Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com: November 2007 Archives

IP Communications Week in Review November 30, 2007

November 30, 2007 10:38 PM |

This past week in IP communications was full of news from companies like Voxalot, iBasis, Vonage, Polycom and more. My favorite news is from Vonage where they announce they are improving their customer service via web chat solutions provider inQ.

Years ago I was a Vonage customer and had amazing service levels but I did hear many complaints about churn due to poor service after I switched providers.

I haven’t heard anything negative about the company’s service lately and to see Vonage make such an investment is a very good sign.

This news shows Vonage is still improving service levels and bodes well for the company’s shareholders and employees.

Here is more on the week’s hot stories from TMCnet’s Patrick Barnard.

XV6800: Why Verizon Wireless Opened Up

November 30, 2007 6:13 PM |

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There could not be a happier person on the face of the earth than I regarding Verizon Wireless opening up its network. And while I thought I pegged some of the reasons for Verizon making this decision in a recent blog post, the actual reason is probably a great deal simpler.

My take? The XV6800 handset.

You see, the XV6700 handset while rife with problems such as slowdowns and freezes was a great product for its time. The comfortable mobile keyboard, the widescreen 320x240 view and the Microsoft Office compatible applications made this device a winner. Now, about 2 years later, Verizon and HTC, the company behind this device have come up with the 6800, a phone with so few new features over the 6700, it isn't really even worth writing about.

Regardless, I started to jot down the new features of the 6800 but it quickly became more interesting to write about paint drying or erosion.

It is obvious with the release of this new smartphone that Verizon execs had a meeting and said in unison, "We give up." They continued, "If we can't produce a real upgrade on a flagship handset in two years, it is time to throw in the towel. Let's open up the network" smile

While I am kidding ( a little anyway) this is especially true in light of the fact Apple came out of nowhere and designed a phone that blows away everything currently in the Verizon store.

I mean is it so difficult to make a bigger screen? I understand part of the problem here is the Microsoft OS but I don't care. Why does this phone need to have an inferior browsing experience compared to an iPhone? It has been two years. What takes so long?

So in short, if you want to know why Verizon Wireless opened up their network, just look to the 6800... The lack of incremental improvements is enough to make anyone want to give up.

The saddest part about this story is my Verizon Wireless contract is up and the 6800 is probably the best replacement for the 6700 which I currently use. But how on earth, I must reiterate the question -- was the company not able to come up with a bigger screen?

This phone is sad... Really sad. HTC should look at the Nokia 8100 for ideas.

Another option to consider is the Verizon Voyager "iPhone Killer" but so far the specs are not so impressive. The screen resolution is a bit bigger than the 6800 so perhaps this is a good interim solution until something better comes out.

I will keep you posted on the decision for sure so check back often. And as always, your comments are appreciated.

Online Advertising: a Problem of Plenty

November 30, 2007 4:23 PM |

1 Comment

I ran across this article from BtoBOnline which talks about how much data online advertising generates and discuses some ways of dealing with and tracking the data. Although the article is not terribly detailed, it does mention Quantcast, a company I have written about before.

Quantcast basically has a proprietary way of tracking traffic of websites, widgets and more. It is a free service which allows you to see the United States traffic of over 20 million websites.

The service also ranks all sites – the lower the number the better. For example TMCnet is ranked in the top 3,708 sites according to the service. Yahoo! ranks number 1.

Quantcast traffic coupled with Alexa allows you to get a good idea of how a company’s traffic ranks in comparison to all other sites.

Personally I am happy there are more and more sites allowing access to free competitive information which allows companies to see how they are doing with respect to others.

Here is an example:

Site	Quantcast: Unique US Monthly Visitors	Quantcast Rank	Alexa Rank
McDonalds	3.8 Million	351	11,266
Burger King	506,338	4,707	32,203

Alexa is certainly a wonderful tool but difficult to interpret because it becomes exponentially more difficult to rank as you get closer to the number one spot which is occupied by Yahoo!

At least with Quantcast you can compare the monthly unique United States users of sites and immediately understand how they compare.

