March 2009

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Sign of the Times

March 31, 2009

When Sprint chose Dan Hesse to be CEO in 2007, I was against it. He was a Bell-head who had huge opportunity at Embarq that he wasted. What do I mean? Sprint announced its intention to spin-off its wireline business into a separate company at the end of 2005.

Posted in cellular, economy, telco

Tagged: financials, nextel, sprint : Related Tags: fiber network, sprint, hesse, months, embarq, company

Will the Dial-Up Trend Affect VoIP?

March 31, 2009

Ars technica doesn't believe the articles in CNET and AOL-Tech about people switching back to dial-up. Well, info from dial-up aggregators indicate that dial-up is on the uptick. As some angry comments mention not everyone needs broadband.

Last year we saw the plateau of broadband subscriber numbers.

Posted in broadband, economy, saas, voip

Tagged: dial-up, internet, voip : Related Tags: broadband, affect

1 Comments

Strickling to Head NTIA

March 30, 2009

The Obama Administration has nominated Larry Strickling to head the NTIA. Right now former Sprint exec, Anna Gomez, is running that department as it gets ready to disperse $4.7B in broadband stimulus money. We don't have a set plan or any procedures in place yet, but picking Larry Strickling should help. Or will it?

Granted picking someone from Sprint probably was a great choice either.

Posted in FCC, politics

Tagged: broadband, FCC, isp, NTIA, RUS, stimulus : Related Tags: broadband stimulus, least employees, deploy broadband, larry strickling, broadband deployment, broadband

1 Comments

VoiceCon and Other Trips This Month

March 30, 2009

Posted in Web 2.0, conferences

Tagged: conference : Related Tags:

7 Steps to Better SIP Security on Asterisk by JT

March 30, 2009

John Todd is an Asterisk evangelist and works for Digium. VoIP Users Conference reposted John's 7 steps to better SIP Security on Asterik (here). The reason for the 7 steps now?

"In the last few months, a number of new tools have made it easy for knuckle-draggers to attack and defraud SIP endpoints, Asterisk-based systems included.

Posted in PBX, security, sip trunking, voip

Tagged: asterisk, john todd, security, sip phone, voip : Related Tags: valid extensions, steps better, steps, looking, asterisk, tools

Telecom is Broken Part II

March 25, 2009

Amid phone calls with agents who are in a struggle over commission payments with carriers, I have been speaking with finance companies about telecom stocks. Lots of debt out there. Not really enough revenue to cover most debt.

The other problem I see is the operational issues that most telecom companies face.

Posted in agents, telco, telecommunications

Tagged: agents, channel partners, telecom is broken telecom is broken : Related Tags: telecom, paperwork, order, address, commission, quote

CLEC Therapy III

March 24, 2009

I'm in Orlando today speaking all morning, starting with CLEC Therapy III. I have moderated three other CLEC sessions that discussed such things as collocation, gear, and technical details. Today, we will be pulling 2 ISP's out of the audience to give them a makeover. In other words, we will sketch what they do versus what they should do.

Why become a CLEC?
What is the process to become a CLEC?
What are you going to offer?
Who will you target?
Is there enough margin?
DIY or Outsource?
Other streams of Income
How will you Market it?

After that 2 hours, I will be moderating a panel of ITSP's on How to Sell VoIP.

Posted in CLEC, telco, wireline

Tagged: clec, strategy : Related Tags:

The Energy Game

March 23, 2009

Did you know that as an agent you can broker energy? Paetec is plugging agents into the energy business - after it purchased an energy broker. I know a couple of agents that have been in the energy business for a while. I don't think it can replace its telecom business.

In other energy news, the telecom companies are also looking to get into energy management in the way of the smart home.

Posted in agents, channel

Tagged: agents, energy, paetec : Related Tags: energy business, telecom companies, energy, telecom, business

Paetec Owns Some Wireless

March 23, 2009

Telecom Ramblings pointed out that Paetec owns a fixed wireless operations. According to the Paetec 2Q08 earnings transcript:

"we acquired MPX Wireless towards the end of 2007. They were a Rochester based company that we had done several private projects with for alternative last mile wireless access. And, one of the things that we have initiated here is a network grooming project, where we are looking at multi- tenant facilities where we have multiple PAETEC customers that have multiple T1s, where we could go in on a cost effective basis.

Posted in disaster recovery, wireless

Tagged: business continuity, disaster recovery, paetec, wireless : Related Tags: fixed wireless, business continuity, disaster recovery, wireless local, paetec, wireless

12 for 12k for Child Hunger Today

March 19, 2009

A quick aside. Today is the 12 for 12k social media drive to raise $12,000 for Child Hunger. Donate USD 12 and get entered into a raffle to win prizes all day.

You can follow the drive by following Scott on Twitter. If you donate $120, Scott will give you a website review. (I've seen many of your sites, take advantage of this deal!

I'm going to add to it: if you donate $24, leave a comment or tweet me or email me and I will give you my e-book on SELLECOM.

