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Today, sipgate is launching a new free VoIP broadband phone service called sipgate one. sipgate one is similar to Vonage, Packet8, and other broadband VoIP providers, but with some additional cool features and a fairly unique pricing plan. For instance, you get a free telephone number, no set-up costs and no monthly charges or minimums.

I spoke with sipgate CEO Thilo Salmon to find out more about sipgate one. First, unlike many VoIP broadband providers, sipgate one isn't tied to any specific SIP hardware (locked ATAs, SIP phones, softphones, etc.), so you can use it with your favorite SIP device or use a SIP-based ATA and connect your favorite analog cordless phone. Want to use a softphone but don't want to mess with SIP credentials? No problem - sipgate one has a free softphone app that will autoprovision for you. Those that want to use their favorite SIP device will be pleased to see a helpful drop-down list of many popular SIP devices with corresponding screenshots on how to configure the device to work with sipgate one.

What does it cost?
When using a VoIP phone, outbound calls to other sipgate users are completely free, just like Skype. However, inbound calls on the free U.S. phone number are also free, unlike Skype which I know charges a monthly or yearly SkypeIn subscription. I was a bit surprised sipgate was offering the first phone number for free, so I contacted Thilo a second time to confirm. He responded, "The first U.S. number is indeed completely free. So we are inviting everyone to sign up for a free number and as long as one only uses sipgate to receive calls on a SIP phone the service is free in its entirety. We do not even ask for a credit card. That does set us apart from Skype. While they do not charge per incoming minute, Skype charges a yearly (monthly?) fee as you have pointed out."

When dialing other phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada are just 1.9¢ per minute and calls to toll-free numbers are free. Other rates apply when calling other countries. Thus, sipgate only charges for outgoing calls and E911 ($1.90 monthly), if activated. No other charges or fees are leveraged on a sipgate one subscriber. Thus, to get started you can initially charge your account with a minimum of $10 with automatic crediting if the balance falls below a user-specified amount ($5, $10, $20, $50). Thilo told me that they aim to keep their international rates lower than Skype's to make them a very compelling option to potential customers. I then asked Thilo who was comparable feature-wise and he responded, "Google Voice. They don't allow you to connect a SIP phone, but the features are very similar."

The true power behind sipgate is its Web-based interface which gives you full access to your voicemail messages, recordings, and faxes. I tested a preview version of sipgate one and was pretty impressed with the features and ease of use. My experiences in my mini-review of sipgate follow below...


Thilo told me that they designed the Web-based interface with Google's Gmail in mind. For instance, you can search, star/unstar a recording, as well as label recordings, which are very similar to Gmail. Additionally, the interface allows users to call someone back with a single click, as well as divert calls to other landline or mobile phones. Starting a call is as simple as clicking the New Call button and then choosing which phone device you wish to use. Below you'll see I have 3 options for a new call - an arbitary connection (specify any phone number ad hoc), phone of Tom Keating, and Mobile or Landline of Tom Keating.


As seen by the screenshot above, you can bridge a call to any of your phone devices by initiating a call via the web. This is very similar to Jajah, who made the web-based calling method famous. This interface can be used on your web-enabled smartphone - Windows Mobile, Apple iPhone, etc. if the device doesn't have an embedded SIP stack or 3rd party SIP softphone installed for making outbound calls.

Mobility features are just as powerful. You can have your home, office and mobile phone ring in parallel. If you are using a mobile phone with a SIP stack, (many Nokia series have SIP) you can be in the car, receive a VoIP call, and then simply press *6 on your mobile phone to record the call. When you next gain access to a web browser you can retrieve the call recording. This is perfect for sales people on the go and who need to enter important call details into a CRM system.

Other features included the ability to customize your outgoing message by uploading an mp3 file, divert calls to another number, create an ad-hoc conference with the touch of a button, and the ability to view missed calls with CallerID info. I asked Thilo what they use on the back-end and he told me they use a fork of SIP Express Router, which enables Class 5 type features. Additionally, Thilo stated there is no maximum storage limit for voicemail and faxes.

