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VoIP spells doom for calling card business?

September 1, 2005

I haven't used a calling card since my parents gave me one for college (to avoid my college's exorbitant per/minute fees), and I would have figured with unlimited cell phone plans, unlimited broadband VoIP plans (Vonage, Lingo, etc.), as well as software applications such as Skype, Gizmo, and now Google Talk that calling cards were so passe. Who needs calling cards, (including both post-paid and pre-paid calling cards) when you have so many competitive options that offer inexpensive calling, right? I mean really, who wants to dial a an 11-digit access number then remember their calling card account number (or pull it out of their wallet/purse) and then enter the destination number as well as their PIN?

Well apparently, even with so many phone options these days, each vying for the same "limited" phone minute pie, there is still a huge market for calling cards.

Posted in Google, Skype, VoIP, Vonage

Dissecting Google Talk with packet sniffer

August 26, 2005

As I mentioned to James Seng in a comment I posted to his Google Talk post Google Talk isn't using SIP (yet). James confirmed my packet capture analysis of Google Talk with some sniffing of his own, which you can check out in his More About Google Talk blog post. He has some interesting discoveries, including Google appearing to install a STUN server on every Google Talk client to solve the VoIP NAT issues. James writes "In other words, like Skype, Google Talk turns every client into a possible server to help relay voice call between two users." Doesn't this sound eerily like Skype's super nodes that everyone gripes about?

James has echoes my sentiments when he writes, "Very smart thing to do technically speaking but let me go read the Google Talk UAT again.

Posted in Google, Skype, VoIP

Earthlink Vling uses Pingtel soft phone

August 26, 2005

Earthlink Vling uses a new product developed in open-source by Pingtel. Earthlink is Pingtel's first customer for their open source SIP user agent called SIPxua which Earthlink is using to support its rollout of its hosted VoIP Vling service. Pingtel also develops an open-source IP-PBX called SIPxchange based on open source work done at SIPFoundry.org, and which competes with the open source Asterisk platform.

The Earthlink Vling service is currently available for download on EarthLink’s website in beta form. The soft phone client is based on Pingtel’s SIPuxa.

Boy, Earthlink announced their federation with Google Talk just the other day and now this VoIP news? Earthlink has been busy on the VoIP front lately.

Posted in Asterisk, Google, Linux, VoIP

Share the Google PR Love man!

August 26, 2005

Good bloggers write regularly on specific topics because it is a passion of theirs. Bloggers also develop a strong community with fellow bloggers that share their viewpoints or write about the same topics. Part of that community involves posting comments on blogs you read, doing trackbacks to interesting blog posts, as well as adding interesting blogs to your blogroll. By adding a link to a blog to your blogroll this not only acts as an endorsement of the outside blog, but it also serves to share you Google PageRank to "friends" of your blog.

Posted in Google, MovableType

Google vs. Microsoft

August 25, 2005

Did anybody else notice the rainbow colors on Google Talk match the exact same colors as Microsoft's butterfly? Check it out in the screenshots. Both color schemes are exactly the same if you view it from left-to-right (going clockwise in the case of the MSN logo). I should open these up in Photoshop and see if they are the exact same RGB scheme.

Those Google engineers sure do have a sense of humor!

Posted in Google, VoIP

Google Talk uses Global IP Sound's Voice Engine

August 25, 2005

In my Google Talk Test Drive, Rick Hultz posted a comment wondering if Google Talk was using just Global IP Sound's codecs or their powerful voice engine as well. I told him I'd look into it. Well Rick, here's your answer. Global IP Sound (GIPS), today announced an OEM license agreement with Google for voice processing solutions.

Posted in Google, Reviews, VoIP

Google Talk supports SIP, what does Skype do now?

August 24, 2005

Now that Google has announced plans to support SIP in Google Talk and plans to "federate" with third-party providers including Sipphone's Gizmo Project and Earthlink's Vling, where does this leave Skype? Skype up to now has been able to deflect criticisms for using a proprietary protocol and not supporting SIP. Part of their "excuse" for using a proprietary protocol was that it was needed in order for NAT traversal of firewalls.

But how long can Skype use this "excuse" now that Google plans to adopt the SIP protocol, an industry standard and currently Google Talk also can do NAT traversal? I should point out that currently Google Talk's VoIP feature doesn't use SIP but instead uses a custom XMPP-based signaling protocol for its peer-to-peer communication mechanism.

Posted in Asterisk, Google, Linux, Skype, VoIP

Google Talk Polygamy for multiple identities

August 24, 2005

Want to run Google Talk with multiple Gmail identities? If you have several Google Gmail accounts you also may want to run multiple instances of Google Talk This is especially important for families that share a single PC. Nothing worse than a family member signing you out so they can sign in under their own account!

Basically, to have "Google Polygamy" you need to run Google Talk with the following switch: /nomutex

1. Right-click on the desktop
2.

Posted in Google, VoIP

GMail Invites are dead

August 24, 2005

I wondered in my Google Talk Test Drive blog post if GMail invites would see a "spike". I wrote, "Looks like the GMail invites should see a spike due to Google Talk. Wonder if people are still selling Gmail invites on eBay?"

Well, as of today, coinciding with the Google Talk news, Gmail invites are no longer necessary to sign up for a Gmail account. Guess that means any GMail invites being sold on eBay are now worthless. Though never understood why one would buy a GMail invite since they are so easy to get.

Posted in Google

Google Talk Just a "Me too" product - for now

August 24, 2005

In yesterday's blog post, I wrote about Google Talk's impending launch today. I tried to test Google Talk as quickly as I could and blog my testing experiences here. Further, yesterday I pondered, "...the ability for Google Talk to do P2P calling competes directly with Skype - so how does this affect Skype's recent "shopping around" for buyers? I wonder if Skype approached Google with such a high pricetag that Google said 'screw it, we'll build it ourselves' ".

Well, after playing around with Google's home-grown VoIP application for awhile, I have to say I'm not that impressed and here's why.

While I theorized in my Google Test Drive that Google was trying to model Google Talk after their very simplistic, ad-free, virtually graphic-free home page, on further reflection, this doesn't make a lot of sense.

Posted in Google, Skype, VoIP

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