Wireless

wireless, WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, EVDO

Verizon & Alltel -- Still the Most Reliable?? (Wait and See ...)

June 5, 2008

While always great on paper, tech mergers (or mergers of any kind) often have a nasty way of not working out for the best.

Now this Verizon deal with Alltel has got me worried. Worried because we just switched the rest of the family to Verizon (from AT&T -- two of us -- and Sprint) and I want to make sure that "America's most reliable wireless network" stays just that way -- or maybe gets even better?

Here's what the big guy at Verizon had to say: âThis move will create an enhanced platform of network coverage, spectrum and customer care to better serve the growing needs of both Alltel and Verizon Wireless customers for reliable basic and advanced broadband wireless servicesâ (per Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and chief executive officer).

Only time will tell (or the number of bars on my phone) ...

If you want all of the gory details, read the official press release here.

Posted in Wireless

Voice Changer for Asterisk

June 4, 2008

Ever want to disguise your voice while making a prank phone call? Sure, if you're one of the Jerky Boys you can pretend to have an Indian accent and all, but if you're just not that talented then what you need is the Asterisk Voice Changer!

It allows you to change the pitch of your voice, or the voice of the called party in realtime, when making phone calls. Ah, the beauty of VoIP with the flexibility of Asterisk.

Posted in Asterisk, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

I Want My... I Want My Wideband Telephony

June 4, 2008

TMCnet columnist Rick Bye, senior segment marketing manager with Zarlink, has an excellent column today on TMCnet regarding wideband telephony aptly titled "Where Is My Wideband Telephony?".

Rick opines, "While many consumer VoIP services have been phenomenally successful — many service providers are now boasting subscriber counts in the millions — I am still disappointed that virtually no VoIP operators have chosen to differentiate their services by offering wideband telephony. Most VoIP service providers are competing with traditionalPSTN operators, yet very few providers do anything to differentiate their IP-based service from the 100-year-old POTS service, except perhaps to offer a lower price, and/or bundle VoIP with broadband and maybe TV service."

He covers everything from FXS to DECT to Verizon FiOS to DSL IADs and everything in-between -- and how it relates to wideband telephony. Go check it out.

Posted in TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

sipgate adds SIP-based VoIP support to iPhone

June 4, 2008

sipgate today announced the a free VoIP application for the iPhone that they claim will allow consumers to use virtually every any VoIP service on the iPhone.

sipgate claims that iPhone users can make and receive VoIP calls from their phones over a Wi-Fi connection using any SIP-based VoIP provider. Unlike Truphone, another iPhone VoIP app, it doesn't appear you need to jailbreak your iPhone to enable SIP-based VoIP support that works with any SIP-based ITSP. In addition it comes with 111 minutes of domestic calling is included if you use sipgate's SIP-based service to test out the service.

Of course, as I have written before, this service will only work over a Wi-Fi connection and not the iPhone's cellular data connection. At the Apple iPhone SDK event, Steve Jobs stated that if someone develops a VoIP program for the iPhone, Apple will allow it if it goes over WiFi and not the cellular network.

Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

GPhone Update -- Wait, What GPhone?

June 2, 2008

Posted in Wireless

snom m3 DECT SIP Phone Coming to North America

May 19, 2008

In late 2007, snom announced the snom m3 DECT wireless SIP phone. snom sent me a review unit a few months ago to review and alas it's been sitting on my large pile of VoIP products to check out. The m3 is a cool looking phone and very gadgety, so usually I would have torn into the box and played with it the same day I got it, but if I set aside other projects every time I got a cool gadget, I'd never get anything done.

Well, I finally had time to install and test the snom m3 and hope to write a review soon. For now, I'd like to share today's news that the snom m3 wireless VoIP Phone now being generally available in North America.

Posted in Asterisk, Reviews, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

New Jawbone headset is sexy

May 15, 2008

The new Jawbone, made by Aliph, is 50% smaller than the original Jawbone. This Gen 2 Jawbone Bluetooth headset enhances the original Jawbone's claim-to-fame capability - namely its superb ability to suppress background noise.

Here's some more pics of this sexy Bluetooth headset:

The noise reduction feature was originally called "Noise Shield" but is now called "NoiseAssassin". Jawbone's NoiseAssassin technology feels your speech with its patented Voice Activity Sensor (VAS). The Jawbone headset uses the VAS to distinguish the sound of your voice from ambient noise with incredible accuracy and then uses proprietary Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms to subtract the noise so only the sound of your voice comes through.

The NoiseAssassin technology was originally developed by Aliph for DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which creates and delivers breakthrough technology for the U.S.

Posted in Gadgets, Headsets, Mobile Phones, News, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

AT&T Can't Make Up Its Mind

May 9, 2008

What's a major telco to do when it can't make up its mind?

Put things on the website one day and then remove them the next?

Here ya go? AT&T has flip-flopped again on whether iPhone customers can get free access to AT&T hotspots.

Posted in Wireless

Blackberry 9000 Is Coming Next Week!

May 9, 2008

Posted in Reviews, Wireless

AT&T To Give iPhone Wi-Fi Hotspot Access?

May 8, 2008

Posted in Wireless

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