Outbound faxing is a breeze. You can click some fields on the web interface and add the fax number, from/to info, add a signature, and of course body text. You can also attach a PDF and it will render it. I asked Thilo about Word support and he said that was in the works.



Inbound faxing does require a separate phone number, but there is no fee to receive faxes. There is a nominal $2.90 one-time fee per additional phone number. I asked Thilo about CNG autodetection of fax tones using just a single universal phone number, but he said "We have found that most people don't really like that." Personally, I'd rather just have one phone number on my business card, but it's a minor complaint.

"There is simply no barrier to people disconnecting their old phone lines anymore. Phone and cable companies have long been pushing voice plans in the region of $25 to $40 per month--which end up being as much as $60 or more with extra charges--and that's just ridiculous," said Thilo Salmon, CEO of sipgate. "Even with calls to other landlines and mobile phones, most users will spend less than $5 a month using sipgate one. And for those people only receiving incoming calls on their VoIP phone, the service is completely free."

sipgate is also readying a multi-user edition of the service aimed at small businesses, which will not only replace landlines, but also customer premise phone systems. sipgate is certainly setting a new low-price benchmark with bundled powerful features that should cause VoIP fans to seriously consider them. Free phone number, free toll-free calling, free inbound calling, free inbound faxes, what's not to love?

Verizon VoiceWing customers received letters in the last couple of days saying, "We regret to inform you that effective March 31, 2009, Verizon will no longer offer VoiceWing. At that time, all VoiceWing service will be terminated". Rumors of VoiceWing's demise have been circulating, especially with Verizon FiOS (Voice, Video/TV, data) a much more profitable long-term business than single-play VoIP. I should add that Verizon stopped marking VoiceWing last year.

Verizon VoiceWing uses a locked Linksys PAP2 ATA, but the letter says they don't want the ATA back, once again fullfilling prediction #2 in my 2005 VoIP predictions.

I wrote:

2) VoIP providers will continue to harp that the government shouldn't impose any regulations on VoIP and that the industry should be open & free, while simultaneously VoIP providers will continue to alienate their customers by password-protecting and locking the customer's ATA (analog telephony adaptor), thus preventing customers from easily switching to another VoIP provider and using the same ATA. This is hypocrisy at its worst! Customers will continue to be left with useless ATA "bricks" which eventually will make it the local landfill when they switch to a better VoIP provider.

It would be nice if Verizon included the PIN for the ATAs to allow customers to switch to another VoIP provider. Of course many VoIP service providers offer free ATAs with a one-year contract. Still, do we really need millions of working ATAs sent to the landfills? No very green if you ask me. I should point out that VoiceWing is actually a cooperation service with Deltathree.

Perhaps not so coincidentally to Verizon killing off VoiceWing, is this lawsuit filed on December 5, 2008 by Centre One against VoiceWing for patent infringement. Oh the sweet irony if Verizon, the ones who sued Vonage practically to death, would themselves have given up on the VoIP industry over a patent lawsuit! Still, I'm doubtful the patent litigation was the cause. I think Verizon sees bigger fish to fry in their FiOS fiber-to-the-home offering and single-play VoIP just isn't that profitable to them.

Keynote Systems released their latest VoIP quality report with some interesting findings. For one, Comcast, a cable company dominated the voice quality rankings beating the closest competitor by nearly 300 points. As for reliability, to no surprise AT&T won this category, no doubt to their decades of experience in building reliable voice and data networks.

Keynote Systems measures VoIP quality (MOS scores), call completion, etc. by automatically placing calls from corporate apartments using residential VoIP services and network services just like a typical residential customer would.  Service Reliability scores are based on the key performance metrics of Service Availability, Average Answer Time and Number of Dropped Calls. Additionally,  Audio Quality is an aggregate of Audio Clarity and Audio Delay (latency, jitter) performance factors. The study compares the relative performance of PSTN (regular analog) service, Broadband VoIP providers (e.g. Vonage, Verizon VoiceWing, EarthLink trueVoice, AT&T CallVantage etc), and cable voice services (e.g. Time Warner Digital Phone, Comcast Digital Voice). Test calls were placed from residential locations in New York and San Francisco.

