VoIP Tech Chat

In case you’re living under a rock, here’s the 20 word or less version:

Google Voice blocks numbers that have high fees, such as free conference calls, etc. AT&T hates this. (17 Words)

So, remember how Google wrote that letter to the FCC complaining that AT&T blocked it’s voice app? Well, look at those tables and watch them turn. FCC now gets to play mommy/daddy to AT&T complaining about Google’s blocking of numbers that AT&T is required to connect. Read the rest of this entry »

What? Where?

On Sunday December 29th, Level3 Communications, one of the largest IP transit networks in North America and Europe, suffered an outage affecting sites such as ESPN, Amazon, and CNN. Noticeable missing from Level3? Any official acknowledgment or discussion of the incident; and an outage that disrupts ESPN on a Sunday will definitely be noticed.

When one of the largest internet backbones shows trouble, there are two ways to handle the situation (after fixing the issue of course). The first would be what we here call the “Duck and Cover” method (sometimes referred to as the Vinnie Barbarino approach). In this method, the company either makes no mention of the incident or does a classic Vinnie impersonation… such as:

Concerned User: I think there’s an outage.
Level3: What? Where?
Concerned User: I think there’s a problem with the network.
Level3: I’m So Confused. 
(mugs to the camera and audience goes crazy)

Read the rest of this entry »

Broadsoft announced the acquisition of competing company Sylantro Systems. In a press release shortly before the New Year, Broadsoft states:

“Sylantro has been a strong competitor of BroadSoft for 10 years. This acquisition further advances our market and innovative leadership position.”

Broadsoft provides VoIP application software, including the “flagship” BroadWorks platform. Marketing as Carrier Grade, Broadsoft provides a license based VoIP platform for many telecommunication carriers; with a list available at their website (broadsoft.com). Sylantro Systems also provides VoIP software to many carriers including AT&T and Quest. Their website is located at sylantro.com.

Payment terms and personnel were not discussed in the release; although Broadsoft did announce that it intends to support the Sylantro platform through direct sales and authorized partners.

Citing “economic pressures, a changing business mix and a more streamlined organizational structure,” AT&T announced today the elimination of 12,000 jobs; or approximately 4% of their workers.

The layoffs start this month and continue throughout 2009. A 4th Quarter 2008 allocation of 600 million dollars will be used for severance packages.

Although AT&T did not identify the specific areas of the layoffs, they did mention that new jobs will be added in the wireless, video, and broadband sections of the company. Our best guess shows that most reductions will most likely occur within the landline areas of AT&T.

AT&T ends their announcement with the following:

Many nonmanagement employees affected by these reductions have a guaranteed job offer under union contracts. All employees will receive severance in accordance with management policies or union agreements.

For more information, read their press release.

Hotspot users, there’s a new merger in town. Andy Abramson at VoIP Watch shares his views on the new merger. He also uses the word Machiavellian. Very nice.

Pike & Fischer recently published their Residential VoIP Market Outlook. The reports advises that more than 8.5 million household will start using VoIP within 2 years — bringing the estimated number of US residential VoIP users to 30 million by 2010. Clearly 2010 will be a VoIP odyssey.

Traditional POTS providers such as at&t and Verizon will notice decreasing numbers of residential customers while stand alone VoIP providers (such as Vonage, Packet 8, and voip.com), Cable companies, and wireless providers pick up the slack.

Imagine this scenario — You’re the bus driver. At your first stop, half of your passengers get off the bus and none get on. You keep driving and on the next stop, half of the remaining passengers get off, and again, no new passengers get on the bus. At the next stop, the same thing happens. You keep seeing passengers get off the bus, but no one is getting on. Now, what do you do? If you’re at&t, you raise the price of bus service. (For extra credit, who’s the bus driver?)

The Tennessean posted today that at&t is raising the rates of basic phone service and calling features in the hopes of increasing profits. Although basic phone service would increase by “pennies,” other features would see a much more significant increase. For example, Caller ID and Call Forwarding would increase about a dollar and bundle packs would increase about 2 dollars. Oh, and at&t reported a profit of 3.46 billion dollars — in just the first quarter.

So now, you’re a landline service provider. People are dropping landline service for VoIP and Wireless Only plans. You’re making an average of just over a billion dollars a month profit. You want that number to increase. So, you raise rates? Wouldn’t that make people jump ship even more? So, instead of making your services more attractive, you’re going to jack up prices on your loyal customers who are chosing to stay with you despite cheaper alternatives. Nice.

We love this quote:

A spokeswoman for AT&T, Dawn Benton, said the company’s decision to raise rates had nothing to do with the loss of landlines.

“Our focus is to bring greater value to our plans: a unified portfolio, greater consistency and simpler pricing right up front,” she said in a statement. “Even with these changes, we still offer some of the best values and offers in the market today.”

VoIP providers like voip.com, Vonage, and Packet8 bundle residential service and include more features than you’ll ever need. Oh, and most plans include long distance, too. Someone needs to help Dawn Benton find a clue.