Here is a quote from the article worth reading:

Panelists from the major online measurement firms, including comScore Networks, Hitwise, Nielsen Online and Quantcast Corp., a new entrant, discussed the differences and merits of both panel-based and server-based, or site-centric, data, in a day filled with more questions than answers. Some measurement companies are working toward a hybrid model that incorporates both types of data.

“We combine panels and pixels,” said Konrad Feldman, CEO of Quantcast. “I think the future is one in which the industry collaborates to get data that everyone can agree on. People want simplicity in the way they buy media.”

Google to Bid on 700 MHz Spectrum

November 30, 2007 12:37 PM |

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While it is not really a surprise at this point, Google will be bidding on the 700 MHz spectrum auction and if the company wins, it will likely change the business model of many other service providers. The reason is simple. At least one service provider has expressed interest in leveraging their connections as a competitive weapon/advantage and more specifically as a way to exact a toll from Google!

As you may remember I referred to this situation in an article titled SBC Goes Trick-or-Treating which took an excerpt from a BusinessWeek article referring to an interview with SBC CEO Ed Whitacre*:

The question posed was:

How concerned are you about Internet upstarts like Google, MSN, Vonage, and others?

And the answer was as follows:

How do you think they're going to get to customers? Through a broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I isn't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there's going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they're using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?

The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment and for a Google or Yahoo! or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts!

Google will likely ensure their “pipes” are open and anyone will be able to use them without fear of being taxed, etc. But more importantly it seems Google will be the company ensuring that if other service providers close their pipes, someone with open pipes will be available to choose from.

*Ed Whitacre has retired after successfully acquiring AT&T and changing the name of the new company to AT&T.

The Second Sprint Merger That Wasn’t

November 30, 2007 6:24 AM |

1 Comment

Most in the blogosphere seemed to think a Google acquisition of Sprint was unlikely and although I agree the businesses are very different and Google would have a tough time explaining to Wall Street why the merger makes sense, I also have to wonder about the coincidence of Sprint Nextel turning down an acquisition bid just a few weeks after I reported on the initial rumor of Google purchasing the wireless phone carrier.

Although the news of SK Telecom making a failed acquisition does not lend credibility to the rumor, it would seem highly coincidental that the rumor hit my desk from multiple sources as the same time as the company was discussing a possible merger. What’s your take?

Microsoft Billion Dollar Web Loss

November 30, 2007 6:09 AM |

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I was reading an article from Internet.com explaining how Microsoft is losing over a billion dollars a year online.

Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff said Microsoft's considerable resources lets it keep pushing forward with MSN despite failures in strategic areas that few other companies could afford. "Microsoft's consumer online initiatives are fragmented with a lot of different brands," Rosoff told InternetNews.com. "They're losing a billion dollars a year online. A lot of that has been due to investments, but this is an expensive business for Microsoft to be in. Their current strategy is a shotgun approach to try a lot of things and see what works."

It seems quite incredible that this could be the case but it certainly shows that the advertisers have voted and Google and Yahoo! are where they are spending most of their online money. On the web, the model that is most successful is free content and services with ads to support it all.

This is the exact opposite of many of Microsoft’s current businesses. It seems the software giant has to learn quickly how to change their business model 180 degrees if they plan on taking Google head on.

Google Maps Simulated GPS

November 29, 2007 6:53 PM |

2 Comments

I could not have been more excited to learn I could use Google Maps on my mobile phone to simulate GPS by utilizing cellular tower triangulation. You should have seen my face. Before I shared the information with my readers I wanted to test the service to see how accurate it is.

It is now about 30 hours since I learned about this new software update and still the service does not work on my Verizon Wireless XV6700 Windows Mobile device. Every time I query my location, I get the message “Your current location is temporarily unavailable.”

Did I tell you this was a beta product?

I thought perhaps TMC’s office presented some sort of problem for the service so as I drove home last night I repeatedly retried the service as I drove, hoping for success. Still there was nothing... Just the same error message. By the way, as I drive home I go through about three cities.

I haven’t had a chance to try the service on other devices here at TMC but I wanted to at least make sure my readers know Google has this new service which doesn’t work for me but certainly could work for you.