Keynote ranked VoIP Service Providers in two categories: Reliability and Audio Quality. The Service Availability, Call Completion, Average Answer Time, and Dropped Audio performance factors all contribute to the Reliability ranking.

In the summary report they only list the top 3 VoIP provider names and then have Provider D - I as anonymous. You have to purchase the full report to see the names. I'm guessing Packet8 and Vonage are somewhere in this anonymous list.

Provider                   Reliability Points    Rank 
AT&T Landline                    996                1
Time Warner Digital Phone        925                2
Verizon VoiceWing                872                3
Provider D                       859                4
Provider E                       793                5
Provider F                       687                6
Provider G                       643                7
Provider H                       408                8
Provider I                       374                9

Audio Quality
Provider                   Reliability Points     Rank 
Comcast Digital Voice            901                1
Verizon VoiceWing                609                2
AT&T Landline                    506                3
Provider D                       500                4
Provider E                       487                5
Provider F                       480                6
Provider G                       462                7
Provider H                       252                8
Provider I                       0                  9

General Observations
• The best providers always deliver dial tine and connect the call to the number dialed in a timely fashion.
• Only one of the providers in the study failed to provide dial tone 99.9% of the time or better.
• All providers had very small percentages of calls with dropped audio, but only two providers had zero calls with dropped audio.
• One VoIP provider required two seconds more than any other voice provider to connect calls after dialing.
• Most providers had slightly more audio delay and slightly lower MOS in Wave 6 as compared to Wave 5.
• Eight of the nine providers in the study had a better call completion rate in Wave 6 than was evidenced in the Wave 5 results.

What's amazing is that Comcast has been adding a ton of new VoIP customers each quarter. In fact, Comcast has become the nation's fourth largest phone company. The cable company has signed up four million VoIP customers in just the last two years. Relatedly, Forrester Research analysts have projected that Cable VoIP providers will claim up to 80% of the 28.4 million residential VoIP users by 2013. This forecast includes an expected growth from the approximately 19 million installed lines in 2008.

Check out the summary report.

Vonage today announced an agreement for a $220.3 million financing which is seen by many experts as crucial to its survival. Silver Point Finance LLC, which already holds a $216 million financing stake in Vonage, will lead the financial deal, which consists of $130.3 million in senior secured first-lien credit, $72.0 million in senior secured second-lien credit and the sale of $18.0 million of convertible secured third-lien notes. The proceeds will be used to help refinance $253 million of debt.

Analysts and bloggers such as the VoIPPrincess, have pointed out that the recent financial crisis and credit crunch made Vonage's refinancing efforts very difficult. I too have had my doubts whether Vonage could secure more financing in this tight credit crunch market.

"We are pleased to reach definitive agreement on this refinancing at a time of unprecedented volatility in the credit markets," said John Rego, Vonage's chief financial officer. "This agreement provides clarity to our partners and suppliers regarding the Company's liquidity position in these challenging financial times," he said.

Even with the financial deal, Vonage still faces tough challenges ahead. It still has to replace 1/3 of its customer base due to churn and faces tough competition from Cablecos and phone companies that offer bundled & discounted triple play packages. Vonage started many years ago at $39.99/month (unlimited plan) if I recall and today's unlimited plan has dropped to just $24.99/month. As voice minutes continues its spiral towards $0, it becomes increasingly harder for single play players like Vonage to be profitable.

That said, 8x8 is a single-play VoIP company, which offers Packet8 residential and business VoIP services and they continue to grow. 8x8 doesn't get nearly the media attention that Vonage does, yet continues to perform well. Part of their success is that 8x8 has targeted businesses with their Virtual Office, Virtual Trunking, and Packet8 Hosted Key system offerings.

