise level resources.