Or cleverly disguised secret agent for the video phone revolution?

I R Eatz U R Dataz!

I love my netbook. I love my netbook so much, I have two of them (okay, one is the wife’s). Surprisingly, I managed to survive months on nothing but my netbook doing fairly intensive SQL / VoIP / Web work. The hard drive is a little slow, but the overall performance is outstanding.

When I travel, I can use Skype to video chat with the built in webcam and get great quality (both ways) for both picture and sound. It’s like a giant smart phone. It reminds me of the $1000+ “video phones” that were supposed to be the future of talking on the phone… then people realized they really didn’t want to “get pretty” to use the phone. Now, for around $250 a unit, you can have that and so much more.

Recently, my wife’s netbook gave an error on boot that had something to do with a missing windows file (system32\ntoskrnl.exe). Apparently, she’s not the only one with this issue… it seems to be quite common. Of course, as the techie/geek/nerd of the castle, it was my job to slay this dragon and I came across the only problem I have had with this magical mini machine. Not so much a problem… more like open questions to Acer.

1. To access the hard drive, you have to remove 17 screws (maybe more, I think I lost some extras), you have to remove the keyboard, you have to remove the top, you have to remove this little card on top of the mother board, this side circuit board, the motherboard. Then you slide the hard drive out, reverse. Why not put a panel on the bottom to access the hard drive directly?
2. Why can I find nothing in your documentation about Alt-F10? This is a handy mode that lets you recover the operating system to factory defaults, but I don’t see it in my Acer manual.
3. In line with question 2, Why is the only recovery option to completely reset to factory? Since this is basically a stripped version of the OS, why not offer an explorer window so I can copy files to an SD or USB drive before formatting, or just backup the user files to another partition?
4. What degree in sadism lead to the design of the three little clips that hold the keyboard in place?

All told, from error to recovered could have been done in < 30 minutes, and I HIGHLY recommend Acer products to everyone I know. From their higher-end Ferrari laptop to the humble netbook (go with XP home, Windows 7 netbook edition is crippleware garbage), I have never had a problem with their hardware or software that made me lose respect for the brand, which is saying a lot.

For More Information:

• Acer: Acer Aspire One Website
• Skype: Free PC to PC Video Calls

Verizon recently issued a press release where they introduced two new “packages” aimed to help small to medium sized businesses through “rough economic times.” Although the packages are detailed and named in the press release (reprinted below), the release and website are a little lacking for information regarding costs and fees. If Verizon will be making it easier (and cost effective) to get SIP Trunks to end users, this may open a great window for PBX systems such as Asterisk, SwitchVox, FreeSWITCH, and more.

The press release follows:

Small and Medium-Sized Business Options Are Focus of Verizon Global Wholesale Offers

Voice Over IP and Powerful Internet Access Packages Bolster Business Success In Rough Economic Times

March 15, 2010

NEW YORK – At a time when small and medium-sized businesses look for every technological advantage to help them continue as the fundamental economic growth engine in the U.S., Verizon is providing support with three new voice-over-IP and Internet packages available through the Verizon Global Wholesale division.

The offers are designed to respond to the rapid growth of voice over IP (VoIP) in the small and medium business realm and the resulting demand for powerful high-speed Internet connections. In addition, the offers support Verizon Global Wholesale customers’ marketing efforts to small and medium sized businesses.

“By creating new VoIP and Internet packages that include both services and hardware, we’re giving our wholesale customers new ways to support their small- and medium-sized business customers in a time when every nickel and every efficiency counts toward success,” said Quintin Lew, senior vice president of marketing for Verizon Global Wholesale. “Our goal continues to be to arm our wholesale customers with the tools that help them to help small and medium-sized businesses succeed.”

(For more information about the benefits Verizon Global Wholesale offers its wholesale customers who support the small and medium business market, click here.)

