TMCnet

Packet8 Outage Sunday

July 26, 2007

Looks like Packet8 has scheduled maintenance which may cause intermittent outages this Sunday. Funny how the regular phone company doesn't tell you they might be offline for a few hours. Probably because regular phone companies rarely are offline. They invented that whole 5 9's (99.999%) of reliability thing.

Posted in Packet8, TMCnet, VoIP

bOK, a Mobile VoIP Company, offers Free U.S. Calls

July 24, 2007

bOX is a fairly new mobile VoIP company that is offering free U.S. and Canada calling. It's similar to Jajah in that it doesn't require a software download to your mobile device. In fact, you simply text a message to bOK containing the number of the person you want to call.

Posted in TMCnet, VoIP

SunRocket Saviors

July 20, 2007

A college friend of mine, Robert Traphan, was caught up in the SunRocket going down fiasco, so he was asking my advice as to a good replacement for SunRocket. He just received an email from SunRocket which explains different options available to SunRocket customers and which he forwarded to me. Interestingly enough, they negotiated with two providers and are recommending Packet8 and TeleBlend but not the big boy - Vonage. I'm surprised Vonage didn't want to work directly with SunRocket in acquiring their customers.

Posted in TMCnet, VoIP

Ooma Goes Booma?

July 19, 2007

The buzz around Ooma is deafening and I certainly jumped in as well. I mean what's not to love about Ooma? It's using P2P, it gives you free domestic calling, and it even has some Hollywood glitz with Ashton Kutcher behind it. But now that I've had some time to think about it, I have some reservations I'd like to share.

First, I should point out that Ooma works by sharing your PSTN analog phone line with other Ooma users.

Posted in TMCnet, VoIP

Follow Me on the iPhone using Bluetooth and trixbox

July 18, 2007

Nerd Vittles has a cool recipe for making your Apple iPhone have follow me functionality using a pinch of Bluetooth, a dash of trixbox (an Asterisk-based system), a smidgen of the Linux Bluetooth software toolkit , a dash of a dLink DBT120 Bluetooth Adapter, and oh just pinch me now, this is just so friggin' cool!

The idea is that if you have a business PBX (trixbox), the trixbox system will automatically "sense" when you are in the office and send calls to your usual extension. However, when you leave the office (with your trusty iPhone of course), the system detects (via Blutooth) that you aren't in the office and then trixbox automatically forwards your business calls to your iPhone. Sweet!

Vittles explains it best:

If impressing your friends happens to be your thing, then you'll enjoy watching them all wet their pants today after you show them this little trick.

Posted in Asterisk, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Wireless

AT&T Delaying Deployment of Competitors' fiber lines?

July 11, 2007

Connecticut's Public Utiltiy Control could impose rewards or penalties that level the playing field for telecom and cable providers of voice and broadband service who say the owners of utility poles have been unfairly delaying utility pole connections for fiber-optic cable. One of those targetted by this is AT&T. According to TheDay.com, "Several companies, including Thames Valley Communications in Groton and Fiber Technology Networks LLC, complained that AT&T and other owners are obstructing competition by delaying hookups, a charge the owners have denied."

AT&T owns the utility poles where fiber-optic cable is attached to facilitate the connections jointly with electric companies, Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating. As you probably know, AT&T has their own hybrid fiber/copper solution called U-verse which competes with other service providers offering voice,video, and data over fiber, making delays mighty suspicious.

Posted in TMCnet, Triple Play, VoIP, Wireless

iSoftPhone VoIP App for the iPhone?

July 11, 2007

Ah yes, the hype surrounding the Apple iPhone continues unabated, including my posting about Skype on the iPhone, which was picked up by both Engadget and Gizmodo, topping my referral traffic charts yesterday.

Now it seems XNet wishes to leverage the iPhone hype with their latest iSoftPhone release, which at first glance looks eerily similar to the Apple iPhone. In fact, it looks like it's a VoIP application running on the iPhone. Great Scott! First I discover Skype on the iPhone and now another VoIP app?

Posted in Mobile Phones, TMCnet, VoIP

Digium Acquires Astricon

July 11, 2007

Rich has the skinny on Digium acquiring Sokol & Associates. Sokol & Associates runs the popular Astricon tradeshow and Asterisk IP-PBX training programs. Interesting how Digium, an open-source hardware and software company is now technically a tradeshow company and an Asterisk training company.

Rich's analysis is, "By purchasing a well-known training company in the Asterisk space, Digium should be able to grow revenue nicely. This move positions Digium as a major training powerhouse." While I agree with Rich, Digium just has to be careful not to "eat its own" partners by becoming a competitor to them.

Posted in Asterisk, ITEXPO, Linux, TMCnet, VoIP

Free iPhone if...

June 29, 2007

Posted in Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Wireless

AT&T Boosts EDGE Speed for iPhone?

June 29, 2007

AT&T customers are seeing a sudden boost in EDGE speeds - reaching 200kbps, seemingly coinciding with the Apple iPhone launch. EDGE users are ecstatic over the speed bump. In fact, I overheard some iPhone users saying "Prepare iPhone for 2.5G EDGE speed. No no no, 2.5G EDGE is too slow.

Posted in Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Wireless

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