According to the VoIPPrincess, "In the last five years, 8x8 revenues grew 460.3 percent while Vonage's grew 0.0 percent. 8x8 made $700,000 during the first quarter of this year. Vonage lost $8.9 million and is shopping for a $215 million refinancing deal to stay out of bankruptcy. 8x8 holds 73 patents. Vonage just got its first."

I've talked to 8x8 over the past several years and when I remarked how much Vonage was spending on advertising and customer acquisition, 8x8 told me several times they did not intend to try and match Vonage's huge marketing campaigns. I recall commenting to 8x8,  "I'm reminded of the turtle vs. the hare. Slow and steady wins the race, right?" 8x8 agreed with the analogy. While Vonage just got an injection of cash/adrenaline to keep the hare running, one has to wonder if and when the hare will crash and burn. If it does, I don't think that spells the death knell for single-play VoIP providers just yet. It does however signal the end of high-flying, high-spending, VoIP (woo hoo) TV commercials on every other minute, which is good news for me, since I'm sick & tired of fast forwarding my DVR past those annoying woo hoo commercials. Lastly, I think 8x8 might just be in prime position to pick up many Vonage customers should Vonage fail.

Look at this email phishing scam purportedly coming from Vonage. You know Vonage has hit the big time when scammers starts targeting them. Unfortunately, the scammers, like many scammers, have poor English skills making their poorly written emails a dead giveaway.

Let me give the scammers some tips for the future:

1. Spell October correctly. It's not Octomber
2. This is not grammatically correct (wrong tense) - "You did not accessed your account for more than a month."
3. Sorry, but 'confront' is a poor word choice - 'compare' is what you meant. I think your English thesaurus or translator got you. "We will check your IP address, time zone, and confront it with our database logs."

Now here's what I'm trying to figure out. Even if someone logs onto someone's Vonage account, I'm not sure what information they'd have access to. As a former Vonage customer myself, if I recall, the web interface doesn't display your credit card information. So the online web interface would give them access to your voicemail, which could contain some confidential info, but typically people don't leave confidential financial info in their voicemail.

Maybe the web interface does display credit card info, social security, or some other info that a credit card or identity thief can use? Any Vonage customers out there care to pipe in?

Here's the scam email.
Warning: The links go to www.angeltrans.kr not vonage.com. I didn't click through. You never know what untrustworthy sites have viruses, buffer overflow exploits, etc. I suggest you not click through either.

From: Vonage Marketing [mailto:service@vonage.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 7:59 AM
Subject: Message from Vonage, Customer Service
Importance: High

Dear Vonage Member,

 Your Vonage Account will expire in: Octomber, 10

 This might have happened due to the following reasons:
- You did not accessed your account for more than a month.
- You have dynamic IP address and due to that our system might have interpretated it as a hacking attempt.
- You entered a wrong password 3 times when you tried to connect to your Vonage Account.

 To avoid an account suspension, please click here or the link below:

https://secure.vonage.com/vonage-web/public/login.htm

*We will check your IP address, time zone, and confront it with our database logs.

 We are very sorry if this affects you in any way but our client's security is a top priority for Vonage Inc.


Regards,
Vonage Security Team.

© 2001-2008 Vonage Marketing, Inc., All Rights Reserved

Vonage lays down the smackdown for Skype's refusal to adhere to Ofcom rules, an independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. Last month, Ofcom introduced rules mandating access to emergency services (999 in the United Kingdom) for VoIP providers whose customers make calls that connect to the public switched service.  The rules also specify that caller address information is to be made available to emergency services so that, as far as possible, emergency service operators know where a call is originating from. 

Vonage points out that since it started offering services in the UK in 2005 that all Vonage customers have been able to dial 999.  Vonage also makes available caller address information (CallerID) to emergency operators.

According to Vonage, "Skype is choosing to flout the new rules by claiming that they do not apply and that they could be harmful to public safety. Skype In and Skype Out services offer their customers calls that connect to the public switched service and are therefore caught by Ofcom's new rules." Vonage added, "Skype's statement that compliance could be harmful to public safety is in Vonage's view an abdication of social responsibility - especially when you consider that the telephone provided by Skype is designed to resemble a regular telephone.  To deny consumers the ability to dial 999 is socially irresponsible and potentially very harmful."