NEC IP PBX and SIP Gateway Solution

The first new package combines Verizon’s SIP (session initiation protocol) Gateway Service with associated router hardware. SIP Gateway Service transports VoIP traffic between packet-based IP networks and the traditional telephone network, allowing Verizon Global Wholesale’s customers to give small and medium-sized businesses a quick and easy way to get into the VoIP world.

In addition to providing access to Verizon’s expansive IP local network and its telephone number inventory, wholesale customers can offer small and medium-sized businesses a new NEC UNIVERGE SV8100 IP PBX and its associated installation and maintenance bundle at a discount, simplifying the setup and lowering the cost of entry into the IP market. This enables small and medium-sized businesses to work with a single vendor, receive one bill, and gain access to a feature-rich VoIP solution that delivers cost reductions and the promise of increased productivity.

Both the SIP connection and the NEC UNIVERGE SV8100 PBX are priced at a discount with this new simple, feature-rich package. The service and hardware discounts expire on June 30.

Internet Dedicated T1 Package

The second new package, Internet Dedicated T1, also combines discounted service and hardware. It provides a high-capacity connection for 30 or more users and is designed for transmitting high-volume e-mail traffic, transferring large files, or hosting Web sites from virtually anywhere.

The package, based on T1 technology, combines 24 channels of broadband signal into a 1.544 megabit per second (Mbps) service, with customer equipment available to enable the service. Quality of service (QoS) assurance is offered as an option, at an additional cost. QoS is important for businesses that consolidate voice, video and key business applications onto a converged IP network.

The equipment offered in this package is either a Samsung Ubigate iBG 1000 for data-only applications or a model 1003 for data and voice services combined. The discounts on service and equipment expire on March 31, 2011.

For small and medium-sized businesses with a larger appetite for Internet access, a third new promotional offer features Internet access with an Ethernet connection at either 5 Mbps or 10 Mbps. This Internet Dedicated Ethernet service is discounted and bundled with a Samsung iBG1000 router, the cost of which is credited back over the initial year of service.

Targeted at businesses that intend to consolidate voice, video and key business applications onto a converged IP network, this offer delivers a single-vendor solution that end-user customers can leverage to fit their business model. The Ethernet service discount and the monthly credit offer for the cost of the router are scheduled to expire on March 31, 2011.

“Small businesses need their carriers to go beyond a one-size-fits-all solution,” Lew said. “These Internet offers cover the key speeds and features that growing small and medium-sized enterprises require to solve modern connection issues and engage the world in new and aggressive ways.”

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving more than 91 million customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of approximately 222,900 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $107 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

VERIZON’S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon’s News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

Media Contacts:

Lynn Staggs
+1-918-590-2403
lynn.staggs@verizonbusiness.com

Jim Smith
Verizon
201-618-3346
james.albert.smith@verizon.com

Suggested Reading:

• Graves On SOHO VoIP — SIP Trunks don’t exist.
• Verizon Wireless

Can you believe that we haven’t posted a true VoIP Tech Chat in over a year? Although many of you are thankful for the break, we have decided to invade your favorite audio player once more (with feeling) with the first of (what we hope) will be many podcasts for 2010. This week we discuss Verizon Wireless, Vonage, Customer Service, and well, just a good ol’ fashioned VoIP Tech Chat.

As always, VoIP Tech Chat can be accessed from:

• VoIP Tech Chat (download mp3)
• iTunes
• And, thanks to popular request, you can also stream the chat by pressing the play button below
  Download audio file (09MAR2010VTC.mp3)

Links of “Interest:”

• Follow Fred on Twitter
• Follow Patrick on Twitter (Yay!)
• Past Post from Patrick regarding a positive experience with Verizon

Good things come to those who wait…to cancel. On the heels of the “announcement” that Verizon Wireless will be doubling their early termination fees, I found myself considering how commerce and service has changed. As I have mentioned in our previous chats, I pay some $400+ a month for my extended family and I to have Verizon Wireless. Every month I give Verizon about $400, and on top of that, have spent over $2,000 on phones and another $500 on applications, ring tones, and content (that’s phone specific — if I buy a new phone, I get to buy new applications, ring tones, and content).