If you want to learn more about this service and even try it for yourself just go to Google’s Mobile maps site. I wonder… Does it work for you?

Update: Here is an e-mail I just received and I thought worth sharing:

Hello Rich,

I was reading your post about Google Maps not working with your XV6700 and I have the same phone and ran into the same problem you have. Turns out the XV6700 doesn't report the tower information. Did any of your readers give you feedback on how to get it to work?

I have a call in to Yaron Raps, he wrote that e911 article for you when it was announced for VoIP, if anyone can get it to work, he can.

Patrick Mullen

iPhone Gets Real Network

November 29, 2007 4:48 PM |

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Many current iPhone users will certainly say it is about time that in 2008, iPhones will run on a proper 3G network allowing true wireless broadband speeds. The reason the device does not currently support 3G is because the battery life of a power-hungry device like an iPhone just wouldn’t be acceptable on a 3G network.

Apparently technology has improved to the point where it is now possible to have the right blend of iPhone size, weight, broadband speed and battery life.

This new device will obviously be a killer as the major problem with the current iPhone is the slow speed of the current AT&T network. This new addition will push many potential “on the fence” customers over to the Apple side.

Sprint Turns Down $5 Billion Offer

November 29, 2007 4:11 PM |

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Sprint Turns Down $5 Billion Offer

CNBC is reporting Sprint Nextel turned down a 5 billion dollar offer (according to RTTNews.com). It is not clear who made this offer as of yet. As you may recall I wrote a blog entry lately regarding the potential of Google purchasing the wireless carrier. Stay tuned.

Update:

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Sprint Nextel Corp. rejected an offer by South Korea's SK Telecom and private equity firm Providence Equity Partners to invest $5 billion in the company and install its former chairman, Tim Donahue, as chief executive, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Donahue and the investment consortium proposed the deal before Thanksgiving, sending its bid to Sprint's board in the form of a letter, these people say. The board did not grant Mr. Donahue or the investors an audience before turning down the offer, these people say.

Sprint is searching for a new CEO after the departure of Gary Forsee last month. Mr. Donahue, who was the CEO of Nextel Communications Inc. and negotiated its sale to Sprint in 2004 for $35 billion, became chairman of the combined company after the merger closed in 2005. He stepped down late last year. He was prepared to return to the helm as CEO and planned to bring in a full slate of top executives to handle marketing and operations, the people familiar with the matter said.

FCC: Worry about TVoIP not Cable

November 29, 2007 10:49 AM |

2 Comments

As the FCC vs. Cable struggle continues, I can’t help but wonder if Chairman Kevin Martin isn’t spending too much time worrying about a problem which will be irrelevant at some point in the future.

Martin is trying to get cable companies to inexpensively lease their lines to independent programmers. He is also trying to reduce the cost of cable service and ensure a la carte delivery of channels to consumers.

But I wonder if Martin is fighting the right fight at the right time.

You see, the cable lobby is very strong and they exert influence on politicians who in turn do their best to minimize the influence Martin has. In other words by taking on cable companies head on – even if this is best for customers, he will find himself losing prominence and having more of his initiatives second guessed in the future.

Moreover it should be clear that soon, an Internet television revolution will take place allowing consumers to view programming over the internet and subsequently rely less on cable for distribution.

Voice over IP was rolled out rapidly with the advent of Vonage and others paving the way. Companies like Neulion are doing for TVoIP that Vonage did for VoIP. I have had a chance to visit Neulion and see their technology which allows high-quality (but not HDTV) television to be watched over a 700 kbps connection.

Just as a VoIP provider such as a Vonage supplies you with a box which connects to a broadband line and a telephone, Neulion supplies a box which connects to your broadband connection and television.

In the future, it will be commonplace to connect a computer to a TV. Apple and a number of other companies such as TiVo play in this space today.

I would argue that it will soon be infinitely easier for niche programming to be viewed over IP than via cable companies. TVoIP will only grow in importance over the upcoming years. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 2008 holiday season does not see such devices as “must haves.”

