Recently in Wireless Category

Nerd Vittles has another cool Asterisk recipe that combines Google Voice, voicemail transcription (via Google Voice), free calling, and of course Asterisk. Nerd does some packet sniffing and determines that Google Voice, powered by Grandcentral, is using SIP. What's most interesting is that Nerd determine that your SIP connection and your Google Voice phone bill is only protected by a 4-digit PIN. Yikes! That's not good.

Anyway, here's a teaser of Nerd's awesome recipe:

what we want to do is examine some ways to integrate the Google Voice feature set into our existing Asterisk implementations. The potential benefits are enormous. There's free calling in the U.S., free distribution of inbound calls to multiple phone numbers scattered around the country, free SMS messaging and delivery by email, free transcription of voicemail messages into text-based emails, free conferencing, and free GOOG-411, a voice-activated service that let's you find nearby businesses by saying where you are and what you're looking for. For today, we've set our sights on the Google Voice feature set which is easiest to integrate into existing Asterisk systems: free voicemail message transcription, free calling in the United States, and free GOOG-411 directory assistance. For lack of a better term, we call it... Googlified Messaging™.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go read the entire recipe and tutorial. Great stuff!

In April 2008, I reviewed C2Call, a Java-based VoIP application that lets you make web-based P2P VoIP phone calls direct from your browser whether you're using Linux, Windows, or an Apple Mac. The company that developed C2Call claims their new FriendCaller, also a Java-based VoIP app works on the iPhone. Funny, last I checked the iPhone doesn't support Java unless you jailbreak it.

According to their website, "FriendCaller works instantly with every popular operating system and browser without installation. And, of course with the iPhone™ and iPod™ touch." It then says, "Send your friends call-me links directly from your iPhone™ or iPod™ touch. FriendCaller is instant browser based Voice, your friends don't have to install software or register with FriendCaller before talking to you through their browsers. They just click-to-call and you are connected and see each other online status."

So it sounds like you have to send people you want to call a special hyperlink, which they have to click to then initiate an outbound call back to you. I'm guessing they embed your iPhone's regular GSM phone number into the click-to-call link which gets passed to the Java applet. Then the person you are trying to reach clicks the click-to-call link launching the Java app on their browser and automatically initiating an outbound call to your iPhone. The call is routed as voice over IP from the remote caller's PC/Mac to C2Call's termination network (for low cost VoIP routing) and then terminates to your iPhone. This is speculation on my part based on the info I read and the technical limitations of the iPhone (no Java), but it's the only explanation I can come up with on how it works.

So it isn't truly end-to-end VoIP and it isn't even an outbound VoIP call. It's more like an inbound (PC/Mac/Linux) VoIP-to-GSM/PSTN call.

Update: See the comments for more technical details

Anywhere, here's the features:

• Free calls to anybody on the Internet over WiFi
• Instant messaging and Call-me links in WiFi and mobile data
• Full access to your iPhone™ contacts from FriendCaller
• Friend List with online status
• Low cost calls to phone numbers including mobiles over WiFi
• Call-me links work instantly on Windows XP/Vista, MAC OS-X and Linux

Nimbuzz just released their new iPhone version of Nimbuzz which also supports 3G VoIP "dial up" calling and can turn the iPod touch into an iPhone. The old version was just released into the Apple iTunes store in November, so Nimbuzz is cranking out new version pretty quickly!

The new version features a full dial-pad, and the ability to make VoIP calls to PSTN numbers using SkypeOut, as well as via their 10 VoIP partners including Gizmo5, Vyke, sipgate and A1 by leveraging SIP. You can now add individual buddies from AIM, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger (MSN), MySpace, Yahoo!, and Nimbuzz.

If Wi-Fi is unavailable you can make VoIP calls to Nimbuzz buddies using what Nimbuzz calls "Dial-Up VoIP", which is available in over 50 countries.

Dial-Up VoIP simply means that Nimbuzz dials a local access number that your iPhone dials and then Nimbuzz's VoIP servers terminate the call. Jajah, and others have this feature as well. fring also has a good app for the iPhone.

According to the Nimbuzz blog post, "We are experimenting with Twitter, and you can post to Twitter via the Personal Message feature! Try it. Your comments are always welcome, so please feel free to give feedback." Wow! Twitter integration with a VoIP app. Gotta love it!

Fixes:
•    Facebook names are displayed
•    Mobile Me usernames with a dot are now supported
•    Improved stability

A new mobile-phone MVNO carrier, Zer01 Mobile announced that it will give you 100% unlimited voice and data on smart phones for as little as $69.95/month, without a contract, and on a broad nationwide network - namely AT&T's network.

Update: (they're not a MVNO as I originally reported due to information I read on the web)

Unlike MVNO's which have agreements with a carrier to resale the carrier's service, ZER01 has no such agreement in place with any carrier, and in fact, actually provide their own voice and data to you.

Zer01 Mobile will even offer unlimited international calling (to 40 countries) for an additional $10/month. How are they able to offer such inexpensive calling? Take one guess. Yep, they're using VoIP. The company will use a VoIP application for routing of all calls. Unfortunately, currently that app only works on Windows Mobile - sorry Apple iPhone fans (& Blackberry).

Update - However, Zer01 has plans to make this service available for users of Blackberry, Palm, Symbian, and other hand set devices in the near future.

According to PC Magazine, "Zero01 has some sort of quality-of-service mojo that lets VOIP run even over slow EDGE and GPRS networks."

Zer01 works with unlocked Windows Mobile phones that can run their application, but Zer01 also plan to sell three HTC phones, the TyTnII (AT&T calls it the Tilt), the Touch Diamond and the Touch 3G.

It'll be interesting to see if people are willing to try 100% VoIP mobile phones. Will they trust the voice quality and coverage area? Then again, it is AT&T's nation-wide coverage area, and cellular voice quality isn't that great either. So users might be willing to take a chance. Certainly the price is very attractive, and with no contract requirement, customers might be willing to give it a shot.

More...

Ok, it's official, every mobile phone provider and their brother has an application store for mobile phones. It started with the Apple App Store. Google launched the Android Market. Then last month Microsoft launched Windows Marketplace. Supposedly, Palm is launching the Palm App Catalog.

Well BlackBerry/RIM couldn't be left out in the cold. Today, they are lauching something bigger than an App Store or a Marketplace. It's officially named the storefront  BlackBerry App World.

The site for developers will be updated and should be live by 10pm tonight.

At the same time, they will launch a sign up page for users who want to be alerted when BlackBerry App World goes live. They should go register at www.blackberry.com/appworld.

I'm going to check it out tonight and see if any VoIP apps are available.

Hey Nokia, it's your turn... Where's your app store?

Rich met with ooma recently to see their latest wares and hear about their current business model. Recently, ooma ditched the 'P2P voice network' idea where users actually "share" their home landline with others and instead became a traditional VoIP broadband provider. Apparently, the privacy issues were too much to overcome, since users were concerns about fraudulent activity happening on their home landline by outside ooma users. I had my own reservations about the business model as well, since they claimed it would take 2,000 strategicly placed ooma boxes in all the various local exchanges to get good local call coverage for free P2P calls.

Besides becoming a traditional VoIP broadband provider, ooma is now going to start offering high-end media phones, that according to Rich Tehrani will in the future feature a picture frame, in-house sensors and cameras. As for what they offer today, in early January, ooma launched Telo, which offers unlimited, free VoIP-to-PSTN (U.S.) calls over the Internet along with a DECT 6.0 cordless phone that supports call screening, MP3 ringtones, 12-hour talk time, HD voice, speakerphone, two-line support, mobile transfer, and intercom. It supports up to eight phone numbers and six phones


                   ooma's Telo phone system with DECT 6.0 handset.

The Telo phone system is expected to be available in the first half of 2009. The next question you're probably thinking is "If it's free unlimited U.S. VoIP-to-PSTN calls, how does ooma make any money?" The answer to that is ooma offers ooma Premier, with advanced features that they hope people will opt & pay for. (See: http://www.ooma.com/company/how_we_make_money.php)

Some of the Premiere features include:

• Instant Second Line allows you to make or take two simultaneous calls from a single phone number
• Blacklists helps you protect your privacy and block telemarketers
• Multiring lets you answer calls from your home phone or cell phone
• Message Screening allows you to listen in as the caller is leaving their message
• Send to Voicemail allows you to transfer a call to your voicemail
• Voicemail Forwarding lets you forward voicemail so that you can listen to it from your favorite email program
• Do Not Disturb allows you to roll your calls into voicemail without ringing your phone
• Personal Numbers allows you to select additional phone numbers in any calling area in the US

The "free" unlimited calling puts them on par with magicJack, but the magicJack is much less expensive (magicJack costs $39.99 1st year, and $19.99/yr in subsequent years). Pricing for Telo has not been announced, but I'm sure it will be much more expensive since the hardware costs so much more. One advantage for Telo is that magicjack requires your PC to be on all the time to make/receive calls over its USB-based dongle. The Telo phone system is a standalone phone that has no such restriction. It's also a multi-line and multi-handset phone platform, so it's more suitable to busy households that require multiple lines or phone handsets.

Check out Rich's post for more on Telo and how the FCC is actually an investor in ooma.

TrapCall offers a new free service that reveals CallerID from those pesky blocked calls from annoying callers that think their anonymity is more important than you knowing who they are. Well the war between being anonymous and knowing "who is calling you" is over - no more blocked CallerID.

It's over, Johnny. It's over!

Nothing is over! Nothing!! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my CallerID war! You asked to talk to me, I didn't ask to talk to you! And I did what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn't let us win! And I come back to the world and I see all those maggots with cell phones at the airport, protesting me, spitting. Calling me CallerID killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me?! Who are they?! Unless they've been me and been there and know what the hell they're yelling about!

Not knowing 'who is calling' was a bad time for everyone, Rambo. It's all in the past now.

With apologies to John Rambo and First Blood, one of the greatest movies of all time.

Here's how TrapCall works. When you reject or miss a call, your phone forwards the call to TrapCall's toll free number. TrapCall then unveils the hidden CallerID info (since you can't block CallerID to toll-free numbers) for the missed call and then re-routes the call back to you. Your phone will then see the Caller ID unblocked. If you reject the call a second time, it'll go to your regular voicemail. Importantly, all the caller hears is normal ringing.

The free version does CallerID unmasking and lets you configure caller blacklists. The two paid versions offer additional features, including CallerID names, call recording, and voicemail transcription.

via Wired

Skype and Nokia today announced that Skype will be integrated into Nokia devices, starting with the Nokia Nseries. The Nokia N97 flagship phone will be the first to incorporate Skype in the 3rd quarter of 2009.

Skype will be integrated into the address book of the Nokia N97, allowing you to see when Skype contacts are online and perform instant messaging (IM) or VoIP calls.

But here's the real kicker - the Nokia N97 will be able to use Wi-Fi and 3G to make and receive free Skype-to-Skype voice calls as well as Skype calls to landlines and mobile devices. The Apple iPhone on the other hand, restricts VoIP clients to just Wi-Fi VoIP calls and blocks 3G (data) VoIP calls.

Garrett Smith over at VoIP Supply has an interesting post titled 'Sick of not making money on VoIP hardware?' He's seeing the glass half empty. I see it half-full, which is why my article is titled 'Want to Make Some Sick Money in VoIP?'

Garrett writes:

Remember the good 'ole days? When you actually made fat margins on the VoIP hardware products you sold.

It was great. You made 25, 30, even 35 points of margin (and that's on top of any services you performed).

Unfortunately those days are long gone. Over the last few years vendors and distributors in the VoIP industry have commoditized hardware and driven margins to the brink of extinction.

Leaving many channel partners frustrated and scrambling to make ends meet. It's not pretty, but you know it's the truth.

Imagine how nice it would be if there was a VoIP hardware channel program out there that provided up to 50% margins, street price protection, marketing funds, rebates and a team of individuals dedicated to your success as a channel partner.

You'd jump at the opportunity to be a part of that right?

What if I told you that there IS a channel program that offers all of this and more. You're not imagining this. This channel program really does exist.

The program? It's from VoIP Supply. Together with QuickPhones we have put together a channel program for the hottest new wireless VoIP product on the market - the QuickPhones QA-342.

Wow, 50% margins on a Wi-Fi SIP phone? Sweet!

QuickPhones QA-342 features a 112 x 64 pixel monochrome display with backlight, 14 hours of talk time and 7 days standby.

Other features include:

• FCC & CE compliant, IEEE 802.11b/g, WEP/WPA/WPA2, WiFi Protected Setup, G.711
• Tested with Asterisk Open Source PBX, Trixbox, Elastix, FreeSwitch and other platforms
• Phonebook
• Call history
• WLAN signal strength level
• Battery level
• Caller ID
• Key Lock
• Contacts
• Clock
• Up to 6 languages
• Auto search & association upto 4 APs

So here's the rest of the offer as explained by VoIP Supply's Garrett Smith:

Today we are looking for 50 47 (three new partners joined today) who want to invest in a product line with a channel program built from the ground up by those who know what it is like to be in YOUR shoes. In exchange for your investment you'll receive:

• Discounts of up to 50% off list
• Street price protection to keep your margins fat
• Sales and technical support to ensure your success
• Market development funds to grow your business
• Volume rebates to reward your accomplishments
• SPIFFs for your organization to incentivize your efforts
  

Go check out his full post here for more info and if interested in signing up to their channel program.

Turn-by-turn navigation has come to the iPhone via xGPS. You'll of course have to jailbreak your iPhone for this, but this might be the one app that might entice you to risk bricking your iPhone - or at least drawing the wrath of Steve Jobs. It actually leverages downloaded Google Maps for the GPS coordinates and just recently added a voice engine to "speak" the directions. It also apparently works on the iPod touch, though you'll need an external GPS receiver.

Check out the video demo of turn-by-turn GPS directions on the iPhone:
What's new in the latest version of xGPS?

• Wireless Transfer of your map files. No longer do you have to dig around your iPhones directory to find your map file or put it in the right place. Simply download your maps from your computer and wirelessly push them to the xGPS program on your iPhone. It's that easy!
• Google Terrain Maps are now supported and added as another option for maps. All your hikers, bikers, and adventurers can enjoy this!
• GPS Information. Access your GPS's Lat/Long specs as well as Altitude and Speed of your unit and sent it by email.
• English Voice instructions are now supported. Now included is the ability to receive verbal commands on your next turn as you approach it.
• Night Mode for all you road warriors traveling across the country all all hours of the night! A new, easy view for the eyes when driving at night!
• Access your GPX traces on your computer using a normal web-browser using the Wireless Transfer feature.

Via xGPS