Vincent Potier, Managing Director of Vonage UK comments: "This is an absurd position.  How can refusing to allow customers to dial 999 in cases of emergency ever be in the interests of public safety?  It is Skype that is causing harm to public safety, not Ofcom."     

So who's right? Is Vonage simply making a stink to drum up some free publicity by attacking the #1 popular VoIP application? Is Vonage attacking Skype because Skype has millions more customers? Let's examine. First off, Ofcom explained that research revealed that as many as 78% of VoIP users who cannot use their service to call 999 thought they could, or did not know whether they could. As such, Ofcom set out to propose guidelines for 999 to ensure VoIP users were aware if they could or could not dial 999.

Ofcom stated in their rules, requiring only certain types of VoIP service providers to allow users to call 999 by early 2008. In Ofcom's list of VoIP service provider types it would appear that P2P apps, such as Skype is specifically EXCLUDED. However, Skype also falls under another VoIP type, 'VoIP Out' services, which would make them fall under Ofcom guideliness.

In March 2007, Ofcom put in place a code of practice that requires all VoIP providers to make it clear to consumers whether or not their service includes access to emergency services. From this code of practice statement, it does seem clear that Ofcom is asking Skype to at least make it clear to their customers that you cannot dial 999 using SkypeOut and expect emergency services to work.

Let me break out the four main types of VoIP services according to Ofcom's definition:

• 'Peer-to-peer' services that make and receive calls to other PCs and connected devices (Type 1);
• 'VoIP Out' services which allow users to make calls to ordinary phone numbers but not receive them (Type 2);
• 'VoIP In' services which allow users to receive calls from ordinary phone numbers but not make them (Type 3); and
• Full-service VoIP which allows users to make and receive calls to and from ordinary phone numbers (Type 4).

Under Ofcom's proposals, providers of types 2 and 4 services would be required to offer access to emergency services. Most Skype users fall under Type 1 (P2P), so in these cases, Skype must at least make it clear to their customers that 999 emergency dialing is not available.

However, many Skype users have SkypeOut accounts and fall under Type 2, which requires providers of type 2 (and 4) services to offer access to emergency services. So it would appear Vonage is right.

Let's start with Type 1 Skype customers (P2P), which is the vast majority of Skype customers. How exactly would Skype go about notifying customers that they don't have emergency dialing? They could issue a popup statement the first time you launch Skype or maybe even the first 10 launches to cover any liability issues that 1 notification wasn't enough. Simple enough to do.

The issue with actually providing 999 access is much trickier. Skype is a mobile application, so even if you specify your home address, you could be in a London cafe when an emergency strikes.

Also, suppose I am a UK citizen but I'm travelling to the U.S. In the U.S. I dial 911 not 999. So if I dial 999 while in the U.S., should Skype still route the emergency call to the U.K. 999 emergency services? Obviously, there are problems with this. You would need to route the emergency call to the closest emergency services center and not across the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, each country has their own emergency phone number. Routing a call to the closest emergency center using geocoding (by IP address) could be leveraged, but even that isn't perfect. It still wouldn't send accurate location information and it would could only send the call to a 911 emergency location center with an accuracy of 30+ miles.

VoIP Out services that are mobile (i.e. Skype, Jajah) and that are not fixed (i.e. Vonage, Packet8) need their own classification for Ofcom rules. Skype can't possibly offer 999. Maybe one day technology with solve this problem. While technically Vonage is right when you look at the "letter of the law" with regards to the Ofcom rules, Vonage knows full well Skype can't easily offer 999 services and it seems to me that they're using the battering ram of FUD to scare British citizens into signing up for their services instead.

Rich Tehrani writes a great story with some historical context on how Verizon lost a VoIP patent case (on all 6 patent counts) to Cox Communications. Unfortunately, a bit too late for Vonage which paid millions to settle their patent case with Verizon.