So while Chairman Martin is on the right track in looking to make it easier for consumers to access niche content, the true future solution to this problem is TVoIP, not cable.

In my opinion, the biggest barrier to successful TVoIP is a lack of network neutrality. We need to ensure that service providers treat all broadband content the same or at least ensure a broadband provider does not purposely slow down any broadband content.

You may think this problem is something that doesn’t happen and is not worth dealing with but in reality Comcast has already been found to be doing this exact thing.

Television prices are plummeting and the same is happening with computers. As these trends continue, the amount of programming consumed will grow exponentially and with it the bandwidth needed to effectively watch this programming.

If the FCC is truly committed to spirit of open competition in the television world, then network neutrality is what needs to be fought for and secured today. All other fights are merely speed bumps on the road towards a truly competitive television landscape.

Avaya DevConnect 2007

November 28, 2007 10:14 AM |

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As you may recall from a recent post, TMC has partnered with Avaya to promote its Developer Connection or DevConnect event which is taking place this week. Here are some photos of this standing room only conference which I hear is doing very well. My team is at the show and tell me things are going exceedingly well. Here are some photos and a great article written by Erik Linask about the conference.

Here is an excerpt:

In addition to promoting the growth of SIP, Avaya is also simplifying its DevConnect program for 2008 — while enhancing the value membership provides. Specifically, Avaya is offering a greater choice to members in terms of opting for added testing or marketing support, or both. Among the key benefits of partnering with Avaya is testing is conducted in-house at its facilities in Lincroft, New Jersey, not through a third-party facility, as is the case with other vendors.

Rossman says the Avaya Labs (News - Alert) facility is something the company continues to invest in, largely because Avaya sees the value in embracing the developer community. By building the DevConnect program based on recommendations and requests from members, Avaya solidifies its commitment to enhancing not only its own solutions and those of its partners, but also driving innovation across the entire communications landscape.

Here are some shots from the Avaya Interoperability Lab:

Android Sans SIP and IMS

November 28, 2007 9:44 AM |

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I found some interesting analysis over at the Google Phone blog regarding Android’s missing SIP and IMS stacks. Here is the piece if you are interested in learning more.

Skype High Quality Video

November 27, 2007 6:12 PM |

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Skype has teamed with Logitech to provide what they call a High Quality Video solution. I had a chance to test this new feature via a videoconference with Tom Keating who heads up TMC Labs.

In order to take advantage of this new software you will need Skype 3.6 or higher and a Logitech QuickCam 11.5 or higher (Currently: QuickCam Pro 9000, QuickCam Pro for Notebooks, QuickCam Orbit/Sphere AF). In addition, your broadband connection will need to be 384 kbps or better and your CPU needs to run at 2.0 GHZ or higher and be of the Dual Core variety.

In case you want to know if you have a Dual Core processor you need to press Control-Alt-Delete on your PC then click on Task Manager and then Performance. If there are two separate boxes under “CPU Usage History,” you have a Dual Core processor. If there is a single box, you have a single-core processor.

For this test, Keating used a QuickCam Orbit and I tried the QuickCam Pro 9000.

Once we started a videoconference it took about ten seconds for High Quality video to start with an accompanying message on the screen and a star in the top left-hand side of the screen.

So what are the conference specs you ask? How about VGA or 640x480 quality at 30 frames per second. This is twice the frame rate and four times the resolution of regular Skype video.

Is the difference noticeable? Absolutely.

I did find that my notebook computer needed to be plugged in to have a sustained high quality video call but this wasn’t really a deterrent to using this new technology. This by the way is likely because the settings I have on my laptop are optimized for power savings over performance when running on battery.

As always, Skype has over-delivered on their free offering, providing superior functionality at the bargain basement price of zero dollars. Obviously you will need a new video camera and possibly a new pc to take advantage of the highest quality Skype video yet but these seem like small sacrifices to make when you consider you will not have to pay a recurring service fee to videoconference at far superior resolution.

This new product is certainly a win for the world’s most popular IP communications software company and moreover for users of the popular software/service.

Update:

Here is Tom Keating’s take on this new Skype feature.

