Verizon Dials Up 911 VoIP Solution

'Verizon Communications said it will provide VoIP providers with a solution that will let them use Verizon's enhanced 911 emergency calling system.

Problems handling 911 emergency numbers have been a major hurdle for VoIP providers, but positive movement in recent days by major landline carriers is being hailed by VoIP companies.



"Working with VoIP companies and their vendors, we have identified a means to route VoIP calls so that they appear in emergency response centers much the way wireline and wireless 911 calls do," said Michael O'Connor, Verizon's executive director of federal regulatory affairs, in a statement Tuesday.'

Source: Verizon Dials Up 911 VoIP Solution

Vonage Sets $100 Price Point For VOIP Handset

'VOIP provider Vonage has identified a $100 price point as the target for its upcoming VOIP handset, an executive said Wednesday.

Vonage, which is in U.S. beta trials with handsets from VTech and UTStarcom, plans to bring to bring the handsets out in the U.S. at the end of the summer or early autumn, said Kerry Ritz, Vonage's U.K. managing director. Ritz also disclosed that the company is in alpha trials with business customers for video-over-IP conferencing services. ADVERTISEMENT



In addition, Boingo Wireless plans to bring out its own VOIP phone through a partnership with SK Telecom, the company's president told an audience at The Wireless LAN Event here.



Although the first phones will be so-called “single-mode” handsets -- WiFi only -- the VOIP companies are already beginning to court and sign deals with traditional cellular providers. So-called dual-mode wireless/cellular phones are on the horizon, forcing VOIP providers to begin talks with traditional cellular service providers.



So why would a cellular provider, which charges by the minute or the packet, want to partner with a VOIP provider that could potentially sidestep their revenue stream? “Sooner or later it's going to happen, with someone,” Ritz said. “It's inevitable.”'

Source Vonage Sets $100 Price Point For VOIP Handset

Vonage Sets $100 Price Point For VOIP Handset

'VOIP provider Vonage has identified a $100 price point as the target for its upcoming VOIP handset, an executive said Wednesday.

Vonage, which is in U.S. beta trials with handsets from VTech and UTStarcom, plans to bring to bring the handsets out in the U.S. at the end of the summer or early autumn, said Kerry Ritz, Vonage's U.K. managing director. Ritz also disclosed that the company is in alpha trials with business customers for video-over-IP conferencing services. ADVERTISEMENT



In addition, Boingo Wireless plans to bring out its own VOIP phone through a partnership with SK Telecom, the company's president told an audience at The Wireless LAN Event here.



Although the first phones will be so-called “single-mode” handsets -- WiFi only -- the VOIP companies are already beginning to court and sign deals with traditional cellular providers. So-called dual-mode wireless/cellular phones are on the horizon, forcing VOIP providers to begin talks with traditional cellular service providers.



So why would a cellular provider, which charges by the minute or the packet, want to partner with a VOIP provider that could potentially sidestep their revenue stream? “Sooner or later it's going to happen, with someone,” Ritz said. “It's inevitable.”'

Source Vonage Sets $100 Price Point For VOIP Handset

Caesars Palace Goes VOIP

'Cranes put the finishing touches on the exterior of the new tower which opens in August with an array of high-tech facilities. Guests will be able to chat on the VoIP telephones while looking out over 'Lake Como' outside the neighbouring Bellagio'

Source: Caesars Palace: The Emperor's new tower

Cellular Carriers Considering VoIP

'At a recent Banc of America Securities conference on media, telecom and entertainment, Verizon Wireless Executive Vice President and CTO Dick Lynch described his company's plans to eventually offer VoIP over the company's cellular network. "I think 2008 or 2009 is the time when we'll see it start to take hold in a real commercial sense," Lynch said.



The greatest barrier to such a deployment, Lynch said, is the speed of the network itself. "What we need to make voice over IP real in the sense of the mainstream voice application solution is to have EV-DO Revision A, because that provides us a faster uplink—it moves the uplink up to a peak rate of about 1.8 Mbps," he said. "Once we've done that, and we've added quality of service and a few other things that need to get done, I think voice over IP is clearly on the evolution path."



At the same time, a new report from the research firm Analysys suggests that cellular carriers are vulnerable to competition from wireline and fixed wireless carriers through voice over Wi-Fi. "VoIP may look more attractive to those seeking to bypass mobile operators' voice tariffs," says Dr. Mark Heath, co-author of the report.



