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Former FCC Chief Kevin Martin to Keynote ITEXPO

January 20, 2011

Former FCC Chief Kevin Martin will be a keynote speaker at ITEXPO taking place February 2-4th in Miami, Florida.

Some background on Kevin Martin. In a resignation statement on his philosophy at the FCC he stated it "has been to pursue deregulation while paying close attention to its impact on consumers and the particulars of a given market, to balance deregulation with consumer protection." Martin added that he "approached his decisions with a fundamental belief that a robust, competitive marketplace, not regulation, is ultimately the best protector of the public interest and the best method of delivering the benefits of choice, innovation and affordability to American consumers."

The statement also included what Martin accomplished during his tenure, including one promoting broadband, and specifically wireless broadband, and protecting consumers from harm, by issuing $150 million in fines, or more than any other chairman. On January 15, 2009 Kevin Martin announced his resignation when the Obama Administration took over. In his letter of resignation to President Bush, Martin wrote, “I have had the privilege of serving at the Federal Communications Commission for almost 8 years, including 4 years as the agency’s Chairman. 



Google Voice Adds Number Porting - Carriers Cry

January 20, 2011


I'm a huge fan of Google Voice with it's ability to screen calls, send calls to multiple devices, and voicemail transcription. The Achilles Heel was that you couldn't port your number over. Well my friends, today Google has quietly enabled number porting for Google Voice, which truly is a game changer. (Note: Google is slowly rolling this out, so you may not have this option available.)

Now you can port your home number to Google Voice and then use a service like TELTUB to have unlimited voice minutes to the U.S. and Canada for $5/month!

We've come a long way since my number portability rant back in 2006.

Carriers' response:

Via Engadget & Techcrunch

Arbinet to Feature Its Newest IP Exchange at ITEXPO East

January 19, 2011

Arbinet plans to feature its newest IP Exchange at ITEXPO East taking place February 2-4, 2011 in Miami Beach, Florida. 

Arbinet will participate in IP Communications Industry’s Leading Event at Miami Beach Convention Center in February. I'll be at the show covering the latest IP communications happenings. Just got my flight booked today, in fact.

ITEXPO Named Top 50 Fastest Growing Tradeshow

January 19, 2011

TMC's ITEXPO was named one of the fastest growing trade shows by Trade Show Executive in their Fastest 50 Awards. I've been with TMC since 1994 - right out of college and I've seen this company grow from 15 employees to over 65 employees. It's been an amazing ride. TMC's ITEXPO has had some stellar companies participate over the years, including Asterisk, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Packet8, ShoreTel, and Skype.

TMC CEO Rich Tehrani said, "Much thanks goes to all of TMC's readers as well as our sponsors, attendees, partners, vendors who supply us decorating services, audio/visual, etc and of course the tireless TMC team who works around the clock to over-deliver for customers.

Zipring VoIP Phone Service Launches

January 18, 2011

Erik Lagerway, who has worked at CounterPath (X-lite fame), blogged for TMC, and has other VoIP street creds to his name launched a new venture today called zipring. It kind of reminds me a bit of Google Voice, but I really need to delve into this further and see exactly how this compares. Might even be similar to the new TELTUB service I reviewed yesterday. Anyway, I thought I'd share the news:

Zipring Integrated VoIP Phone Service Launches for Consumers: Works with Every Phone and Mobile Device

Zipring delivers new open standards phone service unlike any other phone on the market



Netflix Drops Add to DVD Queue from Streaming Devices

January 18, 2011


Netflix today announced on its blog that it’s removing the “Add to DVD Queue” feature from streaming devices causing a revolt amongst Netflix users. Thus, you will no longer be able to add titles to your DVD queue from your iPhone, iPad, Blu-Ray player, PS3, etc.

Here's what Netflix’s Jamie Odell said:

We’re removing the “Add to DVD Queue” option from streaming devices. We’re doing this so we can concentrate on offering you the titles that are available to watch instantly.


TELTUB + Google Voice = $5 Unlimited Calling to U.S. & Canada

January 17, 2011

TELTUB is offering unlimited free calling to the U.S. and Canada for $5/month. Their gHome product takes a user's Google Voice account and converts it into a SIP-based VoIP service which can then be used as a cheap home phone-line using a SIP analog telephony adaptor (ATA) and your broadband connection. Users can use their own standard VoIP adaptor or order a pre-configured one from TELTUB.

ITEXPO East 2011 Up 52% in Attendance

January 14, 2011

I mentioned a few days ago that ITEXPO features some impressive companies participating at the show. ITEXPO is one of the leading expos on VoIP, telecom, 4G wireless, and unified communications (among other things). Well, some more good news to share courtesy of Rich Tehrani:

For those of you who attended the ITEXPO and related events last year in Miami, you remember it was a very strong show with great attendance. The conference usually draws from all over the world – especially Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Central and Eastern US and of course Canada.

FaceFlow Video Conferencing Uses Just a Browser

January 11, 2011

Wouldn't it be great to have a free group video call using just your browser? Forget downloading Skype! Besides, Skype charges you for group calling. Well, look no further than FaceFlow, a new startup that offers P2P video calls leveraging Flash.

First, some background...

ITEXPO East Features Impressive Vendor Participation

January 11, 2011

ITEXPO East is just a few weeks away (February 2-4th) in sunny Miami, Florida. How is the show shaping up? Well, if ITEXPO West is any indication, ITEXPO East should be a great show. Vendor participation for ITEXPO West increased almost 50%, and 216 exhibitors issued almost 400 news announcements from the show floor, detailing new products, services and alliances that were announced at ITEXPO.
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