Verizon Wireless Opens Up

November 27, 2007 4:01 PM |

0 Comments

In the history of United States communications, this day ranks right up there with the day of the Carterfone (Wikipedia) decision allowing any device to work on AT&T’s PSTN network. Today, almost 30 years later, Verizon chose to tell the world they will open up their wireless network to devices other than their own.

The news may be even more surprising in light of the fact that Skype has been petitioning the FCC for this exact thing. How often does Skype agree with the carriers?

Another surprise is the fact that Verizon is the first carrier to make such an announcement. Remember, this is the same company that routinely cripples the current devices they sell consumers.

Amazingly, this development is exactly what I have been asking for. Most recently I wrote a piece titled Mobility as Strategic Advantage where I equated increased mobile device choice with increased national productivity.

A mere eight days after this post, Verizon has done exactly what I requested.

The big news? You will soon be able to use virtually any device on the Verizon Wireless network.

It is well-known that the Verizon Wireless network is one of the best in the U.S. Sure this varies by region but in general this is the case. Consumers will now be able to mix and match the best network with the best devices.

Let’s look at reasons why this likely happened:

1) Positive PR. Verizon has done what most would have expected only the government to make them do.

2) Relevance: Let’s face it; WiFi and WiMAX are only going to be more pervasive as time goes on… The sooner Verizon’s network gets entrenched in as many devices as possible, the better.

3) Playing catch-up with GSM: Let’s be clear that most of Verizon’s devices are not so useful to people who travel to other parts of the world that generally use GSM. Now Verizon has a solid reason for customers to stick with them as a service provider. This is because there will be more device choice and more than likely many more devices which support their CDMA/EVDO network and GSM.

4) Kindle: This is the first wireless broadband device which doesn’t charge you per minute of use. It is a new angle on selling broadband wireless service. What would happen to Verizon’s sales if hundreds of devices like this appeared?

5) Verizon is currying favor with politicians: Google has made so much noise about opening up their devices if they win the 700 MHz spectrum, Verizon had to do something similar.

There is one other reason why this move makes sense for Verizon. In my recent article focusing on productivity and device choice I argued that the nation with the most open wireless network will be the most productive. This argument applies to the network operators as well. The most wireless choice means roughly the most sales. This is especially true if all networks are created equally.

If we agree Verizon’s network is superior to many others then the argument works that much better for the New Jersey-based carrier.

In short, this news is absolutely huge and will change the telecommunications market for the better. I would like to see the Nokia N810 and N800 on the Verizon network immediately and I may use it as my primary phone if this could be done. I would imagine either of these gadgets could even become the iPhone killer (or at least solid competitor) Verizon is searching for.

For many years, the device choice in the US has been the laughing stock of the developed world. Now we are making positive strides to change this situation and it is possible this move will put us on par with other countries or even put us in the lead. Verizon should be commended for making this huge move first.

Star Wars VoIP Phone

November 27, 2007 12:40 PM |

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I came across a Star Wars VoIP phone this past weekend while perusing catalogues. I was going to write about it today but apparently either Tom Keating checks his mail more often than I do or he gets access to catalogues faster than me.

As part of the VoIP phone package, you can get an R2-D2 roving webcam. For the Star Wars lover this is a no-brainer gift and the only downside may be the $380 cost which is reasonable if you compare it to an iPhone – basically replacing the cult of George Lucas with the cult of Steve Jobs.

To get really geeky, I wonder if there will be bluetooth

connectivity to the famous headphones Princess Vespa used in SpaceBalls by Mel Brooks.

November 2007 Archives

IP Communications Week in Review November 30, 2007

XV6800: Why Verizon Wireless Opened Up

Online Advertising: a Problem of Plenty

Google to Bid on 700 MHz Spectrum

The Second Sprint Merger That Wasn’t

Microsoft Billion Dollar Web Loss

Google Maps Simulated GPS

iPhone Gets Real Network

Sprint Turns Down $5 Billion Offer

FCC: Worry about TVoIP not Cable

Avaya DevConnect 2007

Android Sans SIP and IMS

Skype High Quality Video

Verizon Wireless Opens Up

Star Wars VoIP Phone

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