Really though the large telcos are the winners here and consumers are the losers. The US patent system continues to be a barrier to true innovation and consumers are being hurt -- severely so in some cases -- by large companies who use the patent system to prevent other companies from succeeding. Instead of competing with better technology alone, these large companies use large amounts of patents at once to scare new entrants into submission. Hopefully, in the IP communications space, Cox Communications will mark a point in time when large companies slow down their IP communications patent infringement onslaught.

Check out the full story.

According to the Seminole Chronicle, police were befuddled when they responded to a 911 call with a crying baby on the open phone line, only to discover they were at the wrong house. Apparently, the owner is a Vonage customer and moved without notifying Vonage of the change of address to update the E911 records.

The article explains:

Kelly informed Sanford police of the situation. Upon arrival at the family's home, officers confronted a rather confused and embarrassed father who admitted his son had been playing with his cell phone.

They had moved, the father said, and had not bothered to update their phone carrier, Vonage, with their new address.

What I don't get is how the baby dialed 911 using a cell phone that is tied to Vonage's service. Since when did Vonage start offering cell phone service? If 911 was dialed from a cell phone, the tracing of the call should be performed from the wireless carrier not Vonage.

The only thing I can think of is that the father installed some sort of Vonage software on his mobile phone that enables outbound calling through the Vonage service. But if such a piece of software exists, I'm unaware of its existence. The closest thing is Vonage Companion, and that is designed to run on PCs not a mobile phone. I'm more confused over this than the mainstream media was over the Governor Sarah Palin VP pick.

As I predicted on July 3rd, AT&T would soon be dropping its CallVantage broadband VoIP service since they dropped their affiliate marketing channel.

Well, today I learned that AT&T is no longer accepting ANY new orders from ANY source - affiliate or otherwise. The slow death of CallVantage is a bit sad, but it isn't particularly surprising, not only because they dropped the affiliate channel last month but as I have previously indicated, AT&T is heavily promoting their U-Verse fiber-to-copper hybrid service that combines IPTV, data, and U-Verse Voice (in select areas).

It seems a little early to cut the cord on acquiring new Callvantage customers since neither U-Verse or U-Verse Voice are available in most of the country - including my neighborhood where it was promised for this summer. I would think they would want to acquire these customers on CallVantage and then easily port them over to U-Verse when it becomes available in their area. It is much easier and less expensive to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one. But perhaps CallVantage was burning money and wasn't profitable? Unlikely since there isn't a lot of overhead in offering VoIP, especially since AT&T has a vast network they already pay for. My guess is that internal politics played a role more than profitability. It's too bad. Callvantage has some cool features that other broadband VoIP players didn't have. Could be good news for Vonage, Packet8 and the rest - one less single-play provider...

Check out the announcement made on their website:

Thank you for your interest in AT&T CallVantage® service. Currently we are not accepting new orders for AT&T CallVantage service. We will continue to evaluate our AT&T CallVantage service and remain committed to providing leading, next generation voice services for today's consumer and business customers. For information on other AT&T products and service please visit www.att.com

Vonage today launched their VonagePro service, their premium service offering that features a brand new softphone with single phone number identity, built-in contacts support, custom ringtones, and more.

Mary Grikas, Executive Director of Device Development for Vonage about the launch of Vonage Companion told me, "As far as the VoIP landscape goes, we feel strongly and we believe that the future of VoIP is not going just be based on price and bundling. Price our experience has told us, does not equate to loyal customers. Our customers are loyal if we help them communicate and if we offer them feature-rich offerings that fit into their lifestyles. Our product strategy is that everything we do is customer-centric and customer-focus."

She added, "VonagePro currently has about 1000 beta testers. Our marketing team went out and did a study of the prosumer, which is basically the professional consumer. Those are folks who are comfortable with technology, they embrace technology, they want to use technology to make their lives easier."