Alain Mouttham, CEO of the SIP-based software company SIPquest, says that 41 percent of cellular calls in Europe are made in locations which are either Wi-Fi enabled or can easily be Wi-Fi enabled, such as homes, offices, or campuses. Mouttham says this provides cellular carriers with an excellent business opportunity. "With voice over Wi-Fi and with rich media over Wi-Fi, they can provide 3G-like services but at a much, much, much lower cost," he says.'

Contineue reading PDAStreet: News: Cellular Carriers Considering VoIP

PUC Gives Up Fight Over VOIP

State regulators have reversed themselves on broadband telephone calling and ceded oversight to the federal government — a move that critics fear will leave California customers with little recourse for poor or faulty service.



The state Public Utilities Commission voted 3 to 1 behind closed doors late last week to pull out of its appeal of a Federal Communications Commission rule designating so-called voice over Internet protocol as an interstate service beyond state control.



California's was the first of several state utility commissions to appeal the FCC order, leading to the combining of the cases in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Its decision to withdraw is likely to cause delays and a move to another circuit.

PUC Gives Up Fight Over VOIP

Microsoft Messenger Now With VoIP and Video Phone

'Microsoft made an official announcement today about its release of a new version of MSN Messenger, its Instant messaging program now bundled with VoIP-based calling and Video over IP features. The software giant’s network of Internet services have began a rollout in markets around the world. The Integration between MSN Messenger, MSN Spaces and other MSN network services, including MSN Search, would give users a way to connect with others through instant messaging, blogging, and sharing music lists and photos.'

Source Microsoft Messenger Now With VoIP and Video Phone

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AOL Answers the VoIP Call

'America Online today joins the parade of companies offering Internet telephone service.

Initially the availability of AOL's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service is limited to 22.2 million AOL members who live inside the 40 major U.S. markets where the launch is taking place. For a complete list of these cities, visit AOL KeyWord: Internet Phone Service if you are a subscriber or AOL.com.

In coming months AOL expects to make its AOL Internet Phone Service available in more markets and to open it up to non-AOL members as well.'

Source: AOL Answers the VoIP Call

A Boom in VoIP

'In 2005, research firm IDC expects that 3 million Americans will subscribe to residential VoIP services. By 2009, the number of subscribers is forecast to balloon to 27 million.



IDC notes that even though the VoIP market is already crowded with next-generation carriers like Vonage, as well as traditional carriers like AT&T, cable vendors will enter the fray in 2005 further cluttering the VoIP service market.



The price point at which VoIP services are offered is one of the current drivers of the technology's growth, However IDC cautions that carriers need to move beyond price and educate consumers about the features and functions of VoIP. IDC suggests that enabling convergence and integrating applications are "critical capabilities" that service providers will have to offer in the future.'

Source: IDC: A Boom in VoIP

VoIP Services Expected To Soar

'Internet calling is quickly approaching maturity, buoyed by attractive pricing and the increasing number of high-speed connections, according to recent research conducted by IDC.



Just ask Paris Hilton: there's little security in mobile gizmos, though that's slowly changing. Also, a warning for Bluetooth users.



Analysts project that the number of U.S. subscribers to residential VoIP services will soar to 27 million by 2009 from some 3 million in 2005.



While it has been slow to develop in the U.S. and elsewhere, VoIP is finally beginning to show its potential in the consumer market, IDC reported, driven in large part by aggressive marketing efforts based on price.'

Read more at VoIP Services Expected To Soar

Skype dreams for developers

'Like the iPod, free phone service Skype is creating a coattail economy as hungry developers rush to cash in on its popularity.



In just 18 months, Luxembourg-based Skype has signed up some 31 million registered users, promising free phone calls over a broadband connection between two members anywhere in the world. Now Skype is hoping to take the service even further by recruiting third-party developers to build add-on programs that might attract even more customers and possibly take its technology in new and unexpected directions.



Since the company began licensing or giving away its proprietary source code late last year, an estimated 1,000 programmers have jumped on the bandwagon, creating dozens of free and commercial products for the service. Developers get the source code by promising to either give their products away for free or provide Skype a share of the profits.'

Source: Skype dreams for developers