April 2006 Archives

If you are going to buy a car ever in your life or are interested in how the sales process works in some companies, you must read this article titled Showroom Turncoat Comes Clean which was in the May 2006 issues of Car and Driver Magazine.

The last page is something called How to Avoid Getting Screwed which is also a must-read.

You will learn many of the tricks the salespeople in the auto industry use. If half of this article is true, it does not bode well for the ethics of the industry as a whole.

But I am not here to pass judgment but if you read this and learn how not to get taken by any salespeople ever then I will be happy.

Thank you Michael Feyen for writing this article. It is well-done and kind of scary.

The WSJ is reporting that Michael Eisner is joining the board of Veoh Networks a company that is going to stream TV over the Internet. Mr. Eisner said Veoh is one of five or six media investments he has made since setting up a limited liability company, or LLC, called Tornante Co. He said Veoh is the only investment he has disclosed to the public

Tomorrow I am going to be in Louisville, Kentucky speaking to a group of primarily resellers about the benefits of VoIP and IP communications. I was reminiscing on all my speaking over the past decade or so and I believe I have educated over 10,000 resellers if you add up the aggregate crowds over the years.

From 1995-2000 the communications reseller market really peaked as the interconnects of years past learned to become converged resellers. Not all of them made it and those that didn’t were replaced by traditional computer/networking VARs embracing communications as a way to improve their shrinking hardware margins.

I am speaking for Tech Data and more specifically their TechSelect division which does a great deal of training around the country.

A vibrant and growing reseller market is essential for the growth of the IP communications space. There are so many new and interesting companies coming into the industry and without resellers there is no industry. I literally do anything and everything I can to educate this market because without them we would have a bunch of small VoIP companies trying to figure out how to sell things.

If you are interested in coming and hearing me or participating in the seminar please go to the TechSelect website and register.

I was recently on a jetBlue flight and guess who was on the flight with me? David Neeleman the founder of the company. He acted as part of the flight crew and handed out drinks and snacks.

Perhaps nothing impresses me more about company than the humility of its top management. Arrogant managers are the worst thing for a company's image.

David Neeleman should be commended and nominated as CEO of the year for this act alone. Thanks Dave!

Yahoo! Enhanced Services
We often talk about enhanced services as a way to get service providers to make more money. Perhaps this is why it is ironic to see the following statement at the bottom of Yahoo! E-mails:

Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min.

Yahoo! uses voice as a way to generate enhanced service revenue from e-mail.

 

 

- Mass adoption of both phone line replacement services (i.e. Sunrocket and Vonage) and IM services (i.e Skype) will continue to accelerate.
- In the next few years, the convergence of wireless voice and VoIP will begin to result in least-cost routing solutions.
- Eventually, all telephony will be IP.

How do you get traffic to the site?

Web traffic results primarily from search engines and word of mouth. VoipReview.org also partners with companies like CNet.com to power their VoIP search engines.

What are the biggest advantages of VoIP for consumers?

1. Price. You can’t beat the price for local, long distance, or international calls. According to a recent survey by Consumer Reports, people who have adopted VoIP service save up to $50 each month on their phone bills.
2. More free features. Most providers offer caller ID, voice mail, call waiting, 3-way calling, and a bundle of other features as part of their flat-rate price plans.
3. Flexibility and convenience. Users can keep their existing phone numbers, and even make and receive local calls when traveling domestically or internationally. If they move, they simply plug the device into an Internet connection to get up and running.

Do you think talking about 911 issues is important for consumers?

The issue seems to be resolving with the recent regulations requiring providers to offer 911 service to all new customers. However, consumers should still be aware that they must update their 911 address with their service provider if they change locations. And, they should also be aware that if their Internet connection or power source goes down, so does their phone service.

Also, some consumers don’t understand the difference between phone line replacement and IM based services. They should be aware that you don’t get 911 with services such as Skype or Yahoo! IM.

Does the site plan on focusing more on WiFi telephony?

Yes. As providers offer more WiFi enabled devices, VoipReview.org will begin to provide more information about WiFi, including the capability to “Search WiFi Equipment by Provider.”

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There you have it, some good feedback from someone in the trenches of VoIP comparisons. One of the things that was mentioned by Eric is the convenience of VoIP services – something consumers don’t usually realize. I suppose as prices between the PSTN and VoIP narrow, perhaps convenience will be a more important driver for VoIP adoption.

• CMP has partnered with the TIA the association behind GlobalComm and the two organizations have recently been acting like one.
• Light reading is owned by CMP.
• Light Reading performed a survey showing that its readers favor GlobalComm.

• TMC and Light Reading are both working with NetCentrex to sponsor a Triple Play Symposium
• I have respect for the Light Reading team – The goal here is not to knock them
• There are much worse problems on the Internet when it comes to communications shows. Some event producers have bought off “independent” bloggers (through special favors, financial incentives, ownership in companies, etc). This is a much worse problem than what I outlined above.
  
  

You may be able to tell this from my writing but I am a HUGE Scary Movie fan and have seen the movies dozens of times. It is actually pretty scary how much time I have spent laughing at these movies which I am sure many think are childish but hey – I think movies should be entertaining and I obviously don’t need prodigious quantities of plot in my entertainment to be happy.

My favorite scenes in the movies are “What’s Up,” where the killer calls Shorty, when the camera assistant steps on Gail’s shoes, and the scene where the white rapper gets thrown out of the rap club after he puts up his hood and it looks like he is from the KKK.

George Carlin’s “Linda” is a bit creepy but still funny.

The movies are able to entertain and be on the edge of what is socially acceptable. They may step over occasionally but hey taking risks is what movie-making is all about.

So now Scary Movie 4 is out and I am dying to see it. Since I’ve had kids I have only seen one or two movies in a theatre. I now see movies when they come to cable. Perhaps this time I will make an exception.

Here is a review of the movie. I haven't read it - I only skimmed. Why did I skim it instead of reading? I hate to know too much about a movie before I see it. Enjoy and let me know if you liked the movie but please don’t tell me anything that happens. You wouldn’t want to ruin the plot for me.