Businesses routinely (and almost exclusively) employ “short-timers” for their front line contacts — people that work at most six to twelve months answering phones, then move to another company. Customer service itself seems to follow the same pattern of always looking six to twelve months ahead, and making all judgements on a short-term basis. Have you been a great customer for 10 years? Who cares. What have you paid us lately?

*** Begin Digression ***

In VTC tradition, I digress here to share my most recent customer service experience with Verizon Wireless. In September, I was planning a trip to Florida which would necessitate me an aircard device for work. No air card, no trip. On the Wednesday before my trip, I started trying to setup the MiFi device and just hit the wall. I got nothing but vague errors and “failure to initiate.” After exhausting the interwebs (Yes, I did google, re-google, and uber-google), I bit the bullet and called Verizon. I called them at around 9:30am.

The first technical support rep couldn’t help. This sadly, was expected. After some time, I was handed off to a “tier two” rep who walked me through a series of attempts before admitting she had limited hands on experience with the device. This was where my experience took a drastic turn from the ordinary. She offered to try some options and call me back in “a couple of hours.” At 5pm, well after the “couple,” I called back. I asked for the rep I had spoken with, luckily getting the same center where the original call landed. The call taker took my information and told me the original rep would contact me shortly.

To my surprise, the story didn’t end there. My phone rang after a few minutes, and the original tier 2 rep apologized and explained that she had spent her entire day working with anyone who knew anything about the device. Based upon the number of things we tried over the next 45 minutes, I am convinced she did in fact spend her day doing nothing other than researching how to get my MiFi working without a warranty replacement. Not to avoid the replacement, but because she knew I needed it fixed the next day.

By 6pm we had given up hope, and I opted to do a warranty exchange, mentioning I would check with the store near my house. If they didn’t have it, I would call back to get one shipped. I hung up the phone and tried calling the local store, got no answer, and got distracted. Ever get distracted? Happens to me. In fact, I just got distracted right now.

Ten minutes later, my favorite rep from Verizon called me. She offered to contact the local store and find out if they had a replacement, and if they didn’t she could go ahead and get one shipped. I was floored. Even thinking about it now… I’m still floored. Re-floored.

She put me on hold for about ten minutes and contacted the four stores in my area; all of which did not have a warranty replacement. She then began the shipping process and told me it would ship out the next day, arriving on Friday (and effectively damaging my travel plans). At 10 am the next morning, I went outside (shockingly) and found a FedEx notice that at 9:30am they had attempted to deliver my package. Just thirteen hours after I spoke with the rep, the replacement device was at my house, and all because someone at Verizon took total ownership of my situation. It made me feel like I was the only customer they had ever serviced. Every previous experience in the past two years with Verizon they ended with some mocking line about “have I done everything possible to make you happy today,” to which I reply, “No, not at all.” In this experience, they didn’t need to ask, because we both knew I felt like an extremely important customer. V-I-Patrick.

*** End Digression ***

In the five years I have had Verizon service, there have been around ten times that I have truly wanted to cancel. With the amount I spend on my service, it kills me to be slighted, or treated like a dog from their customer service, sales, or technical support teams.

My problem is a catch 22. With six lines of service, all with different anniversaries, I would have to slowly cancel each line at the end of it’s contract. Or I could choose option B and pay approximately seven million dollars. Either option makes me feel like a hostage. Yes, I’m still in their service. But it’s not my free-will making the choice — I’m in a commitment.

What does all of this have to do with VoIP? Annual plans, early termination, and “no contract” signups. In the VoIP world, these are mostly unregulated marketing terms. Annual plans usually save anywhere from 10% to 20% off from regular, monthly service. But to get the discount, you have to pay up-front, at the commencement of the service. Usually, it’s between $200 and $250 (paying each month would instead cost around $250 – $300 for monthly service) to avoid – a commitment.

The catch: refundability. (Yes, it’s a word. No I don’t care if it’s in the dictionary.)

Always read the fine print to make sure you have an out. If the service does not live up to expectations, if for some reason you are unable to maintain your internet, or if you find a better offer elsewhere — you’re going to have to break your contract. Typically, the termination fees and prorated amounts will leave you paying well in excess of the $50 – $100 saved by paying up front.

These contracts commit me to the product or service I have purchased for the duration of the contract. They do not commit me to the company itself or create any sense of loyalty. In fact, their first obstacle in creating loyalty is that we have started with their assumption I would not be staying with their company without being bribed with a discount. If VoIP or Mobile companies want to keep me as a happy satisfied customer, they’ll treat me like a VIP. If they do, I’ll be a walking billboard. If not, if they make me stick with them out of commitment — well, we’ll sooner or later end up in Divorce. After all, there’s a big difference between loyalty and commitment.

Residential VoIP - No Operators

Some say the media sensationalizes our economic woes for their personal gain. Others say the media accurately portrays the extreme financial burdens we find ourselves facing. And some people say, “Hey. I don’t care about anything, I always have and always will try to save money.” With today’s world becoming increasingly digital, VoIP (digital telephone) seems like a naturally good idea.

Clearly, we at VoIP Tech Chat advocate VoIP. We love it. We love it so much, we made a website called VoIP Tech Chat. And we actually now and then have chats and write articles on VoIP (ok, that last part was a little sarcastically since both Patrick and Fred seem to have been too busy to actually talk or write lately… but anyway…).

Residential Telephone Service and VoIP

If you can read this, you probably live somewhere. Or you’re a robot… which would be AWESOME since we are desperately trying to increase our robotic readership, but seriously, most people in our “audience” live somewhere and have residential phone service. Well, we should say most people used to have residential phone service.

Ten years ago, Mobile Phones were a novelty. Today, they are viewed as a necessity. In the United States, more people have wireless phone service than have traditional landline (POTS) telephone service. And, even with higher drop rates, lower voice quality, and service availability issues, 1/3rd of the current US population live in “wireless only” households (interestingly a very small percentage live in a landline only household, with the group represented mostly by persons “well over” retirement age).

There are some disadvantages to the Wireless Only approach, including emergency calling (aka 911), coverage, name listing in directories, and cost. If you are a “heavy” talker, your wireless phone bill can be very costly depending on your usage. The advantages include calling features (such as caller id and voicemail), having your phone with you at all times, and (interestingly enough) the ability to make emergency calls away from the house.

But wait… isn’t this VoIP Tech Chat? Yes Virgina… let’s continue. VoIP generally provides advanced (and included) calling features, “unlimited” local/long distance calling, inexpensive international rates, and all at a price less than your traditional POTS landline service. The negatives with VoIP? VoIP 911 service does not compare to landline usage. Although most VoIP providers implement an e911 service, the reliability of VoIP for emergency calls does not compare to a landline. A landline simply provides better 911 service, period. (we actually wrote a pretty decent article about VoIP and 911 back in the day… )

Landline POTS telephone service remains the most reliable telephone service available. The consistently maintain five-nine (99.999%) availability and provide the best access to emergency service (911). POTS service also comes with a limited feature set (by default) and hefty price tag.

Let’s compare VoIP, Traditional Telephone, and Wireless

Verizon Unlimited Local service starts at $24.95 per month. If you wanted Caller ID, Voicemail, and Call Waiting (with Caller ID) your bill jumps up to $51.90 — which is absolutely ridiculous, considering this price is the pre-tax rate.

Vonage offers an “unlimited” Local and Long Distance service for $24.95 monthly which includes more than 25 features (such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, and Voicemail). VoIP.com offers the same package for $19.95 (or more than $30 less a month than Verizon). Now, the “unlimited” voice on VoIP providers tends to be around 5,000 minutes a month or so. If you go over it, expect a notice.

Cellular Service ranges anywhere from $30 – $130 monthly per phone depending on the options you choose. By the time you reach the high end, you’re generally getting unlimited minutes and data (mobile web, email, etc.).

For a typical household, VoIP remains a very cost-effective telephone solution; although you must remember that without good (and we mean good), high-speed Internet, your VoIP will be unusable. Many local phone companies offer a “dial tone only” line for less than $15.00 monthly. With the use of VoIP and a dial-tone only landline, you can still save more than $150.00 yearly while providing your family a reliable method of calling during emergencies and power outages.

As Billy Joel would say, it comes down to reality, and that’s fine with me. If you need to tighten the belt, VoIP can help. However if you can get by without having high speed Internet and don’t mind using the mobile phone all the time, you may be fine with becoming a “wireless only” household. Or you may not care about money whatsoever and decide to have all three maxed out.

Either way, when you do realize the benefit of VoIP and embrace the force, we’re here to help.

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.

Hotels provide nightmarish dreams for any phone engineer and many business were built solely to provide solutions to the hospitality industry. (The word hospitality almost never makes us think of a visit to a hotel, but that’s another story). Thing5 entered the business in 2004 to provide inbound, outbound, voicemail, IVR menus, and more to the hotel industry.

Well… yesterday Verizon Business announced that Thing5 will leverage the Verizon’s VoIP and hosting services to bring VoIP service to about 1,300 hotels having more than 275,000 telephones. Hotel phone service without VoIP — now there’s a true nightmare. Could you imagine changing an extension for thousands of phones without VoIP?

About a month ago, Fierce VoIP reported on VoIP quality testing conducted by Keynote Systems. The results proved quite interesting.

Keynote determined (based on testing providers such as Packet8, Vonage, Verizon VoiceWing, Lingo, etc.) that most VoIP users can expect “merely tolerable” telephone service when compared to an at&t POTS line.

One of the VoIP providers tested failed to achieve any calls with an MOS score of 4.0 or better (ouch).

Why did Voip Tech Chat wait more than a month to post this news? Patrick and Fred were too busy talking about Lifelock and Ben Affleck movies. 

Oh, and Asterisk Voip News posted that a cool new IP Phone with a huge video screen is coming soon.

Verizon recently announced new discounts for wireless only customers interested in Internet or television service. Called the “Flex Double Play” bundle, the discount offers a reduction of $8 – $12 a month for people combining Verizon Wireless with broadband or TV services.

Now, remember of course, that Verizon originates from the traditional POTS provider, Bell Atlantic. Back in the 80’s (1983 to be exact), when there was one big phone company called Bell, the US government decided that Americans would benefit from 7 companies instead of 1 big one. The 7 smaller phone companies, or “Baby Bells” were to handle local phone service and allow other companies to handle long distance.

With that historical digression, please remember that Verizon essential developed from this split; therefore sometimes still thinks like a traditional POTS provider.

How so you ask?

Well, the discount sounds great — but the big phone companies just don’t know how to provide something without conditions. If you want the fastest DSL or FiOS plans, you get no discount. The discount will only be offered towards DSL plans of 3 mbps and FiOS plans of 20 mbps.

Still, if you don’t want the best of the best, saving up to $12 a month still adds up to a nice deal. Maybe they should read our Wireless Only article to learn more about Wireless Only customers.

Welcome to this week’s Voip Cast. In this week’s chat, we discuss topics such as Pink Floyd, Five Nines Reliability, Al Gore, Florida Fires, and more.

You can download this week’s podcast for FREE at these fine locations:

• Voip Tech Chat (download mp3) Download audio file (080530_01.mp3)
• iTunes

For more information on any of the topics covered, check out these great links:

• Clearwire Internet Service
• Pink Floyd
• Asterisk
• Microsoft Response Point available at Costco
• Voip.com
• Voicepulse
• Verizon Wireless with Onstar
• xkcd.com