She continued, "WebEx is an example of that, right? We can have conference calls where we do demos. If you aren't able to make it to the office to see the demo you can still function and work through WebEx. That's an example of a prosumer. Somebody who is comfortable with technology, they're not afraid of it and they want to use it to help make their lives better. VonagePro is a new product offering that includes some new components and some existing components. It includes Vonage DigitalVoice, which is their traditional home landline replacement ($24.99/month unlimited local/long-distance service), Vonage access numbers, SimulRing, and more." VonagePro also includes 25 visual voicemail minutes per month (text-to-speech transcribing of voicemail) and 25 directory assistance calls per month as part of the VonagePro package. The major new component is a new softphone offering that is attached to your home phone number, called Vonage Companion. Mary commented, "That's something that our customers have been asking for a very long time."

Vonage already offered a Vonage softphone called V-Phone, a $9.99/month add-on that includes 500 minutes/month, but it uses a separate phone number from your home number. Vonage Companion is the first softphone offering that allows both your home analog telephony adaptor (ATA) and your softphone to receive phone calls to the same phone number.

The first device to answer the call first grabs the call. Call waiting still works on both the softphone device so on a second inbound call, the one currently on the phone will hear the call waiting tone while the other device rings. Both share the same DID phone number. It also acts as a second line, so for instance if someone is on the phone and you want to order a pizza, you can use Companion to make the outbound call. Further, the CallerID is the same regardless of which device you use to make the call.

I asked if Vonage Companion is an OEM'ed softphone from Counterpath and Vonage confirmed that was the case. One nifty feature in CompanionLink is the ability to set custom ringtones based on contacts. Vonage said some customers use their PC's speakers with custom ringtones as a method of screening callers without having to look at or be near the phone. Another useful feature is the ability to click a single button in Companion to record the call to a .wav file. Companion also lets you drag-and-drop contacts to have an ad-hoc instant conference. On the record, Vonage Companion supports 3 conference participants. Off the record it can support up to 6 conferees, depending on how much your bandwidth allows. Home-based business professionals, especially sales will appreciate the ability to break out one or more callers from within a conference. For example, suppose the customer wants a 20% discount, but you need to talk it over with your manager but not have the customer hear the conversation. You can simply separate all the callers and then using your mouse, simply click on each tab to speak privately to each of the callers. You can then conference them all back in via the Conference All button. Another nice feature of Companion is that contacts go with you based on your logon, so you can take your contacts with you wherever you logon.

I asked, "What sort of technical challenges did you have having the same CallerID and the same phone number? Obviously, you are leveraging SIP and the ATA that sits at the home residence logs on with one set of SIP credentials and Vonage Companion logs on with different SIP credentials, but it's mapped on your back-end to the same phone number."

Mary responded, "That's really a great question because we actually had to put almost a whole new infrastructure in place with a lot of new equipment. And we actually have proxies that are just dedicated to Companion to handle those calls. We do differentiate between the home TA DID credential and we do have flag for Companion. That way we know, as you said on the back-end it's all mapped and then we know where the call originates. We know if a call originates from Companion versus originating from the TA." Mary continued, "That was a lot of work for our call processing team. They had to do a lot of work configuring that system and all the redundancy and mapping. It was a pretty big effort, but it's something we were committed to doing because we had such an overwhelming request from our customers to implement a feature like that.

Companion also supports a mini-skinned mode as seen here:

I asked Vonage, "What were some of the challenges in developing Vonage Companion?"

Mary answered, "One of the challenges was making sure that all the back-end scenarios work seamlessly. For example, if you logon from another location. If you logon and the other instance is NOT on a call, it would automatically logout the other instance, but if the other instance is on a call, we want to present the user with the option - the other user is on a call. Are you sure you want to login at this time? We want to be sure that we cover all the use scenarios properly."

When asked to compare the existing Vonage V-phone offering for $9.99/month versus the new VonagePro for $10/month, Vonage responded, that if they're paying $9.99/month for the softphone service, it's a natural upgrade to VonagePro for an additional penny which adds the 25 TTS visual voicemail, the 25 directory assistance calls, the single phone number, and additional outbound phone line when the phone or Companion is in use.

Check out the spec sheet & the press release after the jump...