Posted in off topic

Tagged: charity : Related Tags: comment tweet, donate leave, child hunger, donate, email

Times They are Re-Channeling

March 16, 2009

At the Channel Partners Expo, on individual calls with agents, and on a conference call with a bunch of agents today, I noticed something big: the Channel is shifting.

I have known for a while that VAR's would replace the traditional telecom dialing-for-dollars, save-you-10% agents. It's coming because sales cycles are longer; the product set is very different; and it's all about IP and Apps. (Net-head versus Bell-head).

There's another shift happening: agents are banding together every way they can to get leverage against the carriers, who hold too much power. It started bubbling in 2007 with my post called What's a Partner Worth?

Posted in agents, bellsouth agent, channel, commissions, telecommunications

Tagged: agents, association, channel partners, clec, tca : Related Tags: banding together, agents banding, master agents, agents, contract, master

Acredo Lays Off Staff

March 16, 2009

This morning on Twitter, it was announced that Hosted VoIP company, Acredo, had laid off all its staff. Acredo is the second Hosted PBX player in Orlando to axe its staff in the past few weeks. VOX also laid off most of its staff, while waiting for a big deal to close, which is supposed to be its savior.

We are entering the time when there will be a parring down of the 1000+ companies offering VoIP. The majority of users have migrated to cable digital voice service due mainly to the bundle, the price, the Quality of Service, the name brand, and the large advertising campaigns.

Acredo was Avaya based and not inexpensive.

Posted in PBX, voip

Tagged: economy, hosted pbx, layoffs, voip, vox : Related Tags: junction broadband, junction networks, sales process, hosted, acredo, junction

2 Comments

Top 3 Reasons its Hard to Sell SAAS

March 14, 2009

Software-as-a-service (SAAS) is the new buzz in 2009. Salesforce.com hit a $1B in sales so its the poster child. Google is the other golden child of SAAS pushing is Apps and Gmail to businesses. For me, even hosted email is SAAS.

I am a referral agent for IKANO who is a Google Apps aggregator.

Posted in agents, email, saas, sales and selling

Tagged: agents, channel partners, email, google, hosted email, microsoft, saas : Related Tags: sales cycle, hosted email, service providers, making decision, google, decision

1 Comments

Can You Guess the Carrier

March 13, 2009

Telecom is broken. I can't remember the last time an order went smooth. Well, wait, I can actually, it was a BellSouth Metro E. The REUC order center for BellSouth FCC circuits really knows how to work an order. For 10 years that group in Sunrise FL has been outstanding to work with.

Posted in agents, bellsouth agent, telco, telecommunications

Tagged: agents, channel partners, telecom is broken, telecommunications : Related Tags: guess carrier, suite number, order, install, number

Where's ACC Business Going?

March 12, 2009

ACC Business is a subsidiary of AT&T. It uses the AT&T network to provide voice, data and Internet services to small and medium business via agents only. ACC Biz does not have a direct sales force. Tech support and billing through ACC Biz is actually more customer friendly than using AT&T.

Posted in agents, channel, telco, telecommunications

Tagged: acc, att, channel partners : Related Tags: business

Google Voice Ready to Launch

March 12, 2009

Posted in unified communications, voip

Tagged: google, sms, unified messaging, voip : Related Tags: google voice, grand central, voice, google

Correction on Airband

March 11, 2009

Posted in agents, channel

Tagged: agents, airband, channel partners : Related Tags: channel manager, airband, channel

AT&T Striking and Hiding

March 11, 2009

It looks like AT&T is heading for a strike. Most people at AT&T I know have already been cross trained (I use that term loosely) to handle union jobs. A wholesale account manager will be heading to Michigan to be a T1 installer. Nice. Glad I don't have any AT&T orders in the system.

Also, it looks like AT&T is keeping its sales meetings quiet.

Posted in agents, bellsouth agent, channel, telco, wireline

Tagged: agents, at&t, channel partners : Related Tags: channel

LTE and WiMax in 2010

March 9, 2009

It must be confusing to the consumer: 3G, 4G, CDMA, GSM, EVDO, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, LTE. I'm in the Industry but I notice when people confuse the terms. (Seems often like everything is inter-changeable).

Clearwire will be rolling out WiMax for its 4G service, according to a company press release.

"During 2009, we expect to launch our Clear™ branded mobile broadband services in a number of new markets such as Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas/Ft. Worth and in our largest existing markets, namely Baltimore, Seattle, Honolulu and Charlotte," Wolff added. "With a robust pipeline of cell sites under development, we are working to significantly extend our wireless 4G network to many more markets, giving us the ability to cover as many as 120 million people with true broadband mobility by the end of 2010, including in major markets such as New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Houston and the San Francisco Bay area to name a few."

Clearwire is stating that it will blow VZW out of the 4G water in 2010 by spending $1.5B in 2009 on its network.

Of course, Clearwire is bleeding money too.

Posted in wi-fi, wimax, wireless

Tagged: clearwire, financials, lte, mobile, vzw, wi-fi, wimax, wireless : Related Tags: wimax business, bright house, transaction agreement, clearwire, sprint, wimax

1 Comments

Level3 Board Selling Shares

March 9, 2009

Posted in economy, telecommunications

Tagged: financials, level3 : Related Tags: shares level, shares, level

What Would You Do?

March 9, 2009

Posted in agents, channel

Tagged: agents, channel partners, ethics, telco : Related Tags: channel manager, second, channel, manager

When the Agent Contract is Broken

March 9, 2009

At the Channel Partners Expo in Vegas last week, I helped man the booth for the newly formed Technology Channel Association, a non-profit agent association that was formed to create a community for best practices, a code of ethics, and solid training of the indirect channel.

Regrettably, the TCA received two separate pleas for help from agents. Both agents were no longer receiving commissions from a carrier.

In one case, the agent was wearing a shirt to advertise the lost commissions. The word I heard was that he had failed to meet quota for a few months.

Posted in TCA, agents, channel, commissions

Tagged: agents, channel partners, commissions, tca : Related Tags: realize agents, agents, carrier, agent, quota, channel

1 Comments

Biz Travel Trends Are Annoying

March 9, 2009

USA Today has the latest business travel trends. While it looks like prices are dropping, in fact, it's only the base airfare ticket price that is dropping. With all ancillary fees airlines add, you are likely paying more for your ticket - and according to what I hear at airports, your final ticket price is unknown until you get home and add it all up.

Airlines are cutting schedules which means we are back to bumping on flights (as I saw in Vegas). Also, if you get bumped or miss a flight, see you tomorrow.

Posted in economy, off topic

Tagged: airlines, economy, hotels, travel : Related Tags: travel trends, ticket price, airlines, today, ticket

Airband Says Bye-Bye to Channel

March 7, 2009

Posted in agents, channel, economy, wimax, wireless

Tagged: agents, airband, channel partners, wireless : Related Tags: airband, channel

1 Comments

The Future for COMPTEL

March 5, 2009

The CLEC show, COMPTEL, is in Dallas this week. Stupidly, COMPTEL had their show overlap the Channel Partners Expo. Hello! Same exhibitors and people can't be in 2 places at once. But it's this exact kind of planning that has led to the troubles that the CLEC's are experiencing.

Has COMPTEL ever won a major battle at the FCC? Nope.

Yet COMPTEL is a lobbying organization.

Posted in cellular, expo, organizations, telecommunications, unified communications, voip, wireless, wireline

Tagged: cellular, clec, comptel, innovation, mvno : Related Tags: comptel think, comptel, cellular, trunking

Jaduka lands Mr. Mashup

March 4, 2009

Posted in Web 2.0, voip

Tagged: voip, web 2.0, web apps : Related Tags:

Two Big Problems in DC

March 4, 2009

Arnold Schwarzenegger was on ABC's Sunday morning news with George. he had the best analogy I have heard:

As a patient, when the oncology team diagnoses you with cancer, you want a unified solution, not a bunch of doctors arguing over the best treatment for you.

This is what we have now: party politics.

Posted in economy, off topic, politics

Tagged: economy, offtopic, politics : Related Tags: doing business, business

Embarq Changes Recurring Conditions

March 3, 2009

Posted in agents, commissions

Tagged: commissions, crm, embarq, zoho : Related Tags:

Working Channel Partners in Vegas

March 3, 2009

When you attend the Channel Partners Expo in Vegas, you have to bring your A game. (Rich Tehrani who is doing Channel Partners and CompTel is in a whole other league!) There are meetings from morning till evening. Parties and dinners. Gambling and shows. It puts your legs to the test, especially when Starbucks at the Rio is so full its SRO (standing room only).

Posted in agents, channel, expo

Tagged: agents, channel partners, expo, tca : Related Tags: channel partners, agent, vegas, agents, channel, partners

1 Comments

An Excel-lent SUTUS Bundle for SMB's

March 2, 2009

SUTUS, the maker's of the Business Central 200 office-in-a-box, have announced inter-operability with Excel SIP Trunking. The real news for the marketplace is that Excel and SUTUS (along with Polycom) are bundling a system for small business.

The Business Central 200 is developed specifically for businesses of up to 25 employees, Sutus Business Central™ comprises a wide array of advanced telephony, data and networking functions. It includes a business-class phone system, file server, email server, router, firewall, wireless access point, VPN remote access server, and automated backups. It has the ability to simultaneously support both standard phone line and VoIP connections and comes with an array of business productivity features.

Posted in PBX, VAR, agents, channel, economy, sip trunking, smb, telecommunications

Tagged: bundle, pbx, sip trunking, sutus : Related Tags: business central, weltner director, excel sutus, sutus excel, steve weltner, business

On Rad's